A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume II, Part 117

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006

USA > Indiana > A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume II > Part 117

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the second. Fathers Dillon, Corby, and Lemonier have since filled the presidential chair, and Father Corby is now acting president. The foundations of the Univer- sity of Notre Dame were deeply and solidly laid during Father Sorin's administration ; improvements went on gradually, until the place looked more like a town than a college. The main edifice is six stories high, one hundred and sixty feet in length, and eighty feet in width. It is surmounted by a colossal statue of Notre Dame. On the 31st of May, 1866, the new building was dedicated and the statue blessed by Archbishop Spalding, assisted by five bishops and a great number of priests, in the presence of a large concourse of people. The college church, called the Church of the Sacred Heart, a large and imposing edifice, built in Gothic style, stands on the shore of St. Mary's lake, on the site of the log house which Father Sorin found there. The intellectual and spiritual growth of Notre Dame has been no less vigorous and constant than her material progress. The Ave Maria, a widely known religious journal, was started by Father Sorin, who was its editor for two years. It was afterwards conducted by Father Gillespie until his death, in 1874. The presidency of Father Sorin was a time of struggle and triumph, that of Father Dillon of great business activity, while during that of Father Corby there was carnest devotion to learn- ing and the standard of education was greatly elevated. To Father Granger the religious societies owe much. The literary and dramatic societies are indebted to Fathers Gillespie and Lemonier and to Professor Lyons. As a compliment to Father Sorin, in the summer of 1872 a chapter of a religious order was appointed to be held at Notre Dame. It was the first one ever held on American soil, and representatives came not only from the United States, but from Canada, France, Algiers, the East Indies, and even from Rome. Father Sorin, now Superior General of the Holy Cross, though vener- able in years, is still vigorous in health, while many of his original helpers have passed away. He has mani fested from the first a deep love for his adopted coun- try, and his sentiments are known to such an extent that, notwithstanding his French birth, he is called the American even by the Pope, who, in spite of his known American sympathies, gave readily the required apos- tohe sanction, when the general chapter of his order, presided over by Cardinal Barnabo, elected Father Sorin Superior General. Father Corby was at the same time elected Provincial of his order in the United States, in Father Sorin's place. Consequently, Notre Dame has never been a foreign institution, but one in which every American may feel at home. One of its beautiful hails, which is adorned with a life-sized portrait of Washing- ton, was named and dedicated in his honor by Father Sorin, and Washington's birthday is always a gala day at Notre Dame.

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TUDEBAKER, CLEMENT. Among the pioneers of Indiana there are many "self-made men ;" but there are none more notable among the enterprising manufacturers of our state than the four brothers who are the subjects of the brief sketches here, and who now constitute the great house of the Studebaker Brothers' Manufacturing Company. Clement Studebaker, president of the company, was born March 12, 1831, near Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania. His father, John Studebaker, though born in this country, was of German parentage. His business was that of a village blacksmith-a horse-shoer and wagon-maker- and he it was who, in 1818, made the first Studebaker wagon known to the world. In 1835 he emigrated with his family to Ashland county, Ohio. Here Clement obtained the rudiments of his early education, which was limited to the meager opportunities of the district school. His father being a man of limited means, Clement assisted in the support of the family by the labor common to frontier life, such as wood-chopping and farming. His early experience, with his struggles for the necessities of life and limited means for obtaining education, renders his future success in life all the more striking. At the age of fourteen he was employed on a farm at two dollars a month. Tiring of this occupation, he returned to the shop of his father to learn the trade of blacksmithing and wagon-making. He finally became a journeyman, and, following the "Star of Empire " westward, he located at South Bend, Indiana, with the small sum of two dollars on hand. For temporary em- ployment he engaged in teaching a district school, de- voting all his spare hours to the mastery of the lessons he was to impart to his pupils. Having finished his time as teacher, in which he was successful, he went to work at fifty cents a day with a firm manufacturing threshing-machines, receiving increased wages, how- ever, as soon as he became a proficient workman. Hav- ing decided to make South Bend, then an enterprising town with a population of about twenty-five hundred (but now a city of fourteen thousand), his future home, he determined to turn his trade to account, and to estab- lish a blacksmith and wagon-shop. In this enterprise he associated himself with his elder brother, Henry, and thus, in 1852, the two formed the copartnership of HI. & C. Studebaker, with a combined capital of sixty- eight dollars. Their shops were of that primitive char- acter common at the time, and their general business was horse-shoeing, blacksmithing and repairing. They met with fair success in their new undertaking, and during the first year they found time to turn out two wagons. These were made in the way then custom- ary-with their own hands. Thus was laid the founda- tion for their future success. In 1857 a very favorable opportunity presented itself to them, and, fortunately, they were in a position to take advantage of it. Terri-

torial troubles on our western frontier were threatened, and the United States government required a large number of heavy transportation and army wagons for its expedition west; and the young firm was fortunate in securing a contract for building a considerable num- ber. To them this was a propitious hour. It was that

"Tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."

They delivered the first hundred wagons within ninety days after receiving the contract. The rapidity with which that order was executed is the more remarkable when we consider that a part of the timber was standing in the forest at the time they received their commission, and had to be cut, seasoned, and shaped by hand-work, while the iron was to be forged on anvils, as black- smiths have wrought ever since the time of Tubal-Cain. The successful completion of this undertaking at that period in the history of this firm was a large and an important push forward. It is all the more creditable when we remember the great depression of trade in 1857. Such were the difficulties and so many were the embarrassments which at that time surrounded them, on account of their limited means, that many of their friends predicted failure. Money was then compara- tively scarce, and the currency of the West was princi- pally issues of state stock banks, and other " wild-cat" issues, whose values were unsettled and uncertain. But their agreement with the government was satisfactorily executed, the quality of the work being fully up to the required standard; and thus they gained their first laurels as manufacturers. In 1858 Henry retired from the firm to the business of farming, and was succeeded by his younger brother, J. Mahler Studebaker, lately re- turned from California. In 1864 Peter E., a third brother, was admitted into the firm; and in 1868 Jacob F., the fourth and youngest brother, was admitted to partnership. During this year, in order to facilitate the transactions of a large and increasing business, a stock company was organized and incorporated under the laws of Indiana, with the corporate name of the Studebaker Brothers' Manufacturing Company. Clement now be- came president of the company; and with this union of the ability and energy of the four brothers, and with their diversified characteristics and thorough adaptation to the various departments of their business, the strength of the organization was greatly increased, and the busi- ness entered upon a new era of progress, each year show- ing marked and substantial growth, until the company attained its present proud position, having become the largest establishment in the world for the manufacture of wagons and carriages. Clement Studebaker was one of the United States commissioners from Indiana to the World's Exposition at Paris in 1878. He is now senior vice-pres- ident of the Carriage Builders' Association. He has always taken an active interest in all that pertains to the trade

Clem Studebaker

MStudebaker

STUDEBAKER

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he represents, and his efforts are untiring to assist in its successful development. He has held offices of public honor and trust; but the best energies of his busy life have been given to the development of the trade and the building up of the great wagon and carriage facto- ries of which he is now president. He is a consistent member and an active worker in the Methodist Episco- pal Church of South Bend, and has contributed largely towards its maintenance and prosperity.

TUDEBAKER, PETER E., treasurer of the Stu- debaker Brothers' Manufacturing Company, was born in Ashland County, Ohio, April 1, 1836. He is the fourth of the five sons of John Studebaker, and the only one who was not bred a wagon-maker. He early manifested marked fondness and ability for business. He spent two years in the employment of a brother-in-law, who was a merchant, and then left for the West, arriving in South Bend with a five-franc piece in his pocket as capital. The day after his arrival he ob- tained a situation as clerk in a dry-goods store, a position he retained, with a gradual increase of salary, three years. He had then saved one hundred and fifty dollars. With this capital he started as a peddler, driving through the country and selling his dry-goods and notions, and, though meeting many difficulties, in a short time added seven hundred dollars to his small stock. In 1856 he married, and in April of that year opened a retail store at Goshen. This he carried on with success until 1860, when he engaged in selling wagons for his brothers. In 1868 he removed to South Bend. The next year he became an equal partner with his brothers, Clement and John M., in the company, and removed immediately to St. Joseph, Missouri-at that time the great outfit- ting point for California, Oregon, Montana, and Santa Fe. He soon built up a large trade in wagons for the plains, and their wagons became favorably known throughout the entire West. In 1871 he returned to South Bend, where he now resides. He possesses finan- cial ability, strict integrity, and indomitable will, and great powers of physical endurance.

TUDEBAKER, JOHN MOHLER, vice-president of the Studebaker Brothers' Manufacturing Com- pany, was born in Adams County, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1833. At the age of twelve years he began business on his own account by taking a contract to clear a swamp for the sum of twenty-six dollars. By the transaction he made ninety cents a day, which at that time was considered good wages for a man. His other early engagements for labor were compara-

tively profitable. In 1851 he removed with the family to South Bend, Indiana, and in the spring of the fol- lowing year engaged himself to a German wagon-maker. At the expiration of one year, in the eighteenth year of his age, he determined to seek his fortune in the gold fields of California. He traded the first wagon he ever made for a passage to the Pacific slope. This wagon was taken the overland route to California, and was the first Studebaker wagon ever seen in that country. At the end of the journey it readily sold for three hundred dollars in gold. On Mr. Studebaker's arrival at Placer- ville he commenced making wheelbarrows, at twelve dollars apiece. In 1858 he returned to South Bend and purchased his brother Henry's interest in the manufac- turing company of Studebaker Brothers, becoming an equal partner with his brother Clement; but exposure and hardship had so undermined his health that, by the advice of his physician, he spent eighteen months trav- eling in Europe; visiting England, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Ireland. Ile returned fully re- cuperated, and prepared to meet all the exigencies of an active business life. Mr. Studebaker is now vice- president of the great manufacturing company of Stude- baker Brothers. He is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, and is an active worker and a generous contributor to all charitable enterprises and public improvements.

TUDEBAKER, JACOB FRANKLIN, secretary of the Studebaker Brothers' Manufacturing Company, was born in Ashland County, Ohio, May 26, 1844, and, with the other members of his father's family, came to South Bend in 1852. At the age of thirteen years he commenced work for himself as a farmer boy, at six dollars a month, continuing at this and other kinds of manual labor for about three years. In the mean time, deciding to learn the trade of carriage trimming, he went to Tiffin, Ohio, and apprenticed himself to Peter Van Ness. After acquiring a good knowledge of this business, he returned to South Bend and engaged as a carriage trimmer in the shops of his elder brothers. Thus far his opportunities for acquiring education had been limited, and so he availed himself of a two years' course at the University of Notre Dame, near South Bend. Among other acquirements he became proficient in bookkeeping, and the various forms of commercial business. On leaving Notre Dame he went into the service of the company as assistant in the office, with a general supervision over the labor and carriage depart- ments. In 1868 he was admitted as a member of the company, and subsequently became superintendent of the carriage works. He has devoted himself since then almost exclusively to the development of this important branch of the company's great works. Mr. J. F. Stude-

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baker has entire charge of the carriage department, and by his thorough knowledge and practical experience, good taste and mature judgment, is peculiarly adapted to this important position, and for the thorough man- agement of this prosperous branch of the company's business.

A short sketch of the present extent and conduct of this great manufacturing company will not be inappro- priate in this connection. In fact, it seems necessary to be done, in order to illustrate the rare business character- istics and remarkable success of its members. The works of this company now occupy fully twenty-six acres of ground, on which are established their vast shops, lum- ber sheds, store-rooms, repositories, and offices. The main factory buildings have a frontage of 500 feet on the east; and on the north, along the Lake Shore and Mich- igan Southern Railroad, of 600 feet. Their carriage fac- tory fronts on Michigan Street 198 feet, and Jefferson Street 165 feet ; and their repository, on the opposite side of the stiet, 122 feet wide, by 165 feet deep. These buildings average three stories high, are substantially built of brick, and are of handsome architectural de- signs. They have had the experience of nearly all manufacturers of long standing. The works of this company have twice been partially destroyed by fire. In 1872 their wood-working shops were burned, and in 1874 fully two-thirds of their new factory was totally destroyed. In these two conflagrations their losses ag- gregated fully four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, only partially covered by insurance. But, like the fabled phoenix, the edifices rose from their own ashes, greater than before. The destroyed buildings were rapidly replaced by new and more elaborate structures, to which have been added many considerable exten- sions, until they have reached their present immense dimensions. In the factories of this company-in this miniature world-are found every device and machine necessary for forming and shaping wood and iron in the construction of wagons and carriages. Their car- riage factory embodies all the skill, mechanism, and art required for the production of every variety and style of fine carriages and buggies suited to the needs of the country or city, either for business or pleasure. Steam power is employed, consisting of three huge engines, aggregating one thousand horse-power. They propel over one hundred and fifty various machines, giving employment to about nine hundred skilled men, the whole being under the most thorough and complete man- agement in all departments. The trade of this com- pany extends throughout all the American states, and to all the borders of civilization. Joining hands with the commerce of the world, "whose daughters have their dowers from the spoils of nations," they have widened their trade to Mexico, to the " Dark Continent,"

Europe, and other parts of the old world. The eminent success of these " self-made men," rising, as they have, from humble beginnings, is among the most brilliant achievements in manufacturing in modern times. These achievements, however, have not been reached by sim- ply "a leap to the summit ;" but that height has been attained through a series of more than twenty-five busy years, attended with many vicissitudes and attendant struggles. They have kept pace all the time with every modern and valuable improvement, and thus their work has become world-renowned, and the subjects of these sketches take rank among the leading artisans and fab- ricators of the world.

AYLOR, COLONEL LATHROP M., was born February 4, 1805, in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. When he was four years of age, his parents removed to Buffalo, in the same state. After two years, they went to Detroit, Michigan, where they remained three years, and then moved to Alex- andersville, Montgomery County, Ohio. In the spring of 1820, being fifteen years of age, Mr. Taylor removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he remained six years. September 25, 1827, he settled on the St. Joseph River, the whole county being at that time a wilderness. Mr. Taylor went to the place under a contract with Mr. Samuel Hanna & Co., who wished to open a store to trade with the Indians, He remained in this position four years, when he entered into partnership with Mr. Ilanna, investing two thousand dollars in the business. After continuing in this relation for five years, he bought his father's interest for five thousand dollars, and carried on the business alone until 1856. For the next ten years he was engaged in buying furs, and in other trading with the Indians. In November, 1830, Mr. Taylor, in connection with Alexis Coquillard, purchased a quarter section of land on the St. Joseph River, on which the city of South Bend is laid out. He was ap- pointed postmaster of South Bend, June 6, 1829, and served for ten years. He was elected clerk of the County Court, August 1, 1830; and he was made county recorder, holding the office seven years. From 1832 to 1837 he filled the office of colonel of the 79th Regi- ment of Indiana Militia. He was one of the first trus- tees of South Bend.

EEGARDEN, DOCTOR ABRAHAM, of Laporte, Indiana, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, September 22, 1814. His father, William Tee- garden, a native of Pennsylvania, settled in Ohio in 1804 with his wife and two children. He was a man of a generous disposition and a kind friend to the In- dians, whose camp-fires blazed near the door of his

Paternally Jours Henry . Thayer

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cabin. In this wilderness he cleared a large farm, brought | ber 31, 1807. He received very little instruction in the up a family of twelve children, saw them all married and settled, and died at the ripe age of eighty-four. Abraham Teegarden worked upon the farm and attended school three months every winter until he was seventeen. At that time symptoms of pulmonary disease were discovered; he was therefore relieved from hard labor. At sixteen he commenced a course of study at Worthington College, and subsequently studied medicine with his brother Eli, at Mansfield. In 1837 he removed to Laporte, Indiana, when he began practice. In 1838 he had become so pros- perous that he was free from debt, owned a good horse, and had an extensive business. In 1840 he built a new office in a more central portion of the town. In 1841 he attended the Eclectic Medical College, at Cincinnati, where he improved his medical knowledge, paying par- ticular attention to anatomy and surgery. In 1849 he was a Whig candidate for the Senate from Laporte, Porter, and Lake Counties, and was elected by two hundred over the Democratic candidate, Major McCoy. In 1850-52 he served in the state Senate. The next six years he devoted to his profession, but, his health failing, he was obliged to abandon it. From 1850 to 1860 he filled various mu- nicipal offices. In 1860, after much solicitation, he con- sented to accept the Republican nomination for state Sen- ator from Laporte and Starke Counties, and was elected over Henry Wiggins by nine hundred and twenty-seven, serving during the stormy session of 1861, when nerve and pluck were required to save the state. In 1857 he visited Kansas and took part in the sports of the territory, cap- turing buffalo, etc. In 1840 he married the daughter of Samuel Treat, formerly of Otsego County, New York. Doctor Teegarden has displayed no ordinary amount of energy and industry, both in public and private life, and has done as much as any man in advancing the interests of Laporte. During the war few men in the state were more active in encouraging enlistments, caring for the soldiers and their families. He gave pecuniary and professional aid to the sick and wounded at Harrison's Landing, Fort Donelson, Pittsburgh Landing, and the siege before Vicksburg. In 1851 he built the Teegar- den House, since the leading hotel in the city. In 1877 Mr. E. R. Marshall became proprietor of the house and refurnished it throughout. He is a genial man, and prides himself upon being able to furnish his guests a better cup of coffee than can be had at any other hotel in Northern Indiana.

HAYER, HENRY G., a grain dealer and prom- inent citizen of Plymouth, was born April 20, 1834, in the town of Euclid, Onondaga County, New York. His parents were the Rev. George HI. and IIannah (Griffin) Thayer, who were also natives of that state. The Rev. Mr. Thayer was born Decem-

common schools, but by diligence qualified himself to enter the Onondaga academy in his twenty-first year, from which he subsequently graduated with honors. Although skeptical for a season in his youth, further study of the Bible restored his confidence and he be- came deeply religious. In 1832 he entered the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for forty-eight years has devoted himself to that work. From a sense of duty he has refused all compensation, supporting his family by secular occupation. He is a profound thinker, clear and forcible writer, and strong and convincing speaker. At the advanced age of seventy-two years, his physical and mental powers are well preserved, and his style of speaking and writing presents that force and va- riety which characterized him thirty years ago. Henry G. Thayer, his son, had few educational facilities. The family moved to Indiana in 1845, and settled in Peru, Miami County, where he attended for three years a school taught by his father. They then went to Mar- shall County, where during the winters of 1849 and 1850 he engaged in teaching. The careful training he had received from his father and his general knowledge emi- nently fitted him for the position. In 1850 he acted as clerk for H. B. Pershing, with whom he remained about six months, and for the next five years was employed by John L. Westervelt and Rufus Hewett as salesman, bookkeeper, and confidential clerk. Subsequently, he entered the Iron City Commercial College, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated with high honors. Returning to Plymouth, Indiana, in 1857, he accepted the position of bookkeeper in the dry-goods house of Cleve- land & Hewett, remaining there for about six months, when he was appointed deputy sheriff of Marshall County. Soon after, relinquishing that office, he commenced the grain trade, with headquarters at Plymouth, where he built the first grain warehouse and established the first market of that kind in the county. In 1859 he became asso- ciated in the grocery business with N. R. Packard, and, later, in dry-goods with A. L. Wheeler. Mr. Thayer afterwards connected himself with N. H. Oglesbee in the general lumber trade, continuing until 1868, when he disposed of it to Mattingly & Black, thenceforth giving his whole attention to dealing in grain. This he has carried on successfully, each season increasing in mag- nitude for twenty-one years. Mr. Thayer takes the first rank in his community as a business man. He is watchful and systematic in all his transactions, and is noted for his financial ability and for his prompt and honorable dealing. He has accumulated an ample for- tune by untiring industry and unswerving integrity. He was a believer in the doctrines expounded by Henry Clay when the Whig party was in existence, but became a Republican in 1854, and has since been an earnest supporter of that party. He has for the past six years

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A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume II, Part 117

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1006

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1006