USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 82
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On the 17th of May, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Johnson to Miss Laura Edith Huey, who was born in Starke County, Indiana, and they have one child, Martha Huey. Mrs. Johnson is a daughter of Milton S. and Julia A. Huey, the former of whom was horn in Ohio and the latter in Indiana, and they have long maintained their home in In- dianapolis, where Mr. Huey is a prominent and influential business man. He was one of the pioneers in the retail lumber business in In- dianapolis and is now president of the Capital Lumber Company, being still one of the active and aggressive business men of the city, where he commands unqualified confidence and es- teem. He is a Republican in politics, has at- tained the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry, and is identified with the Commercial Club and the Woodruff Place Club. Of his two children Mrs. Johnson is the younger, and her brother, Oscar L., is now engaged in the banking busi- ness in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Vol. II-26
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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
WILLIAM W. KNIGHT. As president of the Long-Knight Lumber Company, representing one of the important industrial enterprises of the capital city, William W. Knight is con- tributing to the upbuilding of Greater Indian- apolis and is one of its stanch business men and highly esteemed citizens.
William W. Knight claims the fine old Key- stone state of the Union as the place of his nativity, as he was born in the City of Phila- delphia, on the 8th of May, 1862, and he is a son of William A. and Sarah (Pinckney) Knight, both of whom were likewise born in Pennsylvania, where they passed their entire lives, both having been members of the Epis- copal Church. The father was a hardware merchant by vocation and ever commanded the unqualified regard of all with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life. The subject of this review was afforded the ad- vantages of the Orthodox Friends' School main- tained under the auspices of the Society of Friends in Germantown, a suburb of Philadel- phia. As a boy he secured employment in a carpet mill in Philadelphia, and in the same city he was later identified with the R. A. & J. A. Williams Lumber Company, in whose employ he continued for a period of six years. In 1888 he came to Indianapolis, where he assumed an executive position in connection with the lumber business conducted by Henry (". Long, with whom he was associated until 1898, when they organized the Long-Knight Lumber Company, of which he has since been president and treasurer. He had previously scoured an interest in the business and to the upbuilding of the large and substantial enter- prise he has contributed largely through his energy, discrimination and administrative abil- ity, the while he has gained prestige as one of the representative business men of the fair cap- ital city of the Hoosier commonwealth. În politics, while never manifesting aught of am- bition for publie office, he is a loyal supporter of the cause of the Republican party, and he is a comumnieant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which he is actively identified with the parish of Christ Church. He is also affil- iated with the Masonic fraternity and is identi- fied with various civie organizations of repre- sentative order.
In 1891 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Knight to Miss Gertrude Jordon, daughter of the late Judge Lewis Jordon, of Indianapolis. and she died in 1893, leaving no children.
CLAUDE T. Tuck. During his residence in Indianapolis Claude T. Tuck has gained recog- nition in the financial and insurance circles of the city. His first work here was as a teacher of mathematics in the high school, and after
a year and a half in educational work he be- came associated with the Citizens Trust Com- pany as its secretary and treasurer. When that company was taken over by the Union Trust Company in November, 1908, Mr. Tuck entered actively upon the work of transferring the business of the Citizens Trust Company to the Union Trust Company, and was engaged in the work until the transfer was completed. On March 1, 1909, he received the appointment as manager of the agency department of the Meridian Life Insurance Company, which posi- tion he is now filling. He is a member. of the Commercial Club and of the Indiana Demo- cratic Club, and is active in the councils of the Democratic party.
The native state of Claude T. Tuck is Michi- gan, whither his father, Mark F. Tuck, had immigrated when a young man, and during the past many years he has been engaged in the lumber and milling business. Both he and his wife, nee Mary Thorne, were born in the State of New York, and their marriage union has been blessed by the birth of two sons, Claude T. and Fred. Mr. Tuck, Sr., is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the fra- ternal order of Odd Fellows and of the Demo- cratic party. Claude T., his elder son, was born at Pittsford, January 9, 1880, and from the high school at Greenville, Michigan, he passed to the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and graduated from its literary department with the class of 1902. He mar- ried Helen Carson, June 15, 1904. She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to John F. and Adalaide (Pressley) Carson, both from this state, and Helen is the eldest of their four children. Mr. Carson is a prominent attorney in Indianapolis. Mr. Tuck is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church.
WILLIAM K. STEWART. It is gratifying to note that in Indianapolis are found no small number of the native sons of the city who are here prominently identified with business affairs of wide seope and importance and who are essentially loyal and progressive as citizens. Of this number is William K. Stewart, who is a member of one of the old and honored families of the Indiana capital and who is now engaged in the retail book and stationary business, har- ing purchased the entire retail department of the well known publishing house of the Bobbs- Merrill Company in May, 1909. Singular in- terest attaches to his association with this im- portant concern and with his present line of enterprise, as the great business now controlled by the Bobbs-Merrill Company is the direct outgrowth of the modest enterprise established fully half a century ago by William Stewart.
w & Stewart.
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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
grandfather of him whose name initiates this article.
William Kerfoot Stewart was born in In- dianapolis on the 26th of July, 1875, and is a son of Charles G. and Martha (Mooklar) Stew- art, who still maintain their home in Indianap- olis, where the father is now living virtually retired. Charles G. Stewart was born in the State of Maryland, on the 30th of January, 1836, and his wife was born in Kentucky on the 3rd of September of the same year. Of their nine children only three are now living- Susan D., at home; Charles H., who is engaged in the coffee business in Mexico; and William K., who is the immediate subject of this review. Charles G. Stewart was reared and educated in his native state, where he completed his studies in St. James College, after which he was for a time employed in the great mercan- tile establishment of A. T. Stewart, then known as the merchant prince of New York City and a representative of a collateral branch of the same family. In 1854 Mr. Stewart accom- panied his father, the late William Stewart, on his removal to Indianapolis, and here the father passed the remainder of his life, having been summoned to his reward in 1860. William Stewart had been engaged in the book and stationery business at Hagerstown, Maryland, and upon coming to Indianapolis he here turned his attention to the same line of enter- prise. An interesting account of the develop- ment of the business that he founded appeared in The Indianapolis News at the time that the subject of this sketch secured control of his present fine establishment, and from the article in question excerpts are made, with slight para- phrase, as worthy of perpetuation in this vol- ume. The article in question was published under date of May 15, 1909, and is substantially as given in the following paragraphs :
"William Kerfoot Stewart, the grandson of William Stewart, the founder of the Bobbs- Merrill Company business, has bought the en- tire retail department, books and stationery of that house. This department will now be known as the Bobbs-Merrill book store, operated by th W. K. Stewart Company, which is incor- porated under the laws of the state and of which William K. Stewart is president and treasurer. In this corporation Mr. Stewart owns all of the stock except two complimentary shares, one of which is held by Clemens Von- negut, Jr., and the other by Charles W. Mer- rill. of the Bobbs-Merrill Company. W. K. Stewart has heen with the house four and one- half years. He began in the sales department. Three years ago he became sales manager, in charge of the traveling men of the house, and
also did much traveling himself, making a number of trips to the Pacific coast.
"A year ago a reorganization of the house took place. At that time Lee Burns, R. L. Moorhead, D. L. Chambers and W. K. Stewart took about half of the common stock, the re- mainder being in the hands of W. C. Bobbs, Charles Merrill, and John J. Curtis. William Stewart, grandfather of the new proprietor of the retail business of this old establishment, canie to Indianapolis from Hagerstown, Mary- land, about fifty-five years ago. He bought a little book store in Washington street, owned by a Mr. West, and took into partnership Silas T. Bowen, who had been a teacher in the old McLean Female Seminary. The business pros- pered from the first, and the firm name of Stew- art & Bowen was retained until the death of Mr. Stewart.
"The Stewart family lived for many years at the southeast corner of New Jersey and Ver- mont streets, in what at that time was one of the finest mansions of the city. This prop- erty, three years ago, was bought by the Rev. Anthony Scheideler and upon the site will some day be built a new church for the congregation of St. Mary's Catholic Church.
