USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III > Part 9
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George H. Klaene was a lad of but nine years at the time of the family immigration to America and he was afforded the advantages of St. Joseph's parochial schools in Covington. When seventeen years of age he learned the moulder's trade in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and he followed the same with marked success for a number of years in Cincinnati and Cov- ington. In 1890 he became one of the organiz- ers of the Star Foundry Company, which was incorporated, on the 17th of April of that year, with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, four thousand of which was paid in. The offi- cial corps of this company consisted of the fol- lowing: George H. Klaene, president ; George Ling, vice-president ; Gerhard Haar, treasurer. Anton Graving and Joseph Klaene, together with the above officers, constituted the original board of directors. On the 19th of April, 1906, the company was reorganized and rein- corporated under the laws of the state, with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars. The present officers are : George H. Klaene, presi- dent ; A. B. Graving, vice-president ; and Aug- ust Odberding, treasurer. They also consti- tute the present board of directors. The busi- ness was begun on a small scale as a jobbing foundry and later the manufacturing of stoves and ranges was introduced. The scope of the business has been gradually increased and the concern is now one of the most successful of its kind in the state. It employs a force of forty men and the trade covers the states of In- diana, Ohio and Kentucky. The Star Foundry Company is widely known for its fair and hon- orable business methods, and one of the best assets of the company is the eminently reliable character of its executive officers.
In politics George H. Klaene is a staunch advocate of the cause of the Democratic party, and he has contributed in generous measure to the conservation of the civic and material welfare of the city which has so long repre- sented his home. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church, being members of the parish of St. Joseph's church.
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Mr. Klaene is affiliated with the Catholic Be- nevolent Society and is now serving his second term as treasurer in the same.
In 1884 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Klaene to Miss Margaret Welling, who was born in Newport, Campbell county, Kentucky, and who is a daughter of Henry Welling, a representative citizen and business man of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Klaene became the par- ents of eight children, seven of whom are now living. Kathleen is deceased, and Mary, Clara, Frank, Anna, Gertrude, Margaret and Agnes all remain at the parental home.
ERNEST RICHARD JONES .- A man well- known and esteemed in this part of the state is Ernest Richard Jones, county superintend- ent of schools for Franklin county, an office to whose duties he has for the five years past brought a great deal of efficiency and discrim- ination. Mr. Jones shares the fortune of so much of America's representative citizenship of having been born on the farm, his birth having occurred in Fayette county, May 30, 1861, and his parents being John Hawkin and Agnes Elizabeth (Mitchell) Jones, both of them likewise Fayette county natives. The father answered to the dual calling of a car- penter and farmer, and was skilled in the trade which took him over a good part of that sec- tion of the country. The paternal grand- father was a native of the neighboring state of Virginia.
Ernest Richard Jones was reared upon the farm, moved to Franklin county in 1875, and received his education in the public schools, this being effectively supplemented by a nor- mal course which prepared him for those pedagogic duties for which he was naturally in- clined. For a while, however, he engaged in farming, and met with a good deal of success in this line, but at the age of twenty-eight he took his place at a teacher in the public schools of Franklin county. His career as a teacher and instructor of the young was of eighteen years duration, and fifteen years were spent in Switzer, Kentucky. In 1905 he was elected county superintendent of schools, and in 1909 was re-elected, now serving upon his second term of four years. He has also given excellent service as treasurer of the Educational Im- provement Commission of Kentucky,which was organized in 1906 and has done its share toward the elevation of general educational standards. He is connected in a prominent capacity with the Kentucky Educational Association, being its present vice-president, and since its organi- zation he has been one of the directors. Spe- cial distinction must attach to him as one of the prime movers of the cause, and as chair- man of the legislative committee of the Ken-
tucky Educational Improvement Association, which drafted the bill known as the County School District bill, which passed into a law in 1908 by the action of the general assembly. The law gives Kentucky an educational sys- tem that ranks favorably with any of her sister states. Mr. Jones gives support, loyal and staunch, to the politics and principles of the Democratic party, and takes a sincere interest in all those matters which pertain to the gen- eral welfare. He is a member of the Baptist church and is moderator of the Franklin Bap- tist Association. His pleasant fraternal asso- ciations extend to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and to the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Jones was married, February 8, 1881, to Miss Mattie Switzer, of Franklin county. They are the parents of the following five children : William B., Fannie, Grover and Thomas and Betty, twins.
