USA > Indiana > Clark County > Baird's history of Clark County, Indiana > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
Mr. Payne is well known as a Mason and is a member of the Clark Lodge, No. 40, Free and Accepted Masons. He is also a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and numbers a majority of the citizens of his na- tive town among his friends.
HENRY J. VOLMER.
Henry J. Volmer, of Jeffersonville, Clark county, is one of the younger generation of business men, the product of our modern educational system --- equipped in every way to grapple with the conditions of the present day- who of later years have been steadily obtaining a firm foothold in the business life of our towns and cities. Coming as he does of sturdy German ancestry, with racial and inherent talents developed and sharpened by a suitable course of study, he has made the most of his advantages, and so stands today well to the forefront in the business life of the community. He has shown himself already to be a citizen with a high conception of conduct; and, as freight agent for the large interurban traction interests he has proven exceptionally obliging and courteous.
Mr. Volmer was born in Evansville, Indiana, on the 16th of February, 1884, and was the son of Henry F. Volmer and his wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Blaser. Henry F. Volmer came from Evansville while his wife hailed from Springfield, Illinois, and both were of German extraction. Henry J. Volmer attended the public schools of Evansville and of Jefferson- ville and passed through the Bryant and Stratton Business College in Louis- ville. In April, 1896, when in his twelfth year, his family moved to Jeffer- sonville. Here Henry F. Volmer, who was a printer, held a position for many years on the Jeffersonville Journal.
At the close of his business college course Henry J. Volmer entered the employ of Louis Zapp & Company, of Louisville, as bookkeeper, where he remained four and a half years. He then became tax clerk with the Allen- Bradley Distillery Company, a position of considerable responsibility. His early business experience was further supplemented in such large concerns as the Belknap Hardware & Manufacturing Company and the American Car & Foundry Company.
5.56
BAIRD'S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.
On June 1, 1906, Mr. Volmer became freight agent for the Louisville & Northern Railway and Lighting Company and the Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction companies, and also the Indianapolis & Louisville Trac- tion Company. He was the first to hold this position in Jeffersonville. When he took hold there was but one traction line in operation in Jeffersonville, namely : the Louisville & Southern Indiana, the freight business of which was operated as an express company. A year later the Louisville & Northern entered the field. They were followed by the Indianapolis & Louisville. Mr. Volmer accordingly became freight agent for all three of them with head- quarters for all combined and, as the express feature was not allowed by their charters, it was eliminated and the regular freight business carried on.
Henry J. Volmer is unmarried and lives in the family residence with his parents. In religion he is a member of the local Presbyterian church, He has always evinced much interest in fraternal affairs and is foremost in many societies. He is a member of the Jeffersonville Lodge, No. 340, Free and Accepted Masons ; of the Hope Lodge, No. 13, Knights of Pythias; of the Knights and Ladies of Honor, Mystic Tie, No. 7, and of the Apollo Athletic Association, of which he is a charter member. In the Knights and Ladies of Honor he is now ending his second term as presiding officer. In October, 1908, he was one of their representatives at the Grand Lodge celebration in Indianapolis.
WALTER LEWIS LEMMON. '
The family of this name, long well known in Clark county, came from a sturdy ancestry of Kentuckians and Ohioians. James H. Lemmon, who was a native of Frankfort, Kentucky, located in Jeffersonville about 1859. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted in the Twenty-first Indiana Artillery, with which he served two years and nine months. Being attacked by typhoid fever he was removed to a hospital in Washington City and after his recov- ery was mustered out of service. Returning to Jeffersonville he learned the bricklayer's trade, at which he worked most of the time during the remainder of his life. That he was a man of some prominence and popularity is known by the fact that he served from 1871 to 1875 as City Marshal. On November 26, 1867, he was married to Georgiana Lewis, in the Wall Street Methodist church at Jeffersonville. She was the daughter of Felix R. and Patience (Wood) Robinson Lewis, the latter a native of St. Clairsville, Ohio. Felix Lewis became prominent as a farmer and in later life resided at Jefferson- ville. His father, Myron William Lewis, was a veteran of the War of 1812, and is buried in the old graveyard on Mulberry street, in Jeffersonville. His wife's maiden name was Sarah Antrim. James H. and Georgiana (Lewis)
557
BAIRD'S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.
