Missouri Death Certificate
Born February 28, 1926 in Prague, Bohemia to
John Taussig and Charlotte Bondy Taussig. Married Passed away July 10, 1913 at 3447 Lafayette Avenue, St Louis, Missouri aged 87 years 4 months 10 days. Cremated at Missouri Crematory and later buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery
--------------------------------------------------
Taussig was born in the city of Prague, the third city of the Austrian Empire, and the commercial and manufacturing center of Bohemia. He was educated at the University of Prague, and after completing the classical course, turned his attention to the study of medicine, devoting himself chiefly to chemistry. In 1847, he emigrated to the United States, and for a year was employed in New York City as an analytical chemist. Leaving New York in 1848, he came to St. Louis and soon after his arrival became connected with the drug house of Charless, Blow & Co. as chemist. To further qualify himself for the practice of medicine, he attended a course of lectures at Pope's Medical College, and then started a medical practice.
During the a cholera epidemic in 1849, he served the city as assistant physician and apothecary at quarantine. In 1851 he moved to Carondelet, then an independent city, but now part of St. Louis. There he soon built up a very extensive practice. In 1852 he was elected mayor of the city, and held that office until failing health compelled him to retire from the position, and also to give up his large medical practice.
In 1859 he became one of the judges of the St. Louis County Court, John H. Lightner, Benjamin Farrar, Robert Holmes and John H. Fisse being his associates. This court, or board, had almost absolute control of all the financial and administrative affairs of St. Louis County during the entire period of the Civil War, and on it rested the chief responsibilities of county government. Taussig and his colleagues were chosen as a reform board, their immediate predecessors having brought down upon themselves popular condemnation by their conduct of county affairs. The court inaugurated numerous reforms. In 1863, Taussig was reelected to the county court and made presiding justice, holding that position until his resignation in 1865.
During Taussig's term of service on the bench, Captain Ulysses S. Grant was rejected for a position as county surveyor. Grant soon afterward went to Galena, Illinois. Later, on the occasion of one of his visits to St. Louis, General Grant told Taussig he was indebted to him for his action in the matter.
Taussig was presiding on the county bench when General Sterling Price made his last raid through Missouri and threatened the capture of St. Louis. Supported by his associates, Taussig moved to raise two regiments of troops to reinforce the inadequate reserves defending the city under command of General Rosecrans. The much needed additional military force could only be raised by giving generous bounties to encourage the enlistment of troops. There was, however, no money in the county treasury, and $200,000 was needed to meet the expenses of the proposed movement. So Taussig negotiated a loan.
Also during the Civil War, when marauders — calling themselves Confederates — under the command of "Bill" Anderson fell upon the town of Fulton, Missouri, and robbed and destroyed the insane asylum at that place, the inmates of that institution were left without a place of refuge. Taussig, upon hearing of the disaster, provided for their relief. Accompanied by Captain Bartholomew Guion, he arrived at Fulton, and speedily organized a relief movement with the assistance of residents in the vicinity. He gathered together those who had been inmates of the asylum, over two hundred in number, and loaded them into vehicles of various kinds, and finally landed them at Mexico, Missouri. The region traversed was infested with guerrillas, and Taussig and his party had no military escort; however, they reached their destination in safety and proceeded by rail to St. Louis. Here, by previous arrangement, the doors of St. Vincent Asylum were thrown open to them.
While serving on the county court bench Taussig was also examining surgeon for the First Military District, by appointment of President Lincoln, his duty in this connection being to pass upon the physical condition of men drafted into the Union Army. In 1865 he was appointed United States Internal Revenue collector by President Lincoln, he being the second appointee to that office in St. Louis. Soon after the close of the war, he became first president of the Traders' Bank.
