USA > Indiana > Clark County > Baird's history of Clark County, Indiana > Part 16
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Gustave Adolph Denzler is a native-born citizen of Jeffersonville, Clark county, who has all the requisite qualifications to enable him to maintain his present high standing in the community. His life record has marked him as one in whom uprightness and conscientious adherence to duty have ever been dominant traits; and his career of nearly twenty years as an employe of the Pennsylvania Railroad has been singularly free from unpleasant occurrences which occasionally cross the path of the locomotive engineer.
Mr. Denzler was born on the 22d day of May, 1869, and was the son of Casper and Verena (Bucher) Denzler. Both parents came from Switzer- land. Casper Denzler was born in Diebendorf in the Swiss Canton of Zu- rich ; while Rohr in the Canton of Aargau was the birthplace of his wife, Casper Denzler was born November 7, 1829. and his wife on December 12, 1832. Their marriage took place in 1854 in Louisville, Kentucky. Thirteen children were born of the union, of whom four survive. They are: Herman Denzler, who lives in Indianapolis, he is married and has a family of two boys and two girls; Caroline (Denzler) Wuerfel, wife of Martin Wuerfel, of Jeffersonville, who has two children; Emma, who married William Bas- tian, also lives in Jeffersonville and has one child. -
Gustave A. Denzler is the youngest member of his family, and during his boyhood attended public school until his thirteenth year, when he went to work in the wall paper business. In his early years he obtained quite a varied business experience, being in turn a clerk in the post-office, an employe of the local car works and the Sweeney Foundry Company. He was also associated for a time with the Mississippi River Commission work. At the age of twen- ty-one he started as a fireman on the Pennsylvania road between Louisville and Indianapolis. Eight years later he attained the more responsible post at the other side of the cab, in which he still continues on the same division as engineer. On April 6, 1894, he married Cora Russ, the daughter of Chris- tian and Anna Russ, of Jeffersonville.
Mrs. Denzler's father, Christian Russ, was a veteran of the Civil war. He was born in Germany on the 26th of October, 1843, and was the son of Christian and Amelia (Rose) Russ. In 1850 he came with his mother to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and after four years in that city migrated to Cincinnati. At the age of thirteen he came to Charlestown, Clark county, where he remained until his enlistment in Company F, Thirty-eighth Indiana Volunteers, on the 18th of September, 1861. He served until July 15, 1865. when he obtained his discharge. During his term of service he participated in the battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Hoover's Gap, Chattahoochee, Rocky Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Kene- saw Mountain, New Hope Church, Resaca, Atlanta, Jonesboro and
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Bentonville and minor engagements. After the war, from which, though entering as a private he merged a first sergeant, he returned to Charlestown and learned the carpentry trade, which he has followed for the greater part of his life since. From 1876 to 1883, in partnership with John Hofmeister, he operated a brick yard in Jeffersonville. He was successful in his business ventures. On March 13, 1870, he married Annie Oetterer, daughter of Adam and Margaret Oetterer, of Jeffersonville. They had nine children. Christian Russ is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security and in religious af- fairs he is an active member of the local Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. and Mrs. Denzler have led a happy married life and five children have been born to them. They are: Annette R., Norma E., Clara May, Vivian and Charles Henry, Gustave Adolph Denzier in fraternal affairs be- longs to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engine Men. He is a member of the Jeffersonville Lodge, No. 340, Free and Accepted Masons; the Hope Lodge, No. 13, Knights of Pythias; and the Horeb Chapter, No. 66, Royal Arch Masons. He and his family are members of the German Methodist church. They live in their comfortable cottage home anl number very many of the resi- dents of Jeffersonville among their friends.
WILLIAM T. CLARK.
William T. Clark is a popular grocer and drygoods merchant of Clarks- ville, Clark county, and has many staunch friends in the community. He is a man who has had a singularly varied career and profited much thereby. In business life he is conservative and reliable and of an unobtrusive dispo- sition. His grocery and dry goods store is one of the most up-to-date in the district and is ever found replete with a pleasing and varied stock of choice goods. He is esteemed as a citizen and has been entrusted with public offices both in Clarksville and Jeffersonville township and admirably performed his duties.
