USA > Indiana > Washington County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 45
USA > Indiana > Harrison County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 45
USA > Indiana > Crawford County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 45
USA > Indiana > Clark County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 45
USA > Indiana > Scott County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 45
USA > Indiana > Floyd County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 45
USA > Indiana > Jennings County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 45
USA > Indiana > Jefferson County > Biographical and historical souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington, Indiana > Part 45
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spective profits of the business in lieu of salary. Here he remained until 1851 when he went into business on his own account. Purchasing his stock on an Eastern market, at first hand, he was enabled to offer as good indncements to the trade as older houses and became very successful. He has made numerous friends, and has passed through two severe finan- cial crises with his credit unquestioned.
In 1866, with several others, he organ- ized the Ohio Falls Iron Works. In 1873, after the great financial panic, he was elected vice-president of the company and in January, 1876, he was chosen vice- president, treasurer and general manager which position he now holds. He also continues his hardware business at the old stand, in which he is ably assisted by his two sons, Lewis R. Stoy and Raymond P. Mr. Stoy has been a member of the City Council the greater part of the time since 1850, and was elected by a large majority to the important office of commissioner of Floyd county. He is not now and never has been a politician. His political prin- ciples are Republican, but he was elected to office by the aid of Democratic voters in a county which gives a large Democratic majority.
Iu 1850 he married Miss Ellen Beeler, of New Albany, Ind., daughter of William and Elizabeth Beeler, and is a member of one of the best families of Floyd county.
Mr. and Mrs. Stoy have been honored members of the M. E. Church since 1843. Socially and financially Mr. Stoy stands among the most highly respected and in- fluential citizens of New Albany.
GEORGE J. STROBEL was born at New Albany, Ind., April 26, 1861. His
parents, Simon Strobel and Julia Wink- ler, were natives of Germany, com- ing to America in 1855, and locating at New Albany, where his father engaged in the leather business, which he continued until his death in 1884, at the age of 49, leaving a wife and five children; they are all living. They are George J., John L., Josephine, Carrie and Katie.
George J. Strobel was reared in New Albany and educated in the public schools, graduating from the New Albany Commer- cial College. After his graduation he engaged in the jewelry business at Cincin- nati, but in 1883 returned to New Albany and entered the queensware business, which he continued until 1887, when he sold out and turned his entire attention to tlie wholesale leather and shoe finding business, which he had controlled while in the queensware trade. His place of busi- ness is at No. 8 East Market street.
He is a member of the German Benev- olent Society and of the Catholic Church, and a man highly esteemed in business and social circles. His father was also a member of the Catholic Church, a business man of enterprise and a highly respected citizen.
SHELBY SUMMERS was born in Floyd county, Ind., December 5, 1845, and is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Utz) Sum- mers; the former was born in Virginia, May 2, 1817, and came to Indiana with his parents when but a year old ; his wife, Elizabeth Utz, was born in Indiana, and is a daughter of Conrad and Elizabeth (Baker) Utz, both of whom were born in Rockingham county, Va .; the former in 1784 and the latter in 1790. The subject of this sketch, Shelby Summers, was brought up on a farm and educated in
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the common schools. He was married, at the age of twenty-five, to Miss Henrietta Welch, a daughter of William and Eliza- beth (Russell) Welch, natives of this State. Mr. and Mrs. Summers have three chil- dren, viz: William O., Joseph V., and Elizabeth E. Mr. Summers owns sixty acres of highly improved land. He is an enterprising and prosperous farmer. He was elected township trustee of George- town township at the last election (1888) on the Democratic ticket.
JOHN H. THOMAS was born in Floyd county, Ind., February 9, 1828, and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Martin) Thomas, the former a native of North Carolina, where he was born in 1807. His ances- tors, he affirmed, came over in the May- flower, making the Thomas family one of the oldest in the country. They event- ually settled in Maryland, and from thence went to North Carolina, and came to this State many years ago. The latter, Mary (Martin) Thomas, was born in 1807, and was a daughter of Thomas Martin, who was a soldier under Gen. Harrison in his Indian campaign of 1811, and was with him in the battle of Tippecanoe. He came originally from North Carolina.