He joined James B. Eads in the project to construct a bridge across the Mississippi River. At the first meeting of the executive committee of the Illinois & St. Louis Bridge & Tunnel Company he was appointed chairman, and from that time until his retirement in 1896 managed the vast interests connected with the bridge and tunnel. The only other enterprise with which he was identified during that time was the North Missouri Railway Company, of which he served two years as director. In July 1874, upon completion of the bridge, he was appointed general manager of the St. Louis Bridge Company, the Tunnel Railroad Company, the Union Railway & Transit Company, and the Union Depot Company, all of which interests were finally, by lease and purchase, combined under the general ownership and control of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. This association made Taussig its president in 1889, and from that time forward until the date of its completion he devoted himself to the perfection of a railroad terminal system for St. Louis and to the building of the Union Depot.
In 1872, he joined Carl Schurz, Emil Preetorius, Gratz Brown, William M. Grosvenor and Henry T. Blow in the Liberal Republican Party.[1
Married Adele Wuerpel of St Louis in 1857.∼William Taussig joined James B. Eads in the project of constructing the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River, at St. Louis. He was chairman of the Illinois & St. Louis Bridge & Tunnel Company and managed all business aspects, including the construction of the bridge, railway tunnel & the establishment of the Terminal Railroad Association. The city celebrated its opening in the grandest of style during much of July, 1874.
Taussig was born in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). He completed the classical course of study at the University of Prague, 1844 then emigrated to the United States. By 1848 he was in St. Louis, a chemist with the drug house of Charless, Blow & Co. & studying for degree in medicine from St. Louis School of Medicine, earned in 1850.
He was the son of John L. Taussig & Charlotte Bondi Taussig who emigrated shortly after he did, coming with various family members in 1848. William married Adele Wuerpel in St. Louis, 3 May 1857.
Dr. Taussig moved to suburban Carondolet in 1851 where he conducted an extensive medical practice until 1864. Received
as a member of the St. Louis County Court in 1859, his responsibilities came to be enormous as the Civil War came to the border state of Missouri. The county court had almost
absolute control of the financial & administrative affairs of St. Louis County.
Guerilla activity was heavy around Fulton, Missouri home of the state Insane Asylum. Most patients had been taken home by family but there were 71 non-paying patients from St. Louis that needed to be removed so the asylum could close. Taussig was employed by the Court to find suitable situations for them in St. Louis. The mission began 16 Oct 1861.
He made arrangements with the Pacific Railroad for transport & took patients by stage to the Missouri river town of St. Aubert only to find the government had removed the ferry. There was no choice but to connect with the North Missouri Railroad, 40 miles north in Mexico. In all it was a 3 day overland ride. He wrote, "The unfortunate beings who have found home & shelter within the asylum walls are cast upon the mercies and charities of a cold world... they are let loose without guide or protection." This kind and gentle man who conducted a rescue "tedious in the extreme" had difficulties of every sort finding security for his charges in St. Louis. Finally St. Vincent's Institution for the Insane agreed to relieve him of his charges.
Taussig became presiding justice of the County Court in 1863 & held the position until his resignation in 1865. St. Louis was a highly strategic locale. Thousands of guerillas & disloyal citizens of Missouri, a border state, were tried and processed there. The Missouri & Mississippi were under heavy patrol lest rebels gain access to the interior of the country, its arsenal was huge. The prison, across the river at Alton, was always full, always passing prisoners to more secure prisons. Taussig was to cooperate & assist in every way while running the county government. War ended April 9, 1865.
Construction of Eads bridge in 1867. This undertaking was amazing in that the devastating war had just ended. Granite was mined & transported; specifications met for steel of every imaginable form of fabrication. The right of way for the huge tunnel was secured through downtown St. Louis. This was all overseen by Dr. William Taussig. Upon the completion of the bridge, he was appointed general manager of the St. Louis Bridge Company, the Tunnel Railroad Company, the Union Railway & Transit Company and the Union Depot Company which in 1889 came under the umbrella of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.
Later, Taussig took great delight in overseeing the creation of the somewhat fanciful Union Station building which opened 1 Sept 1894. He was 68, and would live 19 years in the city he dearly loved.
