William A. Julian – U. S. Treasurer Has Ties to Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio
The Frankfort Roundabout, Saturday, July 22, 1905, page 1
FORMER FRANKFORT MAN OPENS BANK.
On Monday last, Mr. Alexander Julian, brother of Mrs. George W. Chinn of this city, opened up a bank in Cincinnati, Ohio. The first day’s business showed a deposit account of over $200,000. That speaks well for Mr. Julian’s standing in the Cincinnati business world.
W. A. Julian was the Treasurer of the United States.
I.E.T. Wed., May 3, 1933 – JULIAN NAMED U.S. TREASURER – FIRST MAJOR APPOINTMENT TO COME TO OHIO – Cincinnati. May 3 -(AP) – W. A. Julian, retired Cincinnati shoe manufacturer and Ohio member of the Democratic national convention, today announced his acceptance of the post of treasurer of the United States.
Informed circles in Washington said yesterday that his appointment was probable. Until today, however, Julian insisted he had nothing to say, either no to whether the post had been offered to him or whether he would accept. The treasurership is the first major post to an Ohioan in the Roosevelt administration.
He announced his acceptance to newspapermen before going into a luncheon meeting of the Associated Charities here, of which he is president. He had, he said, wired President Roosevelt his acceptance of the office. In becoming treasurer of the United States, Julian accepted office at last after steadily refusing high posts offered him in succeeding Democratic regimes.
President Wilson offered him first a position on the Federal trade commission and then the Federal Reserve Board. He declined both. Still, later he refused the office of treasurer of the national Democratic committee. But elected to the national committee for Ohio in a factional dispute in 1925, he has held the office since.
Julian started life as a farm boy near Frankfort, Ky., graduated from Dodds College in 1888 (?), and went to Cincinnati. He became a bank clerk, then switched to shoe manufacturing, established a plant of his own, and later retired, reputedly a millionaire. Three years before, he ran for the United States Senate – the only elective office he ever sought – and was defeated by Frank B. Willis in the Harding landslide of that year.
With party loyalty, his creed, he only once differed with its leaders. In 1931, he came out openly in opposition to the ( —-ter John J. Rankob ?) seat/sent national committeemen, seeking the support of his “home-rule” liquor plan.
William’s family was established in this country by James Julian, who settled at Fredericksburg, VA, in 1680. John Julian, a descendant of James, the colonist, and grandfather of William A. Julian, was a surgeon-major in the Revolutionary Army under Washington. William A. Julian graduated A.B., at Dodds College, Frankfurt, Kentucky, in 1888. He began as a clerk in a bank.
He engaged in the shoe manufacturing business in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1893 as a partner with Franklin Alter and H. Kokenge in the Alter-Julian Co. This company was succeeded in 1900 by the Julian-Kokenge Co., which is still (1934) in business in Columbus, Ohio. The company specializes in the manufacture of women’s fine shoes. It employs an average of eight hundred people, and its annual business is approximately $3 million.
Mr. Julian was president of the company until 1917, when he retired from its active management, although he continued as chairman of the board of directors. He was also president of the Cincinnati Shoe Co., First National Bank of Bethel, Ohio, and Queen City Trust Co.; vice-president and director of the Central Trust Co. of Cincinnati. During World War 1, he was chairman of the civilian relief committee of the American Red Cross and vice-chairman of the Cincinnati chapter. For twenty years, he has been chairman of the investment committee of Berea College. For the same period of time, he has been president of the Associated Charities of Cincinnati.
He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1916, and since 1926, he has been a Democratic National Committeeman for Ohio. In May 1933, he was appointed Treasurer of the United States by President Roosevelt. He was married at Yellow Springs, Ohio, September 5, 1895, to Gertrude E., daughter of William Means, former mayor of Cincinnati. He lived at Red Gables, R. F. D. Rockville, Maryland. He died on May 28, 1949. “Who was Who, Vol. II. National Cyclopedia of American Biography.”
I.T. Monday, May 30, 1949, JULIAN, U.S. TREASURER IS CRASH VICTIM – BETHESDA, MD., MAY 29, (AP) – W. A. Julian, treasurer of the United States since the earliest days of the Roosevelt New Deal, was killed today in a head-on automobile crash near here. Death was quick for the man whose flourished signature appears on every currency. His chest was crushed, and rescue squad members worked half an hour to extricate his body from the wreckage.
The other car’s occupants, William Ellis and Paul Smith of nearby Maryland communities, were only slightly hurt. No charges were filed in the accident. Julian’s death brought to life a secret carefully guarded by the retired and wealthy former banker – his age. A driver’s license showed it to be 73 (or 78 – can’t make out copy – smk)
Julian’s wife, Gertrude Means Julian, daughter of a former mayor of Cincinnati, died last March 24(6) at the age of ( ). They were childless. The late Mrs. Julian was a native of Ironton, a granddaughter of John Campbell, founder of Ironton; her mother was the former Mary Campbell Means. She was a distant relative of Mrs. Carl Moulton and Mrs. M. E. Edmundson of Ironton. The ashes of Mrs. Julian were brought here and buried in Woodland Cemetery.
Born on a farm near Frankfort, Ky., William Alexander Julian rose to become a shoe manufacturer, president of the Queen City Trust Company of Cincinnati, and a director of other banks.
A lifelong Democrat and one-time national committeeman, he dodged various appointment offers to public office. Franklin D. Roosevelt persuaded him to come to Washington to overhaul the nation’s fiscal system in mid-depression. The accident occurred this morning as Julian, driving alone, attempted to make a left turn as he neared the brow of a hill about three miles from his home in Rockville, Md., police said.
The office of Treasurer of the United States – not to be confused with the Secretary of the Treasury, a cabinet post – is essentially a banking facility for the government. Duties include the receipt, disbursement, and accounting for public money; the custody, issuance, and redemption of paper currency and coin; the safekeeping of securities. And the payment of principal and interest on the public debt. The treasurer receives $_0,330 a year.
Julian ran unsuccessfully for the U. S. Senate in Ohio in 1920, but thereafter he stayed behind-scenes politically. Funeral arrangements have not been made.
I.E.T. Wed., June 22, 1949 – JULIAN WILL CODICIL DECLARED INVALID – CINCINNATI, June 23 – (AP) – A codicil to the will of William A. Julian, leaving five-twentieths of a trust fund to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, has been declared invalid, it was learned Tuesday. Judge Chase M. Davies of Probate Court held the codicil invalid because the former treasurer of the U. S. had no witness present when he signed it.
No estimate was given on the fortune left by Julian, who was killed in an automobile accident on May 29. The original will, dated Oct. 28, 18__, provided an annual income of $36,000 a year to Mrs. Julian, and at her death, the income was to have been divided among Julian’s two brothers. The brothers and Mrs. Julian, however, are dead.
Walter Shohl, one of the late treasurer’s attorneys, said the will provided that on the deaths of the brothers and Mrs. Julian, the estate should be divided into twentieths with Berea College of Berea, Ky., and various charitable institutions sharing the estate. In the codicil the court held invalid, Julian deleted several original beneficiaries and stipulated that money goes to the Seventh Day Adventist Church “because of its splendid work.” Shohl said. Several other codicils providing for individual bequests also were declared invalid because they had not been witnessed.
Cincinnati, June 22, 1949 – The will of W. A. Julian was accepted for probate as originally written. In a codicil earlier held invalid, Julian had changed the will to give the Seventh Day Adventist Church 5/20 of his fortune.
Cincinnati, November 1, 1949. The Julian estate was valued at $4,457,988.41. Cash was $436,513; bonds, $177,678; stocks,$3,757.576; personal jewelry, $35 (a wristwatch); real estate, $150; notes receivable, $85,334.
Cash to Charles A. Julian, of Frankfort, Kentucky, a nephew, $100,000; $50,000 each to Mrs. Douglas J. Ebert of Birmingham, Alabama, and Mrs. Lillian J. Abbott, of Clearwater, Florida. An unestimated trust fund was to be divided among Berea College, Berea, Kentucky; Associated Charities, Y.W.C.A., Widow’s Home, Walnut Hills, Children’s Hospital, and Clovernook Home for the Blind.
Notes for Gertrude Means: Ironton Register Oct. 9, 1949 – Article about John Campbell states: The last living grandchild was Mrs. W. A. Julian, wife of the Treasurer of the United States, who died early this year. Mrs. Julian’s mother, Martha Campbell, married William Means, one-time mayor of Cincinnati.
Gertrude Means, daughter of William and Martha Elizabeth (Campbell) Means, was born about 1869 and married 5 Sep 1895 in Yellow Springs, OH, (55) William Alexander Julian, son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Laughlin) Julian, who was born 6 Aug 1861 in Franklin Co., KY. Gertrude died 25 Mar 1949 in Cincinnati, OH, and was buried in Ironton, Lawrence Co., OH, Woodland Cem. William Alexander died 29 May 1949 and was buried in Ironton, Lawrence Co., OH, Woodland Cem. In 1904, Mr. and Mrs. Alex Julian were living in New York.
Ironton Tribune, March 28, 1949
NATIVE OF IRONTON DIES IN CINCINNATI – CINCINNATI, March 26,
(AP) – Mrs. Gertrude Means Julian, 80, wife of Treasurer of the United States W. A. Julian, died at her home here yesterday after an illness of several months.
Julian, who disclosed his wife’s death on arrival today from Washington, said she had not been considered seriously ill. A native of Ironton, O., Mrs. Julian had been active in civil and philanthropic organizations throughout her life here. In 1936 she was presented to the court of St. James in London, the third Cincinnatian to be so honored.
The Julians had no children. Mrs. Julian’s two sisters, Misses Patti, and Pearl Means, died some years ago at their Yellow Spring, O., home. Julian said his wife had “left positive instructions to be cremated.”
Ironton Tribune, March 28, 1949
JULIAN SERVICE THIS MORNING AT WOODLAND
Private graveside services were held at Woodland cemetery this morning at 11 o’clock for Mrs. Gertrude Means Julian, wife of Treasurer of the United States W. A. Julian. Mrs. Julian died Friday at her home in Cincinnati, and the body was cremated yesterday.
Mrs. Julian was a native of Ironton. She was a granddaughter of John Campbell, founder of Ironton, her mother being the former Mary Campbell Means. Her father, William Means, served as mayor of Cincinnati in 1881.
Mrs. Julian was vice president of the Hamilton County Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and was a former trustee of the Widows and Old Mens Home in Cincinnati. She was presented to the Court of St. James in 1936. She last visited here 28 years ago but planned to return during the Centennial next October. She was a distant relative of Mrs. Carl Moulton and Mrs. M. B. Edmundson of Ironton.
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