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 4
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HON THOMAS A. HENDRICKS. No man in the State of Indiana ever attained the ideal citi- zenship, the affection of his neighbors or the lasting regard of the Democracy of the State in a higher degree than Thomas A. Hendricks. The purity of his private life, his simple, unassuming ways, his keen, analytical mind, his brilliancy as a debater and his shrewdness as a political manager, forever place him among the most eminent men of the nation. John Hendricks, his father, was a farmer by occupation, and the family was one of the pioneers of Westmoreland county, Penn. He married Miss Jane Thomson, and early in the year 1820 moved with his family to Indiana, and settled at Madison, where a brother, William Hendricks, who served as Congressman, Governor and United States Senator, had preceded him. John Hendricks was a deputy surveyor of public lands of Indiana, a position acquired under the administration of President Jackson. He moved to Shelby County in 1822, which was the family home for years. Thomas A. Hendricks was born on a farm near Zanesville, Muskin- gum County, Ohio, September 7, 1819. He was reared in Indiana to manhood, and attended col- lege at South Hanover. Early in youth he evinced a predilection to the study of law, and after pursuing the usual course of instruction was admitted to the bar at Shelbyville. His success as a lawyer was not rapid, as is usually the case of prominent men, but was gradual and fairly remunerative. The game of politics was always fascinating to him, and is so in- terwoven with his political career that in his case they are well nigh inseparable. In 1848 he was elected to the State Legislature, declining a renomination, and in 1850 was unanimously chosen senatorial delegate to the convention empowered to amend the State constitution. In 1851 he was elected to Congress, was re-elected two years later, but in 1854 was defeated for the same position. Much to his surprise, and wholly unsolicited on his part, he was appointed commissioneer of the general land office by President Pierce in 1855, and for a period of four years he faithfully discharged the duties of this office. In 1860, when national, State and local politics were in a volcanic condition, he was the candidate of the Democratic party for Governor, but was defeated by Col. Henry I. Lane, who resigned the position in favor of Oliver P. Morton, in order to accept the election of United States Senator. Through Mr. Hendricks' indefatigable efforts and personal popularity, the State elected a majority of Democratic legislators in 1862, and they, in turn for his faithful services, rewarded him by electing him United States Senator. His career as Senator was somewhat different from that of many of the prominent members of his party in the North. He favored the ' earnest prosecution of the war, voting for all measures to that end; he opposed conscription, and advocated all measures tending to the enlistment of troops and the payment of bounties. At the close of the war he maintained that, inasmuch as the States in rebellion had never been out of the Union, they were entitled to their full and usual representation in Congress, and that these States should have entire control of their respective State governments. He opposed the constitutional amendments on the grounds that the rebellious States were not represented, and because, in his opinion, sufficient time should elapse for passion to cool and prejudice abate before such action should be taken. After his term of six years as senator had expired he devoted his time to the exclusive practice of law, and having previously (1860) moved to Indianapolis he found an extensive field for his talents. Against his protests he
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was nominated for Governor in 1872 and was decisively elected, serving as chief executive officer of the State four years. He became the political idol of the Democrats of the State and their earnest support, and his national popularity gained for him the vice-presidential nomination in 1876, but was defeated with Gov. Tilden. In 1884 he was again honored by a nomination for this exalted office, and was elected with President Cleveland. In the midst of bis administration his career on earth ended.