Born February 28, 1926 in Prague, Bohemia to
John Taussig and Charlotte Bondy Taussig. Married Passed away July 10, 1913 at 3447 Lafayette Avenue, St Louis, Missouri aged 87 years 4 months 10 days. Cremated at Missouri Crematory and later buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery
--------------------------------------------------
Taussig was born in the city of Prague, the third city of the Austrian Empire, and the commercial and manufacturing center of Bohemia. He was educated at the University of Prague, and after completing the classical course, turned his attention to the study of medicine, devoting himself chiefly to chemistry. In 1847, he emigrated to the United States, and for a year was employed in New York City as an analytical chemist. Leaving New York in 1848, he came to St. Louis and soon after his arrival became connected with the drug house of Charless, Blow & Co. as chemist. To further qualify himself for the practice of medicine, he attended a course of lectures at Pope's Medical College, and then started a medical practice.
During the a cholera epidemic in 1849, he served the city as assistant physician and apothecary at quarantine. In 1851 he moved to Carondelet, then an independent city, but now part of St. Louis. There he soon built up a very extensive practice. In 1852 he was elected mayor of the city, and held that office until failing health compelled him to retire from the position, and also to give up his large medical practice.
In 1859 he became one of the judges of the St. Louis County Court, John H. Lightner, Benjamin Farrar, Robert Holmes and John H. Fisse being his associates. This court, or board, had almost absolute control of all the financial and administrative affairs of St. Louis County during the entire period of the Civil War, and on it rested the chief responsibilities of county government. Taussig and his colleagues were chosen as a reform board, their immediate predecessors having brought down upon themselves popular condemnation by their conduct of county affairs. The court inaugurated numerous reforms. In 1863, Taussig was reelected to the county court and made presiding justice, holding that position until his resignation in 1865.
During Taussig's term of service on the bench, Captain Ulysses S. Grant was rejected for a position as county surveyor. Grant soon afterward went to Galena, Illinois. Later, on the occasion of one of his visits to St. Louis, General Grant told Taussig he was indebted to him for his action in the matter.
Taussig was presiding on the county bench when General Sterling Price made his last raid through Missouri and threatened the capture of St. Louis. Supported by his associates, Taussig moved to raise two regiments of troops to reinforce the inadequate reserves defending the city under command of General Rosecrans. The much needed additional military force could only be raised by giving generous bounties to encourage the enlistment of troops. There was, however, no money in the county treasury, and $200,000 was needed to meet the expenses of the proposed movement. So Taussig negotiated a loan.
Also during the Civil War, when marauders — calling themselves Confederates — under the command of "Bill" Anderson fell upon the town of Fulton, Missouri, and robbed and destroyed the insane asylum at that place, the inmates of that institution were left without a place of refuge. Taussig, upon hearing of the disaster, provided for their relief. Accompanied by Captain Bartholomew Guion, he arrived at Fulton, and speedily organized a relief movement with the assistance of residents in the vicinity. He gathered together those who had been inmates of the asylum, over two hundred in number, and loaded them into vehicles of various kinds, and finally landed them at Mexico, Missouri. The region traversed was infested with guerrillas, and Taussig and his party had no military escort; however, they reached their destination in safety and proceeded by rail to St. Louis. Here, by previous arrangement, the doors of St. Vincent Asylum were thrown open to them.
While serving on the county court bench Taussig was also examining surgeon for the First Military District, by appointment of President Lincoln, his duty in this connection being to pass upon the physical condition of men drafted into the Union Army. In 1865 he was appointed United States Internal Revenue collector by President Lincoln, he being the second appointee to that office in St. Louis. Soon after the close of the war, he became first president of the Traders' Bank.
