Glenn Beal Roseberry, born July 14, 1874, in Maryville, Missouri, was a prominent attorney, businessman, and civic leader. Son of Mathew G. and Phoebe E. Roseberry, he pursued law at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1895. After practicing law, Roseberry shifted to business, managing the Maryville Water Company and operating a successful grocery store. He married twice, first to Laura A. Frank, then to her niece, Eva P. Frank, with whom he had a daughter, Esther Ardelia. Active in the Christian church, Roseberry contributed significantly to the community’s development and welfare.
The march of improvement is accelerated day by day, and each successive moment seems to demand of men a broader intelligence and a greater discernment than did the preceding, showing that successful men must be live men in this age, bristling with activity. The purpose of biography is to preserve the records of such individuals for the edification of succeeding generations; thus the lessons of biography may be far-reaching to an extent not superficially evident. A man’s reputation is the property of the world, for the laws of nature have forbidden isolation. Every human being either submits to the controlling influence of others or wields an influence which touches, controls, guides or misdirects others. If he be honest and successful in his chosen field of endeavor, investigation will brighten his fame and light the way along which others may follow with like success. Consequently it is not improbable that a critical study of the life record of Glenn Beal Roseberry, superintendent of the Maryville Water Company, attorney-at-law and capitalist, will be of benefit to the youth whose destinies for the future are to be determined, for his career has been one of usefulness and honor and has gained for him well-merited success while yet young in years.
Mr. Roseberry is a native of this city [1]Maryville, Missouri, having been born on July 14, 1874, the son of Mathew G. and Phoebe E. (Beal) Roseberry, the father a native of Columbus, Adams County, Illinois. He came to Missouri in 1858 when a young man. He studied law while a young man at Quincy, Illinois, and devoted his principal life-work to this profession. His death occurred on November 19, 1888, his widow surviving until October 4, 1890. For several years Mathew G. Roseberry was engaged in the real estate business and later took Albert Morehouse, former governor of Missouri, in as a partner, the firm being known as Roseberry & Morehouse, and they did an extensive business — laid out two additions to the city, one known as the Roseberry addition in the southwest part of the city. During the last year of his life he was active in the loan business with Lafe Dawson, as attorney. He owned valuable property and built a block himself.
Glenn Beal Roseberry was fourteen years old when his father died. He decided on law as his vocation and began the study of the same early in life, taking his degree of Bachelor of Laws in the University of Michigan, graduating with the class of 1895. He was admitted to the bar in the state of Michigan in superior and supreme courts, and in the circuit court at Maryville. He returned to Nodaway County and opened an office, forming a partnership sometime afterwards with Arthur Miller and for five years was engaged in active practice. The close application to office work made heavy drains on his health and demanded that he leave his desk for a less confining occupation, consequently he bought the Roseberry block, built by the Smith Brothers, and from 1899 to 1905, in partnership with John Airey, conducted a grocery business. He then became business manager of the Republican for one year, during which time he placed the paper on a paying basis and started it out auspiciously, infusing new life into every department. He also erected several residences, including his own house on East Seventh street in one of the best residential districts of the city. He is at present superintendent and manager of the city water-works, which he has placed under an excellent system. He has kept clear of politics, is a Republican, but prefers to devote his attention to business rather than office-seeking.
Mr. Roseberry was married on October 2, 1895, to Laura A. Frank, a lady of culture and refinement, the representative of an excellent Maryville family. Her death occurred on December 31, 1899. This union was without issue. On July 14. 1901, Mr. Roseberry married Eva P. Frank, niece of his first wife, and the daughter of W. C. Frank, a well-known local citizen. Mrs. Roseberry is a woman of education and social prestige and numbers her friends, as does her husband, only by the limit of her acquaintance. This union has been graced by the birth of one daughter, Esther Ardelia, three years of age at this writing.
Mr. Roseberry is active in the Christian church, which his father had been influential in building. It was but a small struggling congregation, with preaching about twice each month, but Mr. Roseberry gave liberally of his time and means and it began to thrive and is doing an important work in this community. Glenn B. Roseberry has been interested in and a member of this church since he was eleven years old.
Personally, Mr. Roseberry is a man of pleasing address, possessing the optimism and wholesome enthusiasm of youth, and such amiable characteristics as to render him popular with all classes of citizens, his habits being exemplary and his interest in the welfare of Maryville and Nodaway County deeply grounded, a worthy son of a worthy sire, ever seeking to bear aloft the high standard of living set by his honored father.
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