USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Pictorial and biographical memoirs of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, together with biographies of many prominent men of other portions of the state, both living and dead > Part 38
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JOHN G. RATHSAM. In him is found a man whose business career is a decidedly inter- esting one showing the shrewdness, business ability and competency which can be attained by the natives of other lands. This gentleman is a florist whose place of business is a most attractive one to the lover of the beautiful, and is advantageously situated on the corner of College Avenue and Fifteenth Street, where he does a general greenhouse business, and retails his goods at figures within the reach of rich and poor alike. Mr. Rathsam owes his nativity to Bavaria, Germany, where he was born in 1856, and when still a lad, over twenty years ago, he crossed the ocean to the United States to see what Dame Fortune had in store for him on this side of the water. He almost immediately came to Indianapolis and com- menced working at anything honorable he could find to do. After continuing thus for two years, and being anxious to give his attention to some settled pursuit, he engaged in garden- ing, for which occupation he seemed to possess a natural aptitude and decided liking. After some time he removed to Noblesville, Ind., following gardening for three years. With the laudable desire of bettering his financial condition he moved back to Indianapolis and embarked in the manufacture of crockery and flower pots for florists, at the corner of Alabama Street and Fort Wayne Avenue, which business he continued with success for eight years. At the expiration of this time he came to his present location and began liis career as a florist and gardener, in which he has met with good success and has built up a trade strictly in keeping with his honorable methods of conducting his affairs, his energy, perse- verance and reliability. He is prompt and accurate in supplying the wants of his patrons, has a fine line from which to select, and is deserving of great credit for the manner in which he has bent the force of circumstances to his will, and has gained a liberal patronage and a . comfortable competency. April 15, 1879, witnessed the celebration of his marriage with Miss Maggie Decker, of Lawrenceburg, Ind., and four children have blessed their union- three daughters and a son. Mr. Rathsam is a member of the Marion County Florists' Association, and he and his wife are members of St. Paul's German Lutheran Church, of which he has for some time been officiating elder. He is of the stuff of which good citizens are made and is a credit to his calling and to the business community in general.
JOHN RANDOLPH BROWN, M. D. A recognized expert in the treatment of diseases of the mind and nervous system, Dr. John R. Brown, of Indianapolis, is likewise well and favor- able known as a general practitioner of skill and success. Born in Randolph County, N. C., December 20, 1855, he is a son of John R. and Mary (Lane) Brown, his father's occupa- tion being that of merchant and planter. Dr. Brown received his literary education . at Trinity College (N. C.), and began the study of medicine in 1876, under the direction of Dr. J. D. Graves. Later he attended lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Balti- more, and at the University of Louisville (medical department); and, coming to Indianapolis
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in 1877, he was graduated from the Medical College of Indiana in 1882, and was immedi- ately thereafter appointed interne at the Indiana Hospital for the Insane. Not long after- ward he was made first assistant physician of that institution and he served in that capacity for six years, resigning it to accept the position of assistant superintendent in the Eastern Hospital for the Insane, at Knoxville, Tenn., to which he had been called. In this position he served with credit and increasing reputation for four years, but relinquished it to remove to Indianapolis to enter private practice. At this time, in connection with his general prac- tice, he is conducting a private sanitarium for the treatment of diseases of the mind and nervous system, which is meeting with such success that it promises soon to rank with the most popular institutions of its kind in the country. Dr. Brown is a member of the Marion County Medical Society, of the Indiana State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. He was married in 1889, to Agnes Fletcher, of Indianapolis, daughter of Dr. W. B. Fletcher, and has one daughter, Agnes C. Brown. Dr. Brown stands no less high in the public esteem as a citizen tban as a physician, and as an expert in mental and nervous affections he is becoming well and widely known.