He joined James B. Eads in the project to construct a bridge across the Mississippi River. At the first meeting of the executive committee of the Illinois & St. Louis Bridge & Tunnel Company he was appointed chairman, and from that time until his retirement in 1896 managed the vast interests connected with the bridge and tunnel. The only other enterprise with which he was identified during that time was the North Missouri Railway Company, of which he served two years as director. In July 1874, upon completion of the bridge, he was appointed general manager of the St. Louis Bridge Company, the Tunnel Railroad Company, the Union Railway & Transit Company, and the Union Depot Company, all of which interests were finally, by lease and purchase, combined under the general ownership and control of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. This association made Taussig its president in 1889, and from that time forward until the date of its completion he devoted himself to the perfection of a railroad terminal system for St. Louis and to the building of the Union Depot.
In 1872, he joined Carl Schurz, Emil Preetorius, Gratz Brown, William M. Grosvenor and Henry T. Blow in the Liberal Republican Party.[1
Married Adele Wuerpel of St Louis in 1857.∼William Taussig joined James B. Eads in the project of constructing the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River, at St. Louis. He was chairman of the Illinois & St. Louis Bridge & Tunnel Company and managed all business aspects, including the construction of the bridge, railway tunnel & the establishment of the Terminal Railroad Association. The city celebrated its opening in the grandest of style during much of July, 1874.
Taussig was born in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). He completed the classical course of study at the University of Prague, 1844 then emigrated to the United States. By 1848 he was in St. Louis, a chemist with the drug house of Charless, Blow & Co. & studying for degree in medicine from St. Louis School of Medicine, earned in 1850.
He was the son of John L. Taussig & Charlotte Bondi Taussig who emigrated shortly after he did, coming with various family members in 1848. William married Adele Wuerpel in St. Louis, 3 May 1857.
Dr. Taussig moved to suburban Carondolet in 1851 where he conducted an extensive medical practice until 1864. Received
as a member of the St. Louis County Court in 1859, his responsibilities came to be enormous as the Civil War came to the border state of Missouri. The county court had almost
absolute control of the financial & administrative affairs of St. Louis County.
Guerilla activity was heavy around Fulton, Missouri home of the state Insane Asylum. Most patients had been taken home by family but there were 71 non-paying patients from St. Louis that needed to be removed so the asylum could close. Taussig was employed by the Court to find suitable situations for them in St. Louis. The mission began 16 Oct 1861.
He made arrangements with the Pacific Railroad for transport & took patients by stage to the Missouri river town of St. Aubert only to find the government had removed the ferry. There was no choice but to connect with the North Missouri Railroad, 40 miles north in Mexico. In all it was a 3 day overland ride. He wrote, "The unfortunate beings who have found home & shelter within the asylum walls are cast upon the mercies and charities of a cold world... they are let loose without guide or protection." This kind and gentle man who conducted a rescue "tedious in the extreme" had difficulties of every sort finding security for his charges in St. Louis. Finally St. Vincent's Institution for the Insane agreed to relieve him of his charges.
Taussig became presiding justice of the County Court in 1863 & held the position until his resignation in 1865. St. Louis was a highly strategic locale. Thousands of guerillas & disloyal citizens of Missouri, a border state, were tried and processed there. The Missouri & Mississippi were under heavy patrol lest rebels gain access to the interior of the country, its arsenal was huge. The prison, across the river at Alton, was always full, always passing prisoners to more secure prisons. Taussig was to cooperate & assist in every way while running the county government. War ended April 9, 1865.
Construction of Eads bridge in 1867. This undertaking was amazing in that the devastating war had just ended. Granite was mined & transported; specifications met for steel of every imaginable form of fabrication. The right of way for the huge tunnel was secured through downtown St. Louis. This was all overseen by Dr. William Taussig. Upon the completion of the bridge, he was appointed general manager of the St. Louis Bridge Company, the Tunnel Railroad Company, the Union Railway & Transit Company and the Union Depot Company which in 1889 came under the umbrella of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.
Later, Taussig took great delight in overseeing the creation of the somewhat fanciful Union Station building which opened 1 Sept 1894. He was 68, and would live 19 years in the city he dearly loved.
