Remley’s harness shop an early, active business | News

Might J.W. Remley be witnessing the beginning of the end for his Hannibal harness business?

As early as eight years prior, Remley had turned his attention to the gasoline engine and how it could be incorporated into easing the workload on the horse-dependent farm industry.

An article from the Hannibal Courier-Post, reprinted in the Edina Sentinel on July 2, 1908, told of a gasoline engine binder contrived by J.W. Remley. By attaching a gasoline engine to an ordinary binder, it allowed farmers to harvest their grain during wet conditions.

The machine was built at the S.F. Roderick and Son blacksmith shop, 416 N. Main, in Hannibal.

The engine supplied the power to cut and bind the grain, while the horses simply pulled the binder through the field.

The invention was devised to help farmers in the Sny bottoms, where high water and many hard rains produced “such soft fields that horses can hardly get through them. The ground has become so softened by seepage from the river and the downpours of rain that horses mire down in the fields if not kept moving.”

J.W. Remley (he was referred to in the article as ‘the harness man’) and his invention saved the day.

In 1880, John Wilber Remley, at the age of 17, was working as a harness maker in Kent County, Del. He learned the trade from his father, John William Remley (1825-1908) who until early in 1880 had been a tanner and leather merchant in Pennsylvania.

The large family of John William and Sarah Babcock (1883-1913) Remley had recently moved from New Lebanon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania to Delaware, where the elder John Remley took up farming for a profession.

Four years later, in 1884, John Wilbur Remley moved west, and established himself as a harness maker at Hannibal, Mo., at first working for Thomas C. Moore.

Two years later, in 1886, John W. Remley was married to Arronetta Roland, daughter of James and Bettie Ford Roland of Ralls County, Mo. The two would spend the remainder of their lives in Hannibal, raising six daughters, their later years in a frame house located at the junction of where Rock Street meets Paris Avenue.

The Hannibal city directory of 1895 notes that J.W. Remley had a harness and saddle shop at 205 Broadway.

In 1897, Remley was partnered with H. Edwin Roach in the J.W. Remley and Co., harness business, located at 220 N. Main. He later operated a business at that location alone.

Across the street, at 221 N. Main, was a business building owned by Robert Dashill Brewington, who, along with P.H. Holme, operated a saddlery, harness and leather shop on the west side of North Main Street, between Bird and Center, as early as 1859. Esley Hamilton, in doing research during the 1980s for the National Registry of Historic Places, found that the building at 221 N. Main (the same building standing today, and now owned by MWCH Properties, LLC) was constructed circa 1858 by Mr. Brewington.

After Mr. Brewington’s death in 1900, I.T. Lake operated a harness shop at 221 N. Main circa 1907-1909. By 1911, Remley was established at that location. He would continue in business at 221 N. Main St., until his death in 1941.

Over time, the Remley store transitioned into a farm supply store.

In March 1929, J.W. Remley was a dealer for McCormick-Deering and Farmall tractors. McCormick-Deering was a trademark name for tractors produced by the International Harvester Company.

In March 1931, J.W. Remley delivered a new Farmall tractor to James H. Tapley, Flint Hill, Ralls County, Mo.

On March 5, 1937, Remley advertised in the Ralls County Record, noting that the first story of his building was filled with farm machinery.

“Most every machine that the International Company makes may be found here. There are hundreds of small compartments to be found here, where may be found any part of any of the International machines.

“In the second story (of the building) will be found the harness and repair department. In this room will be found harness, the best that can be made, collars, lines, bridles – in fact, any part of harness that is used. There is not a shoddy piece of work in his line. He (Remley) has a first class workman on the job every day, and no matter when you come he is there to serve you in any repair work that you may want. He also makes any new part that you may need.”

In 1934, Mr. Remley was member of the “Ozark Serenaders” of Hannibal. The group performed in April 1934, at closing exercises for the Little Union school near Palmyra.

Members of the musical group were Dorse Rost, Walter Rose, William Sullivan, Emery Shields, Frank Tower, Burley Cane, Harold Dietrick, Bud Hitherto, J.W. Remley, Frederick Indorf, Clarence Carson, Willard Rupp, Aranetta Whitaker, Pauline Salter, Carrie Mae Bonebrake and Mildred Parks. J.W. Remley, the senior member of the group, sang a song of his own composition.

Mrs. Remley, 61, died Nov. 8, 1927, while she was attending a concert at the First Methodist Church at Hannibal. Cause of death was heart disease.

J.W. Remley died at 7 a.m. Jan. 30, 1941, at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. He was 78.

As described in his obituary, published Jan. 30, 1941, in The Excelsior, Lancaster, Mo., newspaper, Mr. Remley’s “friendly nature was one of his greatest characteristics and he maintained his disposition both in his business and social contacts. He was well liked in business circles and he conducted his store in an upright and honorable manner. Mr. Remley was honored and respected by a large number of friends in this community.”

Mr. Remley was survived by six daughters:

Mrs. W.P. (Anna Mae) Hulen, Ripon, Wis.;

Mrs. Dan (Irene) Whitaker Wrightsman, Kokomo, Ind.;

Mrs. Walter C. (Lillian) Minor, Hannibal;

Mrs. T.E. Hayes, Hannibal;

Mrs. Marvin (Wilma) Duncan, Downers Grove, Ill.; and

Mrs. Richard Owens, Greenup, Ill.

Henry G. Minor was associated with the store for 3 1/2 years prior to Remley’s death in 1941. He subsequently went to work servicing IH equipment at a shop located at 1622 Market.

John W. Abbott, owner of Farmer’s Supply, 210 Center St., purchased Remley’s remaining harness stock.

Note: Hannibal Free Public Library is the recipient of three volumes of the Journals & Business Records of R. D. Brewington, a 19th-century businessman in Hannibal, Missouri. He was a tanner and merchant, moving to Hannibal in the 1850’s. The physical volumes were donated by Robert J. Coontz, Jr., Mr. Brewington’s descendent. They are accessible via the library’s web site.