USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Vigo county, Indiana, with biographical selections > Part 78
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S. L. FENNER, dealer in hardware, stoves, etc., Terre Haute, is a native of Crawford county, Ohio, born June 27, 1848, and is a son of Hiram and Elizabeth (Myers) Fenner. The father, who is a native of Pennsylvania, and now a retired merchant tailor, removed about the year 1844 to Crawford county, Ohio, where he still resides. His wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Fenner, was a native of Ohio, and died in 1888. Our subject, who is the second in a family of four children, was reared in Ohio, and received a common-school education. In 1870 he went to Salem, Oregon, and there worked at
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the tinner's trade two years; then moved to Toledo, Ohio, where he remained one year. In 1873 he came to Terre Haute, and engaged in the tinner's trade, which he followed until 1882, in which year he went on the road, and traveled five years, selling stoves and tinners' supplies. In 1887 he embarked in business where he is located at the present time, and where he handles hardware, stoves, tin, copper and sheet-iron ware, galvanized cornice, window caps, and makes roofing, guttering and spouting a specialty. He has been entirely dependent on his own resources for a start in life. Mr. Fenner was married in Terre Haute, Ind., August 30, 1876, to Anna M., daughter of Capt. James and Vienna (Herring) Hook, former a native of Pennsylvania, latter of New York. Her father, who was a carpenter and contractor, came here in 1839. Mrs. Fenner is the sixth in a family of nine children, and was born in Terre Haute, May 10, 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Fenner had born to them two children: Anna and Lamar E. Mrs. Fenner is a member of the Daughters of Rebekah, Prairie City Lodge. Mr. Fenner is a member of the I. O. O. F., No. 157, Vigo Encampment No. 17, and is an honorary member of the Canton; he has passed the chairs in the subordinate order and in the Encampment; is also a member of the Royal Arcanum. In politics he is a Republican.
MARTIN G. FIELDS, Linton township, P. O. Pimento, was born in Lawrence county, Ind., May 4, 1846, and is a son of Will- iam and Jane (Hansford) Fields, natives of Kentucky, of English descent, and pioneer settlers of this State, the father having been a farmer; they died in Lawrence county, Ind. Their family consisted of eight children, of whom Martin G. is the fifth. He was married November 23, 1879, to Rachel, daughter of Michael and Sarah (Thomas ) Lepley, natives of Ohio, who came to Greene county, Ind., in 1855; her father died in January, 1877, her mother is still liv- ing. They had a family of six daughters and one son, of whom Mrs. Fields is the fourth, born November 1, 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Fields had born to them seven children, viz .: Clarence, Arthur, Charles T. (deceased ), Roxie, Marietta, Luley and Harry. Mr. Fields was reared on the farm, receiving his education in the common-schools of Lawrence county, Ind. He owns a lot containing three acres, on which he has a saw-mill, and also owns another portable saw-mill, which mills he operates at different points, and Mr. Fields has fol- lowed the saw-milling business since 1866. Both he and his wife are members of the Christian Church. Mr. Fields enlisted in the Thirty- first Ind. V. I., and some of the important engagements in which he took part were the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain and Peach Tree Creek, also the Atlanta campaign, but the hardest battle he
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took part in was at Franklin, Tenn. Mr. Fields was under Gen. Sherman's command, and served till the close of the war, being mustered out at Indianapolis, January 16, 1866. His political party is the Republican.
NICHOLAS FILBECK, a leading Republican of the county of Vigo who came out of the war a wounded veteran after three years, service, when he had barely reached his legal majority. We donot know of a short compact sentence that could be framed in the En- glish language of greater import concerning a man's life than the above.
