USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > History of the city of Evansville and Vanderburg County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 7
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FRANK R. LAUGHLIN.
The process of evolution has been no more marked in any field than in the business world. Systematic organization is everywhere manifest and carefully formulated plans wisely executed. Every enterprise of magnitude too, has its promoter-he whose work is that of bringing to the public notice that which is ready for the public use or consumption. The evolution of business is strongly manifest in the methods of real-estate operation at the present day. It is within the memory of many men of the present age when realty transfers were largely made owing to the fact that someone wished to purchase property and sought that which would meet his demands. The intermediary services of a real-estate agent were scarcely known. Today the cities largely owe their upbuilding and progress to the real-estate men who have practically reduced the building of towns to a science. They have come to recognize the needs of modern civilization in city building and their work is prosecuted along lines that contribute to convenience, utility and duty. We are led to this train of reflection in contemplation of the life work of Frank R. Laughlin, who is preeminently a business man and one who has wielded a wide influence. The organizer, and promoter of the Laughlin Realty Com- pany, he has not only engaged extensively in the real-estate business in Evansville but is also operating in the south.
He was born in Evansville, November 3, 1877, a son of James Laughlin, who died in 1895. The father was a native of Pittsburg, Penn., and married Miss Mina Hudspeth, whose birth occurred in Boonville, Indiana.
The education of Frank R. Laughlin was completed in the high school of Evansville and after putting aside his text-books he crossed the threshold of business life as an employe of a dry-goods firm, which he represented as stock man. Gradually, however, he worked his way upward, each successive promotion bringing him broader outlook and wider opportunities, and when he discontinued his connection with that house he was manager of the notion department. His service there covered a period of over ten years, but, think -. ing that broader opportunities were offered in the real-estate field, he
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organized the Laughlin Realty Company and later took over the Sonntag Investment Company, since which time he has been engaged very extensively in the real-estate business, handling large property interests in Evansville and also in Florida, where he is platting and building a town in accordance with the most modern and progressive ideas. He opened up the Laughlin place, also the Willard addition and Park place, and his undivided attention is given to business.
While he ranks with the most prominent real-estate men of this section of Indiana, Mr. Laughlin has also labored effectively and successfully in other fields and is now president of the Wolflin Luhring Lumber Company, a member of the board of directors of the Missouri Fruit Company and a mem- ber of the Oolitic Stone & Marble Company of Heltonville, Indiana, where he is engaged in quarrying stone. He is likewise a director of a railroad which is being built on the east coast of Florida.
In 1904 Mr. Laughlin was united in marriage to Miss Helen Cook, a daughter of F. W. Cook, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. They have one child, Frank, Jr. In his fraternal relations Mr. Laughlin is an Elk. In politics he is an independent voter, supporting the candidates whom he thinks best qualified for office, but while not giving undivided allegiance to any particular party he keeps well informed on the vital questions and issues of the day and in all matters of citizenship takes a progressive stand, his in behalf of Evansville being effective and far-reaching factors in promoting the city's interests and improvement.
VAL J. SCHMITT.
Whatever the success which has crowned the life work of Mr. Schmitt, it is well known that it is due to his own labors. He started out in business well supplied and is yet a young man with opportunity for further progress in the field of labor which he has chosen as his life work. He is now giv- ing his attention to general agricultural pursuits, making his home in Cen- ter township.
He was born in Armstrong township, this county, in September, 1880, and is the son of Adam Schmitt, a native of Germany, who, at the age of eighteen years, bade adieu to friends and fatherland and sailed for the new world in company with his parents who crossed the continent to Vanderburg county and located upon a farm. At the father's death Adam Schmitt received the farm by the terms of his father's will and continued its cultiva- tion and development until about three years prior to his demise, which occurred in August, 1890. He was numbered among the enterprising agri- culturists of the community and won success through his well directed business efforts. His wife passed away in 1885.
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The youthful days of Val J. Schmitt were spent upon the old home farm and his experiences in youth were those that usually fall to the lot of farm boys. He attended the public schools of Evansville and also the Catholic schools of that city. In his youth he began providing for his own support by working for some time as a farm hand by the month. Later he turned his attention to the saloon business in Evansville, where he remained for three years, at the end of which time he retired and took up his abode in Center township, where he invested in a farm of thirty-four acres. This he is now operating in connection with land which he rents. The fields are well tilled and yield good crops annually. His farm is now finely improved and upon the place he keeps five head of horses and mules which are used in working the farm.
On the 27th of November, 1901, Mr. Schmitt was married to Miss Stella Schaum, a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Beckman) Schaum, both of whom are natives of Indiana. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Schmitt has been born a daughter, Bernice E., who was born October 19, 1909.
Mr. Schmitt gives his politcal support to the democratic party, while of the Order of Eagles he is a faithful member, being associated wtih the local lodge at Evansville. He has always lived in this county where he is well known. Persistent and diligent in business, he is constantly working his way upward and is meeting with well merited success which indicates that his progressive course will continue in the future.
ALBERT DOERSCHLER.
Prominent among the enterprising, energetic and successful business men of Evansville stands Albert Doerschler, who since 1881 has been con- nected with the furniture industry of this city and since 1900 has been president of The Specialty Furniture Company. His preliminary training was thorough and his experience broad, and when he became the chief executive head of an enterprise he bent his energies to its development and growth with the result that the company of which he is now the head con- trols one of the most productive industries of this section of the state.
Albert Doerschler was born in Rhineland, Germany, December 23, 1858, his parents being William and Caroline Doerschler. The father, also a native of that locality, was a plush weaver in Germany and followed that pursuit in the land of his birth until 1881, when he crossed the Atlantic and made his way direct to Evansville, where the later years of his life were spent in honorable retirement from business, his death occurring in April, 1904.
Albert Doerschler was a public-school student until the age of fourteen years, after which he put aside his text-books to learn the more difficult lessons in the school of experience. He worked with his father in weaving
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and farming until the family bade adieu to friends and native land and sailed for the United States. Following his arrival in Evansville, in 1881, he entered the employ of the Evansville Furniture Company as a cabinet maker and was thus engaged until 1890. In that year he became a partner in a newly organized business enterprise called The Specialty Furniture Company. The undertaking proved successful and in 1900 the business was incorporated with Mr. Doerschler as the president; M. W. Braeger, as vice president; and Henry G. Rusche, as secretary and treasurer. From a small beginning the business has grown and developed until the plant is an extensive one, well equipped with modern machinery, while one hundred skilled workmen are employed. A general line of furniture is manufac- tured, including chamber suites, dressers and chiffoniers, which in style, finish and workmanship are of standard quality and which are shipped throughout the United States. A reasonable profit is secured and the busi- ness has become one of the leading industrial concerns of Evansville.
Mr. Doerschler has been married twice. On the 24th of September, 1890, in this city, he wedded Miss Annie Stoltz, who died in October, 1908, leaving two children : Walter, eighteen years of age, who is now bookkeeper for the Holzey Ice Pick Company; and Olga, sixteen years of age, attend- ing the high school. On the 20th of April, 1910, Mr. Doerschler was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Maggie Loetcerch.
He is independent in his political views nor casts his ballot according to party dictation. He belongs to St. John's church and is a member of the Liederkranz. His identification with the city covers twenty-nine years, a period characterized by continuous progress in business, so that he has left the impress of his ability and individuality upon the commercial develop- ment of the city. His life has been preeminently that of a business man who recognizes his possibilities and so utilizes his powers that success is attained without the sacrifice of the rights of others.
FERDINAND GROTE.
The story of honorable success always excites interest and admiration. To the superficial thinker it would seem that the successful man is not the exception to the rule. This opinion may be due to the fact that it is the successful men who are in the public eye while little is said or written about the others. Statistics, however, show that the vast majority of men meet failure and that only about three per cent achieve that which they under- take. It is therefore worthy of favorable comment when the record of an individual is marked by continuous progress whereby he gains a position in advance of the great majority of his fellows. This Mr. Grote has done and is now a prominent factor in the business circles of Evansville as presi- dent of the Grote Manufacturing Company. Not only in the field of
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machinery building but also in the realm of invention has he done credit- able work.
Mr. Grote was born in Germany, May 4, 1847, as were his parents, Will- iam and Laura Grote. The maternal grandfather came to the United States about 1850 with all of his family except Mrs. Grote who, in 1855, started for the new world with her children, consisting of four daughters and a son, Ferdinand Grote being the second child. She did not tarry on the Atlantic coast but made her way at once to Vanderburg county, where her remaining days were passed at the "white house" three miles from Evans- ville.
Ferdinand Grote was but eight years of age at the time of the emigra- tion to the new world. He went upon a farm with his uncles and there remained until sixteen years of age, when he took up his abode in this city and secured the position of engineer at the mill of Kramer, Heukes & Green, having previously obtained a knowledge of machinery while on the farm. He was particularly interested in the engines which were used in shelling corn and he manifested considerable mechanical ingenuity and skill even in his youthful days. After coming to Evansville he remained at the mill for several years and then entered the employ of Christian Decker, the proprietor of the first wagon shop of Evansville that was operated by steam. Mr. Grote continued in that service for several years, after which he was employed in a woolen mill for a year. Having carefully saved his earnings, he invested in a threshing machine outfit and turned his attention to the business of threshing, in which he continued for three years. It was about that time that the waterworks of Evansville were being built and he entered the employ of the Halley Manufacturing Company which had the contract for the construction of the waterworks. After acting as machinist for a year he was appointed engineer and continued in that connection until 1876, when he started in business on his own account, opening a shop on Mulberry street for the manufacture and repair of ma- chinery. Later he consolidated his interests with Frank Hopkins and in 1888 organized the business under the name of the Novelty Machine Company, now the Grote Manufacturing Company. From a small beginning the busi- ness has grown until it is today one of the mammoth industrial concerns of Evansville. The company manufacture freight and passenger elevators, steam and water heaters and machinery for tobacco packing plants. They also take contracts for driving wells and securing a water supply for large manufacturing plants.
