USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > History of the city of Evansville and Vanderburg County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 30
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In 1837 Philip Hornbrook was united in marriage to Miss Mary Simp- son, formerly of Boston, Massachusetts. Following his father's death in 1839 he succeeded to the mercantile and farming interests and was engaged in business in Scott township until 1848, when he removed to Evansville, where he established a grocery and bakery business, thus becoming a fac- tor in the commercial development of this city. He was also prominent in
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public affairs and from 1853 until 1860 served as one of the trustees of the schools. For several years he was secretary of Vanderburg County Agri- cultural Association and from 1861 until 1865 he was military agent of the state of Indiana with the rank of colonel. In 1869 he was appointed sur- veyor of customs and collector of the port at Evansville, and in the dis- charge of his official duties was ever found prompt, faithful and reliable.
Mr. Evans has always given his political support to the democracy and keeps well informed on the vital questions and issues of the day, but has never sought office as the reward for party fealty. He is an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity and has attained the Knight Tem- plar degree. For years he has been a trustee of the Willard Library and belongs to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Indiana Academy of Science. He cooperates with the Business Men's Association in their efforts to promote the growth of Evansville through the extension of its trade relations, and at all times has been ready and will- ing to do the duty that lies closest his hand, whether for the promotion of individual interests, municipal affairs or intellectual progress.
JOHN HIRSCH.
It is not everybody who can become a successful farmer. To attain that enviable distinction a man must not only possess habits of industry and perseverance but he must also have good judgment, and unless he is early in life given a thorough training in all matters pertaining to the farmt he will experience great difficulty in attaining a position of recognized standing among experienced agriculturists. The true farmer, as in all other callings, is born to the vocation and accomplishes many things easily which others may never be able to accomplish at all. To this class belongs John Hirsch, owner of a beautiful farm of two hundred and seventy acres in Knight township, Vanderburg county, and for many years a leader in the township as a farmer and stock-raiser.
Mr. Hirsch first opened his eyes to the light of day on a farm in the township where he now lives on the 17th of November, 1859. Here he passed the days of his boyhood, attending the district schools and per- forming various duties about the farm. He also possessed the advantages of further education at St. Mary's school in Evansville and the mental training which he received under competent teachers has assisted him very materially during all the years of contact with the world. He early chose agriculture as his favorite pursuit and no young man in the township was more earnest in his work or produced more favorable returns from the time and energy employed in cultivating the farm and raising live stock than the subject of this review. He has always been recognized as an intelligent, progressive and enterprising man, ever ready to adopt any reason-
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able suggestion that could be applied successfully upon the farm, and an observer and student who has always been well informed and who has kept fully abreast of the times, so that he has been able to add from year to year to his financial resources. In addition to the highly improved farm upon which he lives, Mr. Hirsch is the owner of a third interest in sixteen hundred acres of land in Illinois, his brothers Leonard and Jacob own- ing the other two-thirds.
In 1889 Mr. Hirsch was united in marriage to Miss Mary Titzer, of McCutchanville, Indiana, who departed this life a few years later. One child was the result of the union. This child died in infancy. In 1893 Mr. Hirsch was again married, his second union being with Miss Gertrude Guetling, of Spencer county, this state. They have five children: Amelia, now fifteen years of age; Stella, thirteen years of age; Louisa, twelve years of age; Leo, ten years of age; and Tillie, eight years of age.
Mr. Hirsch is a member of Trinity Catholic church and also of St. Joseph's Society. Politically he is allied with the democratic party. He has devoted his attention mainly to his farming interests and has never aspired to public office. In the course of his life he has demonstrated that success depends largely upon sound judgment, backed by rightly directed ambition. A prominent citizen of his section, he has by an up- right life, extending through a long period of years, gained and retained the respect of all who know him.
HENRY R. DUNAVAN.
Henry R. Dunavan is vice president of the wholesale grocery com- pany of Ragon Brothers, a name that in Evansville is synonymous with merit and enterprise, progressive methods and the highest standards of trade. For twenty-eight years Mr. Dunavan has been connected with the house and was called to the position of second executive officer in 1902.
INTERMEDIATE LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY.
The Intermediate Life Assurance Company, whose home office is in Evansville, Indiana, was organized in 1904 and is operating under Indiana's rigid legal reserve compulsory insurance deposit law, being the only com- pany doing business under this statute south of Indianapolis.
The company's assets aggregate over one-half million dollars, consist- ing of first mortgage loans on unincumbered real estate loaned at fifty per cent of the appraised value, loans within the reserve to its policy hold- ers, and the magnificent, home office building located at the corner of Third and Main streets.
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The motto of this company has been and will be in the future, to issue nothing but the most modern and liberal policy contracts, realizing that the public would appreciate policies of this character. Much of the suc- cess of the company is attributed to this feature.
