James Wallace Van Cleave was born on 15. Jul. 1849 at Marion County, Kentucky. He was the son of
Henry Mason Van Cleave and
Eliza Jane Burks. James Wallace Van Cleave married
Catherine Louise Jefferson, daughter of
Thomas Lewis Jefferson and
Elizabeth Creagh, on 23. Mar. 1871 at Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky. James Wallace Van Cleave died on 15. May. 1910 at Saint Louis, Missouri, at age 60. He served seven years in the employ of L.S. Lithgow& Co. as a traveling man.
Moved to St. Louis became General Manager, Sec /Tres, then Vice President, then President of Buck's Stove and Range Company, taking it from a small nucleous to one on the largest of its kind, nationally.
Became President of the National Manufacturers Association 2 terms.
Vice President of Citizen Industrial Association of America & president of the St.Louis Association. Then 3 terms as President of that organization.
Founder of the National Council for Industrial Defence
He was not only a very able, energetic and in telligent man in his own business and in his performance of civic duty, but was exceptionally broad minded, just and conscientious.
He always attended his party's national convention
Was mentioned as a Candidate for the Presidency of the United States.
He will be rememberd for his long fight with trade unions on the principal of the boycott, he successfully won an injunction against the AF L's do not Patronize action, so enraging Samuel Gompers that he and two of his officers were sentenced to contemp of court prison terms when he ignored the court continuing the boycott. On appeal it was upheld by the Supreme Court of the US, but it was never served since James Wallace died in 1910. And the board of directors arranged a settlement.