PROF. WILLIAM M. THRASHER. This gentleman, distinguished in the educational annals of Marion County, is a product of Fayette County, Ind., born July 26, 1833, and is a descendant of an old colonial family, his ancestor being one of three brothers who emigrated from England about the middle of the last century. One of the brothers settled in Portland, Me., married a Cuban wife, and to him was born John S. Thrasher, the well-known editor, with an able introduction, of Humbolt's History of Cuba. John S. resided in Havana, was suspected of complicity with the Lopez invasion of Cuba in 1850, was imprisoned at Madrid, but subsequently released in 1851 by intervention of the United States Government through its Secretary of State, Daniel Webster. John, ancestor of our subject, settled in Maryland and was a soldier of the Revolution. His son, Josiah, emigrated to Kentucky, married and became a noted Indian fighter in the early annals of Kentucky. He, with his eldest son, John, who had married Elizabeth Rush, a near relative of Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Phila- delphia, and his grandson, Woodson W., emigrated to Rush County, Ind., in 1824. In 1831 Woodson W. Thrasher married Barbara Daubenspeck, a native of Cynthiana, Ky., and to them were born Prof. W. M .; John P., of Fayette County; Elizabeth, deceased wife of Dr. James P. Orr, of Rushville, Ind. ; Hattie, deceased wife of Dr. Samuel Bell, of Dub- lin; Saralı, wife of A. W. Vandeman, of Denver, Colo .; Dr. Marion, of San Francisco, Cal. ; Dr. Allen B., a distinguished specialist, of Cincinnati, and Ollie, wife of Marsball Black- ledge, of Rush County, Ind. The father, Woodson, served one term in the State Legisla- ture and several terms as County Commissioner. He was known through Indiana and Ken- tucky as a breeder of short-horn cattle, founded an academy of collegiate grade and died in 1886, an active member of the Christian Church. His wife followed him in 1892. Prof. William M. passed his childhood and youth on a farm in his native county, and studied several years in the Fairview Academy under the tutelage of Prof. A. R. Benton, afterward the president of Butler University. He graduated in 1854 from Bethany Colege, W. Va., after which he taught a classical school at Rushville, Ind., from 1854 to 1865. In April of the last named year he entered Butler University as professor of mathematics and astronomy, which chair he has filled ever since with the exception of one year, 1873-4, which he spent pursuing higher mathematical branches at Heidelberg University, Germany. Since leaving Germany he has been many years a student of advanced mathematics in the English, French and German languages. He has always been an extensive reader of literature in several languages, writes easily, but has written nothing for publication except in newspapers. His dry humor, keen sense of the ridiculous and extensive acquaintance with literature liave aided in rendering his lectures quite popular with the university students. The Professor is a member of the Indiana Academy of Science, and as a teacher is among the most suc- cessful in the State. In 1862 Prof. Thrasher married Miss Demia Thayer, danghter of Spencer Thayer and niece of Ovid Butler, Esq., of Indianapolis. Four children were born to this union: Corinne, wife of O. O. Carvin, of Indianapolis; Sallie, wife of A. J. Brown, of Grand Rapids, Mich .; Nettie (deceased); Dr. Allen Wade, of Indianapolis, and Ray- mond T.
F. M. CHURCHMAN (deceased). The influence of a good man will be ever expanding with the lapse of time, and his deeds of charity and acts of love will live to commemorate liis name and perpetuate his memory. It can be truly said that a great and good man has been gathered to his fathers, but his virtues live after him, and his reputation sustained under the conflict of a long career of extraordinary activity, bears no blemish; and his name is every- where mentioned with respect and honor. F. M. Churchman was a native of the Keystone State, born in Schuylkill County, and on April 5, 1833, when but an infant, he was taken by his father to Wilmington, Del, where he remained upon a farm near that city until eleven years of age. He received but a limited education and in 1846 his half brother, the late W. H. Churchman, founder of the Indiana Institution for the Blind, asked the father to
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let him take our subject west with him. He took young Churchman to raise and the latter remained with his brother, W. H. Churchman, a year or two, or until about sixteen years of age. He was then taken into the bank of the Jate S. A. Fletcher, Sr., the bank at that time being a small institution, and filled the office of messenger. Two or three years later he was made bookkeeper. He continued to live with his brother, reading to him at night, and stimulated by a natural taste for reading, he gradually acquired by this practice a vast fund of infor- mation. At the time of his death he possessed a very fine library. In 1865 Mr. Churchman was admitted to partnership in the institution that owes so much of its reputation for sta- bility and financial prominence to his close application to business, and continued there until the close of his life. Mr. Churchman was a man of rare force of character, strictest integ- rity, and, coming from Quaker stock, was very reticent. He seldom had anything to say, was mild but firm, and his advice when given was sound. Identified for forty years with the same institution his career was nnusual. He took few vacations and was gifted with an almost unerring penetration, his opinions being often sought on financial questions. He had untold opportunities to go into almost every financial and business enterprise that has been started in Indiana, but always declined offering his counsel or financial assistance, but keeping his business interests confined within the limits of his profession of which he was so thoroughly the master. Mr. Churchman's only diversion was his 240 acres of land below Indianapolis, where he resided for twenty years before his death. There he led a simple life, giving much attention to the breeding of blooded cattle and horses, with which his farm was well stocked. He was entirely devoid of ostentation, and true to his own training, . reared his family as he had been reared, offering them of course all the educational facilities possible in business and literature.