JOHN WALTER JEFFERS .- Although of the younger generation of Frankfort, John Walter Jeffers is a man who has already made his mark and has been honored with several high offices, both in a civic and fraternal relation, and to enumerate he is master commissioner, former chief deputy sheriff and past chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias, an or- ganization in which he is widely known. The ancestry of Mr. Jeffers is in many ways of peculiar interest and well reDays a passing survey. His grandfather, Elias Jeffers, was born in Scott county, Kentucky, February 11, 1820, and died in Frankfort, January 31, 1870. The parents of the foregoing were John and Polly (Tapp) Jeffers, both of them native Virginians, the father having been born in Culpeper county, that state. John Jeffers early identified himself with the Blue grass state and settled near Lexington, afterward removing to that city with his family and making his residence there for many years. Both the Jeffers and the Tapp family are of English descent. Elias Jeffers married Ma- tilda Stubbs in 1841. The wife was a daughter of William and Betsy (Conway) Stubbs, Marylanders, who came to Kentucky by wagon in the year 1817, when Matilda was a babe eleven months old, her birth having occurred September 27, 1816. Her death occurred in Frankfort, March 5, 1895. To the grand- parents of John Walter Jeffers were born four daughters and six sons, three of whom died in childhood. The others were James Wesley, (deceased), Benoni B., Mary Ellis (known as Alice), California, Albert Guino, Bettie Al- line and Cordelia (or Cordeallah). Six chil- dren are thus living at the present day. Elias Jeffers and his wife were God-fearing people, the father being a member of the Christian
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and the mother of the Baptist church. Elias Jeffers made the livelihood for himself and his family as a trader and farmer, and for the last six years of his life was assistant keeper of the Kentucky state penitentiary at Frank- fort. He was a man who weighed over three hundred pounds and on account of his genial and generous personality was very popular in the community. His political convictions were Democratic.
. Albert Guino Jeffers, father of the subject of the sketch, was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, at Versailles, on December 30, 1853. He passed his childhood in his native place and then moved to Anderson county. After leaving school he moved to Franklin county, became assistant keeper at the state peniten- tiary under his father, and subsequently took up the vocation of farming and stock raising, in which he has proved very successful, having kept in touch with the latest scientific develop- ments. It was in 1902 that he entered upon his duties as sheriff of Franklin county, having been elected upon the Democratic ticket, and he served for a term of four years. He was in office during the prosecution of James How- ard, one of the alleged assassins of Governor Goebel.
His service in this capacity had been pre- ceded by eight years as deputy sheriff.
Albert Guino Jeffers was married in 1878 to Miss Olive Ann Cain, born in Meade county, Kentucky, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Coleman) Cain, who were likewise natives of Meade county. John Cain was a miller, and during the war he was in business at Grahamp- ton. To this union was born two sons, John Walter and Howard Benoni.
John Walter Jeffers, whose name heads this account, was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, August 2, 1880. He attended the Frankfort schools and was graduated from their higher department. Subsequent to this he studied stenography, bookkeeping and commercial law in a private school at Frankfort. When his father was elected sheriff in 1902 he became chief deputy, and he afterward successfully engaged in farming. In 1907 he was appointed master commissioner, which office he still holds. Like his forbears he is a stalwart sup- porter of the policies and principles of the Democratic party, and he is taking an influen- tial position in its ranks. He is an enthusi- astic Knight of Pythias and is past chancellor commander of the order. He was appointed to the receivership for the General Supply & Construction Company, which failed after se- curing the contract for the new state capitol building. These facts can not but be taken in
evidence of the confidence he inspires in his fellow citizens.
JOHN RINEHART WRIGHT, M. D .- Each call- ing or business has its place in the scheme of human existence, constituting a part of the plan whereby life's methods are pursued and man reaches his ultimate destiny. There is no class to whom greater gratitude is due than to those noble minded men whose life work has been the alleviation of the burden of suffering that rests upon the world, thus lengthening the span of human existence.
John Rinehart Wright, physician of Louis- ville, has gained distinctive precedence in the treatment of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and is recognized as an authority on the dis- eases of those organs. Dr. Wright is a native of Illinois, born in Effingham, November 18, 1869. He is a son of the late William C. and - (Rinehart) Wright, the father a native of Maryland and the mother, born in Pennsylvania, both being early settlers of Illi- nois. The father was on his way with his father to the California gold fields in '49, and. they went on their way as far as across the Rockies when they changed their plans and returned to Illinois and located there, where the father engaged in merchandising at Effing- ham. He died in 1891 and the mother in 1871.
Dr. Wright was reared in Effingham and secured his preliminary education at the public schools, graduating from the High School, following this with a course of study at Austen College at Effingham. Having decided upon medicine as his choice of a profession for his life work, he then attended the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1891. In order to further perfect himself in his pro- fessional education, he took post graduate work in Chicago, and commenced his career as a practitioner in Colorado. In 1904 he lo- cated in Louisville, since which time he has been in continuous practice, making a specialty of the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Throughout the intervening years he has been a close and discriminating student of his profession, keeping in constant touch with the advanced ideas and methods of practice as set forth and followed by the lead- ing members of the profession of the world.
He has served in a variety of positions in addition to the calls of his regular practice. He is on the medical staff of the Masonic Home for the Widows and Orphans, and on the staff of St. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital. For a time he was associate professor of the eye, ear, nose and throat at the Louisville Medical College and also at the University of Louisville. He is a member of the Jefferson
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Colicis. L. Gates
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County Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical Society, the American Medical Asso- ciation and also of the West End Medical So- ciety of Louisville and the Commercial Club.
Dr. Wright married Miss Emma Poplin, a native of Missouri, born in Poplar Bluff, which town was named for her grandfather, Green L. Poplin, a noted physician of Kentucky who moved into Missouri. Her father was John Poplin, deceased. Dr. Wright is recognized as a man of broad mind and scholarly attain- ments, who has carried his investigations far and wide into the realms of knowledge, while his ready adaptability enables him to apply with accuracy his knowledge to the needs of those who come under his professional care.
CHARLES D. GATES .- To say of him whose name heads this sketch that he has risen un- aided from comparative obscurity to rank among the foremost manufacturers of the state is a statement that seems trite to those familiar with his life, yet it is but just to say in a history that will descend to future genera- tions that his business record has been one that any man might be proud to possess. Be- ginning at the bottom round of the ladder he has advanced steadily step by step until he is now occupying a position of prominence reached by few. Through his entire business career he has been looked upon as a model of integrity and honor, never making an engage- ment that he has not fulfilled, and standing to- day an example of what determination and force, combined with the highest degree of business probity, can accomplish for a man of natural ability and strength of character.
Charles D. Gates was born in Hadlyme, Connecticut, August 21, 1855. His father, Francis E. Gates, now (1910) eighty-four years of age, is a direct descendant of the famous Gates family of Revolutionary times. His mother, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Maria Day, and is now deceased, was a member of the illustrious Hugerford fam- ily whose genealogy is recorded in the Knights of England. Thus coming of New England stock, Mr. Gates is from an ancestral line of which any one might justly be proud. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all prosperous farmers residing in the Connecticut valley.
In his boyhood days Charles D. Gates at- tended the district schools, and at the age of fifteen years he was sent to the Hartford graded schools, which he attended for a while and from which he went to a preparatory school at East Hampton, Massachusetts, and later attended the Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Massachusetts. He then became a "yankee school-teacher," in charge of the
graded schools at Moodus, Connecticut, as principal. Finding the schoolroom too con- fining and that the work of teaching was over- taxing his strength, Mr. Gates went to sea as a hand before the mast for one season. Re- turning home he was for one year more en- gaged in the outdoor work of a farmer.
His first venture in the commercial world and the one which decided his career was made in 1877, when he entered the service of the Turner, Day & Woolworth Handle Com- pany, Incorporated, of Louisville, Kentucky, as yardmaster. He was then twenty-one years of age and he has continued in the ser- vice of this company ever since, and in the more than thirty-three years that have elapsed he has filled the positions of shipping clerk, foreman, superintendent, secretary, general manager and president, which latter office he now holds.
The Turner, Day & Woolworth Handle Company, Incorporated, is not only one of the greatest industries of Louisville, but also one of the largest of its kind in the United States. The head office is located in Louis- ville and several other branches are main- tained at other places, including both New York city and San Francisco. It maintains in all thirty-two branch factories, the most important of which are located in Nashville, Tennessee ; Huntington, West Virginia ; Memphis, Tennessee; Paragould, Arkansas ; Cairo, Illinois ; Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Decatur, Alabama. From well selected hick- ory timber are manufactured handles used by woodmen, farmers, mechanics, miners, rail- road contractors and the army and navy. The company, in addition to supplying a large do- mestic trade, does an enormous export busi- ness, supplying probably three-fourths of all the handles that are shipped to England, Ger- many, Australia and other foreign markets.
To the large interest of this company Mr. Gates has given close and constant attention for years, becoming familiar with every detail of the business and to his efforts have been due, in the main, the gratifying success in bus- iness with which the Turner. Day & Wool- worth Handle Company has met. and to-day it is the largest concern of its kind in the world. Like all forceful men Mr. Gates has been in demand from other or outside enter- prises and corporations, but he has never con- sented to hold any salaried office. He has served as vice-president of the Louisville Park Commission : and as director of the Lincoln Savings Bank and of the Louisville Board of Trade. He is a member of the Louisville Commercial Club, of the Filson Club and of the Louisville Country Club. Mr. Gates has
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taken a lively interest in philanthropic and church work and affairs. He has served as president of the Presbyterian Alliance of Louisville, as an elder in the Presbyterian church and as chairman of the State Execu- tive Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association and as president of the Presby- terian Orphan's Home. Mr. Gates is a thor- ough believer in association work, having been an active member of the Handle Manufactur- ers' Association of America, and having served as president of the Hickory Handle Manufacturers' Association for a number of years.
In commercial affairs he is possessed of keen penetration, the power of making a quick decision and firmness in maintaining his posi- tion once it is taken-essential attributes in a man who would dictate the policy of a great corporation. He maintains an attitude of open fearlessness and absolute frankness in business relations, so much that he cannot forgive or condone the lack of these traits in a competitor. Perhaps the recent words of an intimate associate of Charles D. Gates best sum up his dominant characteristics: "When he goes after anything he usually gets it, and when he gets anything good he is al- ways willing to share it."
In politics Mr. Gates is a stanch Repub- lican, but he has never sought political honors.
In 1884 Mr. Gates was united in marriage with Miss Lallie S. Davison, daughter of Ed- mond L. Davison. Mrs. Gates comes of an old, prominent and well connected Kentucky family. They have a delightful home, pleas- ant and congenial, where their friends meet with the most generous hospitality.
JOHN C. STROTHER .- There is no part of a biographical history of more general interest than the record of the bar. It is well known that the peace, prosperity and well being of every community depend upon the wise in- terpretation of the laws, as well as upon their judicious framing, and the records of those who are connected with this administration are of importance to present the future genera- tions, John C. Strother is one who has been honored and is an honor to the legal fraternity of Kentucky. He stands to-day prominent among the leading members of the bar of the state, a position to which he has attained through marked ability.
