Oliver Filley

Oliver Dwight Filley (May 23, 1806 – August 21, 1881) was an American businessman, abolitionist, and politician who served as the 16th mayor of St. Louis, Missouri from 1858 to 1861.[1]

Oliver Filley
16th Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri
In office
1858–1861
Preceded byWashington King
Succeeded byDaniel G. Taylor
Personal details
Born
Oliver Dwight Filley

(1806-05-23)May 23, 1806
Bloomfield, Connecticut
DiedAugust 21, 1881(1881-08-21) (aged 75)
Hampton, New Hampshire
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
Chloe Velina Brown
​
(
m. 1835; his death 1881)
RelationsDwight Filley Davis (grandson)
ParentsOliver Filley
Annis Humphrey

Early life

Filley was born on May 23, 1806 in Bloomfield, Connecticut. He was the eldest of six children, five sons and one daughter,[2] born to Oliver Filley and Annis (née Humphrey) Filley.[3] His siblings included Marcus Lucius Filley, Jay Humphrey Filley, Joseph Earl Filley, Giles Franklin Filley, Jennette Annis Filley and John Eldridge Filley,[3][4][5] who all became prominent.[6]

Career

In 1829, Filley emigrated to St. Louis, Missouri.[7] He ran a successful tinware business in St. Louis, eventually amassing a fortune and retired in 1873. He was a director of the Bank of the State of Missouri, and "subscribed largely" to the Kansas Pacific Railway.[2] He contributed financially to Frank P. Blair's antislavery newspaper the St. Louis Union. [8]

Mayor of St. Louis

Originally, Filley was a "hard money Jackson Democrat" and a personal friend of Thomas H. Benton, the Democratic U.S. Senator from Missouri from 1821 to 1851 who was a champion of westward expansion in the United States, a cause that became known as Manifest Destiny.[2] During the time late 1840s when the Wilmot Proviso proposed to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War,.[9] Filley declared himself in full support of Free Soil and the emancipation of Missouri, leading him to support Martin Van Buren in the presidential election of 1848. The Free Soil party was eventually absorbed into the Republican party.[2]

He was the first Civil War mayor of St. Louis and he became the first mayor elected for a two-year term under the new City Charter of 1859.[10] He was reluctant to take the position.[8] As mayor, he headed the movement for arousing and consolidating union sentiment as the chairman for the Committee of Public Safety. The Fire Alarm Telegraph System was completed and put into use during his term in office.[11]

Personal life

In 1835,[12] Filley was married to Chloe Velina Brown (1808–1890), the daughter of Eli Brown,[7] in Bloomfied, Connecticut.[2] In St. Louis, the family lived at 2201 Lucas Place and attended the Central Presbyterian Church.[12] Together, they were the parents of six children, including:[3]

  • Oliver Brown Filley (1836–1887), one of the proprietors of the Fulton Iron Works who married Mary McKinley.[13]
  • Ellen Filley (1841–1929), an Emma Willard School alumna who married Thomas Tilden Richards (1840–1881) in 1865.[14]
  • Maria Jeannette Filley (1843–1930), who married John Tilden Davis (1844–1894).[15]
  • Alice Filley (1845–1933), who married Robert Moore (1838–1922), a civil engineer.[16]
  • Henry Marcus Filley (1847–1902), Washington University in St. Louis graduate.[17]
  • Jeanette Filley (1850–1933), who married Isaac Wyman Morton (1847–1903) in 1877.[18]
  • John Dwight Filley (1853–1930), the president of the American Manufacturing Company who married Fannie Douglass.[19]

Filley died on August 21, 1881 of acute kidney disease while vacationing in Hampton, New Hampshire.[20] He was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.[11]

Descendants

Through his eldest son Oliver, he was the grandfather of Oliver Dwight Filley (1883–1961),[21] was a Harvard graduate and pilot who volunteered with the British Air Force during World War I (before America entered the War) and was married to Mary Percy Pyne (b. 1893), the daughter of Percy Rivington Pyne II, in 1917.[22][23]

Another grandson was Dwight Filley Davis (1879–1945), who served as the 49th United States Secretary of War from October 14, 1925 until March 4, 1929 in the administration of Calvin Coolidge and later as the Governor-General of the Philippines from 1929 until 1932.[24]

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References
  1. "St. Louis Mayors: Oliver D. Filley". St. Louis Public Library. Archived from the original on 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  2. Scharf, John Thomas (1883). History of Saint Louis City and County: From the Earliest Periods to the Present Day: Including Biographical Sketches of Representative Men. L. H. Everts. p. 693. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  3. Edwards, Richard; Hopewell, Merna (1860). Edwards's Great West and Her Commercial Metropolis: Embracing a General View of the West and a Complete History of St. Louis, from the Landing of Ligueste, in 1764, to the Present Time ; with Portraits and Biographies of Some of the Old Settlers, and Many of the Most Prominent Business Men. Published at the Office of "Edwards's monthly". p. 517. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  4. Adler, Jeffrey S. (2002). Yankee Merchants and the Making of the Urban West: The Rise and Fall of Antebellum St Louis. Cambridge University Press. p. 67. ISBN 9780521522359. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  5. Loomis, Elias (1880). The Descendants (by the Female Branches) of Joseph Loomis: Who Came from Braintree, England, in the Year 1638, and Settled in Windsor, Connecticut in 1639. Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor. p. 323. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  6. Southerton, Donald G. (2005). The Filleys: 350 Years of American Entrepreneurial Spirit. iUniverse. ISBN 9780595799558. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  7. Stiles, M.D., Henry R. (1859). The History of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut, VOLUME 2 ONLY. Heritage Books. p. 616. ISBN 9780788443855. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  8. Ravenswaay, Charles Van (1991-01-01). St. Louis: An Informal History of the City and Its People, 1764-1865. Missouri History Museum. ISBN 9780252019159.
  9. T. R. Fehrenbach (2000). Lone Star: A history of Texas and the Texans. Da Capo Press. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-306-80942-2.
  10. "St. Louis Historic Preservation". stlcin.missouri.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  11. Library, St. Louis Public (2001-01-01). "Oliver Dwight Filley". exhibits.slpl.org. Archived from the original on 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  12. Missouri Historical Society Collections. Missouri Historical Society. 1906. p. 44. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  13. Harvard College (1780-) Class of 1906 (1906). Harvard College Class of 1906 Secretary's Third Report. Crimson Printing Company. p. 462. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  14. Fairbanks, Mary J. Mason (1898). Emma Willard and Her Pupils: Or, Fifty Years of Troy Female Seminary, 1822-1872. Mrs. R. Sage. p. 480. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  15. Harvard College (1780-) Class of 1900 (1915). Harvard College Class of 1900 Fourth Report. Crimson Printing Company. p. 111. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  16. Social Register, St. Louis. Social Register Association. 1922. p. 81. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  17. A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Washington University for the Academic Year. 1865-66. 1866. p. 27. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  18. The Bulletin. Missouri Historical Society. 1958. p. 76. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  19. Howe, Mark Antony De Wolfe (1922). Memoirs of the Harvard Dead in the War Against Germany. Harvard University Press. pp. 225–228. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  20. "St. Louis Historic Preservation: Filley, Oliver D." City of St. Louis. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  21. "OLIVER FILLEY, 78, A RETIRED BROKER; Aide at Post & Fiagg From 1921 to 1942 Dies--Was Pilot in World War I" (PDF). The New York Times. January 19, 1961. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  22. Foreman, John (18 February 2015). "A Park Avenue Story". BIG OLD HOUSES. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  23. "MISS PYNE ENGAGED TO COL. O.D. FILLEY Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Percy R. Pyne to Wed U.S.A. Aviator Awarded Cross by British" (PDF). The New York Times. December 2, 1917. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  24. "Dwight Davis Dies. War Ex-Secretary. Member of Coolidge's Cabinet. First Soldier to Hold Post Since '69. New Deal Foe. Donor Of The Tennis Cup. Former Champion Himself, He Created International Trophy. Hero of First World War. Succeeded John W. Weeks. Twice Double Champion. Sold Progress in Philippines". New York Times. Associated Press.
Political offices
Preceded by
Washington King		 Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri
1858–1861		 Succeeded by
Daniel G. Taylor
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