The stockholders of the Intermediate Life Assurance Company are some of the most prominent and reputable citizens in their community. The company is officered by : Madison J. Bray, president, Evansville; W. F. Weyerbacher, vice president, Boonville; Fred Baker, secretary-treasurer, Evansville; Dr. Edwin Walker, medical director, Evansville; and directors H. H. Ogden, Evansville; Sidney Ichenhauser, Evansville; Frank Lohoff, Evansville; J. W. Richardson, Boonville; Charles H. Howard, Hazelton.
The company's business is now confined strictly in Indiana. During the year 1911 its business will be extended into Kentucky and Illinois and within the very near future its business will be further extended in nearly every state in the Union.
The present status and standing of the Intermediate Life Assurance Company indicates that it is fast developing into one of the strongest finan- cial institutions in southern Indiana. The law that the company is operat- ing under guarantees the public that the funds of the company are as safe as a national bank note or government bond, thereby enabling this com- pany not only to issue a liberal and modern policy contract but one as safe and secure as any can be obtained by any of its competitors.
The Intermediate is strictly an old line legal reserve company and was built up upon that theory which has stood the test of one hundred and fifty years of actual experience and is recognized by all standard authorities in- cluding actuaries and insurance commissioners of the various states as being safe, sane, sound and perpetual.
F. L. DAVIS, M. D.
Dr. F. L. Davis came to Evansville from Greencastle, Indiana, in 1866. He was but a young lad when his parents died and he was left to shift for himself. Through the travail of ambitious, hard working boyhood he made his way, securing such employment as he might and utilizing his leisure hours for study that he might educate himself and prepare for more valuable service in a broader field of labor. He took up the study of medi- cine and in 1862 began to practice. Ambitious to advance as far as possible in his profession, he has since availed himself of every opportunity of broadening his knowledge and promoting his efficiency. During the winter of 1864 and 1865, therefore, he attended lectures in Cleveland and in 1870 he was graduated from the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College. Since locating in Evansville, in 1866, he has practiced here continuously and by study has kept abreast of the times, being one of the foremost members
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of the medical fraternity here. The advanced thought of the profession has found him an interested student and he eagerly embraces the methods which are promoted and which his judgment sanctions as of real worth in practice. He has specialized to some extent in the field of vibrotherapy and read a paper upon the subject before the Ohio Valley Medical Association in 1908. In this he makes the statement that: "Mechanical vibrotherapy is capable of '(1) increasing the volume of blood and lymph flow to a given area or organ; (2) stimulating secretion and increasing nutrition; (3) im- proving the respiratory process and function; (4) improving muscular and general metabolism and increasing the production of animal heat; (5) stimulating the excretory organs and assisting the functions of elimination; (6) softening and relieving muscular contractures; (7) relieving engorge- ment and congestion; (8) facilitating the removal, through the natural channels of the lymphatics, of tumors, exudates and other products of in- flammation; (9) inhibiting and relieving pain.' " His paper attracted wide- spread attention and his methods of practice in this regard have received the endorsement of many members of the profession. He is a member of the Homeopathic State Medical Society and Round Table of Evansville, the Indiana State Medical Society. The American Institute of Home- opathy, the Vanderburg County Medical Society, the Ohio Valley Medical Association and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Davis is allied with the Masonic fraternity and is in thorough sym- pathy with the spirit of mutual helpfulness and brotherly kindness which underlies the craft. In politics he has been a stalwart republican since the organization of the party, but has largely confined his activities to his prac- tice, wherein he has made continuous and satisfactory progress, winning the good will and confidence of other members of the medical fraternity in his close conformity to a high standard of professional ethics.
BENARD H. RIETMAN.
The history of the present deals with business problems, the develop- ment and conduct of important manufacturing and industrial interests and the utilization of the natural resources which have been provided in various sections of the country. The men, therefore, who are most prominent in community life are those who establish and control important business in- terests, in which connection Benard H. Rietman was well known, having for a number of years been a member of the firm of the Rietman & Schulte Lumber Company, dealers in hardwood lumber.
He was born in Evansville May 14, 1864, and his early experiences were such as usually fall to the lot of the lad who is reared in a growing and enterprising middle-west town. His early education was acquired in the public schools of Evansville and later he attended the University of
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St. Louis, Missouri. He early began to learn the lumber business in the sawmill of Rietman & Schulte, the senior partner being his father, who for many years was a resident of Evansville, closely associated with its indus- trial interests as a manufacturer of lumber. The early experiences of Benard H. Rietman in the lumber mill gave him comprehensive knowl- edge of the business and made him an expert in the valuation of lumber and constituted a forceful element in the attainment of success in later years. Eventually he became a member of the well known firm of Riet- man & Schulte, dealers in hardwood lumber, in which connection they developed a trade of large proportions, owing to the reliability of their business methods, their promptness in executing orders and the spirit of progressiveness which dominated them in all their transactions.