"After the death of William Stewart his son, Charles G. Stewart, had an interest in the business, the name of the firm being changed to Bowen, Stewart & Company. Charles G. Stewart some years later left the firm and as- sumed an editorial position on the Indianapolis Sentinel. Some time later the book house of Merrill & Meigs consolidated with the Bowen house. The name was changed to the Bowen- Merrill Company, and on January 1, 1885, the new organization was incorporated. Mr. Bowen died in 1895. On April 7, 1903, the house became the Bobbs-Merrill Company, with William C. Bobbs as head of the organization. Mr. Bobhs, who came into the house as a boy, had been with the business many years. Its publishing business began in a small way. Among the first books issued were the early poems of James Whitcomb Riley. Since that day the name of the Bobbs-Merrill Company has become noted in the trade as having fur- nished a large share of the popular novels that have taken a prominent place among the best sellers."
Reverting to the earlier stages of the career of William K. Stewart, it may be noted that he secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of Indianapolis, after which he entered historic old Yale University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the following year he secured employment in the wholesale hard-
1046
HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
ware establishment of W. J. Holliday & Com- pany, of Indianapolis, but he retained this position only a short time, at the expiration of which he went to California. Later, in 1902, he was in Cuba, identified with the operations of the Cuba Construction Company. He then, in the spring of 1902, returned to Indianapolis, where he again entered the employ of W. J. Holliday & Company, with which he remained until 1905, when he. entered the sales depart- ment of the establishment of the Bobbs-Merrill Company, concerning his connection with which adequate data have been given in preceding paragraphs. In August, 1909, Mr. Stewart bought the publishing, book and stationery busi- ness of the famous old Robert. Clarke Company of Cincinnati, now the largest business of the kind in that section of the country. It is incor- porated under the name of The Robert Clarke Company and Mr. Stewart holds the position of president and treasurer. He is known as one of the aggressive and enterprising business men of the younger generation in his native city and here his popularity is of the most unequivocal order. He is a member of the University Club, the Contemporary Club, the Commercial Club and the German House.
On the 15th of September, 1903, Mr. Stew- art was united in marriage to Miss Ella N. Vonnegut, who was born and reared in Indian- apolis and who is a daughter of Clemens and Emma (Schnull) Vonnegut, of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have a winsome little daugh- ter, Susan K. They are prominent in con- nection with the hest social activities of their home city, where their circle of friends is co- incident with that of their acquaintances.
DR. JAMES EGBERT is well known as one of the successful physicians of Indianapolis, where he has practiced throughout his profes- sional career. He was born on his father's farm in Morgan County, Indiana, January 24, 1871, his parents being Jonathan and Elizabeth (Davis) Egbert, and the father is deceased, dying at the age of fifty-nine years. He was a splendidly educated man, a student of Butler College, and he was identified with professional life as an educator for a number of years, finally turning his attention to agricultural pursuits. He was a member of the Christian Church, and was a Democrat in his political affiliations. Mrs. Egbert is vet living, a resident of Indian- apolis, and of the seven children who were born to Mr. and Mrs. Egbert six are now living, Dr. Egbert being the third born. The youngest son. Roy, is a graduate of the State Medical College, and is one of the rising young physi- cians of this city.
Following a training in the public schools and normal college, James Egbert entered the
Medical College of Indiana, and he is a grad- uate of its class of 1898. Since that time he has been practicing in Indianapolis, and he has since, in 1906, pursued a postgraduate course in medicine in Chicago. Dr. Egbert manifests a deep interest in all that pertains to his pro- fession, its advancement and improvement, and a true gentleman, he commands the respect and esteem of those with whom he comes in contact. He is a member of the fraternal order of Odd Fellows and of the Red Men, Nakomas Lodge No. 246, and he is an active worker in the local councils of the Democratic party.
He married on October 4, 1898, Tillie Stew- art, born in Delaware. County, Indiana, to Ed- win R. and Margaret Stewart. The mother is deceased, but the father yet survives and is liv- ing on a farm in Delaware County. A daugh- ter, Margaret Elizabeth, has been born to Dr. and Mrs. Egbert.
