Biographical Sketches
D. C. JACCARD
Commensurate with the progress and development of the west has been the growth of the immense business with which this gentleman is connected. He now occupies the position of vice-president of the Mermod & Jaccard Company, which controls to a great extent the jewelry trade of the Mississippi valley as well as a liberal share of the business in Paris.
Mr. Jaccard of this review was born in St. Croix, Switzerland, August 22, 1826, and descended from French Huguenot ancestry, who fled to Switzerland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and settled in St. Croix on the very first ground after crossing the frontier. Other members of the family remained in Picardy, France, and continued the original spelling of the name, which is Jacquard; but those who located in Switzerland adopted the spelling which is used by our subject.
Mr. Jaccard received the usual instruction of the public schools, and when 11 years of age was apprenticed to a jeweler and put to work on the construction of music-boxes. He was afterward taught the business of making watches, and his time was divided between this work and his studies. In 1845 he left the parental home, entering the normal school at Lausanne, where he pursued a 3 year course and was graduated with the honors of a class of 35. In order to defray the expenses of his own education, he taught for 2 hours each day and during the months of vacation followed his trade. He followed school-teaching for a year after completing his own course, and then the political differences in France and Switzerland in 1847-8 induced him to accept an invitation from his cousins, Louis and Eugene Jaccard, to accompany them to St. Louis. Together they left St. Croix, on the 24th of April, 1848, and reached their destination July 15, 1848. Mr. Jaccard at once began work in connection with his cousins at the business he learned in his youth, and to this vocation in its various departments he has since devoted his energies, while in the honest pursuit of a persistent purpose, combined with excellent managing powers and undaunted enterprise, he has risen to a proud position among the merchants of the New World. He was first an employee in the house of Louis Jaccard & Company, which on the 31st of December, 1848, passed out of existence, the senior partner selling a half interest to his nephew, Eugene, who carried on the business alone until 1852, when he admitted A. S. Mermod into a partnership. In 1855 our subject became a 3rd quarter and the firm of E. Jaccard & Company was established and continued business until May 1, 1864. In the previous year, however, the senior member had formed a partnership with Captains La Barge and Harkness, under the name of La Barge, Harkness & Company, for the purpose of trading and steamboating on the river. This being outside of the regular jewelry business it caused a disagreement among the member of the firm of E. Jaccard & Company, and Mr. Mermod and D. C. Jaccard, being apprehensive that their interests would suffer, sold out to Eugene Jaccard on that date, May 1, 1864.
Immediately afterward these 2 gentlement purchased a jewelry establishment, and, taking as a partner C. F. Mathey, founded the firm of D. C. Jaccard & Company. They were soon at the head of a good trade and throughout the subsequent period the progress of the firm has been steady and uninterrupted. Even during the period of general commercial depression - from 1873 until 1879 - the development of its business was unchecked. The business and facilities have been greatly increased until the establishment is now the rival in appointments, equipments and stock of the prominent jewelry houses of the country. In 1873 the firm style was changed to Mermod, Jaccard & Company, in order to prevent mistakes arising from the similarity of the 2 firm names. The policy of the house is one of the most commendable and has been adhered to, to the letter. Undoubtedly the success is largely due to this. When the new firm was formed the partners signed a written agreement that they would never speculate in anything, that they would never buy more goods than they could pay cash for, that they would not sign any notes or have any drafts drawn on them, and that at the end of every month they would carefully examine the condition of their affairs in order to act intelligently in the purchase of goods. The faithfulness with which they adhered to these regulations was soon discovered by manufacturers, all of whom became anxious to deal with such a house, and consequently the very best offers have always been at their disposal. The firm had its own manufactory for watches, the greater number of ladies' watches being made in St. Croix, Switzerland, by a house of which Mr. Jaccard's brother, Justin, is at the head. His cousins are also manufacturers of music-boxes there.
Mermod, Jaccard & Company also own a house in Paris, where V. Verseputy, a most expert connoisseur, watches the diamond market for them and selects all of their clocks and objets d'art. Two of the members also visit Europe regularly twice a year for the purchase of new articles in their line. The house has also representatives in Vienna, Bohemia, London, Birmingham, Sheffield and other European cities, and is so well known throughout that country that it can buy whatever it needs quite as well as in New York, such is its standing among manufacturers and those who supply it with its goods. This high reputation, it is needless to say, it enjoys as well in the United States and Mexico as in more distant lands.
Mr. Jaccard is of a quiet, retiring disposition, yet his name is connected with many works of charity, while many more of his benevolent acts have never reached the public notice, owing to his freedom from ostentation. As treasurer of the Societe du Sou par Semaine, he distributed during the war, in connection with the Sanitary Commission, over $20,000 to relieve the wants of persons on both sides. In 1868 he was appointed vice consul to Switzerland at St. Louis, and acted alone as consul for 2 years. In politics he is independent and an earnest advocate of civil-service reform, believing that candidates should be chosen with regard to the ability of the man and not to his party affiliations. In religion he is a Presbyterian, and was formerly an elder in Dr. Books' church. In 1855 he was united in marriage with the daughter of J. G. Chipron, brother-in-law of Rev. Dr. Grandpierre, of Pari, France, where Mrs. Jaccard was born. Her parents became residents of Highland, Illinois.
This page was last updated August 2, 2006.