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 45
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GEORGE H. CARTER. There is nothing more beneficent than an example of American citizenship and the possibilities which surround it under our American institutions. The gentleman above named belongs to a most honorable class which he adorns by his member- ship, the class familiar to us as self-made men. We often read of such. They are pointed out to us in every assemblage and on the streets of every large city. If we trace their his- tory we find that many of them are entitled to be so called, and that very many of them are in one or several ways indebted to others, or to fortuitous circumstances for the success which has come to them but which they have not achieved in a strict sense. But if there is in Indiana a man who has been truly, in all things and under all circumstances and condi- tions, the architect of his own fortune, that man is George H. Carter. No legacies have descended to him; no accidents have befriended him. His watchword from the first has been
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that which is the secret of all the successes the world has witnessed-work. It is a short word, but it stands for a long road, and one hard to travel, and upon which the weak and inefficient hesitate and fall. From his boyhood Mr. Carter has traveled it boldly and per- severingly, never faltering and never turning into any by-paths of ease or unprofitable pleasure. The life of such a man is not interesting simply-it teaches truth. It serves as an encouragement to others who hear its story and who, in hours of darkness and doubt, have need of just such an example to make them hopeful and brave. The life of Mr. Carter has been an exemplification of sterling character and steadfast but unassuming devotion to the highest principles of manhood. Born in Kentucky in 1831, before that country had scarcely emerged from its pioneer period, he came to Indianapolis from Fleming County, that State, in 1846, at the age of fifteen. The three years succeeding his coming were spent by him in acquiring a knowledge of the blacksmith's trade in an old and well-remembered shop at the corner of Mississippi and Washington Streets. Young Carter can scarcely be said to have been seeking an " easy job." In those days, before the introduction of machin- ery in the manufacture of so many articles, the work of the blacksmith was heavier and more laborious than it is now. Everything was made by hand and by the hardest labor, horse- shoes, horseshoe nails, everything that is now made in factories as well as all that is now made by hand. Those were years of weary toil for one so young, but they hardened his muscles and made him brave and self reliant. In 1849, at the age of eighteen, he went to Cincinnati and accepted a position as blacksmith on a steamer plying on the Ohio and Mis- sissippi Rivers. The youth showed his qualities so decidedly that within a year he was made engineer of the same boat. He had often to repair portions of the engine and had made a careful study of its parts, and that he should have felt himself equal to the task of oper- ating it is not strange, especially in view of the fact that he did operate it safely and snc- cessfully for two years. In 1852 he fell a victim to the craze known in history as " the Cal-
ifornia fever." For three or four years, glorions stories of marvelous " finds" of gold among the foothills and along the streams of that then far away and mysterious country, had followed one after another to the East and filled a large proportion of the enterprising and venturesome ones with a desire to put their fortunes to the test beyond the Rockies. In com- pany with nine congenial spirits, he started for California from Cincinnati in May. The trip is now made in 100 hours. It took Mr. Carter and his companions 144 days. In was late in September when they reached their destination. Those were the days of crude things. Their roadway was not leveled and iron railed. It had no bridges. Road wagons without springs were the only suggestion of Pullman sleepers. Ox teams took the place of engines. Their eating stations were their camp-fires and they were their own cooks. They got no morning papers. spent no money on barbers or boot blacks and none in stores. Mr. Carter has stated that on their line of travel churches were abont 1,500 miles apart, from which it may be inferred that they did not stop by the way to listen to many popular divines. From the time they started they did not sleep in a house for six months. Yet it was not an unpleasant journey, and Mr. Carter has frequently stated that he would be willing to undertake it again in the same company. They were a bold and jolly lot, who made the best out of