Mr. Clark was born in Floyd county, Indiana, on the 30th of April, 1848, the son of James J. Clark and Jennetta Lamb, his wife, both residents of the same county. When William T. was but a year old his parents moved to Crawford county. As a boy he attended the public school there and taught school for six or eight years. His father was Sheriff of Crawford county for four years and he became Deputy Sheriff under him. He also worked in stores during his teaching career. In addition he worked in the County Treas- urer's and County Auditor's offices at Leavenworth. In the year 1881 he was appointed a guard at the Indiana State Prison, South, which position he
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held for ten years, during the Howard and Patton administrations. In 1891 he entered the grocery business on Woerner avenue, in Clarksville, imme- diately south of the Reformatory. In March of 1899 he moved one square nearer the river to his present location. On the first floor of his business place he carries a stock of groceries and notions and on the second a supply of dry goods.
On the 24th of October, 1872, Mr. Clark married Louisa M. Cole, of Crawford county. She was the daughter of William H. Cole. The marriage has proven a most happy one and four children, three of whom are living, were born to them. The eldest son, William H., married Clara Eaken, of Jeffersonville. He lives near Frankfort, Kentucky. Nellie B. married George R. McIntosh, of Leavenworth. Indiana. They live in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is the proprietor of a wholesale picture frame store, one of the larg- est in Louisville. They have two boys, William Roscoe and George Rowen. J. Raymond Clark resides with his parents and assists in the management of the business. He is a graduate of the Bryant and Stratton Business College and a young man of much business ability.
William T. Clark is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and belongs to Jeffersonville Lodge, No. 340, Free and Accepted Masons. Re- ligion has always had a place in his life and he is a member of the Wall Street Methodist Episcopal church. In recognition of his worth as a citizen he was elected to fill two important public offices. He spent two terms as Trustee of Clarksville and was Deputy Assessor of Jeffersonville township for four years. He takes an intelligent interest in the political issues of the day and is a supporter of the Democratic party. William T. Clark is ably assisted in his business by Mrs. Clark. The couple, together with their son, live in com- fort and security in the same building in which their business is carried on.
JOSEPH MOLCK.
The gentle and poetic business of floriculture has nothing about it sug- gestive of war and the last place one would expect to find a warrior would be amid the flowers of the greenhouse. Notwithstanding this, one who talks awhile with Jeffersonville's only florist, will find that he has been acquainted with war in its worst form, and supped to the full of its "pride, pomp and circumstance." Joseph Molck, as the result of experience in his young man- hood, can tell of terrible battles in which he participated, of protracted sieges in which he bore a part and other blood-curdling incidents in one of the most tragic periods of the world's history. He was born in 1848 at Weisenburg, in the beautiful province of Alsace, then a part of France, but now a part
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of the German empire. His parents were Joseph and Madeline (Essig) Molck, and being in poor circumstances their son was compelled at an early age to look out for himself. When fourteen years old he left home for Strass- burg, where he became an apprentice to the florist's trade. In the same line of work he also spent some time in Choullon, Nanzig, Versailles and Paris. When twenty years old he enlisted in the Seventh Regiment of French Ar- tillery and had only two years to wait for military service of the most active kind. When the war between France and Germany broke out in 1870, the Seventh Regiment was serving under Marshal McMahon in Algeria, Africa, but this corps was ordered to the front to meet the German advance. Mr. Molck was taken prisoner by the enemy at Pont a Mouson, but escaped and went to Metz, where the French Marshal Bazaine was sustaining a siege. He arrived in August, 1870, and three days later the two armies were engaged at San Julia. August 15th Mr. Molck rode all day and on the 16th reached the battlefield of San Prival. The 17th was consumed in riding and on the 18th Mr. Molck took part in the great battle of Gravelotte. He was twice wounded, his horse killed under him and the cannon destroyed. He lay three days on the field until found by his brother, Capt. Jacob Molck, of the Twen- ty-sixth Regiment, who had him removed to the hospital, where he remained until Marshal Bazaine surrendered the city of Metz, and with one hundred and seventy-five thousand prisoners he was taken to Coblentz, Germany, where he was held for five months as a prisoner of war. Being released at the close of the war, he returned to his regiment and in 1871 marched under Mar- shal McMahon into Paris to confront the uprising of the Commune. The fighting was of the most terrible and heart-rending description. Families were divided and Mr. Molck's own brother was on the side of the Commune. Even the women and children were engaged in this fratricidal war and from nine o'clock in the morning until three o'clock in the afternoon the gutters ran red with blood. Thousands were driven into the river Seine, but despite their desperate resistance the Commune was eventually broken and defeated.