Lemmon had three children: Walter L., James Harry and Elizabeth W. Elizabeth is now the wife of L. S. Wilbur; James H., commonly called Harry, is superintendent of J. B. Speed & Company's cement mills at Milltown, In- diana. He married Virginia Trotter, of Crawford county, and they have one son, Nicholas R.
Walter Lewis Lemmon, eldest of the family, was born at Jeffersonville, Indiana, May 29, 1871. He grew up and attended the public schools of his native town and his first job of work was on the folding machine in the mail- ing rooms of the Louisville Post. Subsequently he obtained a position in the press room of the Louisville Courier Journal. About 1889 he became a fire- man on the Pennsylvania Railroad and retained this place for some seven years, changing in January, 1896, to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In 1900 he was promoted to the position of engineer and has a run on the branch line between Jeffersonville and Watson. He is a good workman and has the confidence of his employers, as his long continued service with the same com- pany amply proves.
On September 26, 1894, Mr. Lemmon married Mamie E., daughter of Fred and Anna B. ( Pfeffer) Graham, both of Kentucky. Mrs. Lemmon is a native of Louisville. They have two children, George Henry and Anna Eugenia. Mr.' Lemmon belongs to Jackson Lodge, No. 146, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, of Seymour, and Division, No. 39, Brotherhood of Loco- motive Engineers. He has a happy home circle and derives his chief pleas- ure from their company, his run being so arranged as to enable him to spend his nights at home.
JONAS DAVID BIGELOW.
In the older days the Bigelows were one of the substantial and well known families of New England. As in the case of many other families of that section they sent representatives to the West when the tide of emigra- tion was settling in that section and in time the name became identified with states in the central Ohio valley. Jonas Dexter Bigelow, when a young man, decided to leave his home in Boston and seek fortune in the growing state of Indiana. He settled in Lafayette, married Sarah Smith, who was born in Ohio, but reared in the vicinity of Logansport, and engaged in business, but died early in the year 1854, before he had reached middle age. After his death his wife gave birth to a child, who was christened Jonas David Bige- low and who was born at Lafayette, Indiana, November 16, 1854. His mother remarried and brought him to Jeffersonville, during his boyhood. After leaving school he obtained a position at the car works, but after work- ing there for a few years entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad
558
BAIRD'S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.
Company as a fireman. Later as the result of industry and attention to duty he was promoted to the other side of the cab and made an excellent rec- ord as a reliable engineer. Mr. Bigelow was an attentive reader of the press, and fond of good literature, with the result that his friends always found him well posted on current events and able to talk intelligently on many subjects. He held the honorable position of treasurer in the Brotherhood of Locomo- tive Firemen and enjoyed high standing among his brethren of the railway world. He also held membership in the Knights of Pythias and the Knights and Ladies of Security. Religious in his opinions, correct and moral in his habits, he was a devout member of the Presbyterian church. Fond of his home and much attached to his wife and children he was never so happy as when with his family and to them he gave all of his spare time.
On April 12, 1883, Mr. Bigelow married Elizabeth Jane Holden, a most excellent woman of a highly respectable family. She was the daughter of Thomas and Henrietta (Sherman) Holden, the latter a cousin of Gen. Wil- liam Tecumseh Sherman, her birthplace being Coolville, Athens county, Ohio. Thomas Holden was a native of Baltimore, Maryland, but came to Ohio about 1851. In 1856 he brought his family to Louisville, Kentucky, and soon after removed to Jeffersonville. He obtained employment in the river part of the town and was working there when the call to arms was sounded in the fateful spring of 1861. At this time he was serving as mate on a boat which took part in the operations that led to the capture of Island No. 10, during which he had a taste of fighting on the Mississippi river. In 1864 he enlisted as a private in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-fourth In- diana Volunteer Infantry, with which he went to the front and served until the close of the war. A shoemaker by trade he had laid up a competence suffi- cient to provide for his family during his absence. In fact it was love for his family and desire that they would be above want that prevented him from en- tering the service at an earlier date. For sixteen years after the war he held a position at the government depot in Jeffersonville and was highly esteemed by his employers and those with whom he served. His daughter, Elizabeth, who afterward married Mr. Bigelow, was born on a farm in Ohio previous to the coming of her parents to Jeffersonville. By her marriage she became the mother of five children, in whom she took great pride, the chief desire of her life being to give them a good education. They proved unusually quick to learn and have fulfilled all expectations by the success with which they have met. Ella Jane, the eldest, is teaching in the Jeffersonville high school; Julia Alice, after studying physical culture and gymnastics at the Normal school of the North American Gymnastic Union in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. obtained a position at Menominee, Wisconsin, where she is now teaching these branches in the Stout Training School; Adeline is a graduate from the Jeffersonville high school, and Jonas David and Marguerite are pupils in the
.
559
BAIRD'S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.
Jeffersonville public schools. Mr. Bigelow died February 6, 1904, since which time his widow has looked after the children and her property interests in a way to show that she is not only a good mother, but a good business woman. She owns several pieces of real estate and is highly regarded by all who come in contact with her in a social way.
LOUIS SAUNDERS.
The founder of the Saunders family was an Irishman who came from Dublin early in the nineteenth century and lived to the phenomenal age of one hundred and fourteen years. He left a son who lived to complete his ninety-eighth year and in turn this octogenarian had a son who almost equalled his father's age. Thus it will be seen that the family is remarkably long- lived. The last mentioned was Charles Saunders, who established himself in the county in Kentucky of which Lexington is the county seat, and grew wealthy as a farmer and stock raiser. He married Zelphy Duncan, reared a family of robust children and passed to his reward in 1908. at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. Louis Saunders, the well known and popular hotel-keeper of Jeffersonville, was one of the children of this venerated Ken- tucky farmer and keeps up the reputation of the family for industry, genial- ity of temperament and faculty for getting along in the world. He was born at Lexington, Kentucky, July 31, 1859, and grew up on a farm in Jessamine county, Kentucky. Schools were poor in those days and Mr. Saunders had but limited opportunities for securing an education. It cost seven dollars a month and the chances for attendance seldom reached beyond three months of the year. There were academies in the county seats, but few of the coun- try boys could take advantage of them, owing to expense and distance from their homes. When twenty-one years old Mr. Saunders went to Lexington and worked a year in the business of stair building. Not finding this very remunerative he established a saloon in Lexington and continued in this busi- ness for eight years.
In 1889 he disposed of his plant and went to Cincinnati, where he opened a saloon and restaurant and conducted them with fair success for six years. In September, 1895, he removed to Jeffersonville, where he was employed with the Prudential Life Insurance Company for nine months and then em- barked in the installment plan furniture business, which occupied his atten- tion for eight years. Rather accidentally he opened the Cottage Hotel in 1904, the beginning of it being the taking in of boarders during the National G. A. R. encampment at Louisville. This paid him so well that he decided to go into the business regularly and he has made a success of it.
560
BAIRD'S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.
Today he has one of the cleanest, most inviting and home-like hotels in Jef- fersonville. His place was originally a large dwelling house, which he has thoroughly fitted up and adapted to hotel purposes. In good times he had two adjoining houses annexed to his main establishment and spent one thou- sand nine hundred dollars for furniture and fixtures for the extra rooms and . equipment. Like all hotel-keepers he has had his ups and downs with periods of hard and flush times, but on the whole has prospered and established his reputation as a popular caterer.
In March, 1885, Mr. Saunders married Mary, daughter of Philip and Mary Koch, of Lexington, Kentucky. They have four children, Ora, Bloom- field, Emanuel and Letcher. Mr. Saunders is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Elks and the Christian church.
JOHN RAUSCHENBERGER.
