250 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY ive office work alone, but if possible to make them honest, influential, public-spirited men and women. Professor Strunk is a member of the Second Presbyterian church; belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member in good standing of the National Federation of Commercial Teachers' association and has just paid his thirtieth year's membership assessment in the Young Men's Christian association, in which he feels a deep interest. He is fond of outdoor sports, and especially outdoor work, and is never happier than when planting trees or shrubbery to embellish his home, on Silver Hills, which he has named "Poplar Slope." Any one who had seen these grounds six years ago, with their luxuriant growth of green briars, blackberry bushes, sassafras and black locust, and see it today, knows that it was the industrious, skillful hand which touched nature that caused the transformation. Today the carefully trimmed hedge, the well kept lawn, the meandering walks, the shaded nooks, the wide verandas, impress the passer-by on a hot summer day that this air of retirement, restfulness and comfort is nearest to the simple life. It is here that Professor Strunk hopes to spend his declining years. CHARLES UMBREIT, beef and pork packer of New Albany, Ind., was born at Darmstadt, Germany, Feb. 1, 1861. When he was five years of age his parents, John Christ and Mary Umbreit, came to the United States and soon after their arrival in this country they located in New Albany, where both died. Ever since that time Charles has been a resident of New Albany. He left school in his teens and learned the butchers' trade, which has been his vocation through life. During the twenty-one years that he has been in the business he has sold many a pound of meat to the people of New Albany, and none of his customers have ever yet made a complaint as to its quality or its short weight. When Mr. Umbreit commenced business for himself he had but fifty dollars for a working capital. Unable to hire a carpenter, he tore down the kitchen to his little home and with his own hands converted it into a butcher shop. From the outset his motto has been the best possible goods for the least margin of profit. In recent years he has branched out into the packing business, and today he has one of the best equipped plants of its size in the country, and runs two large wagons constantly to supply the local demand. The kitchen to his house has been replaced by a more modern one, and his packing house at present bears no resemblance to the humble shop in which he began business. He lives at No. 1513 North State street, where MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 251 he has a comfortable home, and on the premises adjoining his residence is his packing house, fitted up with all the latest improved appliances for dressing and curing meats. The success of Mr. Umbreit is entirely due to his industrious habits, his thorough knowledge of his business, his courteous treatment of his patrons, and, above all, his sterling honesty. Not a pound of bad meat has ever been sold over his counter or delivered to one of his customers with his knowledge, and few men are better known or have a higher standing with the meat trade of New Albany than Charles Umbreit. Mr. Umbreit is a Democrat in political matters, and is a member of the Lutheran church. He was married, Nov. 8, 1888, to Mary Arnold, a daughter of John and Mary (Weller) Arnold, the former of whom is now deceased. To this marriage there were born two sons: William, Aug. 4, 1889, and Herman, July 16, 1892. His first wife died on Nov. 6, 1899, and on the following New Year's day he was married to Miss Lillian Arnold, a sister of his former wife. By the second marriage he has one son, Otto, born Oct. 25, 1903. PETER RAYMOND STOY (deceased), son of Peter and Mary Stoy, was born in the city of New Albany, Ind., Feb. 25, 1825, and died there, July 19, 1892. During his long life of more than threescore and seven years he was a useful member of society and was active in promoting all those institutions that contribute to the health, morals and general prosperity of the people. He served fourteen years as a member of the city council, his first election to that body being in 1830; was city commissioner for two years, and county commissioner for three years; as county commissioner he secured the erection of the county asylum, which is a model institution of its kind ; was a member of the city school board at the time of his death, and was a potent factor in securing the erection of some of the finest school buildings in the city. Outside of his native city he was known far and wide as a friend to religion and education. Joining the Wesley Methodist Episcopal church at the age ofeighteen, he was ever afterward one of its most prominent and active members; for thirty years he was superintendent of the Sunday school; was trustee and treasurer of the church for over forty-five years; served as trustee of the old Asbury university for several years, and after it changed its name to DePauw university he was one of the trustees until his death; frequently served as a lay delegate to the Indiana conference and to the state Sunday school conventions. In business matters he was no less prominent. In 1873 he became one 252 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY of the directors of the Ohio Falls Iron Works, and it was largely due to his tact, ability and industry that this great concern was kept from disaster during the troublous times that followed the panic of that year. For many years he was a stockholder and director in the First National bank, but in later years transferred his interests to the New Albany National, of which he was a director at the time of his death. But the institution with which he was most inseparably connected is the old established hardware house of P. R. Stoy & Sons, which is still in existence, and is one of the leading hardware houses of Southern Indiana. This concern he founded in 1848, and was associated with it until his death. In all his business transactions he was actuated by a high sense of justice and humanity. While vice-president and manager of the iron works, he often kept the mills running when there was little demand for the product, simply to keep his employes from suffering the stings of idleness and poverty. This was characteristic of his whole life, always a consideration for the comfort and happiness of others. Mr. Stoy was married on May 16, 1850, to Ellen J. Beeler, of New Albany, and to this union there were born ten children. Mary died in infancy; Edward was drowned in 1882; Minnie E. passed to her rest in 1902 ; Louis R. is now the head of the hardware firm of P. R. Stoy & Sons; William H. died in 1880; Frank M. died in 1897; Walter E. lives at Pittsburg, Pa.; Raymond was killed in a railroad accident in 1898; Julia E. is now Mrs. R. Brude of Elwood, Ind., and Ellen died in rgoo. LOUIS R. STOY was born in New Albany, March 26, 1857; was educated in the public schools, graduating from the high school in 1872; began life as a clerk in his father's hardware store the same fall, and remained there until 1887 ; was then admitted to partnership, though he had practically managed the business for five years previous, his father being manager of the iron works. Upon the death of his father Louis was retained by the estate to settle up the affairs, and by his superb business training under his father he built up the business of the old house of P. R. Stoy & Sons, until it occupies a position second to none in New Albany commercial circles. Politically Mr. Stoy is a Repub-  MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 253 lican, though he is by no means what can be called an active politician. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is interested in its good works. On June 6, 1882, he was married to Miss Lillie G., daughter of the late William Jones, who in his day was a well known steamboat builder of Yew Albany. Mr. and Mrs. Stoy have no children living. For almost a century some of the Stoy family have resided in New Albany. In 1814 Peter and Mary (Wicks) Stoy, the grandparents of Louis R., