USA > Ohio > Memoirs of the lower Ohio valley, personal and genealogical : with portraits, Volume I > Part 28
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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
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of the board of trade, of the Commercial club and the Standard club. He is prominent in both business and social circles, and is a worthy Thirty-second degree member of the Masonic Order. In religious affairs he is a Jew, having served for several years as presi- dent of the Temple congregation of Louisville, noted among the Jewish churches for the culture, liberalism and intelligence of its members. For some years he served as president of the Old Folks' home of Cleveland, Ohio, a worthy Jewish charitable institution. In politics he is independent, reserving the right at all times to vote as his better judgment dictates. He is the founder and president of the National hospital for consumptives, built in Denver, Col., at a cost of $250,000.
REV. S. S. WALTZ, D.D., pastor of the. First English Lutheran church, Louisville, Ky., was born in New Philadelphia, O., Oct. 24, 1847. He is the son of Elias and Mary Waltz, both of whom died after having reached the age of threescore and ten. His father was an honest and in- dustrious farmer, who was always active in church and as a citizen. His mother was a pious and devout woman, whose- highest ambition was to train her children to become faithful Christians and good citizens. Doctor Waltz comes of Protes- tant Swiss stock, his ancestors first settling in Maryland and. Pennsylvania and later in Ohio. He received his early education in the public schools of his native town. After teaching school for three years he entered Wittenberg college, graduating in the- full "classical course in 1872. Having consecrated himself to the ministry, he spent one year at the theological seminary at Gettys- burg, Pa., and then completed his theological course at Witten- berg seminary in 1874. During his college course he became one- of the founders and first editor of the "Wittenberger," now the college journal of his alma mater. After his ordination to the ministry he became pastor of the Lutheran church at Dixon, Ill., where for five years he conducted the church work in a very suc- cessful way. He next succeeded to the pastorate of the First Lutheran church of Kansas City, where he also remained five years .. During his pastorate of this church he founded and conducted a.
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mission which has since become a successful and self-sustaining church. He took an active part in all aggressive Christian move- ments in the city and in the development of the Lutheran church in the West. For three successive years he was elected presi- dent of the Synod of Kansas and the adjacent states and was for three years president of the Olive Branch Synod. In the fall of 1883, he resigned his charge in Kansas City to accept a call to the First English Lutheran church of Louisville. This position he still occupies, rejoicing in the abundant evidence of the Divine blessing of his ministry and enjoying the esteem not only of his large congregation but of the general Christian public. During his pastorate of over twenty-one years the English Lutheran churches of the city have increased from two to seven, a considerable part of the nucleus for these several churches coming from the First church. Despite this fact the membership of the mother church has steadily increased. The congregation is now building a new church edifice, which when completed will be one of the finest church build- ings in the city. As further recognition of the high standing of Mr. Waltz in the estimation of those who know him best, Wittenberg col- lege in 1892 conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity. Several times he has been chosen a delegate to the general Synod. He has been almost continuously a member of the board of college directors. As a minister Doctor Waltz believes that the highest service he can render his city and country is by help- ing to permeate society with the spirit and principles of the Gospel. Brought up in the Evangelical Lutheran church, he is a firm believer in, and loyal advocate of, the doctrines of the Christian faith as held by that church. Tireless in work for his own church, he always finds time to give a helping hand to all charitable and religious movements of a general character in the city in which he lives. During his resi- dence in Louisville he has done a great amount of missionary work for the Lutheran church in Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee. In politics he is a Republican. On Sept. 23, 1875, he married Miss Mina L. Hastings, of Springfield, O., the daughter of G. W. Hastings, Esq., for many years proprietor of the Springfield Daily Republic. They have two children. Their son, Fred H., is a successful newspaper man in New Orleans. Their daughter, Helen M., is a kindergarten principal in the public schools of Louisville. A happy home, hard work, loyalty to duty and reliance upon God are the elements in Doctor Waltz's life to which his success may be attributed.