Missouri Death Certificate
Born February 28, 1926 in Prague, Bohemia to
John Taussig and Charlotte Bondy Taussig. Married Passed away July 10, 1913 at 3447 Lafayette Avenue, St Louis, Missouri aged 87 years 4 months 10 days. Cremated at Missouri Crematory and later buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery
--------------------------------------------------
Taussig was born in the city of Prague, the third city of the Austrian Empire, and the commercial and manufacturing center of Bohemia. He was educated at the University of Prague, and after completing the classical course, turned his attention to the study of medicine, devoting himself chiefly to chemistry. In 1847, he emigrated to the United States, and for a year was employed in New York City as an analytical chemist. Leaving New York in 1848, he came to St. Louis and soon after his arrival became connected with the drug house of Charless, Blow & Co. as chemist. To further qualify himself for the practice of medicine, he attended a course of lectures at Pope's Medical College, and then started a medical practice.
During the a cholera epidemic in 1849, he served the city as assistant physician and apothecary at quarantine. In 1851 he moved to Carondelet, then an independent city, but now part of St. Louis. There he soon built up a very extensive practice. In 1852 he was elected mayor of the city, and held that office until failing health compelled him to retire from the position, and also to give up his large medical practice.
In 1859 he became one of the judges of the St. Louis County Court, John H. Lightner, Benjamin Farrar, Robert Holmes and John H. Fisse being his associates. This court, or board, had almost absolute control of all the financial and administrative affairs of St. Louis County during the entire period of the Civil War, and on it rested the chief responsibilities of county government. Taussig and his colleagues were chosen as a reform board, their immediate predecessors having brought down upon themselves popular condemnation by their conduct of county affairs. The court inaugurated numerous reforms. In 1863, Taussig was reelected to the county court and made presiding justice, holding that position until his resignation in 1865.
During Taussig's term of service on the bench, Captain Ulysses S. Grant was rejected for a position as county surveyor. Grant soon afterward went to Galena, Illinois. Later, on the occasion of one of his visits to St. Louis, General Grant told Taussig he was indebted to him for his action in the matter.
Taussig was presiding on the county bench when General Sterling Price made his last raid through Missouri and threatened the capture of St. Louis. Supported by his associates, Taussig moved to raise two regiments of troops to reinforce the inadequate reserves defending the city under command of General Rosecrans. The much needed additional military force could only be raised by giving generous bounties to encourage the enlistment of troops. There was, however, no money in the county treasury, and $200,000 was needed to meet the expenses of the proposed movement. So Taussig negotiated a loan.
Also during the Civil War, when marauders — calling themselves Confederates — under the command of "Bill" Anderson fell upon the town of Fulton, Missouri, and robbed and destroyed the insane asylum at that place, the inmates of that institution were left without a place of refuge. Taussig, upon hearing of the disaster, provided for their relief. Accompanied by Captain Bartholomew Guion, he arrived at Fulton, and speedily organized a relief movement with the assistance of residents in the vicinity. He gathered together those who had been inmates of the asylum, over two hundred in number, and loaded them into vehicles of various kinds, and finally landed them at Mexico, Missouri. The region traversed was infested with guerrillas, and Taussig and his party had no military escort; however, they reached their destination in safety and proceeded by rail to St. Louis. Here, by previous arrangement, the doors of St. Vincent Asylum were thrown open to them.
While serving on the county court bench Taussig was also examining surgeon for the First Military District, by appointment of President Lincoln, his duty in this connection being to pass upon the physical condition of men drafted into the Union Army. In 1865 he was appointed United States Internal Revenue collector by President Lincoln, he being the second appointee to that office in St. Louis. Soon after the close of the war, he became first president of the Traders' Bank.