Germany, celebrated for its manual training and industrial schools, has not only benefited greatly herself in all branches of manufacture and me- chanical arts, but has sent her children to every country of the world as a precious contribution to that department of skilled labor most potential in adding to the wealth of nations. The United States has benefited greatly in this way and much of her commercial supremacy is due to the infusion of German blood. A fine sample is John Rauschenberger, whose life is now to be sketched in a manner all too brief for the merits of the subject. He was born in Unterwaldach, Wurtemburg, August 2, 1833, his parents being Michael and Eva (Broesamle) Rauschenberger. When nineteen years of age he came to Detroit, accompanied by his sister, Margaret, who married at Michigan City, Indiana, Andrew Kalmbach, also a native of Germany, subsequently coming to Jeffersonville, where her husband died in 1907. Mr. Rauschen- berger was a proficient blacksmith and worked in a car and locomotive shop at Eslingen in Wurtemburg, while still a boy. After reaching Detroit he worked for a short time at his trade, but soon went to Michigan City because of the opportunities for better employment. Securing a position in the car works at that place he remained there twelve years and enjoyed that prosperity which always comes to the frugal and saving. In March, 1865, he came to Jeffersonville at the earnest solicitation of the founders of the car works and was placed in charge of the blacksmithing department. He had already established a home in Michigan City, and his former employers were loath to lose him. but after investigating the prospects he concluded to cast his fortunes with the city by the Falls of the Ohio. He remained with the car works until the plant was sold to the American Car & Foundry Company, when he resigned his
ـمنـــ
John Rauschenberger
561
BAIRD'S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.
position and retired in 1899. For a long time he had managed his department by contract, hiring his own men and having absolute control. In 1872 Mr. Rauschenberger had a very pleasant visit to his old home in the Fatherland. It was the first time he had been over in twenty years and many changes were noted since he, a poor and friendless boy, left home for the distant land of America. Although he had sent his relatives a picture of himself, sur- rounded by two hundred employes, here in the United States, they failed to recognize him, and for a pleasantry he pretended to be a lumber-buyer, in which role he transacted some business with them before making himself known.
He is a genial, kindly dispositioned man, and lives comfortably but un- ostentatiously in a cozy home facing the Ohio river, opposite Louisville.
In 1857 Mr. Rauschenberger married Mary, daughter of Bernhardt and Geneva Kastner, and born at Baden, Germany. They have had six children, of whom the survivors are: John, George, Maggie and Mary. The latter married W. W. Schwaninger, of Jeffersonville, and resides in Milwaukee. The other daughter lives with her parents and the two sons are also residents of Jeffersonville. Mr. Rauschenberger is a member of Jeffersonville Lodge, No. 340, Free and Accepted Masons, Horeb Chapter, No. 66, Royal Arch Masons, Jeffersonville Council, No. 31, Royal and Select Masters, and Jeffer- sonville Commandery, No. 27, Knights Templar. He is also a member of the German Lodge of Odd Fellows and St. Lucas German Reformed church.
JAMES L. MILLER.
Few men in Floyd county are better known than the old soldier who bears the above name. Born at Galena, in Floyd county, Indiana, in 1847, James L. Miller's whole life has been identified with the place of his nativity. His parents were Jacob B. and Isabelle (Smith) Miller, the latter being a descendant of ,Commodore Garrison, a Revolutionary soldier. Her mother, Experience Smith, had reached the advanced age of ninety-seven years at the time of her death. Jacob Miller and wife have several sons living. Charles W. Miller, the youngest, was Attorney-General of Indiana for sev- eral years and was recently appointed United States District Attorney for Indiana. Elmore S. Miller, another son, is living on a farm in Floyd coun- ty. When the Civil war broke out, in 1861, James L. Miller was only four- teen years old, but the boy as he was he burned to become a soldier and serve his country as best he could. Not being allowed to enlist he organized a company of boys, of which he was elected captain, but he was also the proud owner of a drum and beat it bravely when it was desired to get his command together. This juvenile organization was the first military company got
.
36
562
BAIRD'S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.
together in Floyd county, and though not accepted as such, many of the mem- bers managed at a later period to enlist as real soldiers. Captain Miller made several unsuccessful attempts to go to war without his father's consent and was so persistent that finally the latter helped him to become a member of Company A, One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was part of the Army of the Potomac. Despite his youth Mr. Miller was appointed corporal and afterward was promoted to a ser- geancy. He was present with his regiment when Lee surrendered. He was assistant Provost Marshal under Captain Hopper and later a member of Colonel Hancock's body-guard at White Sulphur Springs. He still cherishes as a precious heirloom the crape he wore for thirty days after Lincoln's assas- sination, In August, 1865, he received an honorable discharge and since has been justly proud of the record he made as a soldier of the Union. After the close of hostilities Mr. Miller returned to the old home farm in Floyd county and remained there until he was twenty-five years old. Removing to Jeffersonville he secured a position as carpenter in building cars at the local car works and continued in this employment until October 2, 1902. Secur- ing a position two months later under the postmaster he delivered the first letter that was sent out by a mail carrier in Jeffersonville: He served as car- rier under four different postmasters in the city, which shows that he was a diligent and reliable servant of Uncle Sam.
