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 52
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85
ROBERT FURNAS. The career of this venerable and venerated gentleman of whom it is our pleasure and privilege to here attempt a short sketch, is connected with Ohio and Indi- ana, his birth occurring in the former State October 22, 1812 .. He received such education as the subscription schools of those days afforded, going on an average about two months in the year, and leaving school at the age of thirteen. In the fall of 1864 he came to Indiana, and located in Decatur Township where he bought 320 acres of land. In 1883 he bought forty acres more and about the same year he bought eighty acres in Hendricks County, Ind. Half of his home farm of 320 acres was cleared when Mr. Furnas bought it and he has cleared fifty acres since. He is a wide-awake, enterprising farmer and he thoroughly under- stands all the details of farm life. He is a member of the Friend's Church and a liberal contributor to the same. Originally he affiliated with the Whig party but on the formation of the Republican party he joined its ranks and of late years he has been a Prohibitionist. His first vote was cast for Henry Clay. Mr. Furnas has been married three times. His first marriage was in 1838, to Miss Phoebe, daughter of Samuel and Barbara (Sanders) Whitson. No children of this union survive. His second marriage occurred in 1847 to Miss Anna Hollingsworth, daughter of Abraham Hollingsworth, but no children were born to their union. In 1859 he was married to Achsa Newby, daughter of William and Ruth (Cox) Newby, and five children were the fruits of this union, but one died in infancy. The others were: John R., a resident of Hendricks County, married Rachel Lewis who bore him two children, Robert and Edgar; Anna, married Lincoln R. Jessup, son of Jesse and Mary (Bray) Jessup and they have these children, Ethel and Mabel; Wilson, married Addie Albertson, daughter of Phineas and Aseneth (Wilson) Albertson, and Charles W., who married Addie Tincher. Robert Furnas, father of our subject, was born in the Palmetto State, June 27, 1772, and in that State he reached mature years. He was married at Cain Creek, S. C., February 11, 1796, to Miss Hannah Wilson, daughter of John and Dinah (Cook) Wilson, and
287
AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.
in 1803 they came to what is now Warren County, Ohio, near Waynesville. He settled on a farm of 210 acres, the land warrant of which he bought of a revolutionary soldier, and there his death occurred February 15, 1863. He was a Quaker in his religious views and a Whig in politics. Eleven children were born to his marriage and named as follows: Mary (deceased), Esther (deceased), John (deceased), Seth (deceased), Joseph (deceased), Isaac (deceased), Dinah (deceased), Robert (onr subject). Rebecca (deceased), Hannah, and Sarah (deceased). All these children married and reared families. John Furnas, the grandfather of our subject, was born at Standing Stone, Cumberland, England, March 5, 1736, and was married there March 24, 1762, to Miss Mary Wilkerson who was born at Wigton, Cumberland, England, Sep- tember 19, 1742. They were the parents of the following children: Joseph, Rebecca, John, Esther, Thomas W., Robert and William. Soon after his marriage the grandparents came to America and the grandfather died in South Carolina about 1780.
FRANCIS M. LAWLER, master mechanic of Chicago, Indianapolis & White Water Division shops of the Big Four Railroad, is a product of the Granite State, born in Concord, April 21, 1848, and is a son of Martin and Hannah (Brown) Lawler, the former a native of Ireland, and the latter of Nova Scotia. Both father and mother came to the United states with their ยท parents when children and were here married. The father was a stone contractor in rail- road work in the East for many years and accumulated considerable means. In 1856 the family came west and located at Springfield, Ill., where the father entered the employ of the Wabash road. He died in Springfield in October, 1879. The mother is still living and makes her home in St. Louis. Francis M. Lawler was but a small boy when his parents moved to Illinois, and he grew to manhood and received his scholastic training in Spring- field. In March, 1864, he left home with a number of soldiers and went to Point, Miss., where he enlisted in Company L, Tenth Missouri Cavalry, and served a little over a year, when he was transferred to Company L, Fourth Missouri Cavalry, with which he remained until cessation of hostilities, being discharged September 10, 1865. While fighting for the old flag he followed Gen. Forrest for the most part and was in Guntown raid after Gen. Price through Missouri. He was also on the Wilson raid through Georgia. On account of age he enlisted as a bugler but subsequently served as a private. When he left home his parents knew nothing about his enlisting, for he went on the spur of the moment while the soldiers were at the depot to take the train. After the war he returned to Springfield and entered the Wabash shops as apprentice to the trade of machinist, serving three and a half years. After that he became fireman on the road for a short time and later secured employment in the Iron Mountain shops at Carondolet. Six months later he secured a position in the St. Charles, Mo., shops for four months, and then went to Omaha to work in the shops there under a master mechanic, serving an apprenticeship. He fitted up a couple of engines and ran one while the new bridge was under construction. He then returned east on account of his mother and occupied a position in the shops at Indianapolis, St. Lonis and Mattoon as machinist, and has been with this company ever since. In 1880 he was made gang foreman; five years later he was promoted foreman in the shops at Mattoon, and in 1889 he was made assistant master mechanic. In January of the following year he was made master mechanic of the division and on June 1, 1892, he was promoted master mechanic of the Chicago, Indianapolis & White Water divisions, with headquarters at Indianapolis, and this position he still holds. Mr. Lawler was married in 1872 to Miss Fernanda M. Cyphers, a native of Gallion, Ohio, and five children have been given them, May, William, Gracie, Frank and Daisy. Mr. Lawler is a member of the Masonic fraternity, a member of the Commandery, and was master of Blue Lodge, No. 260, Mattoon, also high priest of the chapter six years. In politics he is a stanch Democrat. Our subject occupies a most responsible position, over 1,300 men being under his supervision. His natural ability and thorough knowledge of machinery, acquired from years of practical experience, is appreciated by the company which repose the utmost confidence in his ability and judgment. The position is one that requires close application and attention to all the details of an immense business. It also demands a great deal of study and research in keeping abreast of the times in the strides and improvements that daily take place through the inventive genins of advanced civilization. Mr. Lawler has proven himself entirely capable and worthy at all times to fill the position he now occupies. He is a pleasant, social gentleman, characteristics which usually predomi-
288
MEMOIRS OF INDIANAPOLIS
nate among railroad men, and is popular and well liked among the employes with whom he comes in daily contact.
BENJAMIN F. DAVID. Among those who have fought the battle of life bravely and are now living retired from the strife and turmoil of active life, is Benjamin F. David, who is a product of Harrison County, Ky., born November 20, 1828, on a farm, but who, at the age of nine months, was brought by his parents to Indiana, who located on a farm of 200 acres, in Marion County, eighty acres of which had been purchased a year or so prior to their re- moval here and the remainder afterward. On this farm Benjamin F. was brought up, his education being acquired in the subscription schools which were in vogue at that time and which were held in the proverbial pioneer log school-house. He attended about two months out of the year up to his fifteenth year, after which he remained at home and assisted his father on the home farm until he was twenty-five years of age. During this time he learned the blacksmith's trade at Danville, Ind., and at the end of about a year he came to Bridge- port, Marion County, and worked with Henry Mattern, a blacksmith, for nearly three years. At the end of that time he returned to his father's farm, where he made his home up to 1891, when he moved to west Indianapolis, where lie now lives. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a Republican politically, and has served as supervisor of bis township. In 1857 be led to the altar Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca (Tucker) Whitson, and to them were born five children: Sarah E., who married Charles Mattern, resides in Hendricks County, Ind., and has one daughter, Grace; William T., who married Martha E. Chamber- lain had one daughter, Frankie, who died in infancy; Oliver W., who married Ella A. Johnson; Gilmore (deceased), and Rebecca Blanche, who married John L. Sanders and has one son, Paul Whitely D. The father of Benjamin F., was William David, born in Virginia, in 1800, and who was brought up in Mason and Harrison Counties, Ky., where his parents moved when he was about five years old. He was married in Harrison County, in 1820, and eight years later came to Indiana as above stated. To himself and wife these children were given, as follows: Mary, widow of John Hiatt; Benjamin F. ; Milton (deceased); Hiram (deceased); Martha, widow of Henry B. Wright, has five children; Sarah E., who married Benjamin Mizz- ner, and has three children; John W., who married Sarah E. Gamble, and has three chil- dren-Mable, Dile (deceased) and Fred; Oscar, who married Hattie O'Neals and has one daughter-Mary Pauline; Louise, who married George Post; Susana (deceased); Ann, wife of Josepli Kenworthy; Elizabeth (deceased); John (deceased), and Emily (deceased). The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Jacob David, was born in Germany, in 1770, and in early manhood came to America and located first in Virginia, and then in Ken- tucky. He was married twice, bis first wife being the grandmother of Benjamin F. David. She bore him six children, as follows: Thomas; Henry, who was a soldier in the War of 1812; William, father of the subject of this sketch; Mary, who married John Mauck; Katharine, who married William Cox, and Sallie, who married Henry Spears. The father of these chil- dren died in 1827. His first wife was Mary Wiseman, and his second, Mary Davis, by whom he had two children: David, who died unmarried, and Simon, who first married Nancy Brown, by whom he had two children, Elizabeth and Mary, and for his second wife, took Mary Martindale, who also bore him two children, Lucinda and James K.
