Corby Family

John Corby was born in Limerick, Ireland, June 24, 1808. When he was twelve years of age, in 1820, his parents brought their family to America, settling on a farm in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. John went to work at an early age and was industrious and frugal. As soon as he was able to do it, he engaged in the contracting business. He participated in the building of the Baltimore & Washington Railway, the Pittsburgh & Erie Canal, and held contracts for the building of pikes, railways, and levees in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

During a trip to the West, Corby arrived in St. Joseph in October 1843, just a few months after Joseph Robidoux had organized the town. Having perhaps more cash resources than anyone else in the community, he purchased a number of lots from Robidoux and the following spring he brought in a stock of goods and opened a store. He built the first brick house in St. Joseph, on the southwest corner of Fifth and Felix Streets-the future site of the Corby-Forsee Building. For a number of years he carried on the largest retail business in the vicinity, investing his profits in real estate. In 1844 he purchased the eighty acres later known as 'Corby Grove' for $200. At one time he owned the original site of the city of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

In May 1847 John Corby was issued a license by the town of St. Joseph to operate a ferry across the Missouri River. On August 10, 1849, the St. Joseph Gazette carried the following advertisement:

“To MILLWRIGHTS

"The undersigned, desiring to erect a Flouring Mill on the 102 River, wishes to procure the services of a scientific and practical Millwright. To such a person, properly recommended, a good situation will be

offered.

‘John Corby’

John Corby explained that as a boy in Ireland he had played near a mill and had always wanted one like it. There was an economic need to be filled, as shipment of flour into St. Joseph by steamboat was expensive, and the western bound emigrants caused a steady demand. In 1851 he built a large brick mill on a stone foundation, with a dam to furnish water power. A tornado in 1908 partially destroyed the mill, but it was a landmark for many years on 102 River. In 1847 John Corby and Joseph Robidoux were among the original incorporators of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company to build a rail line across the state of Missouri connecting the two rivers. John Corby made a number of horseback and carriage trips in order to determine the best route. He resigned as a director of the railroad in order to become the contractor to build twenty-five miles of the line. In 1857 the Roseport (later Elwood) & Maryville Railroad Company was organized with M. Jeff Thompson as president and John Corby as vice-president. This line was later called the St. Joseph & Denver City Railroad and John Corby was president.

Mr. Corby was a member of the St. Joseph City Council several times and in 1856 he was elected mayor. In 1857 he retired from the dry goods business and started a private bank, “The Banking House of John Corby, at the corner of Main and Edmond Streets. He owned the first metal safe in St. Joseph. His banking business eventually became known as “The Savings Institution. In 1858 he was one of the incorporators of, and a director of, the St. Joseph Branch of the Bank of the State of Missouri, which built the banking building on the southeast corner of Fourth and Felix Streets, now used by the Missouri Valley Trust Company.

In 1852 Corby married Miss Amanda Musick of Florissant, Missouri. They had no children, so in 1867 Mr. Corby's nephew, Joseph A. Corby, was encouraged to come to St. Joseph.

Mr. Corby was generous in his philanthropy, making liberal gifts to the St. Joseph Academy of the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph's Hospital, St. Joseph's Cathedral, and a Catholic cemetery. As early as 1867 Mr. Corby suffered from heart disease, and in May 1870 he died. His will authorized his widow to build a chapel on the cemetery land in his memory. In 1871 the large Gothic 'Corby Chapel was erected, and several generations of the Corby family were buried there.

John Corby's large real estate holdings were inherited by his widow, Amanda Musick Corby, and on her death by her sister, Mrs. Zilda Musick Forsee. She was the wife of Dr. Edgar B. Forsee who had come from St. Louis, and their home for many years was on the north side of Frederick Avenue between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets.

The Corby family in St. Joseph was carried on by the nephew, Joseph A. Corby. His father, Francis Patrick Corby, was a brother of John Corby, and his mother was a Miss Morgan. F. P. Corby was in the railway supply business in Cincinnati and a widower. In 1861 he came out to St. Joseph to visit his brother and while here met Josephine Angelique Robidoux, the attractive eighteen-year-old daughter of Felix Robidoux, and granddaughter of Joseph Robidoux. Although F. P. Corby was forty-one years of age, they were married. They then moved to Memphis, Tennessee, taking along the three children of F. P. Corby's first marriage, two daughters and the son, Joseph A. Corby.

In 1867 Joseph A. Corby came to St. Joseph to visit his uncle, John Corby. He decided to make this his home and he married Elizabeth Musick Harris, the adopted sister of Mrs. Amanda Corby, his aunt by marriage. He engaged in the real estate and abstract business, and was owner of the St. Joseph Gazette from 1873 to 1875. Eugene Field was local editor of that newspaper during part of that period. He built the Bell Telephone Exchange in 1879 and in 188I built to Atchison, Kansas, the first telephone line to connect any two cities in the United States west of Buffalo, New York. He was a pioneer in establishing telegraph lines out of St. Joseph. He was interested in military affairs and in 1882 he became lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Missouri National Guard Regiment. In 1896 he was made colonel of the regiment and commanded it through the Spanish-American War. Among his five children were two sons: John, born 1876, and Joseph Edward, born 1879. Joseph A. Corby died in St. Joseph in 1929.

John Corby (1876-1926), the older son of Joseph A. Corby, was active in the management of the Corby Estate and in 1909 undertook the erection of the fourteen-story Corby-Forsee Building on the southwest corner of Fifth and Felix Streets. He was married to Miss Kate O'Neill Asquith whose family had come from Kentucky where they had known the family of Mrs. Kate O'Neill Tootle. They had two children: John Corby, born in 1901, and Mrs. Marie Corby Hardman.

After the death of John Corby, management of the Corby Estate and Building was taken over by his younger brother, Joseph E. Corby (1879-1955). He had grown up in St. Joseph and graduated from Notre Dame University in 1898 with a degree in law. He was in active practice of law in St. Joseph until World War I when In 1917 he entered the Army, serving as a captain in Germany until his discharge in 1919. In 1923 he joined the firm in Chicago managing the real estate of Mrs. Edith Rockefeller McCormick. He returned to St. Joseph in 1926 and was active in civic affairs. He was president of the St. Joseph Welfare Board from 1928-1932, a critical period when the Board had charge of all relief activities. He was president and director of the Corby Estate and a director of the Empire Trust Company. His wife died in 1907 and there were no children. He died in 1955.

John Corby, the nephew of Joseph E. Corby, was born in St. Joseph in 1901. In 1912 his parents, John (1876-1926) and Kate Asquith Corby decided to remodel the large house at Twenty-second and Holman Streets which had at one time been the clubhouse of the St. Joseph Country Club. It became one of the most beautiful homes in St. Joseph and its four parlors were filled with the fine collection of antique American furniture of the Corby Family. This house was closed in 1973, and John Corby, the last of the family name, died in 1974.