what seemed worst and were determined to stand together through all dangers. Occasion- ally some adventure would lend zest to the excursion. For instance, in crossing Green river, Wyoming, the oxen became contrary and, wheeling this way and that, upset the wagon, spilling everything in it into the water. They had a brisk time of it rescuing the different articles as they began to float away. The saw Indians frequently, but none molested them. At times antelope and buffalo were browsing within rifle shot, and now and then the party breakfasted on antelope and Buffalo steak. More than once night, was made hideous by the serenades of large packs of coyotes. Reliance on a more or less untrustworthy guide-book which they purchased in St. Joseph, Mo., which purported to tell just where overland travelers could fill their barrels at springs and streams before crossing the desert stretches, several times occasioned a scarcity of water among them, and on one occasion they were compelled to plod through a long, hot day, without a drop for themselves or their cattle. It had been agreed that no man should ride in the wagon and thus add to the burden of the cattle except in case of absolute sickness. The poor beasts suffered if possible, more than the men. To stop without water was to court sickness and the loss of
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the oxen, and they kept going until 11 o'clock at night hoping to find what they sought ever a little ahead. At that time they crossed a trail. Mr. Carter followed it to the right, and after traveling it two miles found himself close to an Indian camp. Only insupport- able thirst could have made him risk going further. He crawled on his hands and knees past the camp and reached a spring of pure bubbling water which he remembers gratefully to this day as a means of assisting the whole party. When they reached Carson Valley, at, the eastern part of the Sierras, they sold their oxen and wagons and all equipment except a blanket for each man, a coffee pot and a skillet, chosing to go on foot 160 miles over Sublette's cut-off, rather than to "wagon " a longer distance around to the south. They paid $1 a pound for potatoes and onions which were packed for their fare by the way. It was a wearisome walk, up, and still up, then down, for days and days; but they reached the foothills on the California side and found themselves snugly ensconced in a mining camp. Mr. Carter's first work was in the "Long Tom" mines. The rest of the party went further and it is believed that not one of them is now living, leaving Mr. Carter the sole survivor. Every minor had need of a partner, and Mr. Carter found a good one in a man named Shannon. They lived together, doing their own cooking, worked together and divided expenses and profits. After a year of gold-digging in company with Shannon and a millwright named Ludwig, he bought the remains of a burned saw-mill and about 1,000 acres of land which belonged with it. The mill was reconstructed and Mr. Carter and Ludwig became partners in its ownersnip and operation, Shannon choosing to continue mining. Mr. Carter continued in this business and made money, meantime adding three saw-mills to this one. But the country did not improve. He loved Indianapolis and yearned for its civilization, and in 1868 he disposed of his California interests, and with the proceeds returned by a Pacific mail steamship and in due time arrived in Indianapolis. He had by this time become so accustomed to the lumber business that he naturally sought an opening in it .. On his return he bought a partnership interest in a saw-mill. Isaac Long and another were interested with him. After a year he purchased the interests of his two partners and after managing the enterprise alone for about another year associated with him S. A. Lee. The firm of Carter & Lee existed until 1876, when the mill was sold, Mr. Lee going into a boot and shoe business and Mr. Carter temporarily into a stock auction trade in partnership with A. G. Jackson, which he abandoned in about another twelve months to return to the manufacture of lumber. In 1877 be selected a site west of the river, on the belt road, and there erected another mill. In 1878 Mr. Carter and Mr. Lee again became partners, and the firm of Carter & Lee has existed to the present time. Mr. Carter has also a fine farm near the city which is the residence of his family. He has, during his long and busy career, made so much money that were it not for his open-handed generosity he would now be quite wealthy. All his life long. Mr. Carter has been a stanch and consistent Democrat, and he never sought office until, in 1884, he consented to be the nominee of his party supported by a large contingent from other parties to the office of Sheriff of Marion County. He was triumphantly elected and served to the end of his term with the greatest credit, declining a renomination in the interests of his private business. The affairs of the county were safe in his keeping and the people without party distinction were pleased with him as their executive officer. He is a Mason of forty-years standing, having joined the order while liv- ing in California, and is a member of Raper Commandery of Indianapolis. In all the relations of life he is respected. His personal friends are almost as numerous as his per- sonal acquaintances. His manners are affable and he is at all times most companionable. His face and speech indicate that he is a man of earnest purpose. He is most decided in liis views, yet very liberal-minded. "His word is as good as his bond," and it has been said of him: "There are probably as good men in Indiana, but there are none better."
DR. BENJAMIN A. BROWN is an exceptionally popular and successful physician of Bright- wood. He is scholarly and well informed in every branch of his profession, is intelligent and well posted on all matters of public interest and stands well in the community, both as a citizen and as a professional man. Although still in the dawn of the success which has attended his efforts in a professional way, our subject has already given abundant evidence of the ability which qualifies him for a high place in the medical profession. He is a native of the Hoosier State, born in Hancock County April 11, 1866, and is a son 'of David and
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Rachel (Van Zandt) Brown, natives of Ohio, but early settlers of Hancock County, Ind. Young Brown was reared in that county and educated in the public schools of Greenfield and Indianapolis. After finishing his education there he began teaching school and after fol- lowing that profession for two years, began the study of medicine under Dr. J. A. Comingor, of Indianapolis. This was in 1886, and in the fall of that year be entered the Medical Col- lege of Indiana, from which he graduated in the spring of 1888. Immediately afterward he located at Brightwood and engaged in a general practice which has increased in an unusual degree since. He has been county physician for this section, has served and still is health officer of the town, and is secretary of the school board, recently established. Truly ambi- tious, and with an ambition whose aim is pure and unsullied, there seems no reason why his unquestioned ability should not find full scope in relieving the pains to which a suffering world is beir. On June 16, 1886, he was married to Miss Minnie Humphries, a native of Michigan, but who was reared and educated in Hancock County, Ind. Her parents, John and Linnie (Taylor) Humphries, died when she was but a child. To Dr. and Mrs. Brown have been born one child, Lester, whose birth occurred March 28, 1887. The Doctor is a member of the I. O. O. F., the K. of P. the K. of H. & C. F., and has been officially con- nected with one and all. At present he is treasurer of the C. F. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Doctor being one of the trustees of the same and superintendent of the Sunday-school for three years. In politics he is a Republican.
GEORGE COBLE, JR. Pre-eminence is a goal most men strive to attain. No matter in what field, whether it be literature, art, science or commerce, the ambition of the true man will push him to such endeavor that his success shall stand out with glaring distinctness and his position shall be above all others. To reach a high mark of success in almost any calling is in these days of rush and activity no easy matter, and when a man reaches a high degree of success not only in one calling but in several, as has the subject of this sketch, he is regarded with respect and admiration by all. Mr. Coble is a Hoosier by birth, born in Marion County, near the present site of the county poor farm, June 20, 1852, and the son of David and Margaret (Linconfetter) Coble, natives of Indiana. In that State the parents grew to mature years and were there married about 1850. Grandfather Coble was the first man in Marion County, Ind., who engaged in the lumber business. He also built and operated the first saw-mill in the county, on Crooked Creek, northwest of the city. Grand- father Linconfetter was also an early settler of the county and helped plaster the old Irish State House when it was first erected. David Coble, the father of our subject, came to Marion County, Ind., with his parents in 1818, and has been a resident of this county ever since. His parents located about three and a half miles north west of Indianapolis, and here he was reared and educated. He is one of the old and highly respected citizens of the county and one of the old landmarks now so rapidly passing away. By his marriage he became the father of three children of whom our subject is the eldest. Sarah, who was born in 1857, married John E. Kerr and resided with her husband in Indianapolis until her death when thirty-one years of age. She left one child, Oakley, who now makes his home with his grandmother in Indianapolis. William, the youngest child, born in 1861, married Miss Irene Stevens and now resides in Indianapolis. George Coble, Jr., our subject, has passed the most of his time right in the county where he first saw the light of day and as he was the eldest son of a very busy man, he was put to work as a cash boy when but ten years of age. After reaching his sixteenth year he started out in business for himself and his early business training fitted him in an admirable manner for his subsequent prosperous career. He came to Brightwood about 1886 and opened a grocery and meat market. This he still carries on but he also operates a saloon, a barber shop, a livery stable and a bakery and restaurant. He also owns the real estate and buildings where he carries on his various enterprises, and these buildings are all in good condition and well filled with a select stock of goods. He gives his personal attention to these various enterprises and his business is constantly increasing. He has an unlimited amount of push and energy and with the start be has now made, his future prospects are bright indeed. The credit for a large share of the enterprise which helps to make Brightwood the flourishing suburb it now is, is due to the energy and perseverance of such men as Mr. Coble. Much of his success in life is due to his own industry and good management and he fully merits his good fortune, He has been twice married, first, sixteen
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years ago he wedded Miss Emma Trucks, daughter of John and Emma Trucks, natives of Indiana. No children were born to this union and after the death of his first wife he was married in August, 1886, to Miss Sarah Blum, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, as were her parents, John and Martha Blum. Mr. and Mrs. Coble have no children. They are very popular in social as well as business circles and are surrounded by many warm friends.
