USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume III > Part 17
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Of a social and genial temperament, he has connected himself with many of the most prominent secret societies and fraternal organ- izations of the city. He is Past Master of Columbia Lodge, No. 91, and Columbia Mark Lodge, No. 91, Free and Accepted Masons ; is a member of Holy Royal Arch Chapter, No. 52; Philadelphia Com- mandery, No. 2, Knights Templar ; Spring Garden Lodge, No. 158, Ancient Order of United Workmen ; Mohawk Tribe, No. 14, Improved Order of Red Men ; Olympian Senate, No. 15, Order of Sparta ; the
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ALBERT HENRY LADNER.
Young Mænnerchor ; Canstatter Volksfest Verein ; Philadelphia Rifle Club ; Bayerischer Volksfest Verein; Veteran Firemen's Association and United States Hose Company, No. 14. He is also a member of the Philadelphia Turngemeinde; the Masonic Veterans; and is Vice- President of the Commercial Mutual Accident Company, Philadelphia Consistory. Magistrate Ladner is a member of the German Lutheran Church, on Franklin Street below Vine. He is Magistrate of Court No. 11, and Vice-President of the Board of Magistrates of Philadelphia, of which Horatio B. Hackett is President.
In 1866 he was married to Henrietta Sternbach, of Philadelphia, who died in 1871. In 1882 he was married to Emma Konzalmann, of Philadelphia. They have three children, all of whom are living. Albert H., Jr., the eldest, has just been admitted to the Philadelphia High School. The second child, who was born on the day of Presi- dent Cleveland's election, was christened Grover Cleveland. The youngest son has been named Harry Baltz. Mr. Ladner has, from his earliest manhood, taken an active interest in politics, and has been and is still one of the leaders of the Democratic party in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.
NICHOLAS H. LARZELERE.
N ORRISTOWN, the county seat of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, has few citizens who have done more to bring about the prosperity that has of late years come to that thriving town than Nicholas Henry Larzelere, the subject of this biography. For twenty years he has been steadily advancing in the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and winning his way with remarkable rapidity, until to-day he occupies a foremost place, not only at the Bar of the county, but as an active Director in a number of the most prosperous corporations of Mont- gomery County. As a lawyer he has been very successful, and few members of his county's Bar have been identified with more cases that have excited public interest.
NICHOLAS HENRY LARZELERE, of Norristown, was born in War- minster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on the 7th day of March, 1851. His father was Benjamin Larzelere, whose genealogy runs back through an old American family to a Huguenot French origin. Mary Maxwell was his mother's maiden name and she traces her ancestry to English forefathers. The early days of the subject of this sketch were spent upon his father's farm, where he remained until he was eighteen years of age, attending the common schools in the neighborhood. After completing the limited course thus afforded him he prepared himself for college at Doylestown Seminary, also teaching while attending this institution. Such rapid progress did he make in his studies that on the 21st day of September, 1871, he matriculated at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, where he took a thorough course and was graduated in 1875. Having thus completed his scientific and classical training, he decided to make the profession of law his life work, and, accordingly, with this object in view, he entered
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NICHOLAS H. LARZELERE.
the law office of George Ross, an eminent attorney of Doylestown, under whose guidance his first year as a student was passed. Later he entered the office of B. Markley Boyer. Completing his studies under this distinguished preceptor, he was admitted to the Montgomery County Bar on the 28th day of September, 1877. During the score of years that have followed, Mr. Larzelere has won eminent success as an attorney, devoting himself strictly to his legal business and to the affairs of the corporations with which he is connected. Backed by integrity, ability and energy he has accumulated a large and lucrative practice and is generally to be found on one side or the other of every important case that comes before the Montgomery County Court, as well as such cases as are appealed from that tribunal to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth.
Educational matters have always had a deep interest for Mr. Lar- zelere, as is indicated in his connection for nearly a decade with the State Normal School, located at West Chester, Pennsylvania. In this insti- tution he has for nine years been one of the most active and influential Trustees. Banking, manufacturing and transportation interests also have occupied a considerable share of his attention, and the Norris- town Title, Trust and Safe Deposit Company has few men in its Direc- torate who have contributed more to its success than the subject of this biography. Mr. Larzelere is also a Director in the American Steel Casting Company and the Schuylkill Valley Traction Company, two business organizations which have done much in aiding the development of Montgomery County. Besides these interests he is solicitor for many of the largest and most important corporations whose business affairs center in Montgomery County.
