My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES GAEDE is the wide-awake, genial, and accommodating proprietor of the St. James Hotel, one of the most commodious and well-furnished houses in this part of the country. Mr. Gaede was born in Corritz, Prussia, in 1830, and came to America twenty-five years ago. Like many others of his countrymen, on reaching the new world, he possessed but little wealth, sixteen dollars being the “size of his pile” at that time. Being a shoemaker by trade, he embarked in that industry in Burlington, Iowa, where he successfully worked for a year; and then removing to Nebraska, he engaged in the same business for three years. He then established a dry goods and grocery store, which proved a success and which he conducted for about three years in Peru, Neb. After this he embarked in the hotel business in the last named town, and continued in the same for eight years, when attracted by the fame of the Southwest he came to Joplin and once more engaged in the boot and shoe business, in which he continued for two years. He then became proprietor of the St. James Hotel, which he has conducted ever since, and which he, by the help of his estimable wife, has made one of the most popular of houses. The secret of Mr. Gaede’s success, which he has achieved as a landlord, is his determination to please by having the best of accomodations, including good sample-rooms, the best of sleeping apartments, tables supplied with an abundance of eatables, well prepared, and in fact all the essentials that make an enjoyable stopping place for travelers and those wanting regular board. Mr. Gaede is a man of strict integrity—one whose word is good wherever he is known. He has paid security debts to the amount of $5,000, the result of trying to assist those who took advantage of his well-known habit of always assisting others in need. He, however, has a competence, and his business is paying him largely.