USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume II > Part 74
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 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
The mother of these children died and in 1797 the father, Gasper Koons,. married Abigail Piggott, a school teacher, the danghter of Jeremiah and Rachel Piggott. They were members of the Friends' or Quaker Church, and the marriage was according to the Friends' ceremony. To the union of Gasper Koons and Abigail Piggott were born twelve children, nine sons and three daughters. The eldest son died in infancy; the others were: Jeremiah, William, Nathan, Henry, Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin, Jesse, Hannah, Rachel and Susannah.
This family moved, about the year 1800, from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. where they settled near Bald Mountain. In the fall of the year 1808 the family left North Carolina and after traveling for fully six weeks, climbing mountains and fording streams and rivers, they arrived safely at Whitewater, near the then village of Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, and there entered one hundred and sixty acres of land, which now lie just beyond the corporate limits, southeast of the city of Richmond. Gasper Koons and his wife were devout members of the Friends' Church and the considerable body of their co-religionists, who were already settled in Wayne County about Richmond, made the location seem an especially favorable one to them. They attended the meetings of their church at Richmond as long as their healths would permit. Gasper Koons died November 8, 1820, at the age of sixty-one years. His widow followed him to the grave in 1850, aged seventy-eight years. Both are buried in Earlham Cemetery, Richmond.
Joseph, the seventh son of Gasper and Abigail (Piggott ) Koons, and father of the subject of this sketch, was born southeast of Richmond, near Greenmount, February 17, 1811. He was married to Lucinda Ray in 1834. She was the daughter of Thomas and Martha Ray, who came from Virginia, and after several removals, finally entered and located a tract of land one mile west of what is now the town of Mooreland, Henry County, Indiana, where he resided with his family until his death in 1845. On this farm his son, the well-known James Ray, of Blue-river Township, lived and died.
To Joseph and Lucinda (Ray) Koons were born the following named children: Sarah, Thomas, Benjamin F., the subject of this sketch; George R., Samuel, Joseph, Pleas- ant M., Hannah Louisa, John L. and Nancy Ellen. Of these children Benjamin F., George R., Pleasant M. and John L. are living. All of the deceased are buried in the Kissenger Cemetery, two miles north of Moorcland, except Joseph and Hannah Louisa, who are bur- ied in the Mooreland Cemetery. Joseph Koons, the father, died November 10, 1878, and and his widow, Lucinda (Ray) Koons, died November 21, 1880. Both are buried in the Friends' Cemetery, near Franklin, Wayne County, Indiana.
1164
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN KOONS.
Benjamin Franklin Koons, son of Joseph and Lucinda (Ray) Koons, was born No- vember 23, 1839, on a farm two miles southwest of Mooreland, where he lived as boy and man until he moved in 1864 to a farm two miles southeast of Mooreland, where he has continuously lived to the present time. On June 27, 1861, he was married to Mahala, daughter of Jacob and Sophia Deardorff, who came from Ohio and entered the one hun- dred and sixty acres of land in Blue River Township now owned and occupied by Mr. Koons.
To the union of Benjamin Franklin and Mahala ( Deardorff) Koons were born nine children, as follows: John L., James, Albert, Thomas Benton, Newton Clay, Cora See, Charley, Harvey L., Robert H. and Perry O. These children are all living except the sec- ond son, James Albert, who died in early childhood and is buried in the Mooreland Cemetery by the side of his mother, who died June 21, 1900. John L. and Thomas Benton reside at Muncie, Indiana, where the former is engaged with Ball Brothers, glass manu- facturers, and the latter is a member of the Muncie fire department. Both are married and have children. Newton Clay owns and lives on a farm two miles east of Moore- land with his wife and children. Cora See is the wife of Lorenzo D. Adamson and re- sides in New Castle. Charley, with his wife and one child, and his brother, Perry O., live with their father on the home place. Harvey L. lives one mile and a half south of Losantville, on one of the most beautiful farms in eastern Indiana; his wife, Ina (Thompson ) Koons, died in July, 1905, leaving two children and a bereaved husband. Robert H. married Josie Stanley and resides in Mooreland, where he is engaged in business. Fifteen grandchildren contribute very materially to the happiness of Benja- min F. Koons.