Mr. Larzelere has never held public office, and does not take a prominent part in partisan politics, although in important campaigns he occasionally goes upon the stump, where his keen interest and elo- quence have been potent factors in securing the success of the politi- cal party with which he has allied himself.
On the 20th day of September, 1880, Nicholas H. Larzelere was married to Ida Frances Loch, who is the daughter of John W. Loch, one of the most active and influential citizens of Montgomery County and President of the Norristown Title, Trust and Safe Deposit Com-
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pany. This union has been blessed with two sons, John Loch Lar- zelere, who is now a student in the Lawrenceville School, in which institution he is preparing himself for admission to Princeton College, and Charles Townley Larzelere, who will follow the same course.
John J. Lewaham
JOHN T. LENAHAN.
L UZERNE County, Pennsylvania, furnishes one of the most interesting stories of successful development to be found in the history of the entire Commonwealth. The men of brain and brawn who constitute Luzerne County's citizenship are known far and near as admir- able examples of their type, and among them John Thomas Lenahan, the subject of this biography, is recognized as a leader. Mr. Lenahan's father established himself in the county many years ago. He fought for his country during the Civil War and was one of the best citizens of Wilkes-Barre for a number of years. His son, John, is a member of the Bar of Luzerne County and, as a public man and lawyer, has extended and carried out the reputation laid down by his father and mother.
JOHN THOMAS LENAHAN was born at Port Griffith, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1852, when the developments which have since made that section of the State famous for its industrial resources and the individual strength of its professional men were just about beginning. His parents were people who had lived in that part of Pennsylvania a great portion of their lives, and they were known and respected as members of that body of emigrants who had chosen America as the scene of their labors in preference to their own country across the seas, where there were but few opportunities offered either young or old. His father, Patrick Lenahan, was born at Newport, County Mayo, Ireland, on May 17, 1825, and came to this country in 1846, remaining for a time successively at Appalachicola, Florida, New York City and Butterwick Falls, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, before removing to Port Griffith, where the son was afterward born. His wife, Mrs. Lenahan, was a daughter of the late Hugh Durkin, a
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native of Tyrawley, County Mayo, Ireland. For nine years, Patrick Lenahan, the father of the subject of this biography, was a successful merchant and leading citizen in Port Griffith. He had been honored by the people of that thriving community with several local offices, including, at different times, a school-directorship. In 1860 he removed to Wilkes-Barre and again began business as a merchant, continuing there until 1879. He was a patriotic man and, at the outbreak of the Civil War, entered the service as Second Lieutenant of Company D, Eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, continuing with that organization until his term of three months had expired, his company having enlisted under President Lincoln's first call. The son, John, when old enough to appreciate the advantages of an education, was sent for a preliminary training to the College of Villanova, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, conducted by the Fathers of St. Augustine, and he graduated from that institution in 1870, and had conferred on him by his Alma Mater the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1897. He determined to follow the profession of law, and entered the office of Wright & Harrington, where he studied until an opportunity afforded itself, when he went into the offices of Judges Rhone and Lynch, where he pursued his studies faithfully. On October 27, 1873, he became a member of the Luzerne County Bar, and, within a remarkably short space of time, won a rep- utation as one of the brightest members of the legal profession in his section of the State. He established an office at Wilkes-Barre, where he speedily acquired a reputation in both criminal and civil courts.