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COL. BISCOE HINDMAN, of Louis- ville, is Kentucky manager for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. After graduating from college he taught mathematics and civil engineering at the Kentucky military institute and afterwards became superintendent of public schools in his native town of Helena, Ark., and later professor of mathematics in the male high school of Louisville. He resigned the last position to enter the service of the Mutual Life at Louisville as superintend- ent of agents in Kentucky. After seven months' service in this capacity he became manager for West Virginia, and a year later manager for Tennessee for the same company. Four years later he returned to Louisville as manager for Kentucky and Tennessee, holding this position for nine years, when his brother, Thos. C. Hindman, took charge of Tennessee and he retained Kentucky. Under his management the business of the company has shown a uniformly rapid growth and has been so conducted as to prove satisfactory in every respect to the pol- icy holders and the company. Colonel Hindman has been a life- long Democrat, believes in strict party allegiance and has always voted a straight ticket. He is a park commissioner for the city of Louisville and is the Democratic executive committeeman for the Fifth congressional district of Kentucky. He is also colonel commanding the First Kentucky infantry, and was instrumental in securing passage of a bill through the Kentucky legislature in 1904 requiring Jefferson county to erect an armory for his regiment, the result being that the fiscal court has contracted for a magnifi- cent armory to be built at once at a cost of about $425,000. Col- onel Hindman is a native of Arkansas, but is a Kentuckian in reality, as he has spent nearly all his life in Kentucky, where he has numerous friends in all parts of the state. In 1884 he married Miss Cannie Rodman, a daughter of Gen. John Rodman, of Frank- fort. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, the immigrant ancestors set- tling in Virginia and Maryland in the latter part of the seventeenth century, since which time the Hindmans have been prominent in the history of the country and especially so in its wars. In the Revolutionary war James Hindman was a captain and afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Maryland regiment, and Edward
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Hindman was a lieutenant in the same regiment. Dr. John Hind- man was a surgeon in the Fourth Maryland, while Wm. Hindman was a delegate from Maryland to the Continental Congress and afterwards represented his state for many years in Congress and in the United States senate. Another ancestor was an officer with Commodore Perry on Lake Erie, while his grandfather, Col. Thos. C. Hindman, was colonel of a Mississippi regiment in the Mexican war. The father of Biscoe Hindman was a young lieutenant in the Mexican war, where he was brevetted for gallantry at the age of seventeen, was afterwards in Congress from Arkansas and a major-general in the Confederate army. This officer was a cav- alier of distinct personality and a model of courage and military excellence. He won fame on every battlefield where he fought and was severely wounded at Shiloh, Chickamauga and Prairie Grove. He won his commission as major-general at the battle of Shiloh, and it bears the endorsement of Gen. Braxton Bragg: "nobly won upon the field." He was killed at the age of thirty- nine and died a hero's death in the presence of his friends. He was an able lawyer and a brilliant orator, and if he had lived still greater honors would have been added to the laurels that cluster around his name. General Hindman married Mary Watkins Bis- coe of Helena, Ark., the beautiful daughter of Col. Henry L. Bis- coe, who was a distinguished Mason and a wealthy planter in Arkansas before the war.
WILLIAM W. HITE, a prominent business man of Louisville, Ky., is a de- scendant of the sixth generation of Hans Jost Heydt (Baron Jost Hite), a native of Aleen, Germany, who came from Strasburg to America in 1710, with two of his own ships. His wife was Anna Maria Dubois, of Huguenot extraction, who died in 1738. Capt. William Cham- bers Hite, a noted steamboat man, the father of the subject and the son of Lewis and Eliza V. Hite, was born near Brunerstown, Ky., July 23, 1825. In early life he came to Louisville and began his business career as a clerk. With his brother, Lewis Hite, he then embarked in the carpet business. On the death of his brother he became the head of the
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firm and conducted the business successfully for several years. Dur- ing this period he became identified with the river interests, his first experience being with Capt. Frank Carter, on the Alice Gray. In 1846 he served as master of the steamer Talma, having been promoted from a clerkship in that boat. He next served as captain of the steamer Peytona. By this service he became thoroughly familiar with all branches of river traffic. In 1856 he became inter- ested with Capt. Z. M. Sherley in the Louisville and Cincinnati Mail Boat line. The same gentlemen established the line of packet boats between Louisville and Henderson and acquired a large in- terest in the Louisville & Jeffersonville Ferry Company. Capt. Hite was actively connected with these interests until his death on Dec. 6, 1882. His services as a promoter of steamboat lines made him known to river men from Pittsburg to New Orleans. But his activities were not confined to this field of operations. He was equally energetic in other affairs. From 1861 to 1873 he was con- nected with the Commercial bank of Kentucky, serving as cashier. His interests continued to broaden until, at the time of his death, he had become a director in thirteen different corporations, chief among them being the Southern Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Kentucky & Louisville Mutual Insurance Company and the Bank of Kentucky, now the National Bank of Kentucky. The captain was a man of positive character, being frank, outspoken and charitable. Owing to his active interest in so many of the most important busi- ness concerns of Louisville, his death was a great public loss. In 1850 he married Miss Mary E. Rose and by her had a family of six children, three sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Wil- liam W. Hite, the subject, was born in Louisville, November 14, 1854, and was educated in the public and private schools of that city. He was, under the guidance of his father, thoroughly trained for a business career. In 1872 he entered the dry goods house of Joseph T. Tompkins & Co., remaining with the firm five years. He next became secretary and treasurer of the Louisville & Evansville Mail Company. In 1878 he became a member of the firm of Gilmore, Hite & Co., which four years later became the firm of W. W. Hite & Co. This firm is widely known as dealers in steamboat, rail- road and mill supplies. His connection with the transportation lines during the later years of his father's life brought him into close touch with the river interests, and in 1883, after the death of his father, he succeeded to the presidency of the Louisville & Evans- ville Mail Company and the Louisville & Jeffersonville Ferry
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Company. A year later he became a director in the Mutual Life Insurance Company of Kentucky. He is now a director in the National Bank of Kentucky, president and director of the Northern Lakes Ice Company and vice-president of the Louisville & Cin- cinnati Packet Company. For twenty-eight years he has been promi- nently identified with the interests of Louisville, having developed the same business traits that made his distinguished father such a power in the business world. He is a typical representative of the active, progressive and public spirited class of men that are doing so much to promote the growth and prosperity of their native city and to make it one of the leading cities of the South. For seven years he served as director of the Louisville Industrial School of Reform, being vice-president for four years. He is a member and director of the board of trade and of the Pendennis and Filson clubs. On Jan. 4, 1888, he married Miss Carrie Pace, daughter of James B. Pace, Esq., of Richmond, Va. Mr. and Mrs. Hite have one son living, named William W., Jr.
WILLIAM M. SHOEMAKER, head of the firm of W. M. Shoemaker & Co., electricians and electrical contractors, Louisville, Ky., was born in York, Pa., in 1866. He is the son of William H. and Eliza (Boyer) Shoemaker and comes of good old German stock, being of the fifth generation of both the Shoemakers and Boyers who came from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania before the Revo- lutionary war. Mr. Shoemaker received his education in the public schools of Harrisburg, Pa. After leaving school he learned the art of organ building in his father's factory at Harris- burg. In 1885 he went to Florida, where he was employed for fourteen months as superintendent of his father's planing mill. Coming to Louisville in 1889, he took up the study of electrical engineering. In this capacity he was for the next eleven years employed in some of the largest concerns of that city, among them being the American Tobacco Company and the New Gay- nor Electric Company. In April, 1900, Mr. Shoemaker embarked in business for himself. His place of business at 232 Third street has a floor space of more than three thousand feet. It is
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fully equipped with all the machinery and appliances necessary to run such a plant successfully. The establishment is prepared to do all kinds of repair work and to manufacture all kinds of electric fans, dynamos, motors and electrical supplies. The stock in trade is complete for thoroughly installing electric plants, both light and power. Among the recent contracts secured by this firm are the following: The equipment of the Norton building, the Avery factory and the Hopkins theater. W. M. Shoemaker & Co. do an extensive trade in and about the city of Louisville, requiring the constant service of a dozen or more men. On May 12, 1888, Mr. Shoemaker married. Miss Ann Elizabeth Gorgas, of Harrisburg, Pa. In politics he is an Inde- pendent. He belongs to Preston Lodge, No. 281, of the Masonic order of Louisville.
JOHN ROHRMAN, Louisville, Ky., popularly known as the "Ice Man," was born in Madison, Ind., May 7, 1862. His paternal grandfather, John Rohrman, born in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, was one of the pioneer settlers of North Madison, Ind., near which place he cleared and improved a large body of land. When he died in 1889 he was the owner of sev- eral of the finest farms in the vicinity of North Madison. The father of the sub- ject of this sketch, also named John, came to this country with his parents when twelve years old. A brewer by trade, he came to Louisville during the Civil war and there worked at his trade. He next en- tered the employ of the Northern Lakes Ice Company, serving them faithfully for a number of years. In 1889 he erected the Seventh Street brewery in Louisville, which he conducted until his death in 1892. John Rohrman, the subject, was reared in Louisville and edu- cated in its public schools. The first work that he did was for the Northern Lakes Ice Company. In 1894 he embarked in business for himself, which business he has since conducted successfully. Mr. Rohrman is the founder of the National Ice and Cold Storage Com- pany of Louisville, a plant erected at the cost of $150,000. He next founded the Merchants' Refrigerator Company of Louisville, cap :- talized at $200,000, for the manufacture of ice and for cold storage purposes. These two plants are mammoth affairs and turn out two
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hundred tons of ice each day. Their terms are so reasonable and their service so thorough that they have a third of the trade of the city. On Nov. 24, 1882, Mr. Rohrman married Sallie, daughter of William and Cynthia (Lancaster) Emerson, of Louisville. He is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, an Elk, an Eagle, a Woodman of the World. and Red Man, having recently passed through all the chairs of the last- mentioned organization. He is also identified with the Mose Green, Delmar and Commercial clubs. In politics he is a Democrat.
JULIUS MUENCH, a prominent and popular restaurateur of Louisville, Ky., is a native of that city, having been born May 10, 1864. He is the son of John Otto and Frederika (Reuff) Muench, both natives of Germany. His father, a baker by trade, settled in Louisville prior to the Civil war, where he founded, built up and conducted successfully for thirty- five years a large baking business. He died in 1894 at the ripe age of seventy- two years. Of his children five are still living: Adolph; Julius; Albert; Emma, wife of K. J. Dietrich, and Ida, widow of Henry Bromfield. The subject after completing his education in the public schools of Louisville, served an apprenticeship at the watchmaker's trade, which vocation he followed for eight years. He then took charge of the business of his father, which for a period of almost half a century has been conducted by the Muench family. The product of this bakery cannot be excelled in Louisville. Among the many excel- lent restaurants of the city, the one conducted by Mr. Muench takes a high rank. It is the policy of this establishment to cater to the city and traveling public day and night the year round. Mr. Muench was married Feb. 27, 1889, to Elizabeth (Bohardt) Seiffert, of Evansville, Ind. The children living are: Raymond A., Irene, Albert and Julius. In politics Mr. Muench is a Republican. The following are some of the orders to which he belongs: Elks, Mystic Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Knights of Khorassan. He is also quite prominent in the Commercial club.
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JOHN H. BREWER, state manager for Kentucky of the Woodmen of the World, was born in Hardin county, Ky., November IIth, forty-two years ago. He is the son of Uriah and Elizabeth (Gohagan) Brewer, both natives of Kentucky, of Dutch and Irish descent. He received his education in the public schools of his home district, learned telegraphy at Cecelian Junction, Ky., studying between school hours and at night, while attending Cecel- ian college during the day, and followed that calling for three years. Next he served for two years as fireman on the Chesapeake, Ohio & South- western railroad, when he was promoted to engineer. After six years' service as engineer he voluntarily resigned and located at Hot Springs, Ark., where he embarked in the hotel business, con- ducting the National hotel for six years. A part of this time he was engaged in the real estate business and was traveling agent for two of the largest bicycle manufactories in the United States, his territory being the Southwestern states. In 1893 he became interested in the organization of lodges of Woodmen of the World and two years later decided to give all of his time to the advance- ment of the interests of that order. For a year and a half he was state manager for Arkansas and later for Northeastern Texas. Resigning this position he returned to Hot Springs to look after the improvement of some property there. In 1899 he attended the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World at Memphis, Tenn., when he decided to move to Louisville, Ky., and take up work for the order as state manager for that state, a work that he has ever since successfully conducted. In 1890 he married Miss Mary Fisher, of Hot Springs, Ark., who died in 1900, leav- ing two daughters. These children are now being educated at Bethlehem academy, St. Johns, Ky. Mr. Brewer is a thirty-second degree Mason and past chief patriarch of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. While in Arkansas he was for four years district grand master of the Odd Fellows. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Louisville Commandery of Knights Templars and the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He repre- sented the National Fraternal Congress of America at the World's
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Fair, St. Louis, during the week September 26 to October 1, 1904. In politics he is a stanch Jeffersonian Democrat.