Mr. Koons received his primary education in the typical log cabin school house, of which mention is so frequently made in this History. He afterwards, during the win- ters for several years, attended the common or district schools and worked on the farm in the summers. He also attended the Blountsville High School and sat under the teach- ings of Newton Kimhall, who was afterwards a sergeant in Company I, 124th Indiana Infantry during the Civil War, and subsequently became a prominent physician, with a large practise, at Franklin, Wayne County, Indiana, where he died. He was buried at Blountsville.
After completing his education Mr. Koons himself became a school teacher, hegin- ning when he was eighteen years of age and continuing in that profession for several years after his marriage, until he was past thirty years of age, teaching in the winter and farming during the summer. He then gave up teaching and turned his attention mainly to the settlement of estates, guardianship of orphan children and other business of like character. He was assignee of Clapper, Shaffer and Smith, pork packers, at New Castle, whose failure caused a large financial flurry in middle and northeastern Henry County, and he has been assignee, administrator, executor, guardian, etc., in a great number of cases, and all of his fiduciary duties have been faithfully and satisfactorily performed.
Mr. Koons has been a member of the German Baptist Church since 1863 and his wife, who joined the same church at the same time, continued in that faith until her death. He has heen, almost from the beginning of his membership, a deacon in the church and has given freely of his means to its support. For a long time he has been identified offi- cially and otherwise with the Old Settlers' Association of Henry County and is now the president of the organization. He is also a member of the Henry County Historical So- ciety, of which he is now and has been for a number of years the treasurer. An old settlers' gathering or a meeting of the historical society would be incomplete without hls cheerful and cheering presence.
Politically Mr. Koons has been from its organization an aggressive and uncompro- mising member of the Republican party. He was an alternate delegate to the Repub- lican National Convention at Philadelphia in 1900 and to the Chicago convention of 1904. He has been a delegate to many county, district and State conventions, and has for many years been a leader in the politics of Blue River Township. He is a very competent
1165
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
writer and has contributed to the county and other papers exhaustive articles, mainly relating to the different phases of the financial and political questions of the day. He is a student of affairs and has kept well abreast of current events and opinions and never takes up a subject without exhausting its possibilities.
Mr. Koons assisted in the first organization of the Indianapolis, New Castle and Winchester (electric) Railway and was the first president of the company, which con- sisted of Charles S. Hernly, Daniel Storms, Union B. Hunt and others. This road is now known as the Indianapolis, New Castle and Toledo (electric) Railway, and is fre- quently referred to as the "wild flower and honey bee route," and is now in process of construction. When completed it will extend from Indianapolis to New Castle and thence to Muncie, Winchester and Richmond in Indiana, its terminus being Toledo, Ohio.
Mr. Koons is a consistent advocate of temperance and a worker in its cause and it is largely through his influence that the saloon has been prevented from obtaining a foot- hold in the beautiful town of Mooreland. All in all, Mr. Koons has ever been an active and moving spirit in the affairs of Henry County. He is possessed of strong natural ability and has uniformly observed in all his life work the inspiring command, "Go forward."
1166
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ALBERT KRELL,
MANUFACTURER, BUSINESS MAN AND CHIEF PROMOTER OF THE KRELL-FRENCH PIANO COMPANY, NEW CASTLE.
The man of high aims often reaches the goal of his ambition by persistent and in- telligent effort, while the man of lesser ambition more often fails to accomplish any- thing of lasting value through lack of proper incentive. It is nature's law that the child must creep before it can walk, but with the first step comes consciousness of a new power and the bent of the child's mind is disclosed. One makes its first essay with firmness and determination; another with fear and trembling; in the same family different dis- positions manifest themselves, one child, possessed of push and vim, clinging tenaciously to its rights and boldly elbowing its way through the world, while the more timid nature is pushed to the wall. The bolder natures smile at reverses that overwhelm the shrink- ing brother and with redoubled effort press along the pathway to success.
This thought is illumined by the business career of Albert Krell, whose high aims have been supplemented by a boldness in planning and an energy in executing great enterprises that entitled him to be considered one of the great industrial leaders of the day. Should his work now suddenly cease, the business enterprises with which his name has become so intimately linked would stand as a lasting monument to his sagacity and push.