In 1890 Mr. Grote obtained the water for the insane hospital when all the experts had failed. He was one of the first to use electricity for pump- ing water, his efforts in that direction creating considerable attention, a representative from the Engineering Record, a trade journal of New York, , coming to investigate the work which he later commented upon in the paper. As Mr. Grote has continued in his manufacturing interests he has seen the possibilities for improvement at various times and has brought out a num-
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ber of patents on heating appliances and machinery. He patented a system of filtering water through the bed of a river and the system is proving a most practical and economical one. He has installed this system at Owens- boro, Kentucky, where it has been tried with success for five years. The Grote Manufacturing Company employs about sixty people and is planning in 1911 to erect a fine plant at the old Miller club house, where Mr. Grote has purchased four and one-half acres of land. He is president and treas- urer of the company with J. D. Caramody as vice president and Laura Grote, his daughter, as secretary. In addition to his other interests, Mr. Grote served on the waterworks board for seven years and as engineer for six years.
On the 29th of June, 1875, Mr. Grote was united in marriage to Miss Matilda Rahn, and unto them were born five children: Emil, who is in the foundry ; Ernst; Fred; Laura; and Edwin. Mr. Grote holds membership in the Code of Honor and with the Tribe of Ben Hur. He enjoys the com- panionship of his friends and recognizes at all times his duties and obliga- tions to his fellowmen. He is not neglectful of the duties of citizenship but prefers to give his undivided attention to business affairs and in his chosen field of labor has made continuous progress. Starting out in a humble capacity, he has developed his latent powers and energies until he is recognized as an expert in mechanical engineering work of his class. His ability is manifest in the extensive business which he has built up and which is one of the important industrial concerns of the city. What he under- takes he accomplishes, allowing nothing to deter him if industry and hon- orable effort can overcome the difficulty. Training and experience have continually heightened his ability and he occupies today a prominent posi- tion in the industrial circles of Evansville.
JAMES Y. WELBORN, M. D.
The name of Welborn has figured prominently in connection with the medical profession in Evansville for more than half a century, three gen- erations of the family having been representatives of the medical frater- nity, successful in practice and active in upholding the highest standards of the profession. Dr. William Welborn, a native of Mount Vernon, Indiana, and a member of one of the honored families of the state, was graduated from Evansville Medical College with the class of 1853 and practiced in this city and in Stewartsville, Indiana, until the time of his death in 1871. Early in the '6os he volunteered to enter the army but failed to pass the physical examination.
His son, Dr. George W. Welborn, who was born in Evansville, was for a short time a student in Asbury College but put aside his text-books in order to join the Union forces who were protecting the Federal interests
DR. JAMES Y. WELBORN
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in the Civil war. He served throughout the entire period of hostilities with the Sixty-first Indiana Infantry and was captured by the Confederates at Murfreesboro. He acted as hospital steward during the greater part of his connection with the army, for some time he was hospital steward of the old hospital on the banks of the Ohio, and when the war was over he took up the study of medicine and entered into active practice at Stewarts- ville, where he remained an honored and successful member of the medical fraternity until his death, which occurred in 1905. He had married Miss Martha Stennette, a native of Todd county, Kentucky, born in 1841.
Dr. James Y. Welborn was born in Stewartsville, January 28, 1873, and after pursuing his early education in the schools of that town, entered De Pauw University of Greencastle, Indiana. His interest in the profes- sion to which his father and grandfather had devoted their energies led him to begin active preparation for the practice of medicine. He attended the Marion Sims Medical College of St. Louis, Missouri, where he won his M. D. degree in 1899 and since that time he has pursued a post-gradu- ate course at Harvard University, at Johns Hopkins University, of Balti- more, and in New York city. He has been a close and discriminating student of all that bears upon the practice of medicine and surgery, and while he adopts any new idea or method which he believes will prove of practical value, he is never hasty in discarding the old and time-tried method, the value of which has been proven through long years of ex- perience.