Mr. Rietman was united in marriage to Miss Lillian M. Bartholome, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Simon Bartholome and a representative of one of the old families of this city. Her father, who was a soldier of the Civil war, is still living in Evansville, but her mother passed away on the 21st of January, 1906. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Rietman was born a son, Henry B., on the 22d of February, 1891. He attended the public schools of Evansville and also the parochial school of St. Anthony, completing his education, however, at Worcester, Massachusetts. He is now acting as assistant bookkeeper for one of the largest firms in Evansville.
Mr. Rietman belonged to the Knights of St. John and to St. Anthony's Catholic church, in which he served as a trustee. He was regarded as one of the city's substantial young business men, always ready to lend his aid and influence to further the public good or to promote progressive meas- ures. He was found reliable and enterprising in all of his dealings and straightforward in every relation of life, and his death was, therefore, the occasion of deep and wide-felt sorrow when on the Ist of October, 1901, he passed away at the age of thirty-seven years. Mrs. Rietman occupies a beautiful home at No. 614 Oakley street, which is one of the finest resi- dences in Evansville.
WILLIAM H. BOETTICHER.
Among the earnest men whose depth of character and strict adherence to principle incite the admiration of his contemporaries William H. Boet- ticher is prominent. Throughout his business career he has steadily worked his way upward by reason of indefatigable industry and has at length reached a prominent position in commercial and financial circles. His business interests, extensive and varied, have ever been of such a nature that while promoting his individual success they have also advanced the general prosperity, by increasing commercial activity and by inaugurating a financial policy that has done much to further business stability. He is perhaps best known as vice president of the Boetticher & Kellogg Com-
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pany and president of the Advance Stove Works, although he has other interests.
He was born in Evansville December 6, 1860, a son of Edward and Amelia Boetticher. After mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools of this city he prepared for the onerous and responsible duties that were to come to him in later life by pursuing a course in Ranks Business College. He was a youth of seventeen years when, in 1877, he secured a clerkship in the hardware store of R. H. Kellogg, with whom he remained until 1880. During the two succeeding years he was shipping clerk for Boetticher & Kellogg Company, and was then sent upon the road as traveling salesman, thus representing the house in the develop- ment of its trade interests until 1904. In that year he was made assistant buyer. His present official connection with the Boetticher & Kellogg Com- pany is that of vice president, in which connection he is largely giving his supervision to the management of affairs relating to the development of the business and to executive control. Proving his worth and ability in commercial circles, his cooperation has been sought in other fields and at the present time he is the president of the Advance Stove Works, one of the most important business enterprises of the city, and also a director of the Beach & Fuller Basket Company.
On the 28th of February, 1890, Mr. Boetticher was married to Miss Ida T. Griener, a daughter of R. and A. Griener. Theirs is an attractive home, its hospitable spirit being greatly enjoyed by their many friends. Mr. Boetticher gives his political support to the republican party which he has indorsed since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias lodge and to the United Commercial Travelers, and during its existence was a member of the Evansville Rifles, a company of the State Militia.
He is a man of distinctive ability and his character is one which is above the shadow of reproach. He has ever been faithful to the posi- tions to which he has been called and is widely known and respected by all who have been in any way familiar with his honorable and useful career.
HENRY L. COOK.
The life record of Henry L. Cook covered fifty-five years, the greater part of which period was spent on this side the Atlantic, although the accident of birth made him a native of Germany. He was born in 1845 and when a small boy crossed the Atlantic. It was a wonderful voyage to him, passing from the environment of his little German home to the scenes and experiences of ocean travel and of further journeyings across the country to Evansville. He was a pupil in the public schools of this
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city and as he approached manhood he sought employment that would yield him a comfortable living. Becoming connected with the First National Bank, he diligently and earnestly applied himself to the tasks assigned him and his prompt and intelligent discharge of his duties eventually brought him to the position of cashier, which he occupied at the time of his demise. In business circles he was looked upon as a forceful man, thoroughly reliable, and at all times obliging in his treatment of the patrons of the bank. These qualities made him esteemed and honored by all.
In 1867 Mr. Cook was united in marriage to Miss Eva Dausmann, who was also a native of Germany, but was only a year old when brought to this country. Unto them were born two children but the only one now living is Bertha, the wife of A. F. Decker, of Evansville. The wife and mother passed away in 1890, and on the 15th of December, 1891, Mr. Cook married Lena Dausmann, by whom he had three children: Arthur J .; Irma M .; and Edwin H., who died August 26, 1899, at the age of six years. Mrs. Cook is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Dausmann, who were also natives of Germany, but came to the United States many years ago. Her father died in 1885, and her mother July 2, 1909, and both were buried in Evansville.