THE KRELL-FRENCH PIANO COMPANY.
This company, which owes its existence and prosperity largely to the efforts of Mr. Krell, is said to be the largest concern of its kind in the world, and the history of its location in New Castle is an interesting one. At the time of its coming the town was not dead, but there was little of that bustling activity which pervades towns of similar size, but with larger manufacturing interests. By individual efforts a sentiment was gradually aroused in the community in favor of such enterprises which finally crystal- lized in the organization of the New Castle Industrial Company, with such substantial and public-spirited citizens as Charles W. Mouch, Eli B. Phillips, James S. McQuinn, David W. Kinsey, Simon P. Jennings, Eugene H. Bundy, Lycurgus L. Burr as directors and Charles S. Hernly as secretary, and its influence upon the future of the town is well known.
Scarcely had this company been organized when it was advised that the plant of the Krell-French Piano Company, then located at Springfield, Ohio, had been destroyed by fire, February 10, 1902. Negotiations were at once undertaken and under certain guaranties, which it is unnecessary to repeat in detail, the company moved from Spring- fleld to New Castle and erected there the most modern and complete piano factory in the world. One institution has brought another until the industrial prosperity of the town is assured. The main building of this factory was originally sixty feet wide and ten hun- dred and fifty feet long and three stories high, all built of brick and with double and triple floors. Besides the main building there were a boiler and engine house, a veneer warehouse, a varnish house and three dry kilns. Additions have been made from time to time and it is in contemplation at an early day to more than double the capacity of this already great factory, a factory whose magnitude and importance is not fully real- ized by the town itself. The population of the town has more than doubled since the coming of this business, and the factory now employs over five hundred workmen, and its weekly pay-roll will average over six thousand dollars. Its present weekly output of finished pianos is one hundred and twenty-five, which are shipped to all parts of the United States and Canada, many also going to foreign lands, but the factory working to its full capacity, is unable to supply the demand for its instruments.
.
The capital stock, common and preferred, of this company is $550,000. Its stock- holders are chiefly individuals who are interested in the piano trade. The officers, all men of long practical experience, were originally Albert Krell, president; Jesse French, Sr., a capitalist of St. Louis, Missouri, first vice-president; Otto Bollman, second vice-pres- ident; Edwin B. Pfau, secretary, and H. Edgar French, treasurer.
Albu Xuell
1167
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
The directors were Otto Bollman and Jesse French, Sr., both of St. Louis, Missouri; Charles L. Dengler, H. Edgar French, Albert Krell and Edwin B. Pfau, all of New Cas- tle, Indiana; Henry Dreher, of B. Dreher and Sons, Cleveland, Ohio; E. E. Forbes, of E. E. Forhes Piano Company, Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama; William N. Grunewald Company, Limited, New Orleans, Louisiana; O. K. Houck Piano Company, Memphis, Tennessee, St. Louis, Missouri, and Little Rock, Arkansas; Harvey S. Patter- son, C. C. Mellor Company, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
What has been said of this company merely outlines its resources and strength. The brains and energy which organized and managed this great industry belonged to Albert Krell, who was its president until the annual meeting of stockholders, August 10, 1905, when he declined to longer serve for the reason that he designed in the future to devote his attention to the manufacture and sale of the Krell Auto-Grand Piano. His arduous lahors and his long and successful connection with the management of the Krell-French Piano Company were recognized by that organization upon his retirement from the pres- idency by the unanimous adoption of the following resolutions:
"Whereas, The phenomenal success of the Krell Auto-Grand Piano Company requires the entire time and attention of our president and he declines to become a candidate for re-election, be it
"Resolved, That, while we regret the necessity of such action, we rejoice in his suc- cess and wish him continued prosperity. We therefore hereby tender him our vote of thanks, as well as feel that the success of our company is in a large degree due to his ability and indefatigable industry. But we have induced him to remain in the board to be of such assistance as may be necessary to further the interests of the Krell-French piano."