He joined James B. Eads in the project to construct a bridge across the Mississippi River. At the first meeting of the executive committee of the Illinois & St. Louis Bridge & Tunnel Company he was appointed chairman, and from that time until his retirement in 1896 managed the vast interests connected with the bridge and tunnel. The only other enterprise with which he was identified during that time was the North Missouri Railway Company, of which he served two years as director. In July 1874, upon completion of the bridge, he was appointed general manager of the St. Louis Bridge Company, the Tunnel Railroad Company, the Union Railway & Transit Company, and the Union Depot Company, all of which interests were finally, by lease and purchase, combined under the general ownership and control of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. This association made Taussig its president in 1889, and from that time forward until the date of its completion he devoted himself to the perfection of a railroad terminal system for St. Louis and to the building of the Union Depot.
In 1872, he joined Carl Schurz, Emil Preetorius, Gratz Brown, William M. Grosvenor and Henry T. Blow in the Liberal Republican Party.[1
Married Adele Wuerpel of St Louis in 1857.∼William Taussig joined James B. Eads in the project of constructing the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River, at St. Louis. He was chairman of the Illinois & St. Louis Bridge & Tunnel Company and managed all business aspects, including the construction of the bridge, railway tunnel & the establishment of the Terminal Railroad Association. The city celebrated its opening in the grandest of style during much of July, 1874.
Taussig was born in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). He completed the classical course of study at the University of Prague, 1844 then emigrated to the United States. By 1848 he was in St. Louis, a chemist with the drug house of Charless, Blow & Co. & studying for degree in medicine from St. Louis School of Medicine, earned in 1850.
He was the son of John L. Taussig & Charlotte Bondi Taussig who emigrated shortly after he did, coming with various family members in 1848. William married Adele Wuerpel in St. Louis, 3 May 1857.
Dr. Taussig moved to suburban Carondolet in 1851 where he conducted an extensive medical practice until 1864. Received
as a member of the St. Louis County Court in 1859, his responsibilities came to be enormous as the Civil War came to the border state of Missouri. The county court had almost
absolute control of the financial & administrative affairs of St. Louis County.
Guerilla activity was heavy around Fulton, Missouri home of the state Insane Asylum. Most patients had been taken home by family but there were 71 non-paying patients from St. Louis that needed to be removed so the asylum could close. Taussig was employed by the Court to find suitable situations for them in St. Louis. The mission began 16 Oct 1861.
He made arrangements with the Pacific Railroad for transport & took patients by stage to the Missouri river town of St. Aubert only to find the government had removed the ferry. There was no choice but to connect with the North Missouri Railroad, 40 miles north in Mexico. In all it was a 3 day overland ride. He wrote, "The unfortunate beings who have found home & shelter within the asylum walls are cast upon the mercies and charities of a cold world... they are let loose without guide or protection." This kind and gentle man who conducted a rescue "tedious in the extreme" had difficulties of every sort finding security for his charges in St. Louis. Finally St. Vincent's Institution for the Insane agreed to relieve him of his charges.
Taussig became presiding justice of the County Court in 1863 & held the position until his resignation in 1865. St. Louis was a highly strategic locale. Thousands of guerillas & disloyal citizens of Missouri, a border state, were tried and processed there. The Missouri & Mississippi were under heavy patrol lest rebels gain access to the interior of the country, its arsenal was huge. The prison, across the river at Alton, was always full, always passing prisoners to more secure prisons. Taussig was to cooperate & assist in every way while running the county government. War ended April 9, 1865.
Construction of Eads bridge in 1867. This undertaking was amazing in that the devastating war had just ended. Granite was mined & transported; specifications met for steel of every imaginable form of fabrication. The right of way for the huge tunnel was secured through downtown St. Louis. This was all overseen by Dr. William Taussig. Upon the completion of the bridge, he was appointed general manager of the St. Louis Bridge Company, the Tunnel Railroad Company, the Union Railway & Transit Company and the Union Depot Company which in 1889 came under the umbrella of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.
Later, Taussig took great delight in overseeing the creation of the somewhat fanciful Union Station building which opened 1 Sept 1894. He was 68, and would live 19 years in the city he dearly loved.
