USA > Indiana > A History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922 > Part 58
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Trigg county. He died in January, 1886, aged seventy-nine years. His first wife, Susan Rowlett, a native of Virginia, died when still a young woman, in 1840, leaving three sons: Dr. Charles P., of this review; Dr. Thomas L., formerly a physician and surgeon at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he died in 1918, aged eighty-six years ; and Mathew Lyddall, first a merchant and then a real estate dealer of Memphis, Tennessee, who died in that city in September, 1897, aged sixty-three years. Charles A. Bacon took for his second wife Mrs. Margaret -Radcliff, nee Gibson, a native of Kentucky, and they also had three sons: Malcolm McNeil, who died in 1905, aged fifty-eight years ; John A., a farmer on the old homestead in Trigg county, Kentucky ; and Hilary E., a merchant of Evansville. Charles Parks Bacon attended the public schools and after an aca- demic course enrolled as a student in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in 1861. At that time he commenced practice at Cadiz, the county seat of Trigg county, Kentucky, to which county he had gone with his parents when about ten years of age, beginning his professional work in June. 1861, and continuing it there for twelve years. In 1873 he came to Evansville and began practice and for forty-four years labored faithfully in alleviating the ills of his fellow humans in this community. He became widely known and greatly beloved and his name is still revered in many households where his skill and faithfulness withstood the ravages of some dread disease and stayed the hand of death. His profes- sional service was always discharged with a leen sense of con- scientious obligation, and he never refused a call to the sick bed of the poor regardless of remuneration. He retired in 1917, greatly to the regret of the people among whom he had labored so long and so successfully. Doctor Bacon is a member of the Vanderburgh County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, of the first-named of which he was one of the organizers and a charter member. For a number of years he was a member of the faculty of the Evansville Medical College, at first occupying the chair of Anatomy. Two years later he was transferred to the chair of Surgery, which he held for sev- eral years and then resigned, but later the board, insisting that he return, offered to create any chair that he might request, and this resulted in the creation of the chair of Surgical Diseases of Women, in which capacity he served until his resignation, one year before the college was abandoned. He was for many years visiting surgeon to St. Mary's Hospital, also counselling surgeon at the Deaconess Hospital, and physician and surgeon to the Rathbone Memorial Home, being a trustee of the latter institution. In politics Doctor Bacon is a Democrat, and in former years took an active interest in local affairs, always casting the weight of his influence in sup- port of men and measures working for the public good. Although not a politician nor an aspirant for public favors, he took and active interest in the success of his party, and in 1896 was an elector on
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the Palmer and Buckner ticket. He has been associated as a di- rector with the Citizens National Bank for more than forty years, and is recognized as a man of sagacity and probity. Fraternally, Doctor Bacon is a Mason of high standing. He has passed through all the chairs of the various bodies of York Rite Masonry, and is a thirty-second Scottish Rite Mason. He and his family have lived at the same address, 921 South Second street, for more than fifty years, having occupied their home there since February, 1873. Doc- tor Bacon was married January 23, 1866, to Miss Emma C. Mayes, who was born at Cadiz, Kentucky, in 1845, a daughter of Mathew Mayes, one of the most prominent lawyers of his day in the state of Kentucky. Mrs. Bacon died October 27, 1918, leaving one daugh- ter: Emma Mayes, who was born at Cadiz, Kentucky. She at- tended the graded schools at Evansville and later the Home School at Louisville, completing her education at Mount Vernon Seminary, Washington, D. C. In 1895 she married Clarence L. Hinkle, of the Hinkle Shoe Company, Evansville, and they have one daughter : Charline Mayes Hinkle, who was born at Evansville, April 6, 1900, and after attending the public schools pursued a course at Ward-Belmont School, Nashville, Tennessee. The family are mem- bers of the Christian Church, or Disciples of Christ, in the work of which the late Mrs. Bacon was exceedingly active, it being doubt- ful if any one in Evansville had more to do with building up that church than she. A woman of exceptional mental capacity and much beauty of character, she was greatly admired for her sterling qualities and philanthropic activities. Her kind heart and sympa- thetic nature was evident in all matters tending to the public good and her friends, who were as numerous as her acquaintances, en- tertained for her the warmest regard.
Hilary E. Bacon, president of the H. E. Bacon Company, op- erators of one of Evansville's important business enterprises, a lead- ing department store situated at the corner of Sixth and Main Streets, has been a resident of this city for half a century and is a splendid example of self-made manhood. He was born at Roaring Springs, Trigg county, Kentucky, November 6, 1851, and received a public school education. When still a youth he secured his first employment, that of a clerk in a general store of his native commu- nity, his remuneration for his labors amounting to $25.00 per year. From Roaring Springs he went to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he obtained like appointment, for which he received $50.00 and board for his first year, advancement in his salary being made dur- ing the following two years that he remained at that place. In 1873 Mr. Bacon came to Evansville, feeling that this city offered greater advantages and opportunities to an aspiring and ambitious youth, and for nearly six years was employed as a clerk. In 1878 Mr. Bacon engaged in the mercantile business with three partners. At that time he was possessed of a capital of $450, carefully saved from his meager earnings, and a friend backed him to the extent of $3,000, at ten per cent. interest, to put into the business. At the end
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of six years the interest of one partner was purchased. Two years later another partner sold his interest, and at the end of three years more Mr. Bacon bought out the last remaining partner. All of these three men are now deceased. In association with A. P. Lahr, Mr. Bacon converted the business into a department store at the present location at the corner of Sixth and Main Streets. Mr. Bacon bought Mr. Lahr's interest in the business in 1916 and re- organized the concern under the name of the H. E. Bacon Company, instead of the former style of Lahr-Bacon Company. The new concern has prospered greatly and justly merits its reputation of be- ing one of Evansville's leading mercantile enterprises. Mr. Bacon personally, occupies a prominent place in business and financial cir- cles. In addition to being president of the H. E. Bacon Company, he has been a director of the Citizens National Bank twenty years, and for the past two years the vice-president of this institution, and is a charter member and a member of the board of directors of the Morris Plan Bank of Evansville. He has several fraternal and so- cial connections, and he and his family are members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. He takes a keen interest in civic affairs without being an aspirant for public or political positions. In 1888 Mr. Bacon married Albion, daughter of Rev. Albion Fellows, who was minister at the time of the building of Trinity Methodist Epis- copal Church. Four children have been born to this union: Mar- garet, a graduate of Evansville High School, who completed a course at Mrs. Summer's School, Washington, D. C., and died at the age of twenty-one years; Albion, the wife of George D. Smith, treasurer of the H. E. Bacon Company, with one son, George Da- vis; Hilary Edwin, Jr., a graduate of Evansville High School, who attended the Wisconsin University for two years and is now a junior at Evansville College ; and Joy, his twin, a graduate of Evans- ville High School, who spent two years at the University of Wis- consin, and is now a student at Radcliffe University, Worcester, Massachusetts.
L. M. Baird's Sons. Among the old and reliable business firms of Evansville, of more than a half a century's standing is that op- erating as L. M. Baird's Sons, which was founded in 1866 and has been conducted by members of the same family ever since. This concern is dealer in dynamite, and the enterprise is flourishing and constantly growing under the capable and energetic management of John B. and Herbert M. Baird, sons of the founder. L. M. Baird was born in Spencer county, Kentucky, in 1831, the son of a weal- thy planter and slave owner. Not believing in the institution of slavery, he eventually freed his negroes and moved to Vigo county, Indiana, where his death occurred when L. M. Baird was about eight years of age. The latter acquired his education in a public school in Vigo county, which was located several miles from his home, and as a young man went to Worthington, Indiana, where he was employed until 1861. He then located at Evansville, where he became bookkeeper for a Mr. Aikman, one of the early commis-
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
sion brokers of the city, and in 1866 became the founder of the mining and sporting powder business, which was first conducted under his own name and later as L. M. Baird and Sons, from which latter it was changed to its present style. Mr. Baird was a splendid business man and built up a large and prosperous enterprise, with which he continued to be the directing head until his death, Jan- uary 12, 1907. He was made a Mason about 1852, and continued to be connected with that fraternity all his life, taking much interest in its affairs and enjoying its social qualities. Mrs. Baird, who was a member of the Presbyterian church, died in 1872, having been the mother of six children, of whom four grew to maturity. John B. Baird was born November 10, 1863, across from the City Hall, Evansville, and received his education in the public schools. He was but fifteen years of age when he joined his father in the dyna- mite business, at 220 South Water Street, but later, in order to bet- ter fit himself for business affairs, pursued a course at the Curnick & Rank Business College. He has passed his entire life with this business and is one of the best known men in his line in the Middle West. Herbert M. Baird was born at Evansville, January 27, 1871, and was educated in the public schools, being a graduate from the high school. He spent several years at Dallas, Texas, as a book- keeper, and also was on the road as a traveling salesman for a salt concern, but about 1893 returned to Evansville and became inter- ested in the business of his father, to which he succeeded as part proprietor at the time of his fathers death. Mr. Baird married Miss Grace Katherine Kraft, who is deceased, and they had four children: Ludwell McDonald, who is deceased; Grace Virginia, a graduate of the Evansville High School, and now the wife of Syl- vester Korb; George Malcolm, a graduate of the Evansville High School and of the University of Illinois, class of 1923, and now en- gaged in the insurance business at St. Louis, Missouri; and John Pierson, a graduate of Evansville High School and of the Univer- sity of Illinois, class of 1923. John B. Baird makes his home at 103 Powell Avenue.