Being discharged shortly after these stirring events Mr. Molck spent two weeks at home and then embarked for America. Locating at Oil City, Pennsylvania, he established himself in the florist business and prosecuted it with fair success for thirteen years. In 1890 he removed to Jeffersonville and established a greenhouse in the northwestern portion of the city. Being the only florist in the place and growing steadily in patronage for eighteen years, he enjoys a large and lucrative business. Aside from his term in the army his whole life has been devoted to floriculture and few men understand plants and their propagation better than he. Having traveled extensively and 'speak- ing German, French and English he is interesting to talk to. He says the Germans outnumbered the French fourteen to one in the war of 1870, and the French were unprepared for war. Soon after arriving in Jeffersonville
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Mr. Molck married Mary Peter, who was also a native of Weisenberg, Al- sace. They have a son and daughter named, respectively, Frank and Mary. The family are members of St. Anthony's Catholic church and enjoy general respect among a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
JOHN M. MAUZY.
As a locomotive engineer on the Illinois Central Railroad, in which capa- city he has served for nearly twenty years, John M. Mauzy has established for himself a record of faithfulness and efficiency second to none. He was born in Jeffersonville, Clark county, on the 27th of June, 1850, the son of Andrew Jackson and Sarah (McLain) Mauzy. Both parents were natives of Kentucky. Andrew Jackson Mauzy moved to Salem, Washington county, Indiana, from his native state when a small boy, and in the year 1845 moved to Jeffersonville. Sarah McLain also came to Indiana at an early age. An- drew J. Mauzy was, during his lifetime, an influential member of the com- munity. He became a captain in the Ninth Indiana Regiment of Militia. His military commission, which is still extant in the possession of John M. Mauzy, is dated 1842 and bears the signature of Governor Samuel Bigger. Of Andrew J. Mauzy's children, in addition to John M., there are two sisters living : Mrs. Mary L. Montgomery, the mother of Judge H. C. Montgomery, who resides at St. Angelo, Texas, and Mrs. Lillie H. Gould, who lives in Cincinnati, and who has one daughter, Mrs. Lillie Glazier. Besides Judge Montgomery, Mrs. Montgomery is the mother of three other children, Mrs. Jesse Abbott, of St. Angelo, Texas; Mrs. May Weir, of the same city; and Sarah Montgomery, who resides in New York City.
John M. Mauzy started upon his career as a railroad man at the age of seventeen years as a fireman on the old Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis line. At the end of three years he was promoted and placed in charge of an engine, and in a short space of time was looked upon by his superiors as one of the most reliable of the younger engineers on the road. In the year 1890 he resigned his position on the Pennsylvania Railroad and associated him- self with the Illinois Central, with which he has remained as an engineer ever since.
In the year 1873 Mr. Mauzy married Mary Belle Huston, of New Phil- adelphia, Washington county, Indiana. Mrs. Mauzy was the daughter of Robert Huston and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Drain. Both parents were born in Kentucky, but spent their early days and after life in In- diana. Five children were born to John M. Mauzy and his wife, as follows: Mrs. Sallie Eberts, who is the widow of George Eberts and the mother of two
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boys and a girl, Norman, Edith and James; Mrs. Jennie Emery, who mar- ried Gus Emery, of Louisville, Kentucky, one daughter, Mary, being born to them; Charles Howard Mauzy, who married Jennie Daugherty, lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and has a family of a boy and a girl, Elizabeth and John; John Ernest and Wilbur Hancock Mauzy, who live with their par- ents in the family residence at Jeffersonville.
John M. Mauzy belongs to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and is a prominent member of the local Myrtle Lodge, No. 19, Knights of Pythias. In the family circle he has always been known as a conscientious and considerate father and husband and one devoted to the interests of his family.
GEORGE NANZ.