By his ballot Mr. Cook supported the men and measures of the repub- lican party but never cared for political honors. At one time he was a member of several fraternal organizations, including the Masons, but after his second marriage dropped all lodges, preferring to devote his time to his home and family. He was an earnest member of St. John's Evangeli- cal church, to which his widow also belongs, and for many years he served' as deacon.
ELMER S. WHITE.
Elmer S. White is engaged in the electrical supply business in Evansville and although his experience is comparatively brief, because he is yet a young man, he is nevertheless forging to the front in his chosen field. He was born in Sorgho, Kentucky, July 10, 1887, and is a son of Willis G. and Rebecca Jane (Dearinger) White. His father, also a native of Sorgho, engaged in farming and in blacksmithing, continuing actively in business to the time of his death, which occurred in 1891.
In the Sorgho public school Elmer S. White began his education and at eight years of age removed to Owensboro, Kentucky, and entered the public schools, where he continued through successive grades until he left high school at the age of eighteen years. After putting aside his text-books he engaged in the electrical business as an employe of D. E. Berry & Company, with whom he remained one year. He was then transferred to the Evans- ville branch of their house, acting as manager for a year in this city. Later
ELMER S. WHITE
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he became manager for the Thompson Electric Company and for the Koll- ker Electric Company, his services as manager with the two concerns cov- ering three years. Desiring to engage in business on his own account, he joined Charles E. Jett in purchasing the business of the D. E. Berry Elec- tric Company and is now junior partner of the firm of Jett-White. He is very popular and has been very successful in the electrical business, being credited with some of the largest and most scientific electrical installations in the city of Evansville, and also handles a general line of electrical sup- plies. Study of the wants of the public in his line, combined with enterpris- ing business methods and honorable dealing, constitute the source of the progress that he is making.
EDWARD N. HILL.
With resolute spirit Edward N. Hill has progressed in business life and is today one of the leading merchants of . Evansville, conducting an extensive men's furnishing, hat and tailor business. His success is such that his methods are of interest to the commercial world. Much has been written concerning success and its attainment, but this generalization has little effect. Such a history as that of Edward N. Hill, however, speaks in no uncertain terms and proves that unremitting industry, keen insight and utilization of opportunities will lead to substantial and satisfactory results.
Mr. Hill is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, as were his parents, Frank and Alice (Newland) Hill. The father served as a captain in the Union army during the Civil war and was a strong opponent of slavery. Liv- ing in the south he recognized the evils of the system, and did all in his power to abolish it.
In the public schools of Louisville, Edward N. Hill pursued his educa- tion until he was graduated from the high school at the early age of four- teen years, having displayed special aptitude in his studies. He then went to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was employed as a clerk in a clothing store, gaining the initial experience which qualified him for the success- ful conduct of the business which he is now carrying on. That he was diligent, faithful and adaptable is indicated in the fact that he continued with one firm for eleven years, being promoted from time to time to posi- tions of larger responsibility and greater remuneration. He next went to Denver, Colorado, where he was engaged as buyer in the same line for four years, on the expiration of which period he came to Evansville and was employed in the same capacity, by the Progress Clothing Company for a number of years.
In the meantime he carefully saved his earnings until his capital justi- fied his embarkation in business on his own account, and on the 17th of
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March, 1910, he opened a store, which with few exceptions, is the finest men's hat, furnishing and tailor shop in the United States. His success has been remarkable. His long experience as a salesman and buyer, how- ever, well qualified him for the conduct of the business, bringing to him a comprehensive knowledge of the trade, the demands of the public and the advancement in styles. He utilizes every inch of space in his store and is fast securing a trade which in volume and importance has eclipsed enterprises of similar character long established here. Mr. Hill has two hobbies, namely, that of humanizing his business, he believes in the men around him and in the goods he sells; the other is newspaper publicity, never using any other medium for putting his store to the front, experi- ence seems to have taught him that he must have dependable merchandise first, and then tell about the merit his wares have in a forcible way. He believes that advertising is the searchlight that reveals the character of the management of any business, and the sign board pointing to the inner man.
On the 26th of December, 1907, Mr. Hill was united in marriage to Miss Ella McNeely, who is at present half owner of the Evansville Journal News, being a daughter of Hon. James H. McNeely, one of the former proprietors and editors of that paper and a representative of one of the leading families of Indiana, of which mention is made elsewhere in this volume.
Mr. Hill gives his political endorsement to the republican party and as every true American citizen should do keeps well informed in the issues and questions of the day, so that he is able to support his position by in- telligent argument. He holds membership with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks at Evansville and with the Knights of Pythias. His manner is genial, his disposition cordial and kindly, and his sterling and dominent traits of character are such as have gained for him the warm regard and confidence of his fellowmen. In business circles he has proven his force and enterprising spirit and along the lines of progressive, modern development he is meeting with success and classed as a leader.
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