Harry W. Balz. For sixty-five years the grocery establishment now conducted by Harry W. Balz at 723 South Second Street, Ev- ansville, has been in operation, and during this long period has never been out of the possession of the family. The present pro- prietor, who is the son of the founder, has conducted the business for thirty-one years, and has a well-established and steady trade, which has been built up through the medium of fair representation, honest prices and courteous treatment. Mr. Balz was born in the building in which he is now doing business, August II, 1863, and is a son of Peter and Julia (Hess) Balz. Peter Balz was born in Ger- many in 1832, and came to the United States and to Evansville in 1858, on February 22 of which year he embarked in the grocery busi- ness at the present location. His start was a modest one, but his enterprise and industry enabled him to build up a large business, and he continued to be identified therewith for thirty-two years, or
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until 1890, when he retired. Mr. Balz was one of the old-time gro- cers who made friends of their customers. He was greatly re- spected, especially by the children of the community who were al- ways assured of a treat of candy or other sweets when they visited the store. Mr. Balz passed to his final rest March 15, 1916. He married Julia Hess, who was born at Evansville, and was a daugh- ter of Henry and Julia Hess, natives of Germany. Mr. Hess set- tled at Evansville at an early day and first went to work in a brick yard, where he first received seventy-five cents per week and later seventy-five cents per day. He was possessed of persistence and great ambition, and with these assets made himself a prominent and prosperous brick manufacturer. During the last twenty-five years of his life he lived in retirement, having a comfortable income as a result of his intense application during the earlier years. Mrs. Julia Balz died May 19, 1907, at the age of sixty-eight years. She and her husband were the parents of nine children, of whom seven are living. Harry W. Balz attended the public schools until reach- ing the age of sixteen years, at which time he began to clerk in his father's store. Soon after the elder man's retirement, the son took over the management of the store, and since 1892 he has been the proprietor of this business, which he has made a most successful one. He carries a complete line of first-class goods and the man- ner in which he conducts his business affairs has given him a high standing in business circles and a place in the confidence of the people of his community. Mr. Balz is the owner of a handsome home on Lombard Avenue. He and his family are members of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, in the work of which Mrs. Balz is active. On September 30, 1892, Mr. Balz married Miss Anna Bamber, of Evansville, and they became the parents of two children: Grace, who was born August 15, 1894, and died at the age of nine years. Harry W. Jr., who was born August 25, 1904, is a graduate of the Evansville High School, class of 1922, and is now a student at Purdue University.
James York Welborn, M. D., who has earned special distinction as a surgeon, has for twenty years been associated with Dr. Edwin Walker of Evansville in the Walker Hospital, and is now the head surgeon of that noted institution. Doctor Welborn represents one of the oldest families of Southern Indiana, and also an American ancestry that goes back to the founding of Virginia. He was born at Stewartsvile in Posey County. He is a lineal descendant in the tenth generation from John Welborn, who settled at Jamestown, May 24, 1610. The heads of the successive generations in the American ancestry are as follows: John, Jonathan, Captain Thom- as, Samuel, John, Jesse York, William Wallace, Dr. George Walk- er and James York. Doctor Welborn's great-grandfather, Jesse York Welborn, a native of North Carolina, moved to Kentucky and thence to the Territory of Indiana prior to 1810. He had lived here half a dozen years before Indiana became a state. Locating at Mount Vernon, he was a man of prominence in that locality for many years, serving as postmaster. He wore the tall silk hat then
James y Welborn Mal.
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
the fashion, and the story goes that he carried the few letters con- stituting the mail for Mount Vernon in this headgear and handed them out to the addresses as he met them. He was also a member of the first State Legislature. The medical profession is a tradition in the Welborn family. Doctor Welborn's grandfather, Dr. Wil- liam W. Welborn, who was born at Mount Vernon, Indiana, grad- uated from the Evansville Medical College and after a brief prac- tice in that city removed to Stewartsville in Posey County and con- tinued his professional work until his death at the age of fifty-six. He married Hannah Walker, a sister of Dr. George B. Walker, of Evansville, dean of the Evansville Medical College. She survived her husband several years and died at Evansville at the age of seventy-eight. Dr. George W. Welborn, father of James York Welborn, was born at Mount Vernon in 1843, attended old Asbury College, at Greencastle, Indiana, and soon after the breaking out of the Civil war entered the Union army, and on account of his med- ical knowledge was assigned to hospital duty. He was in the army until the close of hostilities, and returning home soon engaged in the mercantile business at Evansville. Later he took the full course of the Evansville Medical College, graduating in 1877, and began practice in his father's home town, Stewartsville, and con- tinued his labors until his death at the age of sixty-one. He mar- ried Martha Stinnette, who was born in Elkton, Kentucky, daugh- ter of Whiting and Nettie (Britton) Stinnette. They had four children, named William, Annie, James York and Helen. James York Welborn acquired his early education in the public schools of Stewartsville, also attended his father's alma mater, DePauw University, and from there entered the Marion Simms Medical School in St. Louis, from which he graduated in 1899. In the same vear he came to Evansville and became associated with his cousin, Dr. Edwin Walker in the Walker Hospital. Doctor Welborn has always been a close student of his profession, has taken numerous post-graduate courses and is a member of the American College of Surgeons as well as of the County and State Medical Societies and the Ohio Valley Medical Association. In 1902 he married Mamie Begley, daughter of Dr. Baxter Begley, of Inglefield, Indiana. They have three children: Susanna Jane, James York, Jr., and Mary Aline. Doctor and Mrs. Welborn are members of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a member of the official board. He has served as city health officer of Evansville, and dur- ing the war accepted an appointment as consulting surgeon of the Marine Hospital at Evansville, serving without pay. Fraternally he is affiliated with Evansville Lodge No. 64, Free and Accepted Masons ; Evansville Consistory, the Temple of the Mystic Shrine; Evansville Lodge No. 143, Knights of Pythias ; Lodge No. 214, In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, and Evansville Lodge of Elks. He is also a member of the Country Club. Doctor Welborn is an enthusiastic hunter and has visited the canebrakes of Louisiana, the tangled jungles of Missouri and the forest fastnesses of the State of Maine in search of big game. He humorously states that most
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
of the big game was alive at last accounts, and while this is no dis- credit to his marksmanship, it is evident that Doctor Welborn is more a hunter for the sake of outdoor life than for the trophies of the chase. At home he has evinced a fondness for the pursuit of horticulture, particularly the growing of peaches. He developed an orchard of 100 acres in Georgia, and now has seventy-five acres of fine fruit in Vanderburgh County. The patriotic services ren- dered during the war by Dr. J. Y. Welborn of the Walker Hos- pital as consulting surgeon at the Marine Hospital, serving with- out pay, have brought him recognition and honor. He has been issued a commission as surgeon in the United States Public Health Service, carrying the rank of major. His term will be for five years. Doctor Welborn offered the Walker Hospital and the serv- ices of its staff of physicians and nurses to the government when the amended physical qualification ruling was adopted, placing registrants with minor defects in a remedial group to be accepted when cured. The Walker staff assisted in examining registrants of the First Division and tendered their services in caring for the families of soldiers. In 1921 Dr. Welborn was elected to the office of City Councilman at large, by the largest majority of votes of any man on his ticket.
William P. Barbero. One cannot consider the long and success- ful career of William P. Barbero, of Evansville, without receiving a renewed appreciation of the homely qualities of industry, integ- rity and perseverance. Mr. Barbero entered upon his career with only an ordinary public school education, started to work when practically still in boyhood, and through the force of his own initia- tive and persistence worked his way to business prominence as pres- ident of the Boyer-Sheridan Company, dealers in furniture. He was born September 7, 1863, in Spencer county, Indiana, and as a youth was taken by his parents to Hancock county, Kentucky, where he secured the benefits accruing from attendance at the country schools. When fourteen years of age the family moved to Illinois and the youth gave up his studies to work on a farm, a vo- cation which he followed for two years. When his parents moved to the town of Olney, Illinois, he obtained employment as a clerk in a retail store, and when he was twenty years of age he left the parental roof and went to Cairo, in the same state, where he was similarly employed for ten years. During his residence at that point, he was united in marriage with Miss Minnie May Page, of Centralia, Illinois, and not long thereafter moved to St. Louis, Mis- souri, where he became a traveling salesman. During the following fifteen years Mr. Barbero covered various sections of the Middle West as traveling representative of some of the large wholesale es- tablishments of the Mound City, and in 1915 settled at Evansville, where he formed a connection with a furniture manufacturer, for whom he traveled through this territory for about five years. Mr. Barbero then decided to embark upon a venture of his own, and in January, 1920, with others, founded the Boyer-Sheridan Company, for the retailing of furniture. In 1923 the company was incorpo-
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rated with Mr. Barbero as president; Walter A. Beckerle as vice- president, and Harley H. Boyer as secretary and treasurer, and the concern is now enjoying a thriving business. The commodious es- tablishment is located at No. 211 South Second Street, where may be found a complete stock of furniture, carpets, rugs, etc., the con- pany being equipped to cater to the most representative trade of the city. Mr. Barbero is well and favorably known in business cir- cles of Evansville, and is accounted a man of executive ability, good judgment and progressive methods. He is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and a supporter of activities that promise beneficial results to his adopted city. Mr. and Mrs. Barbero reside in a comfortable and attractive home at No. 730 Adams Avenue, and are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They are the parents of one daughter : Ionette, who is now the wife of Harley H. Boyer, secretary and treasurer and one of the organ- izers of the Boyer-Sheridan Company.
Edward C. Becker. The qualities of adaptability, perseverance, good judgment and common sense have combined with inherent ability in the energetic life of Edward C. Becker, winning for him an enviable rank in the business life of Evansville. A resident of this city all of his life, Mr. Becker is known principally to its citi- zens as the energetic and courteous proprietor of a grocery at Eighth and Chestnut Streets, which for many years was conducted under the style of the William E. Meier Grocery Company. Mr. Becker was born at Evansville, in September, 1872, and is a son of Herman F. Becker. His father, who was born in Germany in 1828, was given a public school education in his native land, where he learned the trade of tailor, and when about twenty-six years of age emigrated to the United States, seeking the broader opportunities offered for advancement in this country. He located at Evansville in 1854 and here was given employment by a Mr. Strous, who con- ducted a tailoring establishment. Later, after he had accumulated some small capital, Mr. Becker embarked in business on Main Street, in partnership with a Mr. Davidson, and finally opened a more elaborate establishment at Mary and Franklin Streets, where he continued in business until his death in 1911. Mr. Becker mar- ried at Evansville, Miss Sophia Meier, who was also born in Ger- many, and came to the United States when a young lady about eighteen years of age. She died in 1915, aged seventy-nine years, having been the mother of eleven children, of whom eight are liv- ing. Mr. and Mrs. Becker were faithful members of Trinity Luth- eran church, and were honest, industrious and law-abiding residents of their community, where they were universally respected and es- teemed. Edward C. Becker attended the parochial school of Trinity Lutheran Church, and when still a lad went to work in the planing mill of Schnute-Holtmann Company. After spending a number of years in that business he became associated with his father-in-law, William E. Meier, in the conduct and operation of a grocery estab- lishment at Eighth and Chestnut Streets. After the death of Wil-
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