USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Memorial record of distinguished men of Indianapolis and Indiana > Part 7
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Derman Lieber
HE late Herman Lieber was one of the best known and most hon- T 1 ored of the many sterling German citizens who have been influen- tial factors in connection with the civic and material activities of the capital city of Indiana, and he was the founder of the larger and important business enterprise still conducted under the title of the H. Lieber Company,-a concern that continues to bear the definite impress of his character and ideals. The company conducts an admirably appointed retail art store in Indianapolis, and in the manu- facturing of mouldings and picture frames the concern controls an industrial enter- prise of broad scope and importance, its trade extending into the diverse sections of the United States as well as into foreign countries. Born in the city of Düsseldorf, long one of the recognized art centers of Germany, Mr. Lieber early absorbed much of the atmosphere of appreciation, and after coming to Indianapolis, which was then a city of about twelve thousand population, he had the seeming temerity to establish here an art store,-a venture that was viewed with no little skepticism by the business community. The enterprise had a most modest inception, but the good judgment of Mr. Lieber has been fully proved by results, as he developed a splendid metropolitan art establishment and also a manufacturing industry which has constituted a valuable contribution to the commercial precedence of the Indiana capital and metropolis. His endeavor from the beginning was to keep as close to best art standards as condi- tions would permit and to lead in the art development of the community. His success made him an influential factor in this line and also in the commercial advancement of the city, the while his genial personality and sterling character gained to him the unqualified esteem of the community which represented his home for more than half a century.
Herman Lieber was born in the city of Düsseldorf, Rhenish Prussia, on the 23d of August, 1832, and his father was one of the influential citizens and prominent business men of that city, where he was a manufacturer of brushes. Herman Lieber was afforded the advantages of the excellent schools of his native city, and there also he served a thorough apprenticeship at the trade of book-binding, so that he was well fortified for productive endeavor when, in 1853, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, he set forth to seek his fortunes in the United States. After a short stay in New York City he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he secured work at his trade, though his salary was but seven dollars a week. Business of all kinds was depressed, and under these conditions he found it expedient to make financial requisition upon his father. In due time he received from home the sum of six hundred dollars, and with this capitalistic reinforcement he came to Indianapolis in 1854, for the purpose of engaging in business upon his own responsibility. He rented a small room on the south side of Washington street, just east of Meridian street, for fourteen dollars a month and here he opened a modest stock of stationery, besides providing facilities for the binding of books, a work in which he was specially skillful. He was followed
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to America by his brother Peter, and they were associated in the brewery business for a few years, having been the founders of what is now the Indianapolis Brewing Com- pany. Herman Lieber finally withdrew from this enterprise to devote his entire time and attention to his original business. As the latter increased in scope under his careful and energetic management he provided new facilities and extended its func- tions. He developed a retail art business that has continued the leading enterprise of the kind in the city to the present day, and finally he established a factory for the manufacture of frames and mouldings. In 1902 the business was incorporated under its present title-the H. Lieber Company, and Mr. Lieber continued as president of the company until his death. The scope of the business at the time of his demise is measurably indicated by the fact that in the factory and store were then employed fully two hundred and fifty persons. For many years the concern has sold frames and mouldings in every large city in the United States and Canada and its trade is also well established in England, Germany, Holland and other European countries, as well as in Australia.
Mr. Lieber found time to devote much attention to civic affairs and social relaxa- tions of a generous order. He was one of the founders of the German-English school, which for a long period was an important agency in local educational work. He was one of the most valued and influential members of the North American Gym- nastic Union, of which he was president from 1900 until his death, which occurred on the 22d of March, 1908. In 1882 he was president of the Anti-Prohibition League of Indiana, and in this connection he took an active part in the state cam- paign of that year. In 1889 he initiated the movement that resulted in the erection of the German House, and it was largely due to his zealous efforts that the present beautiful building was completed, the same being now the home of one of the es- sentially representative civic organizations of Indianapolis. He was also one of the original corporators of the beautiful Crown Hill cemetery. When the Consumers' Gas Trust Company was organized Mr. Lieber gave to the promotion of its interests almost his entire time and attention, and he was one of the staunchest supporters of its successor, the Citizens' Gas Company.
At the time of the Civil war Mr. Lieber contributed to the extent of his power and means in upholding the cause of the Union, for he was an uncompromising abolitionist.
He became identified with the Republican party at the time of its organization and continued with the same until the nomination of Grover Cleveland as Democratic candidate for the presidency. He then transferred his support to the Democratic ticket and thereafter continued an adherent of this party until his antipathy to the free-silver policy led him to sever his allegiance upon the nomination of William J. Bryan as the party's standard-bearer. In local politics he maintained an inde- pendent attitude. While showing a deep reverence for spiritual verities, Mr. Lieber was practically agnostic in his religious views, though ever tolerant of the opinions of others. His sincerity and integrity of purpose were beyond cavil, and he was liberal and broad-minded as a man and loyal and public-spirited as a citizen. The following appreciative words are those of an editorial appearing in the Indianapolis News at the time of Mr. Lieber's death:
While he never had any desire to serve the city or state in an official capacity, he was long recognized as a force in this community in all that tended to build up and strengthen good citizenship. His ideals of civic righteousness were high but always practical, and he was ever ready to give his best efforts in any cause that appealed to
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him on the score of community interest. Though a quiet man, cool and collected in manner, he had deep sensibilities, and when these were stirred he was at his best. He delighted in a good fight. When the sixty-cent gas movement began he was again at the front, and to no one man was the success of that movement due as much as to Herman Lieber. He was perhaps best known, especially among the German citi- zens of Indianapolis, by the name that had been lovingly given him by his associates, "The Father of the German House." Mr. Lieber died while on a pleasure trip to California, having expired, as the result of heart failure, while on a train near Flag- staff, Arizona, on the 22d of March, 1908, and the tidings of his sudden death caused a feeling of uniform sorrow and personal bereavement in the city that was his home for so many years and to whose progress he contributed in no small measure.
In the year 1857 Mr. Lieber married Miss Mary Metzger, who was born at Freusburg, Germany, and who was a sister of those well known and highly honored citizens of Indianapolis, Alexander, Jacob and Engelbert Metzger. Mrs. Lieber was summoned to eternal rest, and of the children four sons and two daughters are living. The sons, Otto R., Carl H., Robert and Herman P., are members of the H. Lieber Company and are well upholding the prestige of the family name. Ida, the elder daughter, is the widow of Henry Kothe, of Indianapolis, and Anna is the wife of Theodore Stempfel, assistant cashier of the American National Bank of Indianapolis.
LEONARD S. SARGENT
Leonard S. Sargent
HE late Leonard S. Sargent gained through his own powers a T place of prominence in the industrial activities of Indianapolis and was long numbered among its prominent and successful manufacturers. Whole-souled, sincere and generous, he used his splendid forces admirably, not waiting for circumstance to mold or change his fate, and thus he did not miss the true pur- pose of life. He made for himself a representative place in that city that had so long held his home and in which his fine personal characteris- tics gained to him the utmost popular esteem. He thought little of self and much of others, and there can be no doubt that his life was shortened by his insistent de- votion to business, against the advice of his physicians. He was summoned to eter- nal rest on the 22nd of August, 1910, and there were hosts of friends to mourn his loss, while the Indiana metropolis was deprived of one of its substantial, progres- sive and loyal citizens and influential business men. Mr. Sargent was a recognized authority in the manufacturing of paints and was identified with this line of in- dustry during virtually his entire active career. At the time of his death he was president and general manager of the Sargent Paint & Color Company, in which his interests are still retained by his widow and son.