JOHN H. EMRICH has been a resident of Indianapolis from his childhood days and has been identified with its industrial interests from his early youth to the present time. With- in this interval he has gained a position as one of the representative business men and popular citizens of the capital city, where he is secre- tary and treasurer of the Emrich Furniture Company and president of the Indianapolis Chair & Furniture Company, both of which are substantial industrial concerns and lend their quota to the prestige of Indianapolis as a manufacturing and distributing center.
Mr. Emrich was born near Germantown, Wayne County, Indiana, on the 16th of Sep- tember, 1860, and is a son of Henry and Mar- garet (Schneider) Emrich, the former of whom was born in Ausheim, Germany, on the 1st of November, 1833, and the latter at Jarretts- ville, Harford County, Maryland, in 1836, her death occurring in 1872, at which time she was but thirty-six years of age. The marriage of the parents was solemnized in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1857, and of this union were born five children, of whom four are living, namely: Elizabeth, who is the wife of Christian Koch, of Indianapolis : John H., the subject of this sketch; Anna, who remains at the paternal home; and Jacob A. The lion- ored father was reared and educated in his na- tive land, whence he immigrated to America in 1855, shortly after attaining to his legal ma- jority. He made the voyage in a sailing vessel and the same was on the ocean for a period of fifty-one days before dropping anchor in the port of New York City. In his fatherland Henry Emrich had learned the trade of cabinet- making and soon after his arrival in America he located in the City of Baltimore, Maryland. where he followed the work of his trade until
Janne Eglerx MAP.
1047
HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
1859, when he came to Indiana and located rear the village of Germantown, Wayne Coun- ty, where he established a cooper shop and turned his mechanical ability into effective serv- ice in the manufacturing of barrels of various descriptions: He continued in this line of en- terprise until the autumn of 1865, when he came to Indianapolis, where he became super- intendent of the Helwig furniture factory, a position which he retained about three years, at the expiration of which, in 1868, he assumed a similar position with the Western Furniture Company, in which he finally became a stock- holder. In 1878 he assumed the office of presi- dent of this company, and he was identified with the same until 1882, when he associated himself with Otto B. Paulina in the manufac- turing of various kinds of furniture, under the firm name of Emrich, Paulina & Co. Two years later Samuel B. Porter also became a member of the firm, but his interest was pur- chased by the original members in 1889. The business was continued under the title of Em- rich, Paulina & Co. until 1895, when Mr. Paulina died, whereupon Mr. Emrich and his sons organized a stock company, which was duly incorporated under the present title of the Emrich Furniture Company and of which the father has since been the president. The en- terprise has grown to one of no insignificant order and represents one of the successful manufacturing industries of the capital city. After the death of his first wife Henry Emrich married Mrs. Catherine (Schaaf) Drechsel, widow of George H. Drechsel, and the two children of this union are Cora M. and William F., the latter of whom is associated with the business of the Emrich Furniture Company, as is also George H. Drechsel, Mrs. Emrich's son by her first marriage; he is vice-president and superintendent of the company.
While never a seeker of office or of notoriety in public affairs, Henry Emrich has ever been known as a loyal citizen and reliable and pro- gressive business man. He is a stanch Repub- lican in his political proclivities and both he and his wife hold membership in the First Ger- man Evangelical Church of Indianapolis, where they are held in high regard by all who know them.
John H. Emrich, the immediate subject of this review, was about five years of age at the time of the family removal to Indianapolis, and to the public schools of the capital city he is indebted for his early educational training. While still a boy he initiated his business carcer, during vacation seasons. When twelve years of age he entered the factory of the West- ern Furniture Company, where he learned the trade of wood turning, in which he became a
skilled artisan. Later he became shipping clerk for this company, and when eighteen years of age he became salesman in the retail furniture establishment of the firm of Sander & Recker, in whose employ he continued for three years. He then assumed the position of superinten- dent of the furniture factory of the firm of Emrich, Paulina Co., already mentioned in this context, and he held this office up to the time when the present company was organized, when he became its secretary and treasurer, of which dual office he has since been the able incum- bent. He has a thorough knowledge of all de- tails of the business, both in a technical or mechanical way and also in connection with executive management, and thus he is specially well fortified for the effective handling of the administrative duties devolving upon him. In 1892 Mr. Emrich was one of those concerned in the reorganization of the Indianapolis Chair Manufacturing Company, under the present title of the Indianapolis Chair & Furniture Company, and of the new corporation he has been president from the beginning.
