John A. Spekenhier, Columbus, OH., then Washington Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ John A. Spekenhier. Among the men of real worth and of great business importance at Bogalusa, Louisiana, few occupy so prominent a place as John A. Spekenhier, vice president of the First State Bank and Trust Company of this city, the oldest and most substantial financial institution in Washington Parish. As a rule in American life the worth while things are generally those connected with personal effort, and to a large degree this has been the case with Mr. Spekenhier from boyhood on, a brief review offering an interesting sidelight on the honorable career of an influential citizen. - John A. Spekenhier was born at Columbus, Ohio, April 12, 1866, a son of John and Margaret (Bickle) Spekenhier. His father was born in the Province of Westphalia, Prussia, in 1830, and died at Columbus, Ohio, in 1880. He remained in his native land until he was twenty years of age, where he learned the cigarmaking trade. When he came to the United States, in .1850, he settled at Columbus, Ohio, where he became a cigar manufacturer and both in that city and at Richmond, Indiana, where he lived for fifteen years, conducting both a wholesale and retail cigar business. He married Margaret Bickle, who was of German parentage but was born at Columbus, in 1834, and died at Richmond, Indiana, in 1906. They had three sons born to them: Irvin, who died in infancy; Frank F., who is connected with the Government Printing Office at Washington, D. C.; and John A. Both parents were members of the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Spekenhier was young when his parents removed to Richmond, Indiana, where he spent practically all his life before coming to Louisiana. He attended school until the death of his father, when ~e was fourteen years old, after which he not only provided for his own necessities but assumed such family responsibilities as came in the line of duty. For one year he delivered the morning newspaper, the Richmond Independent, starting on his route every morning at 2 o'clock. In 1881 he became a messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Company, and this led to his learning the art of telegraphy, which was followed by promotion, and in 1882 he became night operator and bill clerk in the Pennsylvania freight office at Richmond, where he continued until 1888, when he entered the First National Bank at Richmond as railroad teller. In the meanwhile Mr. Spekenhier, through his industry, good judgment and business trustworthiness, had won the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens to such an extent that when he retired from the bank in 1896 he was appointed deputy county treasurer of Wayne County, and served until 1900, when he was elected county treasurer, carrying the entire sixty-three precincts in the county. He served as county treasurer until 1904, and for the two years following settled estates and receiverships for the county judge of Wayne County. In 1906 he was appointed postmaster of Richmond, in which office he continued until 1910, since which time business Interests have claimed his attention more closely than matters political. In 1911 Mr. Spekenhier came to Bogalusa, Louisiana, as cashier of the First Bank of Bogalusa, which became the First State Batik and Trust Company in 1923. This is the oldest bank and has the greatest prestige of any in Washington Parish. Its condition is as follows: Capital stock, $60,000; surplus and profits, $70,000; deposit, $1,300,000. The officers of the bank are: J. H. Cassidy, chairman of the board; L. A. Pierce, president; D. F. Cushing, vice president; J. A. Spekenhier, active vice president since 1922; W. H. Babington, cashier; E. E. Moore, N. J. Lind and L. J. Simmons, assistant cashiers. Mr. Spekenhier married at Richmond, Indiana, March 9, 1901, Miss Clara Benning, of that city, where her father, the late John Benning, was an extensive live stock dealer. They are members of St. Matthews Episcopal Church of Bogalusa, Mr. Spekenhier being church treasurer. Their beautiful home, Oaklawn, with attractive bungalow, wide lawn and orange grove, on Louisiana Avenue, is one of the show places of the city. He personally owns the branch building of the First State Bank and Trust Company, on the corner of Austin Street and Louisiana Avenue, a line modern structure, and as secretary and treasurer of the Columbia Road Land Company, organized to build up Bogalusa, has an interest in the company's 150 improved properties owned here by the company. The marked success of this enterprise has been largely due to his business sagacity and public spirit. During the World war Mr. Spekenhier gave abundant proof not only of personal patriotism but of the value to a community that a trained, sagacious business man may be. He was chairman of the First and second Liberty Loan drives, was director for Washington Parish of the War Savings Stamps campaign, and in every other possible way was helpful to the cause. in political sentiment he is a democrat. He is a member of Webb Lodge, A. F. and A. M., at Richmond, Indiana; and of Whitewater Lodge No. 41, Odd Fellows, at Richmond, to which his father also belonged, and of which he is a past grand. It was while residing at Richmond that he joined the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and on coming to Louisiana, was transferred to New Orleans Lodge No. 30, and subsequently was transferred to his present membership in Bogalusa Lodge No. 1338, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 149, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.