Born February 28, 1926 in Prague, Bohemia to
John Taussig and Charlotte Bondy Taussig. Married Passed away July 10, 1913 at 3447 Lafayette Avenue, St Louis, Missouri aged 87 years 4 months 10 days. Cremated at Missouri Crematory and later buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery
--------------------------------------------------
Taussig was born in the city of Prague, the third city of the Austrian Empire, and the commercial and manufacturing center of Bohemia. He was educated at the University of Prague, and after completing the classical course, turned his attention to the study of medicine, devoting himself chiefly to chemistry. In 1847, he emigrated to the United States, and for a year was employed in New York City as an analytical chemist. Leaving New York in 1848, he came to St. Louis and soon after his arrival became connected with the drug house of Charless, Blow & Co. as chemist. To further qualify himself for the practice of medicine, he attended a course of lectures at Pope's Medical College, and then started a medical practice.
During the a cholera epidemic in 1849, he served the city as assistant physician and apothecary at quarantine. In 1851 he moved to Carondelet, then an independent city, but now part of St. Louis. There he soon built up a very extensive practice. In 1852 he was elected mayor of the city, and held that office until failing health compelled him to retire from the position, and also to give up his large medical practice.
In 1859 he became one of the judges of the St. Louis County Court, John H. Lightner, Benjamin Farrar, Robert Holmes and John H. Fisse being his associates. This court, or board, had almost absolute control of all the financial and administrative affairs of St. Louis County during the entire period of the Civil War, and on it rested the chief responsibilities of county government. Taussig and his colleagues were chosen as a reform board, their immediate predecessors having brought down upon themselves popular condemnation by their conduct of county affairs. The court inaugurated numerous reforms. In 1863, Taussig was reelected to the county court and made presiding justice, holding that position until his resignation in 1865.
During Taussig's term of service on the bench, Captain Ulysses S. Grant was rejected for a position as county surveyor. Grant soon afterward went to Galena, Illinois. Later, on the occasion of one of his visits to St. Louis, General Grant told Taussig he was indebted to him for his action in the matter.
Taussig was presiding on the county bench when General Sterling Price made his last raid through Missouri and threatened the capture of St. Louis. Supported by his associates, Taussig moved to raise two regiments of troops to reinforce the inadequate reserves defending the city under command of General Rosecrans. The much needed additional military force could only be raised by giving generous bounties to encourage the enlistment of troops. There was, however, no money in the county treasury, and $200,000 was needed to meet the expenses of the proposed movement. So Taussig negotiated a loan.
Also during the Civil War, when marauders — calling themselves Confederates — under the command of "Bill" Anderson fell upon the town of Fulton, Missouri, and robbed and destroyed the insane asylum at that place, the inmates of that institution were left without a place of refuge. Taussig, upon hearing of the disaster, provided for their relief. Accompanied by Captain Bartholomew Guion, he arrived at Fulton, and speedily organized a relief movement with the assistance of residents in the vicinity. He gathered together those who had been inmates of the asylum, over two hundred in number, and loaded them into vehicles of various kinds, and finally landed them at Mexico, Missouri. The region traversed was infested with guerrillas, and Taussig and his party had no military escort; however, they reached their destination in safety and proceeded by rail to St. Louis. Here, by previous arrangement, the doors of St. Vincent Asylum were thrown open to them.
While serving on the county court bench Taussig was also examining surgeon for the First Military District, by appointment of President Lincoln, his duty in this connection being to pass upon the physical condition of men drafted into the Union Army. In 1865 he was appointed United States Internal Revenue collector by President Lincoln, he being the second appointee to that office in St. Louis. Soon after the close of the war, he became first president of the Traders' Bank.