As has been the case many times with the members of the Bar, Mr. Lenahan attained notability along parallel lines with his legal pro- gress in the political arena. In 1892 he represented his Congressional District in the Democratic National Convention at Chicago, and again, in 1896, he was chosen as one of the delegates-at-large from his native State to the Democratic National Convention at Chicago, having been selected by his fellow-delegates as the representative of Pennsylvania to notify Mr. Bryan of his nomination. Mr. Lenahan has repeatedly been solicited to be a candidate for office, but he has preferred rather to give his entire and undivided attention to the demands of his exten- sive legal practice. The fact that his business has attained such large proportions has been due to his exactness to his clients' interests, and
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has been his excuse for declining political honors. However, while he uniformly refuses to take any part in politics as a candidate, he has been and is very active in other departments of political organizations. His has been a prominent part in the formation and management of committees and conventions, and several times he has been a Delegate to State conventions.
Aside from his participation in the politics of Luzerne County and his identification with the profession of law, Mr. Lenahan is well known for his business abilities. He has the best interests of the city of Wilkes-Barre and his county entirely at heart. He was one of the pro- jectors and original directors of the new bridge at Wilkes-Barre, and has been concerned in other important improvements in Luzerne County. Mr. Lenahan is President of the Columbia Club, a well-known Catholic organization of Wilkes-Barre, also a Director and one of the projectors of the Wyoming Valley Trust Company.
On April 26, 1880, Mr. Lenahan married Mary Donovan, daughter of William Donovan, of Philadelphia. They have had five children, William, Gertrude Eleanor, Edwin, Marasita, and John T. Lenahan, Jr. Mr. Lenahan is highly respected and admired through- out Luzerne County for his sterling qualities, and he continues to take a deep interest in business affairs as well as the advancement of the legal profession, of which he is a thoroughly progressive member.
ARNO LEONHARDT.
T HE art of printing has done its full share in the civilization of the world, and in the dissemination of learning has borne almost the entire burden. The progress made in the art of arts preservative has been as rapid and as steady as in any other compara- tively old branch of knowledge. From the mere shifting of rough types, such as were used by Franklin, to the linotype machine is a wonderful advancement, and from the crude press to the great printing machinery of the present time, is even more astonishing. Not less steady has been the advance in that art kindred to printing-lithogra- phy. Since the invention of printing on stone by Aloys Senefelder, who was the inventor of the principles of lithography, in Munich, something over one hundred years ago, great improvement has been made, until now it is possible to produce, by lithographic processes, printing that is a real work of art. Prominent among those who have kept abreast with the progress of the art, and who have contribu- ted largely to its advancement, is Arno Leonhardt, the subject of this biography. For thirty-five years has Mr. Leonhardt been intimately associated with lithographing, and during that time he has risen from the position of errand-boy to the head of a great industry.
ARNO LEONHARDT was born in the Fifth Ward of Philadelphia, October 21, 1850. His parents were Theodore Leonhardt, born in Bautzen, Saxony, and Emilie Leonhardt, born in Eisleben, Prussia. His parents came to America in the first half of the Nineteenth Century, and made Philadelphia their home. The senior Mr. Leon- hardt was an excellent lithographer and soon established a successful business in that line. The subject of this sketch attended Cousins' Quaker School at Sixth and Spruce streets, later a German school
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arno Looghardt
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ARNO LEONHARDT.
under the mastership of F. S. Pott, and finished his education in Beck's School, at Sixth and Catharine streets. At the age of fifteen years he entered his father's place of business as an errand-boy. He was required to thoroughly understand the business from the beginning to the end. He learned how to prepare and grind the stone for the work and how to do the engraving, mastering, as well, all the finer details of lithographic printing. Thus, in 1874, at the age of twenty- four years, he was a thorough lithographer and was taken into partnership by his father. He continued in the business from that day until the present, and succeeded finally to the management and entire control of the concern upon the death of the elder Leonhardt in 1877. In all the details of the business Mr. Leonhardt is active, and it is to his personal direction that the firm owes much of its firmly established success.