John H., the subject of this sketch, was raised principally in Harrison county, and educated in the common schools-some of them very common-being of the log cabin, puncheon floor, stick chimney kind, com- mon a half century ago. After reaching maturity, and having obtained a fair edu- cation, he commenced teaching, and fol- lowed it through the winter seasons from 1849 to 1864, occasionally teaching a summer term also. He then engaged in mercantile business in Georgetown, hav-
ing moved to this county, which he has since followed with good success.
Mr. Thomas was married in 1854, to Miss Lavinia Zimmerman; both of her parents were of German origin, and emi- grated to America in an early day, and settled in Maryland, thence to Virginia, and thence to Indiana, when in woods. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have no children- he, however, takes an active interest in educational matters. Mr. Thomas was elected clerk of Georgetown township, assessor for four years, and after serving a term was elected school trustee, which office he held for two or three terms; he is at present one of the trustees of the town.
He is a member of the United Brethren Church.
LOUIS VERNIA, born in Floyd county, Ind., June 9, 1836, is a son of Peter and Susannah Piers Vernia.
His father was a native of France, but came to the United States when only 15 years old, engaging, after his maturity, in the mercantile business, and being a heavy purchaser and shipper of produce to New Orleans and other Southern markets, con- tinning this business most of his life, and dying in 1881, at the age of 73.years.
Mr. Vernia's mother was a native of Ireland, coming to America at the age of five years.
Louis Vernia, the subject of this sketch, received only a common-school education. In 1857 he commenced business as a re- tail grocer in New Albany, continuing for four years. He then changed his business to a dealer in feed and grain and whole- sale and retail groceries, his establish- ment being on Spring street and very large, and his business very extensive. In 1887 he began to wind up his large
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business, but is yet engaged in the grocery trade.
Mr. Vernia is a member of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, and presi- dent of the prosperous Total Abstinence Temperance Society of that church. He has served several terms as a member of the New Albany Council, and was a reli- able and wise member of that body.
He was married in 1868 to Mary E. Doherty, a native of Floyd county, Ind., and ten children have been born to the marriage: Mary, Anna, Susannah, Thomas, Louis, Edward, Paul, Martin, Roger and Herman.
FERDINAND GRAHAM WALKER is an artist of no mean pretentions. He was born at Mitchell, Lawrence county, Ind., February 16, 1859, and is the second son of Rev. Francis and Mary Graham Walker, natives of Ohio and Indiana respect- ively. His father is a Methodist preacher, and a member of the Indiana Conference, with which he has been connected for thir- ty-one years.
Early in life Mr. Walker manifested the taste for art, which he has since cultivated with such marked success. At ten years of age he loved to draw, and in such exer- cises at school excelled all his young fel- low pupils with ease.
At the age of fifteen he entered the Art Department of DePauw College, where he remained some time. During this period he also received instruction and criticisms from Gen. S. W. Price, at that time a prom- inent artist of Louisville, Ky. Mr. Walker's success during these days marked the beginning of his true devotion to painting.
Having made art his chosen study and vocation, October of 1885 found our gifted young painter a student in the famous art
schools of Paris, France. Here at the Ecole de Beaux Arts and the Academie Colarossi, under the direct influence and guidance of the masters in Art, he enjoyed the highest advantages the world can af- ford a student for perfecting himself in the law and technic of fine art.
His successes in the Paris schools were even more flattering than those of previous years. At the Academie Colarossi, after having been abroad but four months, Mr. Walker ranked third in the concours in a class of pupils some of whom had studied in the French schools eight years.
Returning to the United States in No- vember of 1886, Mr. Walker re-established himself in New Albany in the studio which he had opened prior to going abroad. Since returning he has given his time ex- clusively to palette, brush, and canvas, with that devotion to be seen only in the true artist.
He married Miss Mary Watkin, an ac- complished lady of New Albany, whose congenial tastes and sympathies finely harmonize with her husband's artistic in- clinations.
Thus far Mr. Walker has given largely of his time to portrait painting. But, though only turning thirty, he has done a great deal of fine work in other fields as well. He is an artist of high rank, and his genius is rapidly winning him a brill- iant reputation.