Nicholas Filbeck was born December 15, 1843, at Viernheim, Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, the second in a family of four children; the son of Philip and Anna Maria ( Winkler) Filbeck. The family came to America in 1847, first stopping at Indianapolis. There Mrs. Filbeck died, and Mr. Filbeck went to the west to search for fortune, leaving his children in the care of friends in Indianapolis. In 1850 Mr. Filbeck returned and made his home in Terre Haute, and in 1853 he brought his children to his home there, the two sur- viving children being Nicholas and Mary. The boy had earned his way in life from the time he was nine years old, and before he was ten he made himself useful in turning brick, etc., in the Indian- apolis brick-yard. In Terre Haute he attended the public schools, and for a short time the German Lutheran school; but his years in the school-room were not many, yet enough to master the rudiments of education, and on that he built by self exertion. He was then four years a clerk in his father's grocery store. He was but seventeen years old when war broke out over the land, and without his father's knowledge, he in August, 1861, enlisted in the Thirty-second Indi- ana Infantry Regiment known as the German Regiment, under Col. Willich. As the regiment was to rendezvous at Indianapolis, the youth, in order to go without his father knowing about it, pro- ceeded to Indianapolis a day or two in advance of the men, and with the others was mustered in August 24, 1861. His father followed him to Indianapolis for the purpose of bringing him back, and did get him out, taking him to his hotel, whence the young soldier soon escaped and fled back to his regiment, whereupon his father gave a reluctant consent to his going. He was with his regiment in the first Kentucky fight at Rowlett's Station, Kentucky, from there went to Shiloh with Buell's army, and in the second day's fight; next the siege of Corinth, then to Battle Creek, Ala., when they returned back to Louisville; then to Frankfort and the fight on Salt river, and the skirmishing along the river, then to Nashville and the battle of Stone river, where our hero was wounded, December 31, 1862. The wound crippled him for life, being in the lower part of the
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right leg, in the fleshy part, the tendons of the foot being cut; it was either by gunshot or shell, which, the surgeons could not say. When lying wounded and calling for help, as he had been assisted by companions away quite a distance, he finally attracted the atten- tion of a passing cavalryman, who put him on his horse and took him to a house. The friend was a rebel, and for some time he was cared for by the people of the enemy; he will never forget their loyal kindness and patient attendance upon him. During the twelve days he was in the hands of Dick McCan's rebel cavalry, his wound could receive no proper attention, though they did all they could. They eventually helped him to get to the Union hospital, at Nash- ville, where he remained from January 12 to February 14. In the meantime his wound for the want of treatment threatened certain death, as gangreen had set in, and lockjaw followed, so the surgeons and nurses conveyed word to his father that he could not live. His father went to him, and eventually succeeded in getting him to the hospital at Louisville, where he was helpless in bed from February 1, until May 5, 1863. He was sent from Louisville to New Albany, thence to the Indianapolis Soldiers' Home, and when able to go on crutches he had a forty days' furlough home. Returning, while still on crutches, owing to the man in command of the Home, he went to the commanding officer and begged to be sent to his regi- ment. He finally secured this order, having refused a discharge which was pressed upon him. He threw away his crutches, and leaned heavily upon a cane for appearance' sake, when he found his regiment on the eve of a march. He was totally unfit for duty, and in order that he might ride, was temporarily assigned to the quarter- master. He had joined his regiment at Bellefonte, Ala., on the eve of the Chickamauga campaign. His company after the battle of Chickamauga, unanimously asked him to become the orderly-ser- geant, but his physical disabilities prohibited. He was then on detached service in the Brigade Quartermaster's department, where he served his term and was mustered out with his command, Septem- ber 7, 1864.
Returning home he commenced work in his father's mill-the old " Telegraph Mill." Afterward, in company with his brother- in-law, B. Sattele, he kept the Cincinnati House three years. In 1869 he purchased the lease and fixtures of the Filbeck House, and in 1876 bought the house and grounds. In 1873 he was made postmaster at Terre Haute, and filled this position eight years. In 1882 he again became the proprietor of the Filbeck House, where he is at present. In 1868, when twenty-five years old, he was nomi- nated for sheriff, and came within thirty-eight votes of an election, and the pride of his life is that it was only because that "he was
47
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too young" was the sole objection urged by even political enemies against him. For twenty years he was chairman of the Republican County Central Committee, and as long as he could be induced to fill the place, the party trusted every thing to him, and not in vain. He has regularly attended all the conventions of his party as a dele- gate. He is a member of the G. A. R., Masonic, I. O. O. F., A. O. U. W., and the Germania societies and fraternities. April 23, 1867, Mr. Filbeck was married to Rosina, daughter of Adam and Catharine Keifuer, of Lawrence county, Ill., and by this union there are five children, viz .: Anna Maria, born February 5, 1868; Louise Catharine, born March 22, 1870; Charles Henry, born August 5. 1873; Rutherford N., born July 2, 1877; and Nellie Cecelie, born September 23, 1880. Anna Maria married Robert L. Hayman, June 20, 1888, and they have one son, Morton F. Hayman.
F. C. FISBECK is an extensive dealer in furniture on Wabash avenue, Terre Haute. He was born at Indianapolis, Ind., February 21, 1855, and is a son of John H. and Louise ( Hartman) Fisbeck, natives of Germany, who came to the United States when they were children, and settled in Indiana, where they were married. The father, who was a contractor and builder in Terre Haute, reared a family of five children-two sons and three daughters-of whom F. C. is the eldest. Our subject was reared in Terre Haute, where his parents located when he was a child. Here he attended the public schools, and then the high school one year. When still young he was employed as an errand boy in a dry-goods store. He was apt and dutiful, and was soon promoted to cashier, subsequently to book-keeper, and to the management of the financial part of the business. He was in this employ twelve years and a half. In 1881 he established his present business, and has been very suc- cessful. He now carries the largest stock of furniture in the county, and his building is 142 feet long, three stories high, with a spacious basement. This is filled with furniture. Mr. Fisbeck is a genial, pleasant gentleman, and is well adapted to his business. His long experience in business has entirely qualified him to know the people's wants and supply them. The store was a company con- cern until 1889, since when Mr. Fisbeck has been alone. His trade is both wholesale and retail. Our subject was married in Vigo county, in 1882, to Miss Carrie, daughter of Charles Sting, and of German descent. Her father was a farmer. They have three chil- dren: Fayette C., Harry F. and Francis C. Mr. Fisbeck is a Re- publican. On two different occasions he was his party nominee for county treasurer, leading the political fight of the party bravely and well. He is district deputy of the K. of P., past chancellor of
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the Oriental Lodge, and treasurer of the Uniform Rank. He is a Master Mason, and has served ten years as treasurer of the Ger- mania Society. He is a director of five of the building loan associa- tions of Terre Haute, and is secretary of four.
S. A. FITCH, farmer, Honey Creek township, P. O. Terre Haute, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, November 30, 1835, and is a son of Dyer and Arrelia (Wetmore) Fitch, natives of the State of New York, and of English descent. His father, who was a farmer and stock-dealer, in early life ran on the Missis- sippi River, steam-boating, being mate on the vessel. Our subject's parents died in Illinois, and their family consisted of twelve chil- dren, S. A. being the youngest. Our subject grew to manhood on the farm in Illinois, attending the common schools, and has made farming and stock-dealing his life business; he dealt exten- sively in horses and mules until he came to Vigo county, in 1870, since when he has farmed exclusively. Mr. Fitch was married in this county to Miss Sarah, daughter of the late John Weir, an early settler and a leading farmer of Vigo county, and who was a successful business man, highly respected. Mrs. Fitch is a sister of John L. Weir, of Honey Creek township, this county, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Fitch were members of the Presbyterian Church in Illinois. He enlisted, in Illinois, in Company I, Twenty-first Ill. V. I., Grant's old regiment, and he served his full term of enlistment, proving a good soldier, and a successful drill master. He is a Master Mason, and in politics a Republican.
BENJAMIN F. FLESHER, farmer and stock-grower, Prairie- ton township, P. O. Prairieton, was born in Meigs county, Ohio, August 1, 1835, and is a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Bonnet) Flesher, natives of Eastern Virginia, the father of English and the mother of Irish and German descent; they moved from Ohio to West Virginia, where the father died June 29, 1841; the mother died in Meigs county, Ohio, March 3, 1880. Benjamin F., who is the seventh in a family of eight children, was married January 13, 1859, to Caroline, daughter of Solomon and Delilah (Hughes) Hall (natives of Virginia, and of English descent) who moved to this county in 1857, and died in Prairieton township, her father April 7, 1863, and her mother January 17, 1873. They had a family of six children, all of whom grew to maturity, and of them Caroline is the second, born March 29, 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Flesher had ten children, as follows: Rosa A., deceased wife of Worfield Lane; Char- lie C., who married Lida Underwood; Francis M., who married Liza Kruzan; Henry L .; Cora D., wife of Falcon Hyne; James P., Paul M., Effie B., Chancy W. and Carrie E. Mr. Flesher was
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reared on the farm, receiving his education in the common schools of West Virginia, and has made his way in the world by his own exertions, following farming all his life, in which he has met with success. From West Virginia he moved to Prairieton township. this county, April 23, 1860, and at the present time he owns three farms, comprising 500 acres in a good state of cultivation. Mr. and Mrs. Flesher are consistent members of the Methodist Church, in which he has served as Sunday-school superintendent, being class leader at the present time. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and belongs to Lodge No. 178, Prairieton; is a member of the I. O. O. F., No. 157, Terre Haute, and passed the chairs in same prior to coming to this county. Mr. Flesher takes an active interest in the schools, and has served as school director; politically he is a Republican.