Mr. Leonhardt is very prominent in the German societies of Philadelphia. He was active in the Junger Mænnerchor when quite young and, in 1883, at the age of thirty-three, was elected to the Presidency of that progressive organization. As an evidence of his personal popularity and recognized ability, it may be noted that Mr. Leonhardt still holds the office. He was President of the United Singers in 1892, and was also President of the Eighteenth National Sængerfest, held in Philadelphia in 1897. Mr. Leonhardt is a life member of the German Hospital, a life member of the German Society, a life member of the Fairmount Art Association, and a member of the Philadelphia Turngemeinde, Canstatter Verein and other German organizations. He is also President of the Columbia Real Estate Company of Atlantic City, having valuable property in that city. He is a Director of the Franklin Dispensary and Secretary and Treasurer of the Lithographers' Association of Philadelphia. Mr. Leonhardt is prominent in Masonry and takes much interest in that order. He is a member of Apollo Lodge, No. 386, Free and Accepted Masons ; Keystone Chapter, No. 175; and is a Thirty- second Degree Mason of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite ; also a member of the Veteran Association of Masons.
In 1897 Mr. Leonhardt made an extended tour of Germany. He was so well known in that country, because of his prominence in III .- 15
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connection with German organizations in America, that he was most cordially welcomed and lavishly entertained. He met with great hospitality in all the important cities, including Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Vienna, Munchen, Stuttgart, Frankfort-on-the- Main, Boun, Wiesbaden and Cologne.
SANFORD CLARENCE LEWIS.
N instance of rapid rise in business, with corresponding advancement in material things, is that of Sanford Clarence Lewis, of Franklin, Pennsylvania. From the position of railroad clerk to the head of a number of great corporations is progress indeed, and this success has been achieved entirely by his personal energy and ability. Inti- mately identified with the great producing and distributing companies, banking institutions, chemical companies and mining concerns, in all of which he is active in direction, showing marked diversity of business interests and evidencing an unusual breadth of mind, Colonel Lewis still had time to accept and fill with honor and credit the office of Mayor of Franklin, Pennsylvania, for two years, to respond to numerous social claims, and to give a portion of his time to the State as an officer of the National Guard and as Aide-de-Camp on Gov. Daniel H. Hast- ings' staff. In fact, Colonel Lewis has had a most active career, and one, in every sense of the word, worthy of emulation. In his business interests and his social affairs he has always been in the forefront of the ranks of the progressive, and to-day occupies a position peculiarly his own in the Keystone Commonwealth.
SANFORD CLARENCE LEWIS was born at Cleveland, Ohio, March 13, 1847. His father was Sanford J. Lewis, and his mother was Sarah Otis. He is a direct descendant of John Lewis, who landed in Rhode Island in 1640, and who took an active part in the early settlement and development of that colony. The subject of this sketch received his education in the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio, and, upon leaving school at the age of eighteen, secured the position of clerk in a rail- road office, later becoming interested in mining enterprises. He spent several months in 1876-77 in South and Central America in mining
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expeditions, in which he was more or less successful ; but, desirous of expending his energy upon other soil, he determined to go to Penn- sylvania and enter into some business enterprise to the end of advanc- ing his interests commercially and financially. The growth of the production, refining and distribution of coal, oil and natural gas opened to him a field for his vigorous energies, and for years he has been very active in the management of corporations engaged in those great industries. It did not require many years for Mr. Lewis to indicate his natural abilities in the industrial field, and, through his successful direction of the affairs of the corporations with which he was identi- fied, he came to be recognized as one of the most eminently successful men of that section of Pennsylvania. The Eclipse Refining Com- pany, which is known in the oil trade as one of the most pro- gressive corporations, elected him its President, and in this office he was active in developing an immense business. As President of the Eclipse Refining Company; General Manager of the Atlantic Refining Company (Eclipse Branch); Director of the Austin National Bank, Austin, Texas; Director of the Eclipse Printing Ink Company; the Reisenman Chemical Company, and several other important manufacturing concerns, Colonel Lewis is ranked among the very busiest of active men in this age of advancement. The greater portion of his time is occupied in affairs connected with that great corporation, the Standard Oil Company. Notwith- standing the fact, however, that this immense corporation, with its tentacles of trade reaching into all sections of the country, demands so much of his time and attention, Colonel Lewis still is active in the affairs of his residential city, being known in Franklin as one of its foremost citizens. He is Vice-President of the Franklin Natural Gas Company, which is among the most successful organizations of this kind in the State, and he is also a Director of the First National Bank of that city. In the progress of Franklin Mr. Lewis takes an absorb- ing interest, and in all of its affairs is looked to for active participation and far-seeing counsel. He has been Vestryman of St. John's Church for twelve years. Mr. Lewis occupies the position of President of the Barstow Mining and Milling Company, of Colorado, and is otherwise identified with various business interests throughout the country.