Dr. Welborn is now the owner, in partnership with Dr. Edwin Walker, of the Evansville Sanitarium, a liberally patronized institution wherein much good work has been done. In addition he has a large private prac- tice and his ability is widely recognized not only by the general public but also by representatives of the medical fraternity. In 1905 he was ap- pointed city health officer of Evansville to serve for a four years' term and in 1909 was reappointed to that office. He was also the organizer and was made manager of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, which has now been in existence for three years and at the present writing is building an open air hospital. No profession is so little commercialized as is the medical, which is indicated in the fact that practitioners are continually seeking out preventative methods to which they give publicity through the profession and the general press, that the world at large may follow a course in life that promotes health. Anything which tends to solve the complex prob- lems which confront the physician is of interest to Dr. Welborn, and his reading and research have been most wide and comprehensive.
On the 22d of October, 1902, at Inglefield, Indiana, Dr. Welborn was married to Miss Mamie Ingle Begley, a daughter of Dr. Baxter Begley, formerly of Evansville. Two children have been born of this marriage: Susannah Jane, now seven years of age; and James York, Jr., a little lad of two summers.
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The parents hold membership in Trinity Methodist church, and Dr. Welborn is popular in the local organizations of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, with all of which he has membership relations. He is like- wise a member of the Hendricks Club, which he organized in 1905 for reform in politics and elections, becoming its first president. He remains a stalwart democrat, but believes that the organization should be a party of principle and that it should not exist primarily to make particular individ- uals the incumbents in office, but rather to make vital certain principles essential to national salvation and progress. While deeply interested in his profession, his life has been by no means self-centered but has touched and benefited those activities which affect the general interests of society.
LOUIS EISSLER.
Louis Eissler has devoted his entire life to farming and lives upon the old family homestead which he now owns. Vanderburg county is the place of his nativity, the date of his birth being in October, 1862. His parents were Jacob and Mary Eissler, both of whom were natives of Germany. Coming to America in early life, Evansville was chosen as their place of location and the father worked out by the month for some time in order to meet the immediate needs of the family. He was ambitious, however, to engage in business on his own account, and as soon as possible rented a farm which he continued to cultivate for several years. During that period he carefully saved his earnings until the sum was sufficient to enable him to purchase sixty-six acres in Center township. He had new impetus for continued effort when he owned the property, and bent every energy to the development of the place and to the further improvement thereof. It was a tract of timber land when it came into his possession, and much arduous labor was required to clear it and place it under cultivation, but from acre after acre he cut down trees and in time planted crops which brought forth generous harvests. He continued to engage in farming upon that place until his death, which occurred in July, 1891. His wife died in January, 1888.
The educational opportunities afforded Louis Eissler were those of the common schools. He was born and reared upon the old homestead farm and from an early age aided in the work of the fields. He was trained to habits of industry that have constituted the source of his success throughout his entire life. He was thoroughly acquainted with the best methods of tilling the soil when, after his father's death, he purchased the interest of the other heirs in the old home farm and began its cultivation on his own account. His fields are now well tilled and he gathers rich crops. Everything about
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the place is neat and thrifty in appearance and indicates his careful super- vision and progressive methods.
In February, 1887, Mr. Eissler was united in marriage to Miss Katie Miller, a daughter of George and Clara Miller, the former a native of Ger- many and the latter of Kentucky. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Eissler has been blessed with six children, all of whom are yet under the parental roof, namely: Marion, twenty-two years of age; Daisy, aged twenty-one years; Owen, twenty years; Elmer, fifteen; Dorothy, nine years of age; and Ber- nice, a little maid of five summers.
Mr. Eissler and his family are well known in this community and have the warm regard of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. They hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Eissler gives his political support to the democratic party. He is a stalwart advocate of its principles and upon this ticket was elected road supervisor, in which posi- tion he acceptably served for six years.
GEORGE HARMS.
Through the years of an active business life George Harms, now de- ceased, was largely connected with the drug trade, but in other fields, too, his labors were of worth, for he gave to the world violins of superior work- manship, whose strings responded vibrantly to the touch of the master hand. He possessed the love of music characteristic of the people of his race, for George Harms was a native of Germany, born in the year 1845. When a small boy he was brought to this country by his father, George M. Harms, who purchased a farm in Armstrong township, Vanderburg county, and be- came a prominent and influential citizen of that locality, for some years serving as justice of the peace.
George Harms acquired his education in the schools of Indiana and was trained amid the healthful environment and stimulating influences of country life. When a young man he came to Evansville and became an apprentice in a drug store where he applied himself closely to mastering the business. Later he was employed by the firm of Leich, Vierling & Carlstadt, wholesale druggists, and afterward was associated with Lemcke & Company, druggists, whom he represented as a pharmacist until his death. He had thoroughly acquainted himself with the medicinal properties of remedies, and in com- pounding medicines displayed marked pharmaceutical skill.
Mr. Harms studied music and although he was not an expert performer, he became recognized as an excellent musical critic, appreciative of the finest harmonies and most classical work of the masters. He was the maker of a number of violins, his work in this particular winning him international reputation. One of these instruments was used by August Wilhelmy, the violinist, in public performances.
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