John S. Brittain

John S. Brittain was born November 30, 1841, at Belvidere, New Jersey. In 1842 the family moved to Trenton, New Jersey. His father, William Baker Brittain, was editor of The True American. He died at the age of forty-two, leaving his son, John S., who had prepared for Princeton University, the mainstay of the family. He went to work in Philadelphia for a year, and then came west to St. Joseph in 1859. After one year here, he moved to Forest City, Missouri, and in 1860 entered the mercantile business there with B. B. Frazer, the firm being known as Frazer, Brittain & Company.

In 1865, in Forest City, he married Miss Susan Turner, daughter of Samuel Turner. In 1865 the shift in the channel of the Missouri River dealt a serious blow to the town of Forest City. In 1868 he was elected treasurer of the town. In 1869 Mr. Frazer withdrew from the business, leaving it to be carried on by John S. Brittain and Jacob M. Ford.

In 1870 Mr. Brittain came to St. Joseph and purchased an interest in the mercantile firm of John S. Lemon & Company. In 1873 that firm became Brittain, Overman & Company and occupied a building at Third and Francis Streets. In 1875 Mr. Overman died and the first became Brittain, Smith, and Company. In 1882 the name was changed to Brittain, Richardson & Company and the building on the southwest corner of Fourth and Jule Streets was built. In addition, the business occupied storage rooms and a factory for men’s work clothing at Third and Jule Streets. In 1892 the firm became John S. Brittain Dry Good Company.

Mr. Brittain was on the most widely known dry goods jobbers of the Missouri River Valley. Starting in a small way, he developed a business that great to be one of the largest of its kind in the United States. He amassed a fortune in the jobbing and manufacturing business and also made large and profitable real estate investments.

Mr. Brittain died at his home, Ninth & Faraon Streets, on December 11, 1917, at the age of seventy-six. His wife had died in 1909, and he had placed in the new First Presbyterian Church, at Seventh and Jule Streets, a beautiful stained glass window in her memory. He was an invalid for the last two years of his life and the management of his business had been turned over to R. W. Powell as president and J. Sherrard Brittain Jr., as treasurer. In addition to his son, he was survived by four daughters: Mrs. Stoughton Walker, Mrs. Samuel I. Motter, Mrs. R. E. Hastings, all of St. Joseph, and Miss Mildred Brittain of Chicago.