John B. Strauch, who since 1918 has been president and general manager of the More-Jones Brass & Metal Company of St. Louis, has been identified with this business for more than a quarter of a century and through the steady development of his powers and his close application has won promotion from time to time until he has reached his present position of administrative direction and executive control. He was born in Marine, Illinois, November 29, 1869, a son of John B. and Catherine Strauch. The father came from Germany in 1846 and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Soon afterward he joined the United States army for service in the Mexican war and when America again became engaged in war, owing to the dissatisfaction in the south, he was made a first lieutenant of the Union troops and thus participated throughout the Civil war.
John B. Strauch obtained a public school education in Marine, Illinois, and also attended business college in St. Louis. When a young man of but sixteen years he began teaching school, following the profession from 1886 until 1891. In the latter year, however, he became identified with a merchandise brokerage firm of St. Louis, with which he continued until 1894. In 1895 he entered the employ of More, Jones & Company as bookkeeper and salesman and occupied that position for about four years or until 1899, when he was elected secretary. Eleven fears later he was chosen vice president and general manager, thus continuing from 1910 until 1918, when he was elected to the presidency and also continued in the office of general manager. In the meantime the business had been reorganized under the name of More-Jones Brass & Metal Company. The business has steadily grown as the years have passed and has become one of the important industrial and productive enterprises of the city. Nor have the efforts of Mr. Strauch been confined alone to this business, for he has become financially interested in and is a director of the Stehle Bedding Company, the Lehmann Machine Company, the More Automobile Company and the St. Louis Chilled Bearing Company.
On the 10th of Junes 1894, Mr. Strauch was married at Marine, Illinois, to Miss Otilia C. Schmidt, a daughter of Andrew and Bertha Schmidt. They have become parents of two children, John Andrew and Alice Frances. In religious faith Mr. Strauch is a Protestant. Politically he is a republican, much interested in the success of the party but without ambition to hold public office. Fraternally he is a Mason and has taken the Knights Templar degrees in the York Rite, while with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine he has crossed the sands of the desert. He is likewise well known in club circles, having membership in the Sunset Hill Country Club, the Algonquin Golf Club and the Missouri Athletic Association. He is a man of strong purpose and determination, carrying forward to successful completion what he undertakes and his efforts at all times are guided by a high sense of commercial honor and integrity, so that he has won not only a handsome competence but a good name.