BERNIE A. FOHL. This gentleman is one of the most popular florists of Indianapolis. His father intended that he should become a minister, but he turned his attention to the cultivation of roses. Could any one preach more unintermittingly or more eloquently ? Does not one rose tell more of the power of the Creator and the beauty of the universe- more of living and dying yet living again-than a thousand sermons? And in Mr. Fohl's greenhouses are thousands of roses, roses of all colors and shades, of all varieties and all sizes. His conservatories at Mississippi and Thirtieth Streets are the most extensive in the State, comprising twenty thousand feet under glass, and they stand in the midst of five acres of ground all abloom with roses. The story of the development of an enterprise of so much beauty is interesting but less so than the study of the life of the man who originated and built it up. Mr. Fohl was born near Dublin, Ind., May 6, 1858, a son of Rev. John and Mary Ann (Radebaugh) Fohl, both natives of Pennsylvania. Rev. John Fohl has been a minister of the United Brethren Church since 1817. For several years past he has been superanuated, but he has really worked harder for the church since than he ever did before. He devotes much time to the interests of the American Bible Society which necessitates his traveling a good deal, which is peculiarly burdensome to most men of his years. He is now past eighty-eight but he stands fully six feet high in his stockings and the natural shade of his hair has not as yet been tinged with gray. His family is noted for longevity. Only a few years since, his mother died aged ninety-seven and retained all her mental faculties to the last. She had been a member of the church for nearly or quite three quarters of a century. His wife is still living in her eighty-fourth year and they have been the parents of thirteen children all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, and nine of whom are living at this time. For seventeen years prior to 1868 Rev. Mr. Fohl and his family lived in Indiana, but at that time they returned to Pennsylvania. Bernie A. Fohl, the youngest son of this worthy couple was ten years old when his parents returned to Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools there and later was a student at Chili Seminary, near Rochester, N. Y. He was graduated, however, from the High School at Chambersburg, Penn., in 1876. His mother was a lover of flowers and she literally had her door yard full of them. Bernie helped her to cultivate them. Hence his own love of flowers was partly inherited, and partly cultivated as it were and that he determined to give his life to the growth and im- provement of flowers is not to be wondered at. In October, 1877, he came to Indianapolis and took charge of the grounds at Crown Hill Cemetery. In 1881 he went to Peru, Ind., and engaged in business there as a florist with much success for a time, but at the end of
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four years, owing to causes which form no essential part of this narrative, he found himself out of pocket to a considerable extent, and gathering together what remained to him he re- turned to Indianapolis and entered the employ of Charles Rieman, the florist, at the insig- nificant salary of eight dollars a week. Finally, aided by a building and loan association, he was enabled to purchase an acre of ground at the corner of Tennessee and Twenty-second Streets which he began to improve, though remaining in Mr. Rieman's employ for two years thereafter. At the expiration of that time he again entered the business on his own account. In December, 1890, he sold this place for which, unimproved, he had paid $250, for $5,000 and removed to his present location where he purchased five acres of ground upon which he has since put improvements worth $10,000. Since beginning business here Mr. Fohl has met with a degree of success of which any man might be proud. He ranks as one of the leading citizens and enterprising business men, and enjoys, in a remarkable degree, the re- spect of all who know him. He was married in March, 1880, to Sarah J. Wheatcraft of In- dianapolis and they have two bright and promising sons, Bernie A., Jr., and Robert R. Bernie, now twelve years of age, has recently graduated from the high school at Mapleton and has the distinction of being Marion County's youngest graduate. Mr. Fohl and his family are communicants of the Baptist Church, and Mr. Fohl is a liberal supporter of all the direct and auxiliary interests of his church and denomination.