A well known native born resident of Jeffersonville, Clark county, is George Nanz, whose family, of German origin, has for very many years been connected with the business and farming life of Clark county. He was born on November 12, 1866, and was the son of William and Elizabeth (Greiner) Nanz. Mrs. Nanz was the daughter of John Greiner, who came to Jeffersonville from Germany in the early days of Clark county. William Nanz was born in Germany and came to Jeffersonville, Clark county, about the middle of the last century. He and his wife were the parents of two children, George and William. William Nanz, senior, was in the saloon business in Jeffersonville in a large way prior to the Civil war. His sons, George and William, attended the Jeffersonville public schools in their youth. Subsequently William Nanz died in New Orleans and his wife and children were thrown on their own resources to make their way as best they could. His widow bravely faced the situation, and the two boys, when old enough, took up their share of the burden and went to work. William became a black- smith at the local car works and George was also employed there.
In November, 1889, George Nanz started in the saloon business at Jef- fersonville and about two years later bought a lot on Spring street, near Maple, and built a business and resident block. At its completion he moved in there and still continues in that location. In 1889 he married Barbara Herful, who died on the 19th of December, 1891. He again entered married . life on the 20th of September, 1894, when his marriage with Katie Stemler took place. She was the daughter of Daniel Stemler and Katherine (Kan- zinger) Stemler. Daniel Stemler was born in Germany, in 1823, and came to America about the year 1852. A farmer by occupation, he married, in 1858, Mrs. Katherine Baker, whose maiden name was Kanzinger. Mrs. Stemler was born in Baden, Germany, and came to Louisville in 1853. Four years later
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she moved to Jeffersonville. After her marriage in 1858 she and her husband lived on a farm about four miles from Jeffersonville. Ten children were born to them, seven of whom are living. They are: Henry, Will, George, Dan, John, Mary and Katie, wife of George Nanz. Henry Stemler married Amy Reichle and has nine children. Henry is in the dairy business in Jefferson- ville as are also his brother, Dan, and other members of the family. Will Stemler married Annie Kreikle, has one child, and is in business for himself on Spring street. George Stemler married Mary Creamer, has four children, and is employed in the blacksmith department of the car works. Dan married Amelia Russ, has five children, and runs a dairy in Jeffersonville. John and Mary are unmarried and with their mother make up the home circle. They engage in the dairy work. Daniel Stemler, senior, died in 1902 and was a man who always took a great interest in the affairs of his family. The Stem- lers all belong to the German Reformed church, of which they are active sup- porters.
George Nanz is a member of the Tell Lodge, No. 272, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; he also belongs to the Eagles. In religion he is a member of the German Reformed church. William Nanz, his brother, married on April 13, 1903, Mrs. Lizzie Metzger, who was the daughter of Phillip and Mary Hoffman, of Madison, Indiana. In October, 1904, he also entered the saloon business at 314 Spring street, where he still continues to do business with success. William Nanz belongs to the Eagles and to the Lutheran church in Jeffersonville. John Greiner, grandfather of the Nanz brothers, was one of the founders of the German Reformed church in Jeffersonvile. Previous to that time he used to cross the river in a skiff and attend church in Louisville.
FRANK WOERNER.
Jeffersonville, Clark county, has been the adopted home of Frank Woer- ner from the year 1881 to the present day, and his career there has met with much success. In recent years he has become deservedly popular with all classes as a business man of importance and a substantial resident. In all his business undertakings and financial ventures he has been ably counseled and as- sisted by his wife, who has been, since their marriage in the year 1876, a prime factor in increasing his store of wealth and an admirable supervisor of the affairs of the domestic hearth. Both come of thrifty German stock.
Frank Woerner was born in Louisville, Kentucky, March 31, 1857, and was the son of Conrad and Mary (Zwirman) Woerner, both of Germany. He was educated in the parochial and public schools. He learned the baker's trade, which he followed for several years. He then became a machinist and
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associated himself with that industry for fifteen years. About the year 1881 he came to Jeffersonville to work in the car works and located on the street immediately west of them. He put his earnings into property on that street and in time owned more of its real estate than anyone else. At this time there was a discussion as to whether the street should be named Smith or Smyser street, and an agreement was reached as a compliment to Mr. Woerner and it was renamed Woerner avenue.