J. W. WHARTON. One of the most prominent and successful real estate and loan agents at Indianapolis is J. W. Wharton, who is also widely known as a politician and enterprising citizen. Mr. Wharton was born at Felicity, Ohio, January 13, 1849, a son of Rev. Joseph and Susan (Mckenzie) Wharton. When he was three years old his parents removed to Indi- ana, his father having been transferred to this field, and, owing to the exigencies of his father's itinerant position as a minister of the Methodist Church, he bad by the time he was grown up, lived in many of the towns of southern Indiana and in towns in other parts of the State besides. He was graduated in 1870 from Asbury (now DePauw) University and located at Terre Haute, where he engaged in the life and fire insurance business. About a year later he came to Indianapolis and soon became a student at the law school at Blooming- ton, Ind., remaining at that institution about a year. Late in 1872 he was admitted to the bar of Marion County. Immediately thereafter he engaged in the real estate business, in which he has been increasingly successful to the present time. He buys and sells property on his own account and on commission, negotiates loans on bond and mortgage, manages estates, collects rents, appraises houses and lands and attends to repairs, taxes and insurance, and transacts such other business as may come properly within his line. His superior knowl- edge of real estate values and the conditions which affect them, is everywhere recognized, and his business methods have always been such as to secure the fullest confidence of all with whom he has had dealings. There has been only one break of about a year and a half in Mr. Wharton's active, personal devotion to this business, and that was caused by his acceptance of the duties of car accountant for the Union Railway Company. In 1874 he was appointed deputy city clerk, and afterward, in turn, deputy county clerk, deputy county treasurer, deputy county auditor and deputy State auditor under Col. Wolf. In 1884-85 he served as councilman from the third ward in the city conncil. In all these po- sitions he has demonstrated that he possesses rare ability for public business, and he has per- formed their honorable and responsible duties with a faithfulness and courtesy which have caused him to be regarded as a model official. He has been closely identified with the poli- tics of the city and State for many years. He is a stanch and unswerving Republican and was assistant secretary of the state central committee under Hon. John C. New. He is a popular member of the K. of P. and of the Beta Theta Phi society. He was married in 1874 to Eloise M. Taylor, a native of Worthington, Ind., and daughter of George R. Tay- lor. Mr. and Mrs. Wharton are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
CHRISTIAN A. HILGENBERG. This well known real estate, loan and insurance agent, whose office is at 273 West Ohio Street, has made such a success in his enterprise and has become so popular personally that he must be included in any list of the prominent business men of Indianapolis, and for the same reason any work of the character and scope of this that did not include proper biographical mention of such a citizen would be incomplete. This business was established in 1882 by Christoph Hilgenberg, father of the immediate subject of this sketch. Mr. Hilgenberg was born in Melsungen, Germany, and came to Indianapolis in 1859. Upon his arrival in this country he was without means, but he was honest, industrious and persevering, and when he came to Indianapolis was enabled to engage in the meat trade, in which he continued successfully for about twenty years, includ- ing the period from 1869 to 1874, when he lived at Richmond, Ind. By careful invest- ments in business and farm property, he in time accumulated considerable ineans, and he came to be regarded as one of the wealthy and substantial citizens of Indianapolis. His business judgment was good, and though enterprising he was at the same time quite conservative, and he was truly a self-made man in the best sense of that much abused term. He was a member of the Commercial Club, and in all things bad the best interests of the city at heart. He died December 23, 1891. Christian A. Hilgenberg was born in Ripley County, Ind., March 10, 1862. He was reared and educated principally in Indianap- olis, though he spent much of his early life on a suburban farm. After completing his English