HIRAM C. CASTOR, M. D. During the comparatively short period of Dr. Castor's prac- tice he has met with unusual success and gained much substantial reputation as a general practitioner with the profession and the public. Hiram C. Castor was born in Indianapolis, April 11, 1866, a son of Edwin A. and Samantha W. (Graham) Castor. His father was by birth a Pennsylvanian: his mother was an Indianian. They took up their residence in Indianapolis about 1858 and are well known and highly respected in the city, Edwin A. Cas- tor, who is a master builder and superintendent of construction, having a record as a soldier during the Civil War of which any man might well be proud. He was a member of a Pennsylvania regiment and did gallant service on many a hard-contested field. Dr. Cas- tor was reared in Indianapolis and received his literary education in the public schools of the city. In 1886 he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. E. S. Elder, and in the fall of the same year entered the Medical College of Indiana, from which institu- tion he was graduated in 1890 with the degree of M. D., and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession. He has been careful and conservative, yet sufficiently original in his practice, and has achieved a success which has already been quite substantially rewarded financially, he having been enabled to purchase from his professional earnings a comfortable home and fix up an attractive and well-appointed office. Dr. Castor is a member of the the Marion County Medical Society and of the Indiana State Medical Society. His popu- larity as a man and a citizen may be inferred from the fact that he is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the K. of P. and the Uniformed Rank, K. P. In politics he is a Republican, but he has no political aspirations and is too busily devoted to his profession to ever think of any. He was married November 25, 1888, to Gertrude Isaacs, a native of Marion County and a daughter of Alfred and Sarah (Webb) Isaacs, who has borne him one son named Byron E. Castor.
HENRY RUSSE. "Man lives not unto himself alone" was said by one who was wise and good, and there is nothing in this world that presents a more inspiring or nobler spectacle of a man, who, although immersed in business that requires much ardent labor and care, finds time to give to the succor of the needy and distressed, and upon whom the cries of the orphaned and the sorrows of the widowed are not lost. Such a man is the subject of this sketch, Henry Russe, wholesale dealer in seeds, grain, flower and feed, at Nos. 23 and 25 North Tennessee Street, Indianapolis, and also a member of the school board of this city. Mr. Russe has felt the touch and the sting of poverty and the spirit of man's infirmities hav- ing been upon him, it has quickened his sympathies and broadened his charities so that he is a man who has done and is doing much good in this world. Mr. Russe was born at Osna- brueck, Germany, April 17, 1849, being the son of Herman and Angel (Schue-tte) Russe, both of whom died in their native country, Germany. The father carried on the business of a general merchant and was also a farmer, besides he held office under the Government for a · number of years. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, uamely: Louisa, liv- ing in Germany; Mary, living in Cincinnati; Lisetta, matron of the German Orphans' Home of Indiana, and William, living in Germany, the others being dead. The subject of our sketch was reared in Germany, where he received an education, to a certain extent, and
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remained with his father in the store until 1869, when he set sail for America from Bremen, and arrived in New York on the steamer "Herman;" went thence to Richmond, Ind., where he was employed as laborer on the Panhandle road for some years. He held the position of fireman for two years and was then made railroad car inspector, holding the position until the strike of 1874, when, because he refused to obey an order to take out an engine and run it (which meant his antagonizing his fellow workmen), his wages were cut, which led him to leave the employ of the Panhandle and go to the Big Four road, where he filled the posi- tion of car inspector for sixteen years at the Union depot. Then, in 1889, he bought his present business from John Osterman and has carried it on most successfully ever since. Mr. Russe was elected a member of the school board in June, 1892, and fills the office with great fidelity and usefulness. He has been president of the German Orphan Home for the past twelve years, was its secretary for five years and is now one of its trustees, manifesting a most lively and sincere interest in and sympathy for the unfortunate ones who have been deprived of their natural protectors. Mr. Russe has deep-seated and reverential religious convictions and is a member of the German Evangelical Zion Church, is a trustee in that body and has been its president. Our subject has many social and business interests, among which may be named his connection with the Odd Fellows, he having passed all the chairs of the subordinate lodge and the encampment; is a member and a trustee of the K. of H .; is president of the Standard Building & Loan Association, a very flourishing and popular organization; is a trustee in the Turners' Association, in which he takes a very de- cided interest; is a member of the board of trade. and is president of the German Amer- ican Democratic Club. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Russe is a very busy man, for his busi- ness is a large and growing one, demanding a great deal of his time and care, and in every organization mentioned with which he is connected he is known as one of the most industri- ous and useful members of them, respectively. Besides the individual cases which he looks up, the many charities and public enterprises with which he is connected, and the every-day call that is made upon him for advise and counsel, all these unite to make of him one of the busiest and most useful men in the city. When Mr. Russe landed in this conn- try he had but 65 cents in all the world; but he had a big capital of pluck, nerve, industry and good common sense. He was not afraid of any kind of honest work, and had strong arms, a robust body and the best of health. Working hard by night he attended a commercial college one-half of each day, reserving the remaining one-half for sleep. Doubt- less as he worked through the long and silent hours of the night be reviewed in his mind what had been taught him during the day and thus indelibly impressed the lessons upon his memory. In this way the persevering and good man acquired his English education. After the storm, calm; after the battle, peace. Mr. Russe has toiled early and late, but his duties now, while many and great, are not compulsory, for he has by thrift and good manage- ment acquired a very nice property and might retire altogether from business if he would. He has surrounded himself with the comforts and luxuries of life and has a most happy home, which is to him in very truth the dearest place upon earth. He was married in 1873 to Miss Amelia Hebany, a native of this city and a most worthy woman, wife and mother. He and his wife are the parents of a most interesting family of fonr living children, namely : Harry, William, Eddie and Paul; one, Freddie, is dead.
ALFRED BREWER. This well known and enterprising contractor is a member of the firm of A. Brewer & Son, and the emanations of his skill and knowledge of his calling may be seen in all parts of the city of Indianapolis, where his home has so long been. He was born in Southport. Marion County, Ind., October 20. 1842, his parents being Abram and Cathar- ine (Smock) Brewer. both of whom were born in Mercer County, Ky. The father was a son of John A. Brewer. also a native of Kentucky, and with him moved to the then wilds of Marion County. Ind. in 1825 and located in Perry Township where they cleared up and put under cultivation a timber farm. Catharine Smock, the mother, was a daughter of Peter Smock, a Mercer County Kentuckian, who also became a resident of Marion County in 1825 and located on a farm just south of Pleasant Run. Abram Brewer and his wife possessed decided religious tendencies and for many years were members of the Presbyterian Church. but during the latter part of their lives were connected with the Baptist Church, which they helped to organize in their neighborhood, and they gave their liberal assistance to the erec-
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tion of one of the first churches in their section of the country. To them a family of seven children were given, four sons and two daughters of whom are living at the present time. Abram Brewer died in 1860 at the age of forty-five years, having been a tiller of the soil all his life and a reasonably successful farmer. The grandfather died when the subject of this sketch was a small boy. Alfred Brewer was the third child born to his parents and in the district schools of his neighborhood he acquired a good practical education and on the home farm stout muscles and an independent and energetic spirit. In 1860 he began learning the trade of a carpenter and after following this occupation for about six years in various por- tions of the county lie came to Indianapolis and for two years thereafter was in the employ of various contractors, after which he moved to Newton, Kan., where he, himself, engaged in contracting and continued four years. At the end of that time he returned to Indian- apolis and in 1877 he became a contractor here, since which time he has erected some of the handsomest and most substantial residences in the city, several of them being among the most beautiful on Woodruff Place. He thoroughly understands every detail of his work, is to be relied upon at all times, and his services are therefore in demand. In 1862 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Anderson, a Kentuckian by birth, and their union has resulted in the birth of five children: Calvin L. who is his father's able assistant and partner in business, and Etta (Cumingor) who is a resident of Louisville being the only ones living. Ida died at the age of seventeen years, Carrie also died at that age and Maggie passed from life in infancy. Mr. Brewer is a member of the Contractors and Builders' Asso- ciation and is one of the most substantial citizens of the city.
GEORGE W. VERNON, M. D., V. S. Recognized as a specialist of ability and success in the treatment of diseases of children and as a dermatologist, Dr. George W. Vernon, before devoting himself to these specialties had attained an enviable reputation as a general medical practitioner, and is regarded by his professional brethren as a physician of wide information and the highest order of trained judgment. Dr. Vernon was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, April 20, 1857, a son of Noah and Mary (Morgan) Vernon, the former a native of Ohio and of Scotch-English descent, the latter a native of Virginia and of German parentage. The family of Vernon were among the pioneers of Ohio, and Noalı Vernon was a farmer of enterprise and success. After his death, which occurred January 1, 1864, the old homestead in Ohio was sold and the family removed to Champaign County, Ill., where Dr. Vernon was reared and educated in the common schools, which he attended winters, being obliged to assist in carrying on the work on the farm during the spring, summer and fall; and, being the eldest of the children, many of the responsibilities of caring for the family rested upon him. At the age of seventeen he began teaching school, and was thus employed with considerable success for about six years. In 1880 he began to deal in drugs, in a small way, near his home, and later removed to Champaign, Ill., where he served as a prescription clerk in one of the leading drug stores. In the fall of 1883 he took up his residence in Indianapolis, Ind., and began the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph Eastman, and in due time became a student in the Central College of Physicians and Sur- geons, from which he was graduated in February, 1886, by competitive examination securing the position of interne to the Indianapolis City Dispensary, which he filled with credit for a year. During the autumn preceding his examination he was made assistant to the chair of physiology in the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons. In the fall of 1888 he became lecturer on physiology and assistant to the chair of diseases of children, in the same institution, and in the spring of 1889 he was made professor of diseases of children and dermatology, and still occupies that chair. Immediately after his graduation he entered upon general practice, which he continued with increasing success until July, 1892, since when he has limited his practice to diseases of children and dermatology, and in his chosen field his success has been most creditable and flattering. Dr. Vernon is a member and has been for three years treasurer of the Marion County Medical Society and a member of the Indiana State Medical Society, of the Mississippi Valley Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. He has been physician to the Indianapolis Orphans' Home since May, 1888, and consulting physician on diseases of children at the city hospital and the city dispensary. In the spring of 1893 he had conferred upon him the degree of V. S. by the Indiana Veterinary College, and is professor of physiology and secretary of that
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institution. Politically Dr. Vernon is a Republican, and he takes an intelligent and active interest in public affairs, municipal, county, State and national. He is a Mason and a K. of P. and is identified with other prominent secret and beneficial orders and associations. As a citizen he is public spirited and helpful to every measure and movement tending to the benefit of the people at large.
JOHN GUEDELHOEFER. Astonishing has been the progress from the great lumbering coaches of George I., of England, to the artistic, graceful and light vehicles of to-day. In this age of elegance, refinement and polish, not only must artistic touch be upon the car- riage, the phaeton and the surrey, but the necessary strength must be concealed, as it were, in bars, braces, bolts and springs of light and almost airy proportions, the whole combining to form a beautiful effect. The enormous increase in the demand for carriages and wagons of all grades has rendered their manufacture a prominent industry in all parts of the United States. Indianapolis has long been regarded as a leading source of supply in this line, and one of the oldest, best-known and most reliable houses engaged in it is that of John Guedel- hoefer, who is a native of Germany, and has been a resident of Indianapolis since 1869. He was born December 26, 1832, to John and Anna (Gross) Guedelhoefer, who were also na- tives of Germany, in which country they resided all their lives, the father being engaged in mining. The subject of this sketch was about six months old when his mother died and after reaching a suitable age he was placed in the public schools which he attended until he was about twelve years of age, according to the law of that country. He was trained in the art of carriage making from the time he was about seventeen years of age and possesses an intimate knowledge of all the details of the business and the requirements of the public in the direction of trade. In 1869 he decided to come to this country, and upon his arrival in Indianapolis he had but 5 cents in money. He immediately set about securing employment and after working at his trade for three years he had saved enough money to engage in busi- ness for himself, founding his present concern on a very small scale in 1873, his shop on South Street being but twelve feet square. In pursuing this calling he showed the utmost diligence, and the superior excellence of his work soon attracted the attention of the trade, and his business developed at a very rapid rate. In 1886 he became the owner of a trian- gular piece of ground at the corner of West Georgia Street and Kentucky Avenue, and he at once proceeded to erect thereon the commodious buildings in which he is now doing busi- ness. These buildings consist of a blacksmith shop 50x60 feet, a wagon factory 20x80 feet, and a paint and finish shop 40x100 feet in dimensions. His business is continually and rapidly on the increase and such proportions did it reach in the early part of 1893, that he was obliged to erect another building 60x100 feet. Steam power is used in his shops and constant employment is given to about twenty-five men, all of whom are skilled in their departments. All the operations of the house are conducted under the personal supervision of Mr. Guedelhoefer; thus he secured such products as will withstand the most critical tests. both in regard to materials used in their construction and the workmanship employed. All the work is done by hand, and the vehicles turned out are unsurpassed by any in the mar- ket for strength, lightness, ease of draft and thorough liability. and in regard to their price Mr. Guedelhoefer defies competition. Repairing and general jobbing receive his prompt attention and as a consequence his establishment has a deservedly large patronage. In his native land, in 1855, Mr. Guedelhoefer was united in marriage to Magdalina Schmidt, also of that country, and of the ten children born to them, only the following are living: Will- iam. Jnlins, August. Mary, Paulina, Otto and Ben, the last two mentioned having been born in Indianapolis. Mr. Guedelhoefer is one of the substantial business men of the city, is a prominent member of the Carriage Builders' Association and he has long been a member of the German Catholic Church.