THEODORE AHRENS, SR., founder of the Ahrens-Ott Manufacturing Com- pany, Louisville, Ky., was born in Ham- burg, Germany, April 28, 1825, and died Jan. 10, 1903. He was the son of Joachim and Dorothy (Greve) Ahrens, the father being for many years in the government service in Hamburg. Theodore was edu- cated in the public schools of his native city. He then served his apprenticeship at the machinist trade, thoroughly master- ing the same. Later he broadened his knowledge and increased his skill as a craftsman and by traveling through Germany, Sweden and Nor- way, working at his trade in the larger cities of those countries. In 1840 he volunteered in the German army, which sought to liberate the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein from the domination of Denmark. This war, which ended the Schleswig-Holstein question, lasted two years, ending in 1850. Mr. Ahrens served throughout this war as a soldier and received a medal for his bravery on the field of battle. In 1850 he first visited the United States, remain- ing two years. In 1853 he came to America the second time, en- gaging in the work of machinist and molder; also that of a sailor on an Atlantic coast vessel. On coming to Louisville in 1858 he se- cured employment as a tool-maker in the iron works of Barbaroux & Snowden. After being connected with the firm for a year he de- cided to go into business for himself by opening a small brass foun- dry and finishing shop. Later he made plumbing a feature of his business. This small plant was the foundation upon which the pres- ent mammoth Ahrens-Ott manufacturing establishment has since been built. Originally the firm of Ahrens & Ott was a co-partner- ship between Mr. Ahrens and Henry Ott, but in 1885 it was made a stock company with Mr. Ahrens as president, a position he held until his death. No better illustration of the industrial develop- ment of Louisville within the past fifty years can be found among its numerous and varied industries than is afforded by the growth of this enterprise. Starting in business with little capital other than mechanical skill, untiring industry and well balanced judgment,
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Mr. Ahrens and those associated with him have built up the largest manufactory of plumbers' brass, iron and enameled goods in the South, if not in the United States. In the little shop, started in 1859, Mr. Ahrens had little assistance and the products of the shop were nearly all the work of his own hands. The successor of this humble institution employs today in its different departments more than one thousand persons and sends its wares to all parts of this country and Canada, thus contributing largely to the material prosperity of Louis- ville. Mr. Ahrens was born with the love of civic and religious lib- erty in his heart and, when he began to inform himself regarding the laws, government and customs of the United States, he reached the conclusion that human slavery had no part in the institutions of a free country. As a natural consequence he became a member of the Republican party, assisted in the organization of that party in the city of Baltimore, where he was then living, and in the national elec- tion of 1856 was one of the seven men in that city that dared to go to the polls and cast their votes for Gen. John C. Fremont. This was a. very unpopular thing for him to do, but it was one of his characteristics through life that he would rather be right than to win favor at the expense of his honest convictions. He was in no sense a politician and never held or sought public office. For many years he was president of the Louisville Turngemeinde and later an hon- orary member of that organization. He was also an honorary mem- ber of the Liederkranz, the most popular and prominent German society of the city. He took an active part in Masonry, being a mem- ber of Zion Lodge. In 1853 he married Anna Maria Nebel, of Ham- burg, Germany. Her death occurred in 1885. The following year he married Mrs. Amelia Baas, widow of Henry Baas, of Louisville. His eldest son, Theodore Ahrens, Jr., grew up in the business with his father, mastering all of its details, and at the death of the latter succeeded to the presidency of the Ahrens-Ott Company, which posi- tion he still holds. Theodore Ahrens is president of the Louisville board of trade and is conspicuous among the leading and progressive business men of the city.
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