GEORGE S. FLOOD, an employe of Joseph Strong & Co., Terre Haute, was born in Madrid, Spain, February 24, 1850, and is a son of William and Ann (Stanbury) Flood, former of whom was born in the south of England, and is now a resident of Exeter, in that country. At the time of the birth of George S., the father was secretary of the embassy at the court of Spain. In politics he has always voted with the Liberal party, and both he and his wife are members of the Episcopal Church. They had two sons: George S. and Henry. Our subject attended the schools at Exeter, and before attaining his majority had learned the pattern-maker's trade. In his twentieth year, or in 1870, he left his home and friends and came to the United States, locating in Terre Haute, where he was employed by the Eagle Iron Works Company, with whom he remained until 1886, during which year he entered the establish- ment of Joseph Strong & Co. June 8, 1882, he married Miss Lida, youngest daughter of William Haggerty, an old and respected eiti- zen of Vigo county. To this marriage there have been born four children, viz .: Edith, Georgia, Anna and Ralph. Mr. and Mrs. Flood are members of the Episcopal Church. Politically he is a Republican.
JAMES P. FOLEY, Foleyville, Nevins township. This gen- tleman ranks among the enterprising and successful business men of Vigo county, and is at present owner of 180 acres of land in Nevins township. On the farm are located his saw-mill, store and coal mines, situated five miles west of Brazil on the branch of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad near Foleyville. He employs about eighty men in the coal mines, and twenty in the saw-mill and on the farm. Mr. Foley was born in Jennings county, Ind., April 16, 1850, and is a son of James B. and Mary ( Conner) Foley, natives of Ireland, who immigrated to America in 1847, and located in Jen- nings county, where the father farmed until 1875, when he came to
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Terre Haute, and has here since lived a retired life. His family consists of nine children, James P. being the fourth child and the eld- est son. Our subject was reared in Jennings county on the farm, at- tending the district school, also Moore's Hill Academy. He came to Terre Haute in 1871, and clerked for a time for Mosler Bros., subsequently becoming their manager, and served in that capac- ity four years; they carried on an extensive trade in clothing, hats and caps. Mr. Foley then engaged in the same business for a period of about two years, when he sold out and managed a store for Mr. Pix- ley ; was then chosen trustee for a co-operative coal mining company, at Fontanet, and soon after bought the land he now owns, and estab- lished his present business. Politically he acts with the Democratic party, and in 1879 he was elected city treasurer, being re-elected in 1883. He received the nomination for county treasurer of Vigo county, but failed to get a majority of the votes at the election ; he made, however, an aggressive fight, and as a consequence ran ahead of his ticket. He was married January 10, 1876, to Miss Alice, daughter of Thomas and Mary ( Gilmore ) Kelly, natives of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Foley have two children: William E. and Thomas F. The family belong to the Catholic Church.
JOSEPH L. FOLTZ, farmer and stock-grower, Fayette town- ship, P. O. Libertyville, was born in Page county, Va., March 17, 1845,and is a son of Gideon and Cynthia (Strole) Foltz, natives of Virginia and of German and English descent. The father, who fol- lowed farming as a business all his life, came to Vermillion county, Ind., and settled on a farm in Clinton township, where he died in 1883. Joseph L. Foltz, who is the third in a family of eleven chil- dren, was reared in Page county, Va., on a farm, and he has been almost self-taught. He came to Indiana in 1866, and chose farming as his life work, which he has followed with much success, being now the owner of the ninety acres where he now resides. He came to Vigo county in 1883. Mr. Foltz was united in marriage, in Edgar county, Ill., to Miss Laura V., daughter of B. R. and Nancy J. ( Bled- soe ) Fuqua, who were of Welsh descent. Mr. and Mrs. Foltz have one child, Cynthia Jane. Mr. Foltz takes an active interest in the affairs of the U. B. Church, of which he is one of the trustees, and also superintendent of the Sabbath-school. He is a Democrat in pol- itics, and has served as township chairman on the committee.
ALBERT Z. FOSTER, Terre Haute. The subject of this sketch was born in Orange county, N. Y., April 15, 1848. He comes of a long-lived, vigorous stock, and was the seventh child to gladden the hearts of his parents. His father, Dr. John L. Foster, the son of a Quaker, and the grandson of one of the soldiers of the Revolution, was born at Stamford, Conn., and is at this writing still
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living on the old homestead near Newburg, N. Y., at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. The mother, Harriett Scott Foster, a native of Long Island, is also still living, and bears her seventy- seven years with all the grace of many a younger woman.
Albert Zabriskie Foster, like most other successful men, grad- uated early in life at the tail of a plow. He followed the career of a farmer's son long enough to demonstrate to himself, at least, that a farmer's life was not the life for him, however much poets might write of flocks and herds and singing birds. Educated in a country district school, young Foster, at the age of fifteen, gave up the de- lights of a country life to accept service in a New York dry-goods store, of which his elder brothers were the proprietors. He trav- ersed the various stages through which a country lad is made to go in order to wear off the greenness to which they all are heirs, and in a few months emerged a full-grown salesman at the time when a calico dress cost a small fortune, and a bolt of cotton cloth exchanged at par for a fifty-dollar greenback. Quick to learn, ambitious to succeed, and accustomed to work, young Foster soon found himself on the road to success. Recognizing the value of money and the power of capital, he saved his earnings, and at the age of eighteen years we find him embarking in business for himself in Brooklyn, N. Y., his small accumulations having been reinforced by some borrowed cap- ital. Success seems to have attended . all his early efforts. At the age of twenty-one he had become an "old merchant." At this time he was engaged in the dry-goods business at Troy, N. Y., into which he had admitted as partner a younger brother, Sam- uel M. Foster, now a large and successful manufacturer at Fort Wayne, Ind. Mr. Foster made Troy his home until 1875, at which time circumstances turned his face toward the setting sun, and he came west. Some two or three years previous he had bought a large tract of land near the city of Brazil, in this State, and had platted it into city lots. The investment was promising very rich returns when the failure of Jay Cooke & Co. occurred in the early fall of 1873, precipitating the disastrous panic which ensued, and entailing long years of business depression upon the country. Mr. Foster set his face to the storm, met every dollar of his indebtedness as it came due, and in order to be near his newly acquired interests removed his business in 1875 from Troy, N. Y., to Brazil, Ind. Thus it came about that Indiana gained an active and loyal son, whose interests became inseparable from her own. Two years after coming west he entered the dry-goods firm of Foster Brothers, in Terre Haute, and in 1882 bought out his elder brother's entire interest in the. business. The furniture and house-furnishing departments were added in 1886, and the growth
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and development of the business to its present proportions are due entirely to Mr. Foster's energy and foresight. Successful as a business man, Mr. Foster however finds time for many outside inter- ests, especially those which will tend to the upbuilding of the city in which he lives. He is an active director in the Vigo County National Bank, and also in the Citizens' Light & Heat Company, and the Archer Gas & Fuel Company. He was one of those who organized the News Publishing Company, and has been for some time president of the company. He is also a member of the directory of the Terre Haute Business Men's Association. In matters political Mr. Foster is a Democrat, thoughi he was born and reared a Re- publican, a disciple of Horace Greeley. When Mr. Greeley made his celebrated campaign against Grant, Mr. Foster went with him, and he never got back into the Republican fold. Being a pronounced free-trader, he finds the Democratic party most in accord with his views, and acts with it on all subjects involving political princi- ples. He is a member of the Fort Harrison Club.
January 10, 1871, Mr. Foster was married at Troy, N. Y., to Miss Sarahı, daughter of Peter and Mary De Freest Manville, natives of New York and of Dutch Knickerbocker descent. As a result of this marriage three children have been born: Fannie Scott, Mary De Freest and Harriett Scott. Mrs. Foster died March 5, 1886, leaving the three children named above. The family have always been connected with the Congregational Church.
JOHN FOULKES, senior member of the firm of Foulkes & Dahlen, real estate, loan and insurance agents, Terre Haute, was born in England, May, 11, 1837, and is a son of Morris and Joice ( Hall) Foulkes, former of whom was a farmer, and died in England about the year 1843. Jolin, who is the youngest in a family of seven chil- dren, was reared on a farm, and attended the common schools in Eng- land. He came to America in 1863, and settled at Pittsburgh, Penn., where he worked in the rolling-mills four years; then moved to Ohio, and was in the rolling-mills there seven years. In 1876 he came to Terre Haute, and was engaged as a heater in the rolling- mill here; then, in 1883, he embarked in his present business, in which he has met with success, being now the owner of considerable real estate in Terre Haute. Mr. Foulkes was married in England, in January, 1859, to Miss Louisa Clark, who died in Terre Haute, in 1876. Their children are George, who is a merchant, Louisa, Harry and Fredrick William. Mr. Foulkes is a member of the Episcopal Church, as was his wife. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and in politics he is a Republican.
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