GEORGE W. SPAHR. The world was never presented but once with the spectacle of a great army composed of nearly 3,000,000 of men, who, after a war of unprecedented severity, were quietly mustered out and returned to the peaceful pursuits which had been interrupted by battle and the great struggle for the preservation of the Union. Never before, as in this late war, was there such spontaneous and general rallying to the support of the Government, and never before was there witnessed so many spectacles of men who had known absolutely nothing of military affairs, developing into strategic and brilliant com-
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manders, and never before was there shown so many instances of individual bravery and patient endurance of the hardships and privations incident to and inseparable from war. No wonder that the Union soldiers perpetuate the memory of those days that tried the souls of men, by maintaining organizations composed exclusively of those heroes. The subject of our sketchi was one of this grand army of brave men whose heroic deeds will never die but will be perpetuated in song and history and be perpetuated in enduring bronze and stone. He is also the colonel commander of Encampment No. 80 of that well known and popular organization, the Union Veteran Legion and past commander of George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., in which are enrolled so many hundreds of thousands of names of the soldiers of 1861-1865. George W. Spahr is a well known, able and very popular member of the In- dianapolis bar. Mr. Spahr was born near Reading, Penn., March 21, 1839, being the son of Jacob and Maria (Miller) Spahr, the father a native of Switzerland and the mother of Lan- caster County, Penn. The father came to America when a lad of nine years of age with his parents and grew to manhood in Lancaster County, Pa., following, after attaining his majority, the construction of public works, and became a very prominent contractor, having erected. among other notable structures, a number of public buildings at Lancaster, the aqueduct at Reading, and the bridge across the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, Va., at the head of tidewater. He was a money making man, but spent it freely, being possessed of a very generous nature and giving liberally. In politics he was a Democrat, and took a keen interest in the great contests in which the whole country engaged every general elec- tion. The father of our subject was killed September 24, 1873, by a collision with a pas- senger train on the Peru & Indianapolis Railroad. This active and energetic man came to Indianapolis in 1845 and then settled at Millersville, six miles north of the city, where he carried on an extensive flour and saw mill and a distillery and where he owned, from first to last, 700 to 800 acres of land. He shipped his products to Lawrenceburg by wagon, before there were any markets for them at Indianapolis. The mother of our subject is living in the eighty-fourth year of her age. She bore her husband three children, two of whom are liv- ing: George W. and William H. ; John M., deceased, served a short time in the late war, being discharged on the account of disabilities. Our subject was but six years of age when he came with his parents to Indianapolis, reaching here by the canal packet boat. He was educated in the common schools of the country, completing his course at the Northwestern Christian University, now Butler University, graduating July 1, 1861, and thirteen days later, July 14, 1861, be entered the army, thus literally stepping out of the school into the arena of battle. Mr. Spabr enlisted in Company F, Third Indiana Cavalry, and served three years and three months as a private soldier and took part in every battle fought by the Army of the Potomac during that time, including South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericks- burg. Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and every engagement or skirmish in which his regi- ment took part, except one, that of Beverley Ford, at which time Mr. Spahr was absent at Washington. He had a horse shot under him in Virginia in a cavalry engagement under Gen. Wilson. He took part in what was called the great Wilson raid, the latter part of June, 1864, when Gen. Wilson, with his division of cavalry, and Gen. Kautzes' brigade of cavalry went in to the rear of Gen. Lee's army and cut off his supplies and destroyed his railroads from Richmond to the Roanoke River. This was undoubtedly the hardest and greatest raid of the war. In this raid Gen. Wilson was hotly pursued by the cavalry of Gen. Lee's army, and also by a large force of infantry, for fourteen days and nights. Mr. Spahr was mustered out in September, 1864, at Indianapolis, Ind., receiving an honorable dis- charge after thirty eight months of active, continuous service in the field. He came home very much impaired in health by reason of the excessive hard service which he had seen, and went to his old home on the farm where he spent three years trying to regain his health, after which he entered the law school at Indianapolis, and graduated therefrom in 1869, when he began the practice of law in said city and has pursued it diligently ever since. Mr. Spahr has always taken an interest in military affairs. He was commissioned major and chief of cavalry in the State militia. under Gov. Porter. The army organizations grow- ing out of the war, are very near and dear to him. He earnestly believes in caring for the needy comrades, and the widows and orphans of those who fell in defense of our country. In politics he is a Republican, pronounced and positive, believing firmly in the principles,
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