Los
Angeles County
Biographies
HENRY OWEN SHUEY
The late Henry Owen Shuey, philanthropist and banker, was one of the upbuilders of the northwest and was what might truly be
called a self-made man. He really wanted
to help those less fortunate than himself, particularly the man who was trying
to work his own way but was laboring under difficulties. He was born on April 29, 1861, in Bainbridge,
Indiana, and received an ordinary school education, working on the farm
mornings and nights while attending school.
He graduated from Valparaiso University, of which he later became a
trustee. When he was a small lad his
father, Daniel Shuey, died and he was reared under
the kindly influences of his mother. At
an early age he decided he would go west and located in Kansas in 1884. Here he started a town, and had shipped in
the livery stable, hotel and other first buildings. A couple of years later he went to Seattle,
Washington, and began as an insurance salesman at a wage of forty dollars a
month. When his savings had amounted to
eight hundred dollars he bought a lot and built a three-room house. We quote from an article printed in Colliers
in 1916: “I have never tried to make
money in speculation; my one ambition has been to help people to build homes
and pay for them. The little money I
have has been made that way. It has been
sort of a religion with me. I have built
ten miles of homes for people in this city (Seattle), for folks in moderate
circumstances, wage earners and salaried people. . . . It’s a sort of a
religion with me to help a man get a home.”
As he worked selling fire insurance,
he visited the working people and learned to know the members of the families,
how they lived and how they spent their wages.
His success was phenomenal and he was advanced gradually month by month,
finally becoming district manager of his company. He was a man of humanitarian impulses and soon
was invited to become a director of some of the local charities. He put his savings into a building and loan
company, whose secretary absconded with a considerable sum of the shareholder’s
money. Mr. Shuey
was invited to take the job as secretary pro-tem and help straighten out the
tangle in which the company found itself.
This he did to the satisfaction of all interested and later became
president of the Home Builders Finance Company, as the concern was known. He gradually got into the banking business
through people leaving their money with him, checks or orders being made on Shuey & Company.
Thus was established a private bank which developed into what is now
known as the Citizens National Bank of Seattle.
It was thus, from a man of obscurity, that Henry O. Shuey
became a man of influence and importance.
He progressed with the times, people had implicit confidence and trust
in him, and the number of his friends grew rapidly. This “growing up” with the city was nothing
spectacular, but a gradual development with Seattle’s growth and Mr. Shuey was never grasping but only taking what was his
due. He expected to retire from business
in 1922 and came to southern California, where he had spent many winters, to
enjoy the evening of his life. However, he
soon got interested in Los Angeles and began building homes for people in
moderate circumstances, also helped organize the Home Builders Finance Company
of Los Angeles and served as its president for several years. He died in Los Angeles December 16, 1932,
from an automobile accident which occurred as he was crossing the street in
front of his home.
Mr. Shuey
was married twice; his first wife was Hesteltine
Sherrill, whom he married in Bainbridge, Indiana, by whom there is a son, Clyde
S. Shuey. For
his second wife he married in 1925 Olga Odessa (Williams) Miller, born in
Jewett, Illinois, a dramatic writer and artist who had headed her own companies
in England, France, Italy and America.
She was graduated from Valparaiso University, Indiana, and from the
Emerson School of Expression, Boston, Massachusetts. Since coming to Los Angeles she has been
active in various circles and took an active part in the Los Angeles Fiesta in
1932 with many other prominent men and women.
Assisted by her husband she organized the Club Internationale
in Los Angeles for the preservation of the spirit of good-will engendered by
the Tenth Olympiad held in this city.
Mr. Shuey’s funeral service was held at the
Little Church of the Flowers at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 457-459, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES