USA > Indiana > Clark County > Baird's history of Clark County, Indiana > Part 11
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His marriage was blessed by the birth of a family of seven children, thus described : Minnie, wife of Charles Hoeffling, of Niles, Ohio; Amelia, wife of Edward Norton, of Jeffersonville; Max W., a carpenter and builder of the
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same city ; Harry, a resident of Cincinnati ; Rosa, wife of Fred Gepehart, like- wise of Jeffersonville; Emma, who remains at home, and Ernest, who is em- ployed in Cincinnati. Mr. Glaser is a member of the Independent Order of . Odd Fellows and the Eagles. He at one time served in the City Council, and worships at the Lutheran church. Through his mother Mr. Glaser is an heir to the great Koller-Scheller estate at Bamberg, Bavaria, and the family have great expectations in this direction. It is often a topic of conversation at the family fireside and the children as well as the parents love to dwell on what they will do when this Bavarian money comes to enrich them. All of their friends, and they have many, hope to see them realize on this good fortune and feel sure that if it comes the Glasers will spend it with the prudence and wise frugality that is characteristic of people of the great German race.
THOMAS L. LECLARE.
Jeffersonville has long been a producer of railroad men and many of them make their homes in this city. This sketch will tell something about one of the most popular of the younger generation in charge of the great trans- portation system of the country, carrying passengers and freight to every point and corner of the Union. The founder of the family here was Peter F. LeClare, a native of France, who came to this country many years ago. He married Susan Gardener. Their son, also named Peter F., married Mary, daughter of Thomas D. and Margaret ( Bell) Lindsay, a family of Scotch- Irish descent, who came here from Northern Ireland. Thomas D. Lindsay was in the employment of the old Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad during the Civil war. Peter F .LeClare had four children, Thomas L .. James N., Ida and Susic. Ida married Oscar Bateman, of Jeffersonville. The mother of this family had two sisters, one of whom married a Mr. Smith. an engineer, and the other a Mr. Harrod, who is a conductor, and both well known in railroad circles. Members of the Lindsay family have been in the employment of the local branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad ever since the beginning of the Civil war.
Thomas L. LeClare was born at Jeffersonville. October 28, 1870. After going through the public schools he learned the moulder's trade, but soon abandoned this to indulge in an inherited tendency for railroading. Ever since June, 1893, he has been with the Pennsylvania lines in one capacity and another until finally he reached the grade of conductor on the Louisville di- vision. During the terrible floods of 1883, 1884, in the Ohio river he was newsboy and at considerable peril to his life courageously delivered his papers in a skiff. His father was a member of the police force and also street
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commissioner of Jeffersonville, in which positions he gained a wide acquaint- and achieved popularity as an efficient official. Mr. LeClare belongs to Hope Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and Division No. 303, Order of Railway Con- ductors.
June 8, 1892, Mr. LeClare was married to Nora, daughter of Thomas J. and Elizabeth (Robbins) Donahew, who brought Mrs. LeClare here from Scott county when she was eight years of age. They have one daughter, Inez. The parents are members of the Wall Street Methodist Episcopal church and popular figures in the younger social set.
JOSEPH C. DOUBET.
A number of French immigrants settled in the region around the Falls of the Ohio during the first half of the nineteenth century and their descend- ants may be found throughout Kentucky and Indiana. Usually they seek the agricultural pursuits, especially fruit growing, though they are frequently found in connection with the mechanical arts, in which their nation is fa- mous. They seem to have a special talent for engineering and France has pro- duced some of the greatest engineers of the world, both in civil and military life. Jeffersonville has been fortunate in her citizenship of French extraction and in none more so than the young man whose name heads this sketch. His ancestors were early domesticated in America, as it was as far back as 1827 that his grandfather, Peter Doubet, reached these shores. He was a native of LeRoy, France, and a member of a social connection, widely known at that place in the older days. Peter settled in Portland, Kentucky, and it was at that place that his son, Joseph P. Doubet, was born. When a boy he removed to New Albany, where eventually he learned his trade and in due time became master mechanic in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad. When the Civil war broke out he determined not to be out-done in patriotism by any of his neighbors, but to offer his services in the cause of the Union. With this end in view he enlisted in the Twenty-third Regiment and went to the front and served faithfully for three years. Starting a private, he rose to the rank of first sergeant, and his comrades always spoke of him as a faithful soldier, who was always ready for his duty, however arduous it might be. He mar- ried Mary B., daughter of Perry Wilson, a native of Orange county, Indiana. but removed to Clark county and lived there for some thirty years, north of Jeffersonville, engaged in farming. It was at this country home that his daughter was married and here he resided until the day of his death.
Joseph C. Doubet was born in New Albany, November 28, 1873, but was brought to Jeffersonville by his parents during infancy, and has remained here
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ever since. He was educated in the public schools but also took a course in the business college at New Albany. Having a natural turn for the me- chanical arts, he cultivated that faculty diligently until he became a licensed steam and electrical engineer. In 1889 he helped wire Jeffersonville for the first electric lights and has ever since been engaged with city lighting and contracting companies. He has built several electric lighting plants, including the one at Corydon. His brother, Morton Doubet, was killed on electric wires in Jeffersonville, August 17, 1903, the first accident of the kind in the city.
On March 18, 1897, Mr. Doubet married Roberta, daughter of Wil- liam and Henrietta Simms, of Corydon, Indiana.
JOSEPH G. MOORE.
Wherever found the Englishman is able to hold his own with the best and usually he makes a good citizen, a good worker, and 'a reliable employe. A fine sample of the English working class is afforded by Joseph G. Moore, who was born near Bristol, England, January 7, 1841. He was still under age when he reached the shores of America and during the Civil war was employed on a steamboat engaged in the Lake Erie trade. At a later period he went to the new state of Nebraska, which was then sparsely settled and still decidedly of the "wild and woolly West." Omaha, however, already showed signs of becoming a city of importance and in this young town Mr. Moore secured work in the car shops of one of the railroads. He did not re- main there long, however, but shortly after the close of the Civil war located at Jeffersonville, and was employed for a brief period for the American Car & Foundry Company. He then established a news agency and took charge of the circulation for the Indianapolis Journal, the Cincinnati Enquirer, Louis- ville Courier-Journal, Louisville Times and Jeffersonville Times. He built up a business in this line which yielded him a fair livelihood, and continued the business until the time of his death, August 29, 1906. For several years, while a resident of Port Fulton, he was a member of the school board, and at one time acted as its treasurer. He was a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church at Port Fulton, and of Clark Lodge, No. 40, Free and Accepted Masons.
In 1883 Mr. Moore married Mrs. Mary E. Girdner, widow of John Gird- ner, of Greenville. She was the daughter of William and Thruza Mcclellan, of Memphis, Indiana, where the former ran a wool carding machine. Mr. and Mrs. Moore had two sons, Joseph Granville and Orville Frank, both quiet and unassuming boys of steady habits and excellent character. Joseph is a promising student at DePauw University, and Orville has charge of his
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father's business, which he is managing with good judgment and success. Gran- ville McClellan, a brother of Mrs. Moore, is conductor on the Baltimore & Ohio Raliroad, and resides in Jeffersonville. Mrs. Amanda Huckleberry, Mrs. Moore's only sister, is a resident of Newburg, Oregon. Mrs. Moore's cozy little cottage shows by its neat appearance the presence of a good house- keeper and all the surroundings give indications of a happy and affectionate family.
EDGAR LEON CREAMER.
The founder of this name in Clark county was James Creamer, a native of North Carolina, who came to Floyd county, Indiana, In the early days, making the long trip overland in a wagon. His son, Benjamin J., married Harriet Cox, a woman of an excellent family and many domestic virtues. Her parents came from Sunset. Kentucky, and most of her male relatives were connected in one way or another with the river service. James Phillips. her brother-in-law, was an inventor of useful appliances connected with steam- boat engines. He and one of the Cox brothers lost their lives by the explosion of the steamboat "Missouri," on which they were employed.
Edgar L. Creamer, a son of Benjamin J. and Harriet (Cox) Creamer, was born in Floyd county, Indiana, February 26, 1861. During his boyhood he resided in New Albany, but came with his parents to Jeffersonville in 1875. His father was a ship carpenter and an employee in Howard's ship yards for many years, until his death in 1905. Mr. Creamer learned the stove moulder's trade and followed it for seven years and then devoted his time for four years to car building. From this he went into the bakery busi- ness, which he has carried on for some eighteen years with fair success and also conducts a grocery in connection with the former. In addition to his other lines of work, he has had experience in blacksmithing and painting. He is a member of Myrtle Lodge, Knights of Pythias, in Jeffersonville. His brother, Walter Cox Creamer, removed to Alaska and has charge of a large amusement place at Dawson City.
On October 26, 1890, Mr. Creamer married Helena Marie F., daughter of Charles and Katherine Seitz. The father was born in Germany in 1835. and the mother was a daughter of Joseph Schraffenberger. Charles Seitz. served four years as a soldier during the Civil war, and made a good record in the Federal army. Mr. and Mrs. Creamer have three children: Charles Benjamin, Leta Lucile and Catherine Cox. It will be seen that the Creamers are of excellent stock on both sides of the house and their relatives have done their full share in upbuilding the industries and transportation systems of the lower Ohio valley. As steamboat men, skilled mechanics, and in other lines
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of business the Creamers, Coxes and Seitzes have worked faithfully and suc- cessfully and have long been favorably known to those who do business on the great river and in the towns and cities along its banks. Edgar Leon Creamer has worked his way up through various useful employments until he is now able to live comfortably and independently on the resources he has earned as the result of a life of industry and saving. Still in the prime of life he may reasonably look forward to many years of happiness surrounded by a growing family and loving wife and a household possessed of all the com- forts and many of the luxuries that make living enjoyable.
WILLIAM WEBER.
It was during the Civil war that a German family by the name of Weber came over and settled in Louisville. Three sisters of German birth by the name of Carl sought a home in the same city, where one of them married John Troxler, another, John Decker, while the third became the wife of John Weber, a son of the first mentioned immigrants. After marriage the latter couple settled in Jeffersonville, where the husband became an undertaker in the employ of the government to bury the soldier dead. They had eight chil- dren, all but one of whom are living. Nellie, the one who died, was the wife of John Yonkers, an engineer on the Pennsylvania Railway. The survivors are: Matilda, who married J. E. C. Eaken, of Jeffersonville ; John, who mar- ried a Miss Shaw, and has earned a competence in California, where he re- sides; Edward, who married Mary Pillion, and is engaged in the whole- sale grocery business in Jeffersonville; Anna, the wife of Thomas Gorman, resides in Borden, Indiana ; William, our subject ; Nora, at Bedford, Indiana : Henry, also married, is a resident of Los Angeles, California.
William Weber, who is number five in the above list, was born at Jef- fersonville, March 23. 1863. At fourteen years of age he obtained a unique employment, which amusingly illustrates the progress of events during the last thirty years. His duty was to ride a horse down the track in front of trains and flag the people to get out of the way at crossings. Safety gates. towers and automatic switches were wholly unknown in those days and the roads had not even adopted the device of placing flagmen at the crossings. Young Weber got along very well as an outrider for trains until one day a team of mules, driven tandem and drawing a coal cart (a feature peculiar to Louisville), was ground up in the horrified presence of the boy. This was too much for his tender nerves so he threw up his job and quit the railroad life forever. After considerable experience in various mercantile lines and as traveling salesman for a wholesale grocery, Mr. Weber went into the grocery
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business for himself in 1886, and has prospered. His stand is on Spring street, and is now one of the best known business points in Jeffersonville. In addition to his regular line he does a large business as shipper of butter, eggs. poultry and other produce. He is energetic and progressive, a good buyer as well as seller of popular address and understands both how to get and how to keep customers.
November 28, 1907, Mr. Weber was married to Mrs. Theresa Laurie, an estimable and intelligent member of one of the city's substantial families. She was the widow of the late William Laurie, superintendent of the foundry for the American Car & Foundry Company of Jeffersonville.
WILLIAM QUICK.
In brief space is to be here reviewed a sample of the self-made and well made man. William Quick was born in Jeffersonville, March 18, 1861, and is still in the prime of life. His parents were Warren Thomas and Hen- rietta (Hyman) Quick, who were unable to do much for their promising boy and at an early age he was compelled to shift for himself. During his youth he obtained some valuable experience as a clerk in the grocery line. He was fortunate in securing the friendship of Eli Thompson, a well-to-do and meth- odical business man, whose advice and example proved valuable. After con- ducting concerns for two others successfully, Mr. Quick wisely determined to branch out for himself, realizing that no one ever gets rich working on a small salary. He was unfortunate, however, in choosing a poor locality and the venture proved unprofitable. The next move turned out better. While working for the wages of a day laborer he had been saving and the proceeds of this thrift enabled him to make an investment that turned out prosperously. Disposing of this at the right time he found himself in possession of a snug sum which only needed prudent investment to yield fair results. In Novem- ber, 1897, he bought the place where he is at present located and where he has built up an excellent business. The establishment includes a large stock of groceries, combined with dry goods and notions, and is conducted with the skill and good judgment acquired during a lifetime of training in prac- tical affairs. In this same place two others before him had failed in the effort to build up in the same line of goods and there was a general prediction that he also would fall a victim to the "hoodoo." Nothing daunted, he took hold and in three years has not only established a thriving mercantile plant, but has also acquired seventeen pieces of real estate, which is productive of a re- liable income. All of this has been accomplished by hard work on limited resources and in spite of the obstacles which beset every venture in the world of trade.
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July 1, 1886, Mr. Quick was happily married to Emma, daughter of Charles and Rosanna Schiffer, of Jeffersonville. They have four children : Samuel H., Carrie B., Edwin I .. , and Martha. They are all promising and show that they have inherited the qualities of their father. Mr. Quick is a member of the Kwasind Tribe of Red Men and affiliates with the Lutheran church. Though not a society man he has mingled much with those who carry on the business affairs of the city and being a good mixer has acquired a large acquaintance and many warm friends who admire his many excellent traits of character. Those who find life hard and are struggling against the difficulties of a cold world may take courage and a new resolution by re- ferring to the career and achievements of William Quick.
JOHN B. MURPHY.
This sketch deals with one of the wealthiest as well as one of the most successful of the vast army of Irish who figured prominently in the develop- ment and progress of our transportation facilities.
John B. Murphy was born at Toledo, Ohio, June 29, 1852, his parents being Michael and Mary Murphy, who emigrated from Ireland a few years previously. Their son remained at the place of his birth until he reached the age of twenty-one, when he started out to seek his fortune. Coming first to Louisville he soon crossed over to the smaller town of Jeffersonville and suc- ceeded in getting a job with the Pennsylvania Railroad on December 2, 1872. His first position was as night switchman in Louisville, and later in the same line of work at Jeffersonville, which was followed by promotion to the yard foremanship, in daytime. In 1879 he was made yard master in Jefferson- ville and two years later was given the place of yardmaster at the Tenth street transfer station in Louisville. In November of the same year he was transferred to Jeffersonville as yardmaster, which he held until July. 1891, when he was promoted to the general yard mastership in Louisville, which position he still holds, showing a continuous service with the Pennsylvania of over thirty-six years. Mr. Murphy has been honored with various posi- tions of trust both by election and appointment. He served in the City Coun- cil continuously from 1890 to 1900. In 1901 he was appointed a member of the Board of Metropolitan Police Commissioners by Governor Durbin, and was re-appointed on the expiration of his term in 1904. In 1907 Governor Hanly selected him as his own successor and he is now serving his third term in this important position.
In 1873 Mr. Murphy married Margaret E. McManus, by whom he has eight children, five reaching maturity: Frances Louisa, who is the wife of
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Charles Kerrigan; James P., a resident of Louisville; Genevieve, John B., Jr., who is married and lives near his father's home, and Mary, the wife of Joseph Clem, of Jeffersonville. Mr. Murphy is a member of the Catholic Knights of America, the Knights and Ladies of America, Knights of Co- lumbus, and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. The family are members of the St. Augustine Catholic church and are numbered among the esteemed people of the city, both in their social circle and in the industrial world, where Mr. Murphy has so long borne his share in the duties and responsi- bilities.
JOSEPH GOODMAN.
When Isaac Whiteside was just beginning his bakery in a simple way at Jeffersonville there came to him one day a young German seeking employ- ment. The proprietor, who is a good judge of men, was pleased with the ap- plicant and gave him a trial at moderate wages. This young man, like most of his countrymen who come over here "made good," to use one of our American colloquial terms. Born in Germany in 1860, son of Andreas and Mary Goodman, he had learned the baker's trade at an early age of fourteen years and soon began to long to try his fortune in the great Republic across the sea, of whose opportunities for gaining wealth he had often heard. He finally succeeded in his ambition and in 1882 found himself on the docks of the great city of New York. Determining that he could do better inland he lost little time in the East, but pushed resolutely toward the land of promise beyond the Alleghanies. It was in 1883 that young Goodman appeared before Mr. Whiteside, after a short service with whom he determined to branch out for himself. In the fall of 1884 he founded a partnership with Gottlieb Heil- enman for the purpose of conducting a bakery, but this was soon dissolved and Mr. Goodman assumed sole charge of the business. In 1886 he moved to a more eligible situation, on Spring street near Court avenue, where he gradually added a stock of groceries and the two combined soon began to show signs of prosperity. After eleven years at this stand the store was es- tablished in a building across the street at the location which has become one of the well known features of the city. German thrift and industry never fail to produce results, and what was a very small affair at first has developed slowly and conservatively into a prosperous bakery and grocery in combina- tion. Mr. Goodman, like all Germans, is sociable and companionable, with a fondness for fraternities and societies for improvement and recreation. He is a member of the Order of Modern Woodmen, treasurer of the German Aid Society and a devoted adherent of St. Anthony's Catholic church.
May 31. 1881, Mr. Goodman married Emma, daughter of Edward and
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Rebecca (Nock) Kasper, and they have four children. The eldest took for his wife Lillie Belle Meisner and they have two children, Marvin Joseph and Emma Louise. The father is a plumber and dealer in plumbers' and pas- fitters' supplies; Harry, Edward and Emma, the other three children, reside with their parents. The Goodmans have their residence in the same build- ing as the store, which is open all the time and presided over by a family that never forgets to be affable and courteous. As in the typical German house- hold. the good wife is a large factor, and Mrs. Goodman is no exception to this rule.
CAPT. WILLIAM HOWARD.
The prospects were not pleasing when George and Katherine (Hoke) Howard moved from their Kentucky home to the wilds of Clark county, In- diana. Their land of five hundred acres, situated about two miles from Charles- town, where the county asylum now stands, was almost a virgin forest. Great has been the transformation as today it is triangulated with railroads, a trolley line and a turnpike. With this pioneer couple came William Howard, a son, who was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, and became a partner in a firm of contractors engaged in building Market street from the car works to the Howard Ship Yards. For two years he ran an omnibus line from the end of the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad to New Albany, and served as City Marshal from 1857 to 1861. In the latter year he enlisted as a private in a company of the Fifty-third Regiment Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry, but soon elected second lieutenant and at the battle of At- lanta obtained promotion to the captaincy. He took part in the battle of Chattahoochee river, the siege of Corinth, the engagements at Grand Gulf and Jackson, Mississippi, and maneuvers which drove the Confederates be- hind the walls of Vicksburg. During the siege that followed the Fifty-third Indiana was under fire of the enemy's guns for thirty-seven days and Cap- tain Howard shared fully in all his regiment's dangers. After the surrender he helped to drive Gen. Joe Johnston's forces from Jackson and was with the triumphant Sherman in all the fighting from Chattanooga to Atlanta, during the memorable campaign of . 1864. While at Chattanooga he was on de- tached service in command of a large force of men looking after the convales- cents drafted and wounded. He was in the engagements of North Carolina, preceding the surrender of Joe Johnston and helped to give the final strokes to the dying Confederacy. After the war Captain Howard was employed for a while as a guard at the State Prison, South, and later was appointed Deputy Warden under Colonel Schuler. As a carpenter and inspector of goods he was employed for thirty years in the quartermaster's department but resigned
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