Mr. Woerner was already married at the time of his arrival in Jeffer- sonville, having espoused in Louisville on October 8, 1878, Wilhelmina Jackel. She was the daughter of Leopold and Anna Mary (Roth) Jackel. Frank Woerner and his wife have had one son, Frank Paul, who was for nine years a salesman for the Belknap Hardware Company of Louisville, He now lives in Indianapolis, where he is associated with the Van Camp Hardware and Iron Company. Frank Woerner, Jr., married Geneva Sinex, of New Albany. They have one son, William Frank Woerner.
In June, 1894, Frank Woerner built a business block with residences at- tached, at the north end of Woerner avenue, and also started his grocery, which is said to be one of the neatest, cleanest, and most up-to-date in Jef- fersonville. The Woerner grocery contains a varied assortment of high class fancy groceries and is also replete with a side-line of confectionery and no- tions, and has proved to be a most successful business venture.
On the 28th day of June, 1908, a local branch of the Knights of Col- umbus fraternity was established in Jeffersonville and Frank Woerner be- came one of the first and most active members. He also belongs to the Fra- ternal Order of Eagles and is a member of the Catholic Knights of America. Both he and his wife are influential members of St. Anthony's church. The Woerners have traveled much in other states and have been at different points from the Atlantic to the Pacific at various times.
Hand in hand Frank Woerner and his wife have built up the success that is theirs today, and their industry, thrift and business energy has not been without conferring a benefit on the community, and it is but a fitting recognition of their services that the street which has been the scene of most of their endeavors should bear their name.
WILLIAM HENRY FOSTER.
William Henry Foster, general foreman of the Pennsylvania Railroad shops at Louisville, Kentucky, is also prominent in his native town of Jef- fersonville, in which he now resides. A machinist of skill and ability, his record as a loyal employee earned for him the gratitude and recognition
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he deserved. He comes from a family that has contributed much to the progress of Jeffersonville, for his father, as a builder and contractor, spent a lifetime of activity there. Our subject is essentially a self-made man, who, having had but scant educational facilities in his youth, which covered the stormy period of the Civil war, he had to depend to a large extent on his nat- ural talents. His success under the circumstances is all the more appreciable.
He was born in Jeffersonville in 1858, the son of William Thomas Fos- ter and Kate (Wesso) Foster. His mother came to America from her na- tive Germany with her parents when young and was adopted by the Ewing family of Madison, Indiana, who at a later period located in Jeffersonville. William Thomas Foster was born in Franklin county, Kentucky, and came to Jeffersonville about 1856. Here he learned the bricklaying trade from George Ewing and boarded with his employer. In this connection it was but natural that he and the adopted daughter should become acquainted and their marriage ultimately resulted. Later William Thomas Foster launched out as a building contractor and erected many of the best known buildings in Jeffersonville. He made the brick and erected the building in which the First National Bank now stands. He also built the line of structures from there to the next alley north. Soon after the war the building at the northeast corner of Spring and Chestnut streets was erected by him and was thought to be the finest in the town. He interested himself in the contract work of the Government Depot and many other well known works. He helped to erect the Presbyterian church and the pest house. His earliest work was on the government bakery that stood on Warder Park during the war. He was an expert on brick baking ovens and did finished work of the kind at Evans- ville. He also built the "lodges" in the National cemeteries at Louisville, Lebanon, Kentucky, and at Grafton, West Virginia. Previous to his death he located in Cincinnati, where he died in 1886.
William H. Foster grew up in his native town and in the year 1876 started in as an employee of the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis shops, and learned the machinist's trade. In the winter of 1885 he was transferred to the Indianapolis department, where he remained until the fall of 1890. In September of that year he was made general foreman for the Pennsylvania road at Madison, Indiana. In 1895 he was changed to Louisville to take charge of the shops there and still holds the position. Upon making his last change he located once more in Jeffersonville.
His marriage to Lida B. Luckett, of Franklin county, Kentucky, was performed in the year 1883. She was the daughter of John Luckett and his wife, whose maiden name was Frances Martin. Six children have been born to them. They are : Florence, who married Lee H. Adams, of Corydon Junc- tion ; she lives in Jeffersonville and has one child. Charles Thomas Foster married Lena Hutt; they reside in Jeffersonville and have one child; he is a
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