He joined James B. Eads in the project to construct a bridge across the Mississippi River. At the first meeting of the executive committee of the Illinois & St. Louis Bridge & Tunnel Company he was appointed chairman, and from that time until his retirement in 1896 managed the vast interests connected with the bridge and tunnel. The only other enterprise with which he was identified during that time was the North Missouri Railway Company, of which he served two years as director. In July 1874, upon completion of the bridge, he was appointed general manager of the St. Louis Bridge Company, the Tunnel Railroad Company, the Union Railway & Transit Company, and the Union Depot Company, all of which interests were finally, by lease and purchase, combined under the general ownership and control of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. This association made Taussig its president in 1889, and from that time forward until the date of its completion he devoted himself to the perfection of a railroad terminal system for St. Louis and to the building of the Union Depot.
In 1872, he joined Carl Schurz, Emil Preetorius, Gratz Brown, William M. Grosvenor and Henry T. Blow in the Liberal Republican Party.[1
Married Adele Wuerpel of St Louis in 1857.∼William Taussig joined James B. Eads in the project of constructing the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River, at St. Louis. He was chairman of the Illinois & St. Louis Bridge & Tunnel Company and managed all business aspects, including the construction of the bridge, railway tunnel & the establishment of the Terminal Railroad Association. The city celebrated its opening in the grandest of style during much of July, 1874.
Taussig was born in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). He completed the classical course of study at the University of Prague, 1844 then emigrated to the United States. By 1848 he was in St. Louis, a chemist with the drug house of Charless, Blow & Co. & studying for degree in medicine from St. Louis School of Medicine, earned in 1850.
He was the son of John L. Taussig & Charlotte Bondi Taussig who emigrated shortly after he did, coming with various family members in 1848. William married Adele Wuerpel in St. Louis, 3 May 1857.
Dr. Taussig moved to suburban Carondolet in 1851 where he conducted an extensive medical practice until 1864. Received
as a member of the St. Louis County Court in 1859, his responsibilities came to be enormous as the Civil War came to the border state of Missouri. The county court had almost
absolute control of the financial & administrative affairs of St. Louis County.
Guerilla activity was heavy around Fulton, Missouri home of the state Insane Asylum. Most patients had been taken home by family but there were 71 non-paying patients from St. Louis that needed to be removed so the asylum could close. Taussig was employed by the Court to find suitable situations for them in St. Louis. The mission began 16 Oct 1861.
He made arrangements with the Pacific Railroad for transport & took patients by stage to the Missouri river town of St. Aubert only to find the government had removed the ferry. There was no choice but to connect with the North Missouri Railroad, 40 miles north in Mexico. In all it was a 3 day overland ride. He wrote, "The unfortunate beings who have found home & shelter within the asylum walls are cast upon the mercies and charities of a cold world... they are let loose without guide or protection." This kind and gentle man who conducted a rescue "tedious in the extreme" had difficulties of every sort finding security for his charges in St. Louis. Finally St. Vincent's Institution for the Insane agreed to relieve him of his charges.
Taussig became presiding justice of the County Court in 1863 & held the position until his resignation in 1865. St. Louis was a highly strategic locale. Thousands of guerillas & disloyal citizens of Missouri, a border state, were tried and processed there. The Missouri & Mississippi were under heavy patrol lest rebels gain access to the interior of the country, its arsenal was huge. The prison, across the river at Alton, was always full, always passing prisoners to more secure prisons. Taussig was to cooperate & assist in every way while running the county government. War ended April 9, 1865.
Construction of Eads bridge in 1867. This undertaking was amazing in that the devastating war had just ended. Granite was mined & transported; specifications met for steel of every imaginable form of fabrication. The right of way for the huge tunnel was secured through downtown St. Louis. This was all overseen by Dr. William Taussig. Upon the completion of the bridge, he was appointed general manager of the St. Louis Bridge Company, the Tunnel Railroad Company, the Union Railway & Transit Company and the Union Depot Company which in 1889 came under the umbrella of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.
Later, Taussig took great delight in overseeing the creation of the somewhat fanciful Union Station building which opened 1 Sept 1894. He was 68, and would live 19 years in the city he dearly loved.
Gravesite Details
buried June 3, 1925 (cremated)
Family Members
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
