Original CDV of the prominent Missouri businessman Derrick Algernon January (1814-1879), signed in ink by January on the mount below his photo. Taken by A.J. Fox of St. Louis.
CDV is 4" x 2.5" and in very good antique condition. 7324 is an inventory watermark on the scan, and is not on the original photo.
Bio:
Mr. D.A. January, whose death has been expected for several days, expired this morning at 3 o'clock. He will be buried Monday morning from his late residence, at the corner of Twelfth street and Washington avenue. Mr. January was one of the most prominent business men and citizens of St. Louis and was sixty-four years old. He was born at Lexington, KY, and in 1832 removed with his mother to Jacksonville, Illinois, where he opened a store with his brother. In the winter of 1837 he and his family came to St. Louis, where he opened the wholesale grocery house of January, Stettinius & Co. This firm continued and prospered for forty years, becoming one of the largest and richest in the city.
Mr. January took a deep interest in many of the public enterprises of the city, and was instrumental in the building of the first Lindell Hotel. He was one of the originators of the Merchants' Bank; was President of the Chamber of Commerce at the beginning of the was; was for four years President of the St. Louis Mutual Life Insurance Company, and was one of the funders of the United States Insurance Company.
He was married twice, the first time in 1842 [Apr 26, 1842], to Miss Mary Louisa Smith, stepdaughter of the late Jesse S. Lindell, and the second time to Miss Julia Churchill, of Louiswille, Ky., and she survives him, as also five children.
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch; July 19, 1879