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SANFORD CLARENCE LEWIS.
In 1870 Mr. Lewis married Helen Hayward, of Cleveland, Ohio, the fruit of their union being Anna, now Mrs. Samuel G. Allen, of Warren, Pennsylvania, and Marjorie, who died in 1886. Though so busily occupied with the enterprises mentioned, Colonel Lewis is an active member of several clubs and societies, including the Union League, of New York; New York Club, of New York, and the Union Club, of Cleveland. Mr. Lewis devotes all his spare time to domestic affairs, and, for a man of so many and so varied interests, he still finds many hours for the enjoyment of home life.
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ROBERT P. LINDERMAN.
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ANUFACTURER, banker and coal operator, the sub- M ject of this review, although not yet past the years of early manhood, has won for himself a high place among the men of affairs of the Commonwealth. He has held the position of head of one of the largest independent coal companies in the anthracite field; is at the head of a wealthy national bank, and his is the guiding hand in the affairs of The Bethlehem Iron Company, one of the largest and most important corporations of its kind in the United States.
ROBERT PACKER LINDERMAN was born in Mauch Chunk, Pennsyl- vania, July 26, 1863. He is the oldest living son of the late Dr. Garrett Brodhead Linderman and his wife, Lucy Evelyn, daughter of the late Asa Packer. Mr. Linderman was sixteen years of age and had acquired a substantial educational groundwork when he was entered in the Mount Pleasant Military Academy, at Sing-Sing-on-the-Hudson, New York, where he spent four years, and graduated with the highest honors as valedictorian of his class. In the fall of the year in which he gradu- ated from the Mount Pleasant Academy, after having spent the sum- mer in a tour through Europe, he entered Lehigh University, from which he graduated in June, 1884, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy.
Immediately upon his completion of this course, he evinced a desire to enter the busier field of commercial activity, and, in the fall of 1884, entered the employ of Linderman & Skeer, of which firm his father was the senior member. This firm was, at that time, one of the largest and most important of the individual anthracite coal operators in the State of Pennsylvania. He soon set about assiduously to master the details of the business, and so thoroughly did he succeed that, on
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ROBERT P. LINDERMAN.
the death of the senior Linderman, in September, 1885, the subject of this biography became the head of the firm and successfully conducted its extensive business until the spring of 1896, when, their coal beds being practically exhausted, they retired from the business. Prior to this, however, other and greater responsibilities had been placed upon him. On January 31, 1885, he was elected a Director of the Lehigh Valley National Bank, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In the financial field, too, he proved himself such a ready scholar that, upon the death of his father, who was the founder of the institution and its President from its organization, he was elected to the place of Vice-President of the bank, succeeding Francis Weiss, who was promoted to the Presi- dency. On March 5, 1888, after the death of President Weiss, Mr. Linderman was elected his successor, being, it was thought at that time, the youngest bank president in the United States.
In December, 1885, Mr. Linderman was elected a Director of the Bethlehem Iron Company, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father. He immediately evidenced the deepest interest in its affairs and became so conversant with all the intricacies of the business that he was elected Vice-President of the company in June, 1888, and Presi- dent in May, 1890, so that when but twenty-six years of age he was at the head of one of the largest and most important of the great iron and steel companies in the world. As an instance of the remarkable pro- gress which this great company has made under Mr. Linderman's astute management, it may be stated that when he took control of the affairs of the corporation it had just begun the erection of an open hearth and forging plant, having before that time devoted itself exclu- sively to the manufacture of Bessemer pig-iron, steel rails and billets. To-day its reputation is world-wide for superior armor plate, finished guns, gun carriages and castings of all descriptions, and its develop- ment and success, in a large measure, are unquestionably due to Mr. Linderman's ability and hard work, not less than to the fact that from the first he secured and has been able to retain the confidence and co-operation of his Board of Directors.
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