24 



The Florists^ Review 



OCTOBBB 11, 1917. 



OBITUARY 



J. A. Swartley. 



A fall from the roof of a coal shed, 

 ill which he sustained a fractured skull 

 and injury to the spine, resulted in the 

 death of J. A. Swartley September 29. 

 The decedent, who was president of J. 

 A. Swartley & Sons, wholesalers and re- 

 tailers of Sterling, 111., was born in 

 Lancaster county, Pa., in 1847. In 1874 

 he moved to Illinois, and in April of the 

 following year he married Emma B. 

 Delp. 



Oliver Harrison, Karl Aldrich and 

 Harold Dwight Swartley, three of the 

 seven children surviving, were associat- 

 ed with their father in the business at 

 Sterling,- which they will continue. 



William B. Entenmann. 



The Jersey City grower and retailer, 

 William B. Entenmann, passed away 

 last month at the age of 50. Mr. En- 

 tenmann was a member of the S. A. F. 

 and the New York Florists' Club, and 

 was an active worker in many fraternal 

 organizations. A wife and daughter sur- 

 vive. 



Joseph Mackerer. 



Joseph Mackerer, aged 40 years, died 

 suddenly at his home in Union Hill, near 

 Weehawken, N. J., October 5 of heart 

 disease. Mr. Mackerer was a successful 

 grower and retailer and had a range of 

 fifteen greenhouses. He leaves a wife 

 and. three children. J. A. S. 



R. W. Clucas. 



R. W. Clucas, manager of the Pali- 

 sades Nurseries, Inc., Sparkill, N. Y., 

 died at that place October 6 after an ill- 

 ness of six months. Mr. Clucas was born 

 in England in 1860 and came to this 

 country in 1880 to take a position witli 

 Peter Henderson & Co. After leaving 

 that concern he was president of the 

 Clucas & Boddington Co., severing his 

 connection with this firm to become 

 manager of the Palisades Nurseries. 

 Mr. Clucas was well known in both the 

 seed and florists' trades, and had an ex- 

 cellent reputation as a grower of seeds, 

 bulbs and perennials. 



Robert L. Pyle. 



Robert L. Pyle, father of Robert Pylo, 

 president of the Conard & Jones Co., 

 died October .3 at his home in London 

 Grove, Pa., of valvular heart disease. 

 Mr. Pyle was treasurer of the Conard 

 & Jones Co. For the last fifty years he 

 had been identified with the mercantile 

 business of southeastern Pennsylvania, 

 having conducted a chain of stores in 

 that section. He had been a stockliolder 

 ill tlie Conard & .Tones Co. since its or- 

 ganization and incorporation and was 

 elected its treasurer in 1911. He also 

 was president of the National Bank of 

 West Grove. Mr. Pyle was 75 years old. 

 He leaves five children. 



Michael P. Hargrave. 



Michael P. Hargrave, who, with his 

 two sons, R. P. and .T. F. Hargrave, 

 owned Hargraves' Seed Store, Galves- 

 ton, Tex., died at his home in Galveston 

 last week after a long illness. Mr. Har- 

 grave was 68 years old and had been a 

 resident of Galveston for more than 

 forty years. He was interested in sev- 



eral business enterprises previous to 

 1901, when he established the seed store. 

 Mr. Hargrave is survived by his wife, 

 one daughter, Mrs. A. P. J. Voigt, and 

 five sons, J. F. and F. J. Hargrave, of 

 Galveston, M. P. Hargrave, Jr., of Hous- 

 ton, T. A. Hargrave, of Dallas, and B. 

 P. Hargrave, who is serving in the quar- 

 termaster 's corps of the United States 

 army at Camp Logan, Houston. Funeral 

 services were held from the residence 

 the day following Mr. Hargrave 's death. 

 The burial was in Calvary cemetery. 



John F. Hargrave, who has been the 

 active manager of the store since his 

 father's illness began, will continue the 

 business until his brother R. P. Har- 

 grave, who also was a member of the 

 firm, returns from army -duty. Mrs. 

 Hargrave will have her husband's in- 

 terest. John F. Hargrave said that 

 while he is handicapped by his brother 

 being with the army, he has a competent 

 force of clerks and feels able to handle 

 the business alone. 



George H. Cummlngs. 



George H. Cummings, secretary of 

 the Sioux City Seed & Nursery Co., 

 Sioux City, la., was killed in an automo- 

 bile accident near Le Mars, la., during 

 the afternoon of October 6. A rear tire 

 blew out and the car turned over, Mr. 

 Cummings being thrown on his head. 

 In the car were Mrs. L. N. Patton, a 

 bookkeeper for the Sioux City Seed & 

 Nursery Co., her daughter, Miss Elsie 

 Patton, and Mrs. Arthur I). Merchant, 

 another office employee of the company. 

 They escaped serious injury. 



