Alvin H. Tegeler is still a young man but had had more than fifteen years of active experience as a banker, beginning in early boyhood, and had been continuously identified with the Bank of Palmer, of which he is now cashier.
This is one of the older banking houses of Washington County. The firm of Bissell & Kaiser established it as a private bank in 1882, but it had operated under a state charter since 1887. The bank, whose home is on Main Street, had a capital of $25,000 and surplus of $5,000. The present officers are: M. E. Southwick, of Topeka, president; H. J. Meierkord, of Linn, Kansas, vice president; Alvin H. Tegeler, cashier; and Roy M. Dean, assistant cashier.
Alvin H. Tegeler was born at Concordia, Missouri, January 25, 1884, but had spent his life since early infancy in Kansas. His grandfather, Louis Tegeler, was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1831, came to this country when a young man, and lived for some years in Madison County, Illinois, and from there went to Concordia, Missouri, where he became a successful business man as a stock buyer and farmer. His death occurred at Concordia in 1916. His first wife, Carolina Tegeler was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1833 and died at Concordia, Missouri, in 1874. She was the mother of his children, the record being briefly as follows: Charles H.; Minnie, a milliner and dressmaker at Battle Creek, Nebraska; Fred, a farmer at Battle Creek; Louis, who was a merchant and died at Palmer, Kansas, in 1909; Henry, in the hardware business at Concordia, Kansas; Herman, a sheep herder and feeder in Idaho; and Julius, a minister of the Lutheran Church at Beemer, Nebraska. The grandfather married a second wife, her maiden name being Louise Roose. She had two children by her first husband. Her death occurred at Concordia, Missouri, in 1907.
Charles H. Tegeler, father of Alvin H., was born in Madison County, Illinois, March 24, 1859, and at the age of seven went with his parents to Concordia, Missouri, where he grew up and married. While at Concordia he worked as clerk in a general merchandise store and in 1885 removed to Palmer, Kansas, and was a pioneer merchant there. He had been in active business at Palmer for over thirty years and keeps a well-stocked mercantile enterprise on Main Street. He is a republican and a member of the Lutheran Church. The maiden name of his wife was Augusta Schroeder, who was born at New Melle, Missouri, September 6, 1859. Alvin H. is the oldest of their children. Hulda is the wife of Roy M. Dean, assistant cashier of the Bank of Palmer, as noted above. Frances, who is unmarried and lives at home, is bookkeeper in the Bank of Palmer. Charles H. lives on a farm in Washington County, Kansas.
Alvin H. Tegeler secured his education in the public schools of Palmer, and at the age of fifteen entered the local bank and was soon handling the duties of bookkeeper. He had been steadily with that one institution ever since, having been promoted to assistant cashier in 1901 and had served as cashier since 1905.
Mr. Tegeler also owned a farm of 160 acres in Graham County, Kansas, and is secretary of the Palmer Rural Telephons Company. He is unmarried, a member of the Lutheran Church, and in politics is a republican.