It is, however, as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic that Mr. Miller is best known. Twenty years ago he joined the Jeffersonville Post, No. 86, is past commander and ex-officio delegate to all state encamp- ments. He was delegate to the Third (Indiana) Congressional District to the National Encampment at Denver, which elected Corporal Tanner com- mander-in-chief, and was honored by the appointment of aid on the com- mander's staff with the rank of colonel. He has been five times an aid, first on the staff of state Commander Lucas, and three times since has held similar positions. As in each case, he held the rank of colonel, he enjoys the unusual distinction of having enjoyed this rank five times, not counting the same title due him as past commander of the post. Before being elected commander Mr. Miller represented his post at state conventions at Louisville, Lafayette, Madison and twice at Indianapolis. When a delegate at Denver he was pre- sented a beautiful badge, a combination of bronze silver and gold, that cost seventy-five dollars. Only one other man in Clark county has had the honor of being a delegate to the National Encampment. Though of limited means he spent two hundred dollars in order to go in proper style to the great national meeting of the organization he loves so well. In addition to his other honors he is a member of the Council of Administration for Indiana. As a citizen he does his duty with the same patriotism and conscientiousness that he manifested as a soldier in war.
563
BAIRD'S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.
On December 5, 1870, Mr. Miller married Clara E. Thurman, at Galena. Their only son, Homer L., is chief gauger under Elam B. Neal, Internal Revenue Collecter at Indianapolis. He has proven a competent official and is a worthy son of a worthy sire.
Mrs. Nettie M. Hazzard is Mr. Miller's only daughter, and the whole family enjoy the esteem which is well deserved by the manner in which they fulfill their respective duties in life.
FRANK H. SAME.
The family of this name is of German origin but has been identified with America for more than sixty years. William and Henry, sons of Franz Hein- rich and Elizabeth (Scherer) Same, emigrated from Bielefeldt, Prussia, in 1847, spent eleven years at Cincinnati and in 1858 came to Jeffersonville. William Same married Elizabeth Gruber, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, who was brought to Jeffersonville. John A. Same, brother of Frank H., mar- ried Rose Pennington, who died in 1903, leaving four children.
Frank H. Same, the other son, was born at Jeffersonville, Clark county, Indiana, in 1866. After the usual course in the public schools he engaged in the grocery business as a clerk and subsequently became a proprietor for a time, being in partnership with H. L. Brendell at Walnut and Chestnut streets, Jeffersonville, but most of his life has been spent in carrying on a transfer business. He now owns and operates the Louisville and Jeffersonville Trans- fer Company, which keeps over thirty wagons in stock, some five of which are actively employed all of the time. About 1880 and for several years after- ward his father and all the sons were public contractors engaged in building streets in Jeffersonville. Previous to this his father owned and operated a grist mill on Walnut street in Jeffersonville, but eventually sold it to his brother, Henry, who conducted it until its destruction by fire. There is a tragedy connected with the life of this family, involving one of those myste- rious disappearances, which no detective work is able to explain. Franz Hein- rich Same, who started to America to join his two sons, got as far as New York, where all trace of him was lost and he was never afterward heard of.
October 14, 1891, Mr. Same was married to Hattie M., daughter of William and Mary (Scammahorn) Hydron, by whom he has had two chil- dren, Monetta being the only one living. His father and Ethel, daughter of his brother John, are members of his household. His grandmother never left the old country. Mr. Same is a member of the Hope Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and of Eden Lodge, Knights and Ladies of Honor. The family oc- cupy a modest home, comfortably but unostentatiously furnished, and Mrs. : Same is regarded as a substantial and reliable business man.
564
BAIRD'S HISTORY OF CLARK CO., IND.
GUSTAVE ADOLPH DENZLER.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.