Leonard Smith Sargent was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, on the 22nd of September, 1857, and was a scion of staunch New England stock, the respective . families having been founded in that section of the Union, where was cradled so much of our national history. He was a son of Granville and Elizabeth (Smith) Sargent. The father was born in West Andover, Massachusetts, in 1837 and died January 9, 1905. The mother, who was a native of Baltimore, Maryland, born there in 1838, passed away on November 12, 1910.
When Leonard Sargent was twelve years of age the family removed from the old Bay state to St. Louis, Missouri, where his father engaged in the manufacturing of paints and colors and gained a reputation as a most skillful representative of his chosen line of industrial enterprise.
The public schools of his native state afforded Leonard S. Sargent his rudimen- tary educational advantages and he continued his studies after the removal of the family to St. Louis, where he also gained a thorough knowledge of all details of paint manufacturing, which he learned under the able direction of his father. After being employed for a time as traveling representative of an extensive paint concern in St. Louis, he came to Indianapolis and associated himself with the paint house of Alfred Burdsal. He thus established his home in this city when he was about twen- ty-eight years of age, and when a young man of thirty-three he showed his self- reliance and initiative by engaging in business in an independent way, under the title of the Indianapolis Paint & Color Company. He organized this corporation and became its president and general manager, as did he also of the Indianapolis
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Printing Ink Company. Through his fine technical ability and progressive policies he brought these concerns to the front rank and for each he was instrumental in building up a large and far-reaching trade, the while the passing years brought to him definite precedence as one of the alert and representative business men of the city and state. He disposed of his interests in the two companies mentioned about the year 1902 and then founded the Sargent Paint & Color Company, with head- quarters at 502-12 Massachusetts avenue, where the enterprise is still continued. His reputation as an expert in color mixing and other technical details, as well as a reliable and straightforward business man proved the best asset of the new enter- prise, and its success was assured from the start. He continued as president and general manager of the company until his death, and to his efforts is due the splendid status of the business as representing one of the important industrial enterprises of Indianapolis. The career of Mr. Sargent offers a fine illustration of worthy suc- cess gained through personal effort and he was essentially and emphatically deserv- ing of the title of self-made man. He was indefatigable in his attention to business and refused to abate his devotion to the same when his health became impaired and he was urged by medical advisers to conserve his energies. His characteristic self- abnegation in this respect probably hastened his death, as has already been stated in this context, his death being the result of Bright's disease, from which dreaded malady he had suffered for more than a year, though he was confined to his home only five months before his death.
In those things which make for richness of spirit, opulence of human sympathy and kindliness and earnest helpfulness, Mr. Sargent was generously endowed, and his life well exemplified the truth of the statements of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher: "No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich or poor according to what he is,-not according to what he has." Many there are who can recall with reverent thankfulness the consideration and aid given to them by Mr. Sargent, who was never too busy to as- sist those in affliction or distress; never too intolerant to succor the man who was "down and out." His heart overflowed with kindness; he saw the bright side of life; and he did all in his power to brighten the lives of others. His geniality and good spirit had ample physical realm, as his weight was about two hundred and forty-five pounds,-a fleshly substance that his strength and vigor caused him to carry easily, so that it never appeared an incubus but as a sign of virile power. He was well known in his home city and in the same was manifested a deep sense of personal loss and bereavement when he was called from the scene of his mortal endeavors.
As may readily be inferred from statements made in preceding paragraphs, Mr. Sargent was a man of fine social instincts and marked congeniality. He was an ap- preciative member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he was affiliated with various York and Scottish Rite bodies in Indianapolis, including the consistory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which he had received the thirty-second degree. His funeral services were held under Masonic auspices and interment was made in Crown Hill cemetery. He also held membership in the Marion Club, the Canoe Club, the German House, the Independent Turnverein, and other representative or- ganizations of Indianapolis, and in each his popularity was of the most unequivocal order, these various bodies giving appreciative tributes to his memory at the time of his death. Though he never cared to subordinate his business affairs to the point
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of taking an active part in political manoeuvers, Mr. Sargent was liberal and public- spirited as a citizen, and was a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party.
On the 4th of October, 1898, was solemnized the second marriage of Mr. L. S. Sargent, when Mrs. Annie N. (Wagonmacher) Neubling, of Indianapolis, Indiana, became his wife. Mrs. Sargent was born in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a daughter of Henry and Margaret (Hessel) Wagonmacher. The father was born in 1800, in Konigract, Hanover, Germany, and the mother was born September 24, 1824, in Haspen Konigract, Hanover, Amsterdam, Germany. They were wedded in the Fatherland, after which they immigrated to America, establishing their home in Cincinnati, where Mr. Wagonmacher was for years identified with the hotel busi- ness. Mrs. Sargent has one son by her first marriage, John F. Neubling, who was born and educated in Indianapolis, Indiana, and who is now identified with the Sargent Paint & Color Company. He married Miss Elnora M. Pflum, the daughter of John B. Pflum, a representative German citizen of Indianapolis, and the children of their union are Anne E., J. Lewis, John F., Jr., and Lillian Juanita. Mr. Sar- gent had one son by a former marriage.
Mrs. Sargent has maintained her home in Indianapolis for more than forty-six years and is now vice-president of the Sargent Paint & Color Company, in the man- agement of which she takes an active part. She is a popular factor in the social life of her home city, where she holds membership in the German House, the Inde- pendent Turnverein, the Social Turnverein and other social organizations. Own- ing and occupying a fine residence at 1956 Central avenue, Mrs. Sargent has proved herself a most gracious chatelaine of the same, and made it a favored resort for her wide circle of friends.
CHARLES W. EICHRODT
Charles de. Cichrodt
ANGIBLE results of no uncertain character amply testified to the T ability and honorable methods of Charles William Eichrodt as a business man, for he achieved large success through the concen- tration and proper utilization of his powers and stood forth as the artificer of his own fortunes. Initiating his independent career in Indianapolis with most limited capitalistic resources, he here gained precedence as one of the city's leading retail druggists, and he so ordered his course as to merit and receive the unequivocal con- fidence and esteem of his fellow men. He was a popular and representative busi- ness man of the Indiana metropolis, where he maintained his home for nearly twenty years prior to his death, and so earnest, successful and worthy a life merits definite consideration in a publication of the province assigned to the one at hand.
Of staunch German lineage, Charles William Eichrodt was a son of Louis and Margaretta Eichrodt, both of whom are now deceased. He was born in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, on the 8th of August, 1862, and thus was in the very prime of bis useful manhood at the time of his sudden death, which occurred on the 20th of November, 1905, in New York City. He had gone to the national metropolis for consultation with leading medical specialists, but was there suddenly stricken, his death occurring within a brief interval. The news of his untimely demise was re- ceived with unmitigated sorrow in his home city, where he had endeared himself to a wide circle of friends, and his remains were brought back to Indianapolis for in- terment in Crown Hill cemetery. Mr. Eichrodt was indebted to the public schools of his native city for his early educational discipline and there also he gained his initial experience in the drug business through his work in the store conducted by his father. Later he amplified and perfected his technical knowledge by a thorough course of study in a Louisville school of pharmacy. On the 10th of June, 1877, shortly before his fifteenth birthday anniversary, Mr. Eichrodt first came to In- dianapolis, where he secured employment in the drug store of S. Muehl, at the cor- ner of Illinois and Tenth streets. There he remained until December 24th of the same year, when he returned to Louisville to assist in his father's drug store. He continued to be thus engaged until 1882, when, accompanied by his father, he came again to Indianapolis, in which city the father passed the residue of his life. Mr. Eichrodt now entered the employ of the A. Kieffer Drug Company, one of the old and popular establishments of the city, and with this concern he continued to be identi- fied until 1886, when he withdrew to engage in business on his own responsibility. As previously stated, his financial resources were small, and he accordingly began operations on a most modest scale, by opening a drug store at the corner of West and Tenth streets. Against such ability, energy and honesty of purpose as were brought to bear by Mr. Eichrodt the mere talk of appreciable capital could not serve as a bar to success, and his business prospered from the start. As success at
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tended his well directed efforts, Mr. Eichrodt sought ways and means for ampli- fying his business, and finally he purchased a second store, at the corner of Senate avenue and Thirteenth street, in 1890. At this location likewise he built np a sub- stantial and profitable trade and he conducted the two stores successfully until 1892, when he sold the one which he had last secured. In 1899 he disposed of the other store at an appreciable profit and then purchased a large drug store opposite the Union passenger station. He brought this up to the highest modern standard in stock, management and appointments and its central location further added to the distinctive success which attended him in the new venture. He was ever an inde- fatigable worker, was conservative and careful in his business policies, and he won for himself secure vantage ground as one of the thoroughly representative retail drug- gists of the fair capital city of Indiana. Scrupulous integrity characterized Mr. Eich- rodt in every exigency and relation of life, and he found in his home and his busi- ness his absorbing interests, his devotion to his family being of the deepest order and the home associations being of ideal order. Though he had no predilection for the activities of practical politics, in the sense of desiring public office, he was a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party and was identified with the German-American Democratic Club of Indianapolis, the while he was ever ready to do his part in fostering those interests which made for the civic and material benefit of the community. He was affiliated with the Second Christian Science church, as is also his widow, and his generous and kindly nature found exemplification in good deeds of a most unassuming order.
Mr. Eichrodt was united in wedlock to Miss Mary Elizabeth Clinton, daughter of Wharton R. and Mary Frances (Smither) Clinton, of Indianapolis, in which city Mrs. Eichrodt was born and reared. Charles Wharton Eichrodt, the only child of the honored subject of this memoir, was graduated in the University of Indiana, at Bloomington, as a member of the class of 1911. He is now a student of mining and engineering in Columbia University, New York City, in which celebrated institution he is a member of the class of 1914.
Wharton R. Clinton, who resides in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Eichrodt, is one of the most venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Indianapolis, which has represented his home for eighty-three years. He was born near Georgetown, Ken- tucky, and was but three years of age at the time of his parents' removal to India- apolis, which was then a mere village. Here he was reared to years of maturity and here he has maintained his home during the long intervening period. As a youth he here enlisted for service as a soldier in the Mexican war. He became a private in Company D, Fourteenth Indiana Infantry, and served with signal gallantry with this command in its Mexican campaign. He was in active service for more than a year and received his honorable discharge in 1848. He was promoted ser- geant of his company and is now the only surviving member of this company, as well as one of the few remaining Indiana veterans of the Mexican war. When the in- tegrity of the Union was menaced by armed rebellion the intrinsic loyalty and patriot- ism of Mr. Clinton were again promptly manifested. Soon after the inception of the Civil war, in response to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers, he enlisted in Company H, Thirteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was made captain of his company and with his command proceeded to the front in July, 1861. He took part in many sanguinary engagements and continued with his regiment until February, 1863, when he received injuries which incapacitated him for further
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service and he was granted his honorable discharge. He is a venerated member of the Grand Army of the Republic and still takes a lively interest in his old comrades of both the Mexican and Civil wars. Now eighty-six years of age (1912), this honored patriarch and patriot has the distinction of being one of the oldest citizens of Indiana's capital city, and his reminiscences concerning the pioneer days are most graphic and interesting, as are also his tales concerning his experi- ences in the two wars in which he served with such fidelity and distinction. He is well preserved in his mental and physical powers and has in years past been actively and prominently identified with business activities in his home city, where his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. His cherished and devoted wife was summoned to the life eternal January 24, 1885, at the age of fifty-five years, and of their children, one son and two daughters are living.
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