Mr. Emrich is recognized as one of the alert and progressive business men of the younger generation in Indianapolis and as a citizen he has a secure place in popular confidence and esteem in the city which has represented his home during practically his entire life thus far. In politics he is found arrayed as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and he takes an active interest in its cause, as does he also in all that tends to conserve the civic and material progress of his home city. He is a member of the Marion Club and the Indianapolis Maennerchor, and he has been a valued member of the board of education since 1900.
On the 16th of June, 1882, was solemnized the marriage of John H. Emrich to Miss Ma- tilda M. Aldag, who was born in Indianapolis, in June, 1862, and who was a daughter of Charles and Minnie Aldag, both of whom were born'in Germany. Mr. Aldag died in Indian- apolis, where he was a successful business man, and here his widow still maintains her home. Mrs. Emrich was summoned to the life eternal on the 27th of November, 1887, and of her two children one survives, H. H. Harvey. On the 16th of September, 1891, Mr. Emrich con- tracted a second marriage, being then united to Miss Ida L. Holloway, who was born in Knightstown, Indiana, a daughter of William H. Holloway, a representative citizen of that place. The only child of this union, a daugh- ter, died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Emrich are popular in the social life of their home city.
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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
WILLIAM T. CANNON, incumbent of the im- portant and dual executive office of secretary and treasurer of the Indianapolis Union Rail- road Company, which owns and controls the fine union passenger station in the capital city, is one of the well known and distinctively popu- lar citizens of Indianapolis and finds no small measure of satisfaction in designating Indiana as his native heath.
Mr. Cannon was born in the City of Logans- port, Indiana, on the 23rd of April, 1856, and is a son of Dr. George and Martha (Taylor) Cannon, the former of whom was born in Con- necticut, a scion of one of the old and honored families of New England, where the family was founded in the colonial era, and the latter of whom was born in the State of New York. The father was sixty-two years of age at the time of his death, and his wife, long surviving him, attained to the venerable age of eighty- three years. They became the parents of eight children, of whom William T. of this sketch is the youngest, and of the number five are now living. Dr. George Cannon was an able physi- cian and surgeon, having received his tech- nical education in the celebrated Bellevue Hos- pital Medical College, in New York City. Upon coming to Indiana he located in the City of Logansport, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession for a number of vears, after which he removed to Janesville, Wisconsin, from which city he later removed to Boscobel, that state, where he continued in the work of his profession until his death. His wife passed the closing years of her life in In- dianapolis. Both held membership in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and in politics he was a stalwart advocate of the cause of the Republican party.
William T. Cannon was two years of age at the time of the family removal to Janesville, Wisconsin, and to the public schools of the Badger state he is indebted for his early edu- cational training. In 1873, at the age of seven- teen years, he returned to Indiana and took up his residence in Indianapolis, where he secured a position in the offices of the Indianapolis. Peru & Chicago Railroad Company. Later he entered the service of the Wabash Railroad Company, with which he advanced to the posi- tion of private secretary to the resident vice- president. and in 1884 he identified himself with the Indianapolis Union Railroad Company In 1889 he became treasurer and purchasing agent for this company, and upon the retire- ment of William M. Jackson, in Januarv, 1901, he has been secretary and treasurer of the com- panv.
In August, 1887, Mr. Cannon was chosen secretary of the Railway Men's Building &
Savings Association, of whom he was one of the prominent promoters and organizers, having drafted the article under which the same was incorporated. In the initial stages the asso- ciation confined its membership to railway men only, but eventually its privileges were extend- ed to others, and it now controls a large and substantial business, based on a capital of nearly two million dollars. With this corpora- tion Mr. Cannon is still identified, in the capacity of secretary.
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