HENRY WATKEYS, a prominent in- ventor of New Albany, and master mechan- ic of the L., N. A. & C. shops, was born in the Dominion of Canada in 1829. His parents, Henry and Susan Watkeys (nee Potter) were both Canadians by birth ; his father was a mechanic by trade. The sub- ject of this sketch, after receiving only the
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advantages of a common-school education, learned the trade under the tutelage of his father. In 1879 he invented a movable valve seat for locomotives, and in 1880 he invented a throttle valve, which was adopted by the principal railroad systems of New York State, and at once linked his name among the other great inventors of the country. Among other things Mr. Watkeys has invented, and those which have proved successful as inventions, are the car axle with independent wheel, breech loading shotgun, water valve for hydrant purposes, etc. His wife was a Miss Serviah T. Coleman, of Massachusetts, to whom he was married in 1850, and have eight children-Henry, who is engin- eer and master mechanic ; Luther C., clerk in L., N. A. & C. office; Frederick D., mechanic and draftsman; Frank B., ma- chinist ; the younger ones are Charles W., Gertrude, Mabel and Marion. Mr. Wat- keys is an ardent Republican, and is a successful business man as well as a suc- cessful inventor.
JOHN R. WEATHERS, teacher, New Albany, Ind., was born at Marengo, Craw- ford county, Ind., March 12, 1847. He is a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families of his native county.
His father, Capt. Enoch Weathers, a leading farmer of his day, was also a na- tive of Crawford county, and during his life held important local offices, and for many years held the rank of captain in State Militia.
Capt. Weathers' father, Richard, a Ten- nesseean by birth, came to Crawford county, and settled there about 1810. Richard Weathers followed the pursuit of farming, and for many years he was a member of third division of United States Militia,
John R. Weathers, the subject of this sketch, received his primary education in the common schools, and subsequently entered the State University at Blooming- ton, Ind.
In 1870, he began life as a teacher in Marengo Academy, and continued as such in that institution until 1873, when he came to New Albany, and in the same year took charge of the Main street ward school, and held this position for six years.
In 1879 he removed to Little Rock, Ark., and became editor-in-chief of the Little Rock Chronicle and Arkansas School Journal. There he remained for one year. Returning to New Albany, he superintended the East Spring street school for one year, going thence to Cannelton, Ind., and was for five years superintendent of the public schools of that city.
He again returned to New Albany, and was elected principal of the East Spring street school, the position he now fills so acceptably to the patrons of the school.
Mr. Weathers' wife was a Miss Zibbie Anderson, of Bloomington, Ind., to whom he was married in 1870. Two children, Daisy M. and Nellie G.
John R. Weathers is a member of the Christian Church, a Mason, member of the G. A. R. Order and Sigma Chi frater- nity, and is one of the leading and best known educators in Southern Indiana.
MERRILL A. WEIR, who was born at Salem, Washington county, Ind., is an illustration of what well directed, honest business effort may accomplish.
His father, David T. Weir, was born in Shelby county, Ky., and his mother, Ann Eliza Townsend, in Bourbon county, Ky.,
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and were married in Clark county, Ind., December 31, 1826.
Merrill A. Weir was attending the pub- lie schools at Salem when his father died, leaving a wife and five children, and com- pelling him, in order to aid in their sup- port, to leave school. By working at fifty cents per day and $8.00 per month, he assisted his mother in educating and pro- viding for the rest of the children, being the main support of the family.
At 22 years, having accumulated some money, he was married to Miss Nancy A. Bliss, daughter of Leonard Bliss, a promi- nent farmer of Washington county. He then engaged for three years in the drug business at Salem, and then commenced flatboating and speculating in produce. This laid the foundation of his fortune.
He left the river when the war broke out, and located at Mt. Vernon, Ind., where he entered largely into speculation in produce, pork and wheat-at one time, with two others, having $250,000 invested in pork and wheat.
At the close of the war be was one of a party of capitalists that organized the First National Bank of Mt. Vernon, Ind .; was an officer and director in the bank for seven years, resigning in 1871, and removing to New Albany, where for two years he oper- ated in pork.
In 1874 he helped to organize the Sec- ond National Bank of New Albany, of which he was elected director and cashier, serving as such until January, 1833, and then elected vice president.
In October, 1884, he resigned, intend- ing to quit business, but was called, in De- cember, 1884, to take charge of the New Albany National Bank as cashier, the for- mer officer having resigned. Mr. Weir still remains in this position.
He started out in the world without a
dollar, as the main support of his father's family, which he continued until they were all grown, and bought the old homestead of the heirs, built a good house on it, and gave it to his mother for a home during her life. At her death, not being willing that it should pass into the hands of stran- gers, he gave it to the Methodist Episcopal Church, for a parsonage, on the sole con- dition that the trustees of the church were to keep the graves of his parents in good condition after his death. This prop- erty cost him $3,500.
