Bio of SIMMONS, Chester (b.1850 d.1921), Hennepin Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden
Submitted: June 2003
=========================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
========================================================
submitted by Laura Pruden, email Raisndustbunys@aol.com
========================================================

EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical

Vol II, pg 90
CHESTER SIMMONS
Chester Simmons was for an extended period active in control of the Minneapolis
branch of the Bemis Brothers Bag Company and made for himself a prominent
position in the business circles of this city. He was born in the eastern
metropolis, his birth occurring December 26, 1850, his parents being Charles
Wells and Emily (White) Simmons of New York city. The father was born at
Colford, Gloucestershire, England, February 24, 1817, and died at Webster
Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, April 15, 1900. He was the eldest of
four children born to Joseph Anthony and Amy (Harris) Simmons, the latter the
daughter of Rev. George Harris, a Baptist minister, with whom Charles W. Simmons
spent much of his early life but later returned to his parents, who were then
living near Southampton, England. He was educated in the select boarding school
of his uncle, Nathaniel W. Simmons, and later accepted an invitation from a
relative in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to come to the new world. He sailed from
Newport, England, October 11, 1832. The voyage was a perilous one of one hundred
and twenty days, during which the ship lost its mainmast, foreyard and sails,
while part of the cargo was thrown overboard to promote the safety of the
passengers. At length, however, the vessel reached Norfolk, Virginia, whence Mr.
Simmons, who was sixteen years of age the following day, made his way to the
home of his relative, Noah Simmons, in Philadelphia. He served a four years'
apprenticeship with Elisha Crowell, a druggist, and during that time attended
lectures at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated
March 20, 1838. He then returned to England but in less than two years was again
in the United States, forming a partnership in January, 1840, with a cousin in
the drug business in Philadelphia. The store, however, did not furnish
sufficient income for the two and Mr. Simmons then "learned the new and
wonderful process of taking daguerreotype likenesses and established himself on
Chestnut street as professor of the art." Two years later he became a druggist
in Brooklyn, New York, and afterward began the manufacture of straw goods in New
York city. In Brooklyn he had married and after five years spent in the
metropolis he purchased forty-eight acres on the Hudson, at Riverdale, near
Yonkers. there building a beautiful home called "Shadyside." Later he acquired
one hundred and sixty acres near Tarrytown, on which he built a palatial
residence known as "Oak Park." He afterward spent two years in Yonkers and in
1866 removed to Columbus, Ohio, where he engaged in the millinery jobbing
business, going thence in 1872 to St. Louis, where he continued in the same
line. In October, 1875, he became secretary of the St. Louis Cotton Exchange and
the following year was also made treasurer, filling both offices for fifteen
years. His wife, to whom he was ever most devoted, passed away in October, 1891.
He survived until April 15, 1900, reaching the venerable age of eighty-three
years. They were the parents of fourteen children.
Chester Simmons, one of this number, obtained his education in the schools of
Riverdale, Tarrytown and of Yonkers, New York. When fifteen years of age he
started out to provide for his own support and on attaining his majority, in
1870, he left the east to become a resident of St. Louis, where he engaged in a
wholesale millinery business. Later he went on the road as a traveling salesman
for the Bemis Brothers Bag Company and afterward occupied the position of
cashier with that firm, while later he became manager in Minneapolis, where he
arrived on the 27th of December, 1880, to take charge of the first branch
established by the Bemis Brothers Bag Company. He remained in active connection
with this business until about four years prior to his death, retiring in May,
1917, and the development of the enterprise here was attribut-able to his sound
judgment, his unfaltering enterprise and his unabating industry.
In 1875 Mr. Simmons was united in marriage to Miss Fanny A. Bemis, a daughter of
Stephen A. and Hannah Jane (Thomas) Bemis, the former a native of Fitchburg,
Massachusetts, and the latter of the state of New York. For many years they
resided in Illinois and later in San Francisco, California. In 1866 they removed
to St. Louis. Missouri, where Stephen A. Bemis and his brother, J. M. Bemis,
organized the Bemis Brothers Bag Company, which developed into one of the most
important productive industries of this kind in the country. The first branch of
the business was established in Minneapolis in 1880, and here Mr. Simmons came
to take charge in December of that. year. From that time forward Mr. and Mrs.
Simmons occupied a prominent position in the social circles of the city and here
the representatives of their family are yet well known. They became the parents
of six children, of whom Chester Bemis. the eldest, is now deceased. The others
are: Ethel; Lois M., the wife of Clyde G. Williams of Minneapolis; Marmion
Judson, a resident of Boston, Massachusetts; Emily Rose, the wife of Dwight L.
Akers of Blooming Grove, New York; and Donald B., also living in Minneapolis.
Mr. Simmons gave his political allegiance to the republican party throughout his
life, believing firmly in its principles as factors in good government. He was a
member of the Trinity Baptist church, its teachings constituting the guiding
factor in his relations with his fellowmen. He belonged to the Town and Country
Club and the Minneapolis Club and in these organizations gained popularity that
resulted from attractive personal qualities and kindly consideration for others
at all times. It was on the 26th of February, 1921, that he was called to his
final rest, being at that time in the seventy-second year of his age.
It was said of him: "His was a very worthy and useful life; its success was real
and it was not gained by resort to methods of doubtful dealing, or the slightest
deviation from his code of honor, which was exalted. Day by day he built on the
firm foundation of simple duty, honestly, faithfully and conscientiously
performed, making no claim of his own righteousness, asking for no commendation,
seeking no reward, save that found in the satisfaction, which must have been
his, that his labor was not in vain. He bore such burdens as were laid upon him,
uncomplainingly, in sorrow and adversity he was sustained by the faith that was
in him, and in prosperity and happiness he was not boastful or exalted. Through
his ability and energy was built up a large and prosperous establishment, useful
in its activity, generous in its deal ings, beneficent in the employment it
afforded those who worked for it, yet although he took a just pride in its
success, to others rather than himself would he ascribe the chief credit for its
creation. Such men as this constitute the very salt of the earth; true,
consistent and dependable, always to be relied upon to do the fair and generous
thing; constant to their ideals and incorruptible. Mr. Simmons was also very
highly esteemed. In all relations of his life he was inspired by the highest
sense of honor and integrity. He was very modest and unassuming, nevertheless
his influence in the community was widely extended and always exerted in behalf
of the best ideals. As a friend he was most loyal and faithful, generous in his
dealings and kindly in his Judgments. Diligent in business, an epitome of his
career in this respect is embodied in an inscription placed beneath his picture
which hangs upon the walls of the establishment he so successfully developed,
always by the exercise of the most exalted conception of business integrity,
which is as follows:
" 'Chester Simmons Forty-two years in Bemis Service.
Manager Minneapolis Factory
1881 to 1917 A Man of Unswerving Loyalty,
Persistent Industry, Graceful Modesty.' "