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and classical education he was for a time a student in a law school. He early imbibed the careful and conservative spirit of his father, and learned to apply to all his business trans- actions those principles of integrity, promptness and fair dealing which made his father popular, and he was almost from boyhood closely identified with his father in the latter's important operations. During the latter years of his father's life he had entire charge of all his affairs, and, having grown up in the business and managed it under his father's advice, he was well fitted by experience as well as by natural and highly developed busi- ness ability to carry it on successfully after his father's death. He has large property inter- ests in different parts of the city, and buys and sells city and outside property extensively on his own account, while at the same time doing a commission business handling and settling estates, negotiating loans, collecting rents and doing a general real estate business in connection with a large and growing insurance business, in which department he repre- sents some of the most substantial companies in the country. Mr. Hilgenberg is a mem- ber of the Marion Club and is popular in all business and social circles. He is an enthusi- astic cyclist and is identified with the League of American Wheelmen. In his business trips he prefers the wheel to the buggy, and he is a familiar figure on the street in his daily "spins" about the city. In politics he is strongly a Republican, devoted to the prin- ciples and interests of his party. He is a member of the Catholic Church, though at the same time very liberal in his sectarian views and very tolerant of the opinions of others.
GEORGE A. JOHNSON. There is hardly a community in the civilized world but that recog- nizes the superior advantages to be derived from and the importance of neatly and substantially built houses, and to bring about this most desirable state of affairs it is necessary that an experienced and competent contractor and builder be employed, and that George A. Johnson is recognized as such is at once seen when the nature of and the large number of houses he has erected are taken into consideration. This intelligent and wide-awake business man was born near Jacksonville, Ill., May 23, 1840, his father being Merritt Johnson, a Kentuckian by birth and a farmer by occupation, and a soldier of the Confederate army during the great Civil War. In the schools of his native State George A. Johnson was educated and when still a boy he learned the carpenter's trade under his uncle, Wilson Welborn, who was a native of the Old North State, and with whom he made his home after he had reached the age of four years. In his uncle's shop much of his time was spent and he also labored on the latter's farm, learning lessons of industry and honesty which were his stepping stones to his present success. Upon attaining his majority, he began contracting which he continued for eighteen years, at the end of which time he came to Indianapolis and since that time has continued here in the same occupation, with the exception of a few years which he spent with Nordyke & Marmon, as a master workman in their woodshop. Four years since he com- menced contracting on his own account, principally as a residence builder, and owing to the admirable character of his work and the dispatch with which he executes all orders, he has a wide and constantly increasing patronage. Mr. Johnson is strictly independent of all social orders and pursues the even tenor of this way, swayed by no political or social faction, so far as his work is concerned.
HUGO OTTO PANTZER, M. D. This is decidedly the day of the specialist in medicine and surgery as in about every other department of human endeavor. The most successful and reliable medical specialists are such as have had their attention directed to their specialties in the course of a general practice. A natural adaptation for certain lines of work, com- bined with the knowledge growing from the familiarity with it, engenders success and repu- tation in it, and eventually the demand for this special service grows to make necessary thie limitation of practice to special lines. Such is the manner in which Dr. Hugo O. Pantzer and numerous other specialists became such. Their knowledge of their specialties is supple- mented and enhanced by the extensive general knowledge of medicine and surgery acquired through the valuable experience of a large general practice of many years duration. Dr. Pantzer, as a general practitioner, enjoyed a rare degree of success and patronage, and to his numerous friends it will be a gratification to have placed in permanent form some account of his life and works. Hugo Otto Pantzer was born at Sheboygan, Wis., June 9, 1858, the eldest child of Jolin George and Willa (Koehler) Pantzer, natives of Sulzbach, Oberpfalz, and Bielefeld, Westphalia, Germany, respectively, whence they emigrated to America owing
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