He never had any children of his own, but assisted in the rearing and education of several. He never had a note to go to protest, and could always, within twenty- four hours' notice, pay all he owed. While residing at Mt. Vernon, he deposited $10,000 in E. R. James' Bank, just before it failed, this being all the money he had. Two years later he got eighty cents on the dollar; yet when he thought he had lost all this money, he was not discouraged, but pushed ahead with energy, and dur- ing the two years he had to lay out of its use, made $30,000.
Mr. Weir and his wife have always been kind to and helped the poor. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Weir is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, and a Knight Templar of that ancient and honorable order.
SAMUEL M. WEIR is a descendant of an old Virginia family, wlio emigrated to Kentucky in pioneer times. He was born in New Albany, January 9, 1846, and is a son of William M. and Cassandra (Rob- ertson) Weir, natives of Shelby county, Ky., but who removed to Clark county, when Indiana was still a territory. He (William M.) located in New Albany in
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1826, and was a cabinet-maker and under- taker by trade. He was a man of consid- erable local prominence, and served as mayor of the city in 1846 and 1847; and also city treasurer for 1856, and was a strong Whig in politics. He died in 1862. Middleton Robertson, the maternal grand- father of the subject, was a native of Maryland, and removed to the Indiana Territory about 1795-98.
Samuel M., the subject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools and in Towsley's private school. Most of his life has been spent in the public service. He commenced as clerk of the City Court, which he continued for six years; then was deputy city treasurer for eight years, and has now been city treasurer for four- teen years in succession. He is a most excellent and accommodating public of- ficer, an honest man, and a worthy citi- zen. In 1874 he married Miss Anna S. Humphreys, a daughter of Captain Hum- phreys, of New Albany, a prominent steam- boat builder, and one of the early citizens of the county.
JAMES E. WILSON was born in Cory- don, Harrison county, Ind., July 16, 1830, and is a son of George P. R. and Sarah (Spencer) Wilson, the former a native of Kentucky, and born in Bardstown in 1802. After his birth his parents moved to Louis- ville, where they remained until 1820, when they moved to Corydon, Ind.
George P. R. was a man of considerable prominence, and among the leading statesmen of that day. He was elected to fifteen or sixteen terms in the State Legislature, and one term State Senator, and for twenty years took as active a part in politics as any man in Harrison county. He was considered one of the
finest orators in Southern Indiana. He was liberal in his views, earnest in his convictions, and delighted in the com- pany and associations of old friends, with whom he could enjoy himself to the fullest degree. He was fond of hunting and fishing, and was considered one of the best rifle shots ofhis time. His father, Joshua Wilson, was a Virginian by birth, but of Irish descent.
Sarah Spencer, the mother of our subject, belongs to one of the most promi- nent families of Harrison county. She was the youngest daughter of Capt. Spear Spen- cer, a native of Nelson county, Ky., who was captain of a company and participated in the battle of Tippecanoe, and was killed on the field. She was born in Vincennes, Jannary 13, 1809, and the same year her parents moved to Corydon, where she was brought np and lived all her life, dying there July 13, 1885. Her mother was Elizabeth Polk, of Nelson county, Ky., daughter of Capt. Charles Polk.
James, the subject of this sketch, was reared principally on a farm-that known as the old Harrison farm, situated seven miles west of Corydon, on Blue river, and once owned by Gen. William Harrison, grandfather of President Harrison. He remained on the farm until he was about twenty-two years of age, but was educated mostly in Corydon.
He was married in 1852, to Mary J. Davis, a native of this county, and born about eight miles northeast of Corydon. They have seven children, all of whom there are dead but two.
GEORGE W. WOLF was born in Har- rison county, April 13, 1835, and is a son of David and Mary (Utz) Wolf, the former born in Kentucky and the latter in Vir-
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ginia. The elder Wolf came to Harrison county in 1811 where he lived a number of years and then removed to Floyd county. He died at the age of eighty years. His father, George Wolf, was among the earliest settlers of Kentucky, and was a Pennsylvanian by birth and a Ger- man by descent. The maternal grandfather of subject, Adam Utz, was also of Ger- man origin, and removed to Indiana from Tennessee in 1812.