JOHN HEIDENREICH. The gentleman whose name is at the head of this sketch is the manager of the firm of J. Heidenreich & Co., also one of the proprietors of what is known as the Southside Greenhouses, on Applegate and Morton Streets. He is a business man who never suffers his business to push him; but, on the contrary is constantly extending his field of operations and is seeking new, yet always safe, paths. He makes a specialty of growing roses, that most beautiful flower, and has from 2,000 to 3,000 potted rose plants each year on sale, which, under his skillful care of growing them, bear almost innumerable fine blos- soms. He keeps the choicest, rarest and costliest varieties and also keeps a large and very fine lot of cut flowers of all kinds, the most of which he raises in his extensive and finely equipped greenhouses. He owns four lots on Applegate Street, four on Morton Street and has 6,000 feet under glass, in four fine greenhouses. All this improvement has been made by him, for which he deserves great credit, for he started in the business with only two small lots, and now has extensive premises as above stated. This desirable state of affairs has been brought about by keen business foresight and providence. The gentlemen connected with the firm have always dealt fairly by their patrons and as a natural sequence have met with a substantial reward and are now comfortably provided with the good things of this world. Mr. Heidenreich owes his nativity to Germany where he was born on July 6, 1866, his father being Joseph Heidenreich, who is a well known and successful nurseryman in the vicinity of Berlin, Germany. He has made a specialty of growing fruit trees, in which he has been very successful and he is now a well-to-do citizen. In his native land John Heiden- reich was reared and educated, and, while not pursuing his studies in school, his time was employed in assisting his father, during which time he acquired a taste for his present calling and learned many of its details which have been of great benefit to him since starting in business for himself. In 1883 he came to the United States and the same year to Indian- apolis, and here he at once, with characteristic energy, commenced working at his trade in the employ of other firms until 1890 when he embarked in the business for himself, in which short time an extensive and most profitable business has been built up, the result of intelli- gent grasp of the enterprise and of faithful, honest and persistent work. Customers have not been slow to learn where their interests lie and when once their establishment is patronized that patron is sure to come again. Mr. Heidenreich's partner in business is John Grande, a wide-a-wake and enterprising man of business and the excellent commercial qualifications of these two gentlemen combined make them a strong and reliable firm. Mr. Heidenreich is a member of the Indianapolis Florist's Club and the Indiana State Society.
HARVEY A. WRIGHT. This gentleman is the proprietor of Wright's Home-made Mince- meat Factory, which business lie established on a small scale at his residence in 1883. The first year he sold his goods to private parties, and manufactured his mincemeat on a No. 7 cooking stove, amounting in all to 4,700 pounds. The second year he made five tons; the third year he employed a delivery wagon and made ten tons for the Indianapolis trade. The
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business has steadily increased in volume until it has now reached enormous proportions and is conducted in a building 33x80 feet, necessitating the employment of twelve people. At the present time thirty-two tons of mincemeat are made annually, thirty-one tons being for the Indianapolis trade. In 1892 he began the manufacture of mince pies, the sale of which has increased from $200 to $700 per month. Mr. Wright was born in Stowe, Mass., August 29, 1835, his parents being Oliver and Lydia (Austin) Wright, both natives of the Green Mountain State. During the father's early life he was a minister of the Universalist Church at Montpelier, but he afterward became a physician and practiced his profession in Brattleboro until his death March 5, 1840, his widow surviving him until March 4, 1842. Harvey A. Wright was an infant when his parents settled in Brattleboro and after the death of his parents he made his home with his mother's sister at Weston, Vt., his mother's birth- place. Here he remained and attended the district schools until he attained his fifteenth year, when he went to North Orange, Mass., where he attended a select school for some time. At the age of sixteen he went to work on a farm about three miles from Brattleboro, but the following fall and winter returned to the select school. His vacations were spent in tilling the soil until November 8, 1852, when he entered the sash factory of Edwin Ellis at Athol, Mass., in which he labored two and a half years. While there he mortised and put together 62,000 windows. In the spring of 1855 he went to Allegany County, N. Y., and became foreman in the wood department of the match factory at that