The present officers of the company are: Jesse French, Sr., president; Otto Boll- man, first vice-president; O. K. Houck, second vice-president; Jesse French, Jr., secre- tary; H. Edgar French, treasurer. Directors: Albert Krell, Henry Dreher, Henry Pat- terson, W. E. Grunewald, E. E. Forbes, Jesse F. Houck, Olney Davies, Otto Bollmam, H. Edgar French, Jesse French, Sr., and O. K. Houck.
THE KRELL AUTO-GRAND PIANO COMPANY.
This company was organized in November, 1904, with the following officers: Albert Krell, president; Edwin B. Pfau, secretary and treasurer; L: A. Krell, vice-president; Pe- ter Welin and Charles L. Dengler, directors. The Krell Auto-Grand Piano is already rec- ognized throughout the civilized world as the acme of musical perfection in the piano line. The completeness of this instrument can hardly be realized except by one who has noted for many years the constant improvement and change going on in so many of the arts and lines of business pursuit. Of the inventor it may be said that like the poet he is born, not made. Who to-day remembers the first crude sewing machine and its pre- dicted failure? Or what old printer forgets the ridicule that greeted the first typesetting machine? Yet the perfected sewing machine is with us to-day and the "lightning com- positor" has given way to the Mergenthaler and Linotype machines. So with the type- writer and many other equally wonderful machines, but in none of the arts has there been wrought a more magical change than in that of piano making.
It is a far cry from the simple "spinet" of our mothers, the first one of which to come to Henry County was brought about the year 1835 among the household goods of William Henry, one of the earliest pioneers. The beauty, finish and tone of that "spinet," which is still in existence, compared with the instrument that has taken its place, is as a mouth organ to an Italian harp.
The Krell Auto-Grand Piano is, simply stated, a piano with an attachment which en- ables even the unskilled musician to manipulate the instrument so as to produce the sim- plest as well as the most difficult musical compositions for the benefit of himself and of others, and to do so in a manner equal or superior to that of accomplished players. This attachment, as its name implies, is automatic in its action, and all the performer has to do is to work the pedals and by means of stops to increase or decrease, as may be de- sired, the volume of tone of the instrument, a thing easily learned.
1168
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
The attention of the musical world has been turned to this problem for years and many devices have been tried to bring about this result, but it has remained for the Krell Auto-Grand Piano Company to perfect the idea and to-day not only is their instru- ment recognized as the finest product of the skilled pianomaker, but the automatic at- tachment is considered the highest achievement of inventive genius in musical lines. Many people possessing a high appreciation of the harmony of sound are debarred by lack of musical training from the pleasures of music hecause they cannot get their fin- gers to perform the necessary work. For such the piano-playing attachment will pro- duce the most classical music with a technique and finish surpassing the skill of the deft- est of human fingers.
The Krell Auto-Grand Piano is a wonderful piece of mechanism, of new and hand- some design, and no one looking at its beautiful exterior would imagine that behind it all lies hidden a power which only needs to be invoked to make the piano the prince of musical instruments. The inventor of this automatic attachment is Peter Welin, a musi- cal genius, who has patented some of the most remarkable improvements in piano- players that the world has heard or seen. The Auto-Grand is his latest and greatest pro- duction and far excels all other piano-playing devices.
Edwin B. Pfau, formerly secretary of the Krell-French Piano Company, but now sec- retary and treasurer of the Krell Auto-Grand Piano Company, has been from his hoyhood associated with the trade and manufacture of pianos. He is thoroughly versed in the business, knows all about the mechanism of the piano and in the discharge of his duties never loses sight of the two most important features-perfection and durability-of the instruments made and turned out by their great factory.
For the present the Krell Auto-Grand Piano will continue to be manufactured at the works of the Krell-French Piano Company, but it is the intention of its owners to build their own factory on their own ground, thus adding another great industry to those already established in New Castle. In direct reference to this statement a gentle- man of observant mind and known soundness of judgment has given it as his opinion that "Mr. Krell's Auto-Grand attachment is worth a cool million of dollars, and I predict that in a few years he will be operating in New Castle a plant as large, if not larger, than the present Krell-French factory, devoted exclusively to the manufacture of the Auto-Grand. The attachment will in time be universally used."