Mr. J. C. Strother is a native son of Ken- tucky, born in Trimble county on February 25, 1846. His genealogy is so well defined in direct descent of his ancestry of such un- assailable quality that it is only due to give a short sketch of it. Mr. Strother is descended from four pioneer families of the common-
wealth : The Strothers, the Owsleys, the Mad- doxes and the Duncans. The Strother family is an ancient one and is supposed to have been of Scandinavian origin, and the name now ex- ists in Sweden and Denmark. It is supposed to have crossed over into Northumberland, England, in the tenth century and has been conspicuous in the latter county for centuries, many members of different generations having held high official positions and belonged to the nobility. The original Strother settler in Ken- tucky was the Rev. George Strother, grand- father of our subject, who was born in Cul- peper county, Virginia, on February 14. 1776, and there in 1796 married Mary Duncan. Im- mediately following their marriage they came to Kentucky. He was the son of John F. Strother and his wife Ann Strother (cousins). John F. was the son of Jeremiah, who married Catherine Kennerly, of Culpeper county, Vir- ginia, and removed thence to South Carolina about the time of the Revolutionary war. Jeremiah was the son of James, who married Margaret French, of Culpeper county, Vir -. ginia, and he was the son of Jeremiah, who was a freeholder of Westmoreland county, Virginia, as early as 1703. He (Jeremiah) was the son of William, who was born in Vir- ginia in about 1665, was a planter, and lived in the original country seat of his father William, who was the original emigrant from Northum- berland, England, and settled in King George county, Virginia. His name first appeared in the records of Virginia on July 12, 1673, when he came into Rappahanock Court House and designated the mark of his cattle.
Rev. George Strother was a pioneer Meth- odist minister in Bourbon county, Kentucky, where he first settled. In 1801 he removed to Gallatin county, now Trimble county, where he and his wife lived the remainder of their lives. The father of our subject was the Rev. French Strother, son of Rev. George, and was born in Trimble county, Kentucky, in April, 1811, and died there in October, 1870. He married Lucinda Owsley Maddox, who was born in Trimble county, Kentucky, in April, 1823, and died in that county in March, 1883.
John C. Strother was born in Trimble county, Kentucky, on February 25, 1846. He attended the common schools and read law under the preceptorship of the late Hon. W. S. Pryor, chief justice of Kentucky, and the late Joseph Barbour, of the Kentucky superior court, was graduated from the law department of the University of Louisville with the class of 1869, and that same year began the practice at Owenton, Kentucky. During his first year at Owenton he was elected school commis- sioner of Owen county, a position he held for
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seven years. In 1873 he was one of five candi- dates for the nomination of commonwealth at- torney of the Owenton district, and after a heated contest was second in the convention and but for a dispute which arose over the nomination of judge would have been first, as he went into the convention with votes enough pledged to give him success. He took high rank at the bar of Owen and adjoining coun- ties and maintained it as long as he practiced there. In 1885 he removed to Louisville to become chief deputy under the late Attila Cox, collector of internal revenue. In July, 1889, Mr. Strother returned to the practice of law, this time in Louisville, and in 1890 formed a partnership with Thomas R. Gordon under the firm name of Strother & Gordon, which con- tinued for over ten years. In 1901 Mr. Strother and his son Shelby French Strother formed the firm of Strother & Strother, of which later on Rowan Hardin became a mem- ber under the firm name of Strother, Hardin & Strother. In 1903 Shelby Strother with- drew from the firm and entered Harvard Uni- versity, and the firm continued as Strother & Hardin until November, 1904, when it was dissolved, since which time our subject has practiced alone.
Mr. Strother was for a number of years chief attorney for the Louisville Title Com- pany. He was one of the organizers of and attorney for the Louisville Savings, Loan & Building Association, which loaned several million dollars and was very successful. The firm of Strother & Gordon was attorneys for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of Ken- tucky. Mr. Strother has been prominent and successful at the Louisville bar and has ap- peared in many celebrated cases. He was at- torney for J. G. Mattingly & Company, against J. G. Mattingly, which suit involved valuable trade marks; the case was carried to the Ken- tucky court of appeals, which enjoined Mr. Mattingly from the use of his own name, one of two instances of the kind ever occurring in the United States. Another celebrated case was that of John Loree against William Abner and others, which suit was brought to recover patent for over thirty thousand acres of Ken- tucky land, and in which noted case Mr. Strother was council for the defendants. The case was tried before Judge W. H. Taft, now president of the United States, was won by Mr. Strother, then carried to the United States circuit court of appeals, where the lower court was reversed and the case sent back for re- trial. The story of this case reads like a ro- mance and is very interesting. In the second trial before Judge Taft Mr. Strother won a de-
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