place. During the seven years that he remained in that county he served as deputy sheriff three years, consta- ble three years, corporation collector one year and owned and operated a stage line of forty miles. He was a stirring and wide-awake citizen and was quite successful in his business ventures. In the spring of 1863 he became assistant foreman under John H. McLean in the construction of a double track on the Erie railroad and in the fall of that year acted as brakeman on that road for three months. He then became foreman and conductor on a con- struction train on the Oil Creek railroad, but this position he resigned in December to accept that of conductor on a freight train from Elmira to Williamsport. March 21, 1864, he enlisted in Company K, Fiftieth New York Engineers, in which capacity he served until the war closed, receiving his discharge at Elmira on June 28, 1865. He then came to Indianapolis and for some time worked at his trade but in the spring of 1867 returned to railroading, which he followed two years. He had patented a signal light, and a special car was placed at his disposal for the purpose of introducing the same. In May, 1870, he became a conductor on the Little Miami road but at the end of fourteen months he resigned and went to St. Louis where he was connected with the opening of the St. Louis bridge over the Mississippi River and became fireman for the St. Louis Bridge Company and later con- ductor. At the end of eight months he was promoted to the position of superintendent of trains across the bridge but resigned this position one year later to become conductor on the Big Four road between Mattoon and St. Louis. He has since been connected with other roads as conductor and has followed railroading in various capacities for fourteen years, during which time he was never in a wreck for which he was censured or blamed and all of his wrecks never cost over $4,000. About 1876 he came to Indianapolis and engaged in the bakery business, continuing three years, but off and on since that time he has been con- nected with different railroads. He was married in 1875 to Miss Mary A. Donnell, a native of Palestine, Ill. Mr. Wright is a member of the order of Equity and the G. A. R., Robert Anderson Post, No. 369. In politics he has always been an ardent Republican. Mr. Wright is what is often termed a "hustler" and he has been successful in the accumulation of a considerable amount of worldly goods.
ANTOINE WIEGAND. The extent to which flowers are sold in a city indicates in no small degree the culture of its inhabitants. One taking this view must recognize the æsthetic su- premacy of Indianapolis, as it has more florists and a better demand for choice flowers than any other city of its size in the country. Not only prominent, but foremost in point of pri- ority among the floriculturists of Indianapolis is the gentleman whose name appears above. Antoine Wiegand was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1833, and was educated in the schools of his native country. He came to America in 1855 and located in Indianapolis, which, though then an unimportant town, was, he felt sure, to be a city of commercial wealth and prominence. He established himself in business, in 1859 near the "Old Seminary," on 3
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Kentucky Avenue, and prospered there until 1879, when he removed to his present location at Seventh and Illinois Streets. His extensive hot houses cover an area of 200x200 feet, and his glass covered conservatories are among the most attractive in the city. Here are to be found plants in greater variety than in any other one establishment in the State, and Mr. Wiegand lias in stock some single plants worth $150 each. He makes a specialty of cut flow- ers and decorations and has not only a large trade in Indianapolis, but an extensive one in surrounding towns. Mr. Wiegand was the pioneer in this line in the city. When he began business, more than a third of a century since, there was little demand for flowers, and his enterprise was necessarily small. But his is a kind of trade which advertises and extends itself, if properly attended to, more conspicuously, perhaps, than many others. The love of flowers is inherent in the human heart, and Mr. Wiegand spread them before the people of Indianapolis in ever expanding beauty, year by year, till there was a constantly increasing demand for them and his enterprise became an established fact and his green-houses one of the attractions of the city. Mr. Wiegand is a public-spirited and well-esteemed citizen, who has the best interests of the community at heart. Although he is a Republican, he is not so partisan as to ignore the claims of a Democrat in a local campaign if he happens to think the Democrat is a better man personally than his Republican opponent. He is a popular member of the Columbia and other clubs, of the Royal Arcanum, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was married in 1865 to Miss Katie Kriess, a native of Germany, and has two sons and a daughter. .
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