The history of this splendid industry is the history of Albert Krell. Like many other industrial organizations which have had modest beginning, this has grown and waxed great through his fostering care and must ever remain indebted to his energy and push for its present prosperity. Mr. Krell is indefatigable in business and possesses great driving power. He likes to hear the engines' mighty throbbings and the humming of the machinery and to see the wheels turning round. He is all the time doing things himself, watching and overseeing the vast interests under his control.
ALBERT KRELL.
Albert Krell's genealogical record shows that his great-grandfather, Frederick Wil- liam Krell, was born in 1774 and that he died in 1870, thus having lived for nearly one hundred years. He was a captain in the French army under the great Napoleon and participated in the famous Russian campaign of that illustrious conquerer in 1812, and on the retreat of the grand army from Moscow he was one of the comparatively few sol- diers to escape with his life from the terrible deprivations and the dreadful horrors of that midwinter retreat. The grandfather of Albert Krell was Gustave Frederick Wil- liam, born in 1800; died in 1886. Both of the above died and were buried in Prussia, now the leading State in the German Empire.
Mr9 Krell's father was also named Albert Krell, and was born in Prussia in 1832 and died in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 5, 1900.
His wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was Alvina (Lindemuth) Krell. who was also born in Prussia and died in Cincinnati, Ohio, in February, 1866. Both of his parents are buried in Walnut Hills Cemetery, Cincinnati. They were the parents of seven sons and one daughter. All are now deceased excepting Albert Krell, the subject of this sketch, and are buried in Walnut Hills Cemetery.
Edwin S. Gfau
1169
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Albert Kreli, the father, was a leading violinmaker of his time and as such had not only a national but a world-wide reputation. It is said that he and George Gemunder, the latter of New York City, were the only violinmakers of note who lived in the United States during the nineteenth century, and that as a matter of fact there is now no great violinmaker in this country nor in the old world. The violins made by both Mr. Krell and by Mr. Gemunder have an established reputation among connoisseurs and bring fabulous prices.
Albert Krell, the subject of this sketch, was born September 6, 1859, in Cincinnati, and it was there that he received his education and learned his trade as a pianomaker with his father, who was not only a great violinmaker, but had skilled knowledge regard- ing the mechanism of the piano and many other musical instruments. He was married December 26, 1883, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Laura Amelia Pfau. Her grandparents ou her mother's side were Peter and Wilhelmina Bogen. Her parents were John Michael and Wilhelmina ( Bogen) Pfau. Albert and Laura Amelia (Pfau) Krell are the parents of two children, namely: Elsa, born November 21, 1884, and Meda, born September 29, 1887. They are very popular young ladies, prominent in social circles, well educated and highly accomplished. Mr. and Mrs. Krell have also an adopted son, Harold Alexander, the or- phan child of Mr. Krell's brother Alexander.
Mr. Krell began pianomaking in 1889 at Cincinnati in company with his brother, Alexander Krell. They started in a small way, having their factory on the top floor of their father's place of business, Number 144 West Fourth Street. The business pros- pered and in time increased to such proportions that removal to larger quarters became advisable, and in 1890 the premises at Race and Canal streets were leased and the fac- tory established there. Trade continued to increase so rapidly that in 1892 they bought a. factory on Ninth, Harriet and Richmond streets, embracing two hundred feet on Harriet, running back two hundred and forty feet on Richmond and Ninth streets. Shortly after their removal to these new quarters Mr. Krell disposed of part of his interest in the factory in 1900 and in the succeeding year. 1901, went to Springfield, Ohio, where, in con- junction with several other parties, a large factory was started, which was then owned an. conducted as it is now by the Krell-French Piano Company. "It is an ill wind that blows nobody good." Not long after the establishment of the piano factory at Spring- field it was almost totally destroyed by fire, February 10, 1902, and soon afterwards moved to New Castle, Indiana, as above stated.
Although Mr. Krell is personally and financially interested in the Krell-French Piano Company and as anxious as ever for its growth and prosperity, he has, neverthe- less, become especially identified with the Krell Auto-Grand Piano Company and is giving to that industry his undivided attention.
Though reared in the Lutheran faith, Mr. Krell is now a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and, with his family, is a regular attendant upon its services. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and politically is a strong adherent of the Repub- lican party, giving that organization and its principles and policies his warmest en- couragement and support.
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.