Mr. Cummings was born on a farm 

 near Uhrichsville, O. Had he lived 

 another month he would have been 67 

 years old. He is survived by his wife, 

 his mother, two brothers and three 

 sisters. Mr. Cummings removed to 

 Sioux City in 1884 to become secretary 

 of the Sioux City Seed & Nursery Co., 

 a position which he held until his death. 

 Before that he was for several years 

 principal of the high school at Seward, 

 Neb. He was much interested in edu- 

 cational work and was a member of 

 the board of trustees of Buena Vista 

 College, Storm Lake, la. Almost from 

 its inception, Mr. Cummings was promi- 

 nently identified witli the prohibition 

 movement in Iowa. He was one of the 

 leaders in the fight that was waged 

 for years to vote Sioux City dry, and 

 was president of the Woodbury County 

 Anti-saloon League. 



J. A. Valentine. 



J. A. Valentine, president of the 

 Park Floral Co., Denver, Colo., was 

 killed almost instantly at 11:30 a. m. 

 October 4, when tlie automobile he was 

 driving turned over near Nighthawk, 

 Colo. Mr. Valentine was crushed by 

 tlie macliine, the front wheel of Avhich 

 hit his liead. ^Mrs. Valentine suffered 

 a broken collar bone and internal in- 

 juries, while two friends were less se- 

 verely liurt. 



The cause of the accident could not 

 be explained by the surviving members 

 of the party. Mr. and Mrs. Valentine 

 and the friends, Mr. and Mrs. Frank B. 

 Woodson, also of Denver, were on their 

 way to Decker's Springs, Colo., for a 

 week-end fishing trij). At the point on 

 the Jare canon route wliere tlie acci- 

 dent happened there is a bank on one 

 side of the road and a ditch on the 

 other. Mr. Valentine either lost con- 

 trol of the car, wliich was traveling at 



a moderate rate of speed, or the steer- 

 ing gear broke, as the automobile ran 

 up the bank and then turned over in the 

 roadway. Mr. Valentine sustained the 

 greatest weight of the car, Mrs, Val 

 entine and Mrs. Woodson were caught 

 under the tonneau, and Mr, Woodson 

 under the rear of the car, 



A forest ranger, who was passing on 

 horseback, and several farm hands 

 pried up the automobile with timbers. 

 Mr. Valentine was dead and had been 

 since the car struck him, according to 

 a physician who made an examination. 

 The other members of the party were 

 taken to Denver in automobiles by B. 

 E, Gillis, vice-president of the Park 

 Floral Co., N. A. Benson, president of 

 the Denver Wholesale Florists* Co., and 

 George Cooper, a Denver florist, who 

 were notified of the accident by tele 

 phone. Mrs. Valentine was taken to 

 her home, 1733 Marion street. While 

 she suffered greatly from her injuries 

 and the shock of her husband^ sudden 

 death, it was expected that she would 

 recover. 



During the twenty-two years Mr. 

 Valentine had been in the florists' busi- 

 ness he became one of the foremost 

 figures in the trade. He was president 

 of the S. A. F. during the year 1909, 

 was president of the American Carna- 

 tion Society in 1912, and was the origi- 

 nator of the idea of an association to 

 guarantee credits, becoming the first 

 president of the F. T. D. when it was 

 organized in 1910, At the time of his 

 death he was district representative of 

 the organization for Colorado, Wyo 

 ming, Utah and Nevada. 



Mr. Valentine was 58 years old and 

 was born in Keosauqua, la. His educa- 

 tion was gained largely under the di- 

 rection of his father, John Valentine, 

 who was a school teacher in Iowa for 

 more than thirty years. Mr. Valentine 

 was graduated from the State Law 

 School at Iowa City, la., in 1880 and 

 went to work for the Chicago, Burling- 

 ton & Quincy railroad. He was en- 

 gaged in construction work for this 

 railroad and for the Northern Pacific 

 until 1887, when the ill health of Mrs. 

 Valentine caused him to remove to 

 Denver, where he practiced law. 



It was through his friendship for 

 another lawyer, Allen B. Seaman, that 

 Mr. Valentine became interested in the 

 florists' business. Some years ago, 

 while traveling to one of the conven- 

 tions of the S. A. F., he told the story 

 of his entry into the florists' business 

 and of his early troubles, to a party of 

 friends. 



"In 1894, Allen B. Seaman, a promi- 

 ment attorney of Denver and a close 

 social friend of mine, put some money 

 into the erection of some greenhouses 

 for the purpose of helping a florist 

 friend of his," said Mr. Valentine. "In 

 January of 1895, Mr. Seaman talked 

 over with me the advisability of aban 

 doning his investment, as it then seemed 

 unprofitable, but he and I were induced 

 to believe tliat if more money were in 

 vested and larger greenhouses erected 

 the business could be made profitable 

 under its tlien management, and 1 

 agreed to give some sliglit attention 

 to the bookkee]nng and handling of the 

 accounts. At that time neither of u? 

 imagined that it ever would be neces 

 sary that I should give my personal at 

 tention to the greenhouse business as 

 such, but later on it became apparent 

 that the onlv wav to save the invest 