The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm in Harrison county until eight years of age, when he removed with his parents to Floyd county. He received a common school education, and at the age of twenty-six years, was married to Miss Sarah A. Merriwether, a daughter of James P. Meriwether, came from Kentucky, and was among the first settlers of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have never had any children, but they have partly raised three children. In the latter part of 1862 the subject enlisted in Eighty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Co. I, and served faithfully until the close of the war, but during the time was transferred to the Seventh Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps. He was honorably discharged June 30, 1865, and returned home. He has since devoted his time and energies to farming and stock raising, in which he has been entirely successful. He has a farm of 200 acres of excellent land, well improved and in a high state of cultivation. He is one of Floyd county's energetic and influential farmers, and stands deservedly high among his neighbors.
CHARLES WOLF was born September 26, 1849, in Floyd county, Ind., and is a son of David and Mary (Utz) Wolf, the former was one of the earliest settlers in
Harrison county, Ind., but a native of Ken- tucky, born in 1805. His father, George Wolf, was one of the pioneers of the "Dark and Bloody Ground," and was of German descent; the latter, Mary Utz, was born in Tennessee, her father emigrated to Indiana about 1812, and spent the remainder of his life there.
Charles, the subject of this sketch, was brought up on the farm and received the benefit of a common-school education. He followed farmn life for a number of years, and then engaged in the saw-milling business, which he still follows. He owns the Wolf Hotel in Georgetown, of which he is proprietor, and, also owns a number of town lots in Georgetown, and eighteen acres of highly improved land near the town. By careful management, economy and industry he has accumulated some property, and is so situated as to live com- fortably and independently.
In 1871 Mr. Wolf was married to Miss Lavina Crandle, born in Floyd county, and a daughter of T. Crandle, born in Har- rison county ; his father was a native of Virginia, and a blacksmith. He made the first threshing machine used in Harrison county, and which was rather a unique affair compared with the perfect machines of the present day.
Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have had seven children, viz : Ada M., born April 1, 1874 ; Ora A., born August 23, 1876; Mary M., born June 1, 1878; Zella (deceased), born January 22, 1881; Noble E. (deceased), born March 1, 1882; Lottie O., born June 3, 1884, and Beulah, born August 17, 1887.
Mr. Wolf is a man of prominence in his community, and has been School Trustee in Georgetown some six years, and has served as president of the board.
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FREDERICK WUNDERLICH, a native of Germany, was born October 30, 1830, and in 1848 came to the United States and located at Memphis, Tenn., remaining there one year. During this time he trav- eled through Tennessee and Mississippi, selling notions to the slaves. From Mem- phis he went to St. Louis, remaining there but a short time and coming thence to New Albany in 1850.
He remained in New Albany but a short time, going to Louisville, Ky., where, in 1852, he engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes and clothing, continuing in the business until 1864, when he pur- chased a large shoe manufactory in New Albany, and carried on the business for two years.
In 1866 he engaged in the wholesale grocery business, which he sold ont in 1867, and entered the live stock trade, buying and shipping to New Orleans. In 1869 he entered the feed, grain and com- mission business, and in 1873 added the
wholesale liquor business, in which he is still engaged, doing the largest business in his line done in New Albany.
Mr. Wunderlich is a self-made man; he has built up his large business and a sub- stantial fortune by his untiring energy, nn- swerving integrity and commercial aptitnde.
He is a prominent Mason, which order he joined in Louisville in 1855, and has filled every position in the Blue Lodge, he is also a member of the Scottish Rite in Masonry, of the Knights of Honor and of the Ancient Order of Workmen.
He is a member of the City Council of New Albany from the Second Ward. He was married at Louisville, Ky., in April, 1853, to Miss Matilda Molloy, a native of Ireland, who came to the United Stetes in 1849. Two children, Mary and Christina, have blessed the union. Mary is the wife of Louis Michel, who was in business with Mr. Wunderlich.
Louis Michel's death occurred in Feb- ruary, 1889.
HARRISON COUNTY.
ALLEN ALLISON, Harrison county, cooper, a private in the late Civil War, was born in Boone township, Harrison county, April, 1844.
His parents were Asa and Rebecca (Mason) Allison, and were consistent members of the Christian Church. His father was born in Bullitt county, Ky., in 1780, as was also his mother in 1798. Mother's death occurred July 1, 1888. His father early settled in the county, and was a cooper by trade.
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