James T. Pedigo, president of the Pedigo-Weber Shoe Company of St. Louis, has the qualities of alertness and business enterprise which make for success and thus he has reached a most creditable position in the commercial circles of the city. A native of Tenne-see, he was born in Clay county, November 21, 1868, and is a son of Zackariah Pedigo, who passed away in 1917 at the advanced age of seventy-seven years. He, too, was born in Tennessee and engaged in farthing in that state. At the time of the Civil war he joined the Union army, loyally defending the cause in which he believed. His ancestral history dated back to early colonial days, when representatives of the name settled in Virginia. The mother of James T. Pedigo bore the maiden name of Mary Elizabeth Meador and came of a family of Scotch ancestry. She died May 6, 1931, at the age of seventy-five. The marriage of Mr. and Airs. Pedigo was celebrated April 13, 1864, and they became the parents of two sons and three daughters, of whom James T. Pedigo, the second in order of birth. All are living with the exception of one sister.
James T. Pedigo pursued his education in the schools of Tennessee and Kentucky, his training being equivalent to that of a college course. When nineteen years of age he taught school in Texas and so continued until he had attained his majority. He then went on the road as a traveling salesman for a Kansas City jobbing shoe house, with which he remained for five years, and through the succeeding period of five years he was the cashier of a national bank at Shawnee, Oklahoma. His next position was with the Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis, which he represented as general sales manager from 1904 until 1912. Each change he made in his business career marked an advanced step. His ability won hint recognition and larger responsibilities were given to him in his various promotions, indicating the growth of his powers and business insight. On leaving the Brown Shoe Company in 1912 he organized the Pedigo-Weber Shoe Company, of which he became president and has remained the executive head of the company. They have conducted a large and successful business, specializing in the manufacture of women’s fine shoes for the retail trade. their shipments being now sent to all parts of the United States. The business has become one of the important manufacturing interests of St. Louis and a factor in winning for the city its place of preeminence as a shoe manufacturing center of the country. Moreover, Air. Pedigo is a director of the Liberty Central Trust Company of St. Louis and is a trustee of the Missouri Valley College at Marshall, Missouri.
At Fort Worth, Texas, on the 78th, of October, 1599, Mr. Pedigo was married to Miss Maggie Lyles, a daughter of Captain J. M. and Virginia W. Lyles. To Mr. and Mrs. Pedigo has been born a daughter, Margaret, who is with her parents in an attractive home at 6306 McPherson avenue in University City. Ili politics Mr. Pedigo maintains an independent attitude, voting according to the dictates of his judgment without regard to party ties. He is well known in ‘Masonic circles as a member of Tuscan Lodge, No. 360, A. F. & A. 11. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, manifesting keen interest in the purposes and activities of the organization and is also a member of the National Chamber of Commerce. lie belongs to the Bellerive Golf Club, a connection indicative of a large source of his recreation. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, his membership being with the First Presbyterian church of St. Louis and he is the president of its board of trustees. During tile World war he was a most liberal subscriber to all war activities. Such in brief is the history of a man who working as a farm hand in his youth is today one of the prominent manufacturers of St. Louis, rising to his present position of business preeminence by reason of industry, determination, diligence and ambition, qualities that any may cultivate.