JACOB F. SCHWEIKLE. The business of carriage and wagon manufacturing has developed enormously in the past twenty-five years, and the large factories all over the country turn out carriages and wagons by machinery, and which are in so many instances unreliable, that it is a comfort to know that there are still some of the old trustworthy firms in existence. Such a representative firm is that of Schweikle & Prange, which was established on East Washington Street, Indianapolis, in 1873, on leased property, and which has been continued successfully by the same firm ever since. In February, 1893, this firm purchased the valu- able property at the southeast corner of Davidson & Market Streets, and erected a building thereon 40x100 feet, and two stories liigh. A general manufacturing business is done, wagons and carriages and general blacksmithing. From seven to ten expert and skillful workmen are constantly employed and turn out first class work. Messrs. Schweikle & Prange give their personal supervision and attention to the work at all times, and there is nothing better made in the way of carriages and wagons than they turn out. Mr. Schweikle was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, December 6, 1837, and is a son of Jacob and Margaret
289
AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.
(Klein) Schweikle, natives also of the old country, where they passed their entire lives. The father was a linen weaver by occupation. Our subject came to America in 1857 and although he had learned the linen weaver's trade of his father, after coming to America he learned carriage and wagon making at Connorsville, Ind., and followed that in that city until 1870. He then came to Indianapolis and three years later engaged in business . for himself under the present firm name. Mr. Schweikle was married in January, 1861, to Miss Kate Hunnehagen, a native of Germany, who came to America in 1860. Mr. and Mrs. Schweikle have one child, Mary. Our subject is a member of the I. O. O. F. and is con- nected with two building associations, being a director in Tradonian No. 4 and National. He and family are members of the Second German Reformed Church and for fourteen years he was an official in various capacities, secretary, treasurer, deacon, etc.
FRED. W. PRANGE was born in Germany, December 1, 1853, to the union of Fred. and Sophia (Thine) Prange, also natives of that country. Young Prange was not quite a year old when he came to America with his parents, who came direct to Indianapolis, and in that city he was reared and educated, his scholastic training being received in the German Lutheran schools. When sixteen years of age he began blacksmithing and also learned carriage and wagon making, which he has followed since. In 1875 he engaged in business for himself under the present firm name of Schweikle & Prange. Mr. Prange was married in 1881 to Miss Minnie Klinsick, a native of Logansport, Ind., and daughter of Henry and Minnie Klinsick, natives of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Prange are the parents of two children, Mamie and Elmer. Mr. Prange has stock in Tradonia Building and Loan Association, and is a prominent business man of the city. He is a Democrat in politics and he and wife are earnest members of the German Lutheran Church.
VALENTINE HEINTZ. One of the prominent brick contractors of the city is Valentine Heintz, who is a native German, born in 1849, but who came to the United States in 1864. In Columbus, Ohio, he learned his trade under his uncle, Jacob Schneider, who was an experienced and competent brick layer, and after serving an apprenticeship of four years he began working as a journeyman, and in 1874 came to Indianapolis. Here he worked for different persons on numerous buildings for a long while, then began contracting on his own account and was soon engaged to build the tunnel on South Illinois Street under the Union Station tracks, which work he accomplished successfully. Some other evidences of his handiwork may be seen on the Cerealine Works, the McCormack building, which was the first six-story house in the city, besides numerous fine residences throughout the city and suburbs. The Klee & Coleman block, the Frank Dill business block and the Sacred Heart Church were also erected by him; in fact, go where you will in the city you will find that he has also been there and that his name is a familar one to the real estate men and house- holders. He superintended the brick work on the State house, which occupied about eight years, then superintended the work on the custom house in Louisville, Ky. When he com- menced working for himself his principal capital was a good constitution and a thorough knowledge of his calling, coupled with energy and ambition, and these essential qualities have led to his success. He is a member of the Builders' Exchange, Lodge No. 56, K. of P., Lodge No. 2634, K. of H., and is a member and leader of the Concordia Social Club. On February 26, 1885, he was united in marriage to Miss Matilda Schmuck, of this city, and has three children.
