Funkhouser Family (Missouri)

Tilden Selmes Funkhouser (10 Feb. 1848-25 Jan. 1884) was born in Hannibal, Missouri. His brother Robert Monroe Funkhouser (10 Dec. 1850-13 Mar. 1923) was born in St. Louis, Missouri. They were two of the sons of Robert M. Funkhouser, Sr. (1817-1898), a merchant and banker of St. Louis, and his wife, Sarah Johnson Selmes (1820-1900).

Tilden attended the University of Virginia in sessions 43-45 (1866-1869), with his brother Robert, and the two then attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, from which both brothers graduated in 1871. He was a lawyer, but also went into business in real estate, and married Emma C. Harmon (d. 1883) from Charlottesville, VA, in 1871. They had only one child, Lillian W. Funkhouser. In 1880, the family was still living in St. Louis, but sometime between 1880 and 1883, the Funkhousers settled in Charlottesville. Tilden died of typhoid pneumonia in 1884. The Jeffersonian Republican stated:

“We regret to announce the death of Mr. T. S. Funkhouser, which occurred in St. Louis, Mo. last Friday morning. His body was brought back to Charlottesville…the remains were interred in Maplewood Cemetery by the side of his wife, who died about seven weeks ago. Their little girl, the only surviving member of the family, is now with her relatives in this place.”

Robert M. Funkhouser, the younger brother, was taught in private schools, until he attended the University of Virginia in sessions 43-45 (1866-1869). He then attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, from which he graduated in 1871. Both Robert M. and Tilden S. Funkhouser were members of Psi Upsilon fraternity, Zeta Chapter, at Dartmouth.

After graduating from Dartmouth, Robert began to study both medicine and law, and in 1873, graduated from Columbia Law School (New York) with a degree in law. He was admitted to the bar in both New York and St. Louis, MO. He received his medical degree from the Medical Department of the University of New York in 1874. He preferred medicine to law, and began his practice in New York, but after a year moved back to St. Louis.

His career involved both medicine and education, as he was an assistant demonstrator of anatomy at the Missouri Medical College for 3 years, and in 1876, helped to found Beaumont Medical College of St. Louis. At Beaumont he filled the chair of clinical surgery until 1891. He also served as consulting physician to the city and female hospitals, in addition to his research and writing.

On 13 Sep. 1882, Dr. Funkhouser married Virginia C. Cantrelle, with whom he had one son, Robert Funkhouser, and secondly, about 1890, married her sister, Alice Gooding Cantrelle (1852-1918), with whom he had another son, Selmes Paul Funkhouser. Dr. Funkhouser died in 1923 of acute endocarditis, and was buried at Valhalla Cemetery in St. Louis, MO.

References:

• Ancestry.com. 1850-1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.
• Ancestry.com. Missouri, Death Records, 1834-1910 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2008.
• [Death certificate of Alice G. Funkhouser.] Missouri State Board of Health. Cert. 22094 / 5862. http://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1918/1918_00022860.PDF
•  [Death certificate of Robert M. Funkhouser.] Missouri State Board of Health. Cert. 10895 / 2733. http://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1923/1923_00012396.PDF
•  “Dr. Robert M. Funkhouser.” Van Nada, M. L. The book of Missourians. Chicago, IL, 1906, p.186-187.
• [Estate of Tilden S. Funkhouser.] Probate Court of St. Louis, MO. Case # 15055.
• “The funeral of Mrs. Funkhouser.” Jeffersonian Republican (Charlottesville, Va.), 12 Dec. 1883.
• “Local briefs.” Jeffersonian Republican  (Charlottesville, Va.), 30 Jan. 1884.
• [Marriage announcement of Tilden S. Funkhouser.] “Memoranda Alumnorum.” The Dartmouth, v.5, no.9 (Oct. 1871), p. 372.
• “Missouri, Marriages, 1750-1920,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V2DK-RTF : accessed 14 Feb 2013), Robert M. Funkhouse and Sarah I. Selmes, 1847; citing reference , FHL microfilm 980297.
• “Missouri, Marriages, 1750-1920,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V2D6-Y2C : accessed 14 Feb 2013), Robert M. Funkhouser and Virginia C. Cantrelle, 1882; citing reference, FHL microfilm 529030.
• Psi Upsilon Fraternity. General catalogue of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity. 1879, p. 182.
•  “Robert M. Funkhouser, M.D.” Stevens, Walter Barlow. Centennial history of Missouri (the center state). St. Louis, MO, 1821, p. 371-372.
• University of Virginia Matriculation Books, 1825-1904, Accession #RG-14/4/2.041, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.