JAMES P. BRUCE. While the idea of having public bake shops originated with the Eng- lish, the industry has become a most extensive one in America, and thousands of persons and vast sums of capital are employed. A house which is doing a successful business, thanks to the excellent quality of the goods sent out as well as to the undoubted integrity of the pro- prietor, is that owned and conducted by James P. Bruce, who is a wide-awake gentleman imbued with the proper amount of enterprise to enlist success, and his business enterprises have been widely satisfactory. He is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was born Novem . ber 30, 1851, a son of Alexander and Jane (Reid) Bruce, both of whom were born in Scotland and who, shortly after their arrival in America, settled in Cincinnati. Alexander Bruce set- tled first in America at Quebec in June, 1843, and later in October of the same year, in New York. He worked at his trade of baker in Brooklyn and there wedded Jane Laurie Reid, a native of Peterhead, Scotland, September 20, 1844. In February, 1845, he settled at Cin- 19
290
MEMOIRS OF INDIANAPOLIS
cinnati and in August of the same year began working at his trade, continuing until 1861. In 1863 he moved to Indiana, and in April, 1875, to Indianapolis, engaging again at his trade with James P. Bruce at 598 Virginia Avenue which continued until 1889, since whichi time James P. has been sole owner of the business. The father at present resides with his son in Indianapolis, retired from the active duties of life. The mother died in March, 1881. James P. Bruce was reared in Cincinnati, and there received the advantages of the public schools. In the fall of 1871 he came to Indianapolis and entered the employ of P. F. Bryce, a baker of the place, but now of the Bryce Baking Company of Chicago, continuing with him until April, 1875, when he engaged in business for himself on Virginia Avenue, in a one-story frame house and on a small scale. By hard work and close attention to business he gradually began to accumulate means and when practicable he enlarged his business, and he is now doing a business of about $20,000 a year in a substantial two-story brick building 57x37 feet in dimensions which he erected in 1893 at a cost of $6,000. He keeps constantly on hand a fine line of all kinds of bread stuffs, cakes, pies, etc., and supplies on short notice first-class wedding and ornamental cakes which he guarantees to be fresh. His stock is daily replenished and his patrons come from a class who are very particular about the quality of their breadstuffs. He has every facility for baking, including two excellent ovens, and em- ploys none but skilled workmen. Mr. Bruce was married June, 1878, to Louise Baker, a native of Cincinnati, by whom he has a family of seven children: Albert G., James Garfield (deceased), Robert S., Charles, Ralph, Adah and Nettie.
CHRISTIAN F. WISHMEYER, whose name leads this sketch, is a native of Westphalia, Prussia, born August 22, 1822, and in his native land was reared and educated, attending school from the time he was six until he was fourteen years of age. On May 5, 1843, he and his parents sailed from Bremen and landed at Baltimore, Md., June 8, and from that place they at once proceeded to Marion County, Ind., whither an uncle, Anthony Wish- meyer, had come in 1834, and a brother, Charles F. Wishmeyer, in 1840. Upon bis arrival the father purchased forty acres of land in Warren Township, on which he settled and lived until the fall of 1853, when he was killed by runaway borses. In 1843 Christian F. had settled in Indianapolis, and he at once began working at the carpenter's trade, which he had learned in the old country, his first employers being Fred Diekman and Charles Wishmier, with whom he remained two years. He then worked at his trade in Lafayette for one year, after which he returned to this city and formed a partnership with John F. Ramsey (deceased), in the cabinet aud chair manufacturing business, with whom he re- mained associated for about two and a half years. He then commenced contracting in the carpenter's business, which he carried on until 1855, after which he devoted his time to saw-milling, having erected a mill in 1853; on Pogue's Run, near National Road, which he con- ducted in connection with a lumber yard until 1872. In 1863 he purchased 240 acres of land in one tract and eighty acres in another, and onto this farm he moved with his family in 1873, erecting thereon a handsome two-story brick residence with a slate roof, contain- ing over twenty rooms. In 1886 he added eighty acres to his estate, about 115 acres of which he devotes to the raising of corn and wheat annually, his best wheat average being twenty-seven busliels to the acre. Politically he has always been a Democrat, and his first presidential vote was cast for Franklin Pierce, but he has taken little interest in political affairs since the Douglas campaign, and although once elected a member of the city council of Indianapolis declined to serve. He was married in 1847 to Wilhelmina Fehling, and by her became the father of five children: Mary, who married Henry Niemann, and has five children, Bertha, William, Emma, Frank and Carl; Martha, who married Lewis Smith and has two children, Minnie and Charley; Amelia, who married Albert Schower and has two children, Ella and Mabel; Charles, who married Ella Barton; and George, who died in 1889, at the age of thirty-four years. Charles Wishmeyer, the father of Christian F., was a Prussian, born in 1787, and was a carpenter by trade. He was married twice in Prussia, and by his first wife became the father of three children: Christina (deceased), who married Chris Reosener, of Hancock County, Ind., had four children, Sophia (Schill- ing), Christian, Christina (Buchorn) and Charles; Charles, who is a resident of Indianapo- lis, is married to Christina Reosener and has four children. Christian, William, Emma (Fehling) and Matilda (Nieman); and Charles F., the father of Christian F., the subject of
291
AND MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.
this sketch. For his second wife he married Christina Nieman, and by her had the follow- ing children: Anthony; Elenora, wife of William F. Piel, of Indianapolis; Louisa (de- ceased), who married Ernest H. Piel; Sophia (deceased), who married Fred Cruger; Mary, who first married Charles Wyland, and after his death a Mr. Deder, and Henry. The paternal grandfather, Charles Wishmeyer, lived and died in Prussia, having followed the calling of a teacher. Anthony Wishmeyer, the half brother of the subject of this sketch, was a soldier in the Mexican War and in the war of the Rebellion.
WILLIAM LANDMEIER. The manufacture of brick in the United States has assumed very large proportions, owing to the numerous uses to which they are put and the erection of thousands of large structures in all large cities annually, and in this important branch of human endeavor William Landmeier is very extensively engaged and is doing a paying annual business. He was born in Germany in 1861 to Henry Landmeier and by his father was brought to the United States in 1867 and a location was at once made in the city of Indianapolis. The father was a successful brick maker and like the majority of boys Will- iam followed in his father's footsteps when it came time for him to choose an occupation for himself, and also became a brick manufacturer. In the private schools of Indianapolis, William obtained his knowledge of the world of books and at the age of fourteen years com- menced to learn his trade under the competent instruction of his father, who is still a resi- dent of the city of Indianapolis and is yet interested in his former occupation. After com- pleting his knowledge of the manufacture of brick William began learning the brick mason's trade under B. W. Hartley, with whom he labored one year, then he became a partner of that gentleman, who is an old-time brick contractor of the city. Four years ago Mr. Land- meier commenced manufacturing brick on his own account, in which venture he and a brother were associated, but William also carried on contracting for one season, since which time he has given his exclusive attention to the manufacture of brick, his yards being located on the Perkins Pike, southeast of the city. In 1877, when still quite a young man, Mr. Land- meier went to Denver, Colo., where he remained for a time, succeeding which he was the manager of a brick yard for other parties. Following this he was in Camp Rice, Tex., where he employed Mexicans while engaged in the manufacture of brick for the Government building at that place. He was quite a traveler in those days and was in all parts of the West, sight-seeing and looking for a business location. In 1889, he led to the altar Miss Sarah C., daughter of William Fenneman (deceased), who was also a brick manufacturer of this city. Mr. Landmeier is a member of the German Reformed Church, is a man of excel- lent principles, thoroughly understands his business and is deserving the wide patronage which he now has.
HENRY RAUH. The business in which Henry Ranh is engaged is one of the utmost importance and he is enabled to point back over an unsullied record. He was born in Ger- many March 21, 1852, a son of Elias and Hannah (Samuels) Rauh, who were also natives of Germany and came to America in 1864, locating at Dayton, Ohio, where the father estah- lished himself in an extensive hide and fertilizing business, which business lie carried on successfully for a number of years. In 1872 they established a branch house at Indianapo- lis, and although the founder of the business-Elias Rauh-died in 1887, the house is still in existence and is carried on under the firm name of E. Raub & Sons. Mr. Rauh became one of the prominent business men of Dayton for many years and conducted a most success- ful business. He was public spirited, enterprising and honest, a man of considerable force of character and one who won many friends by his straightforward walk through life. His wife's death occurred two years prior to his own. In the public schools of Dayton Henry Rauh was educated and he may be said to have been brought up in the establishment of which his father was the proprietor, so that upon reaching his twentieth year he was emi- nently fitted to become his father's associate in business. In 1874 he came to Indianapolis and became associated in a business way with his younger brother, Samuel E., in conducting a hide and fertilizing business, which they have condneted ever since, disposing of their commodity at wholesale and doing a business of from $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 annnally. This enterprise has been most prosperous and has increased to enormous proportions, which desirable state of affairs has been brought about through the enterprise, push, determina- tion and honesty of the brothers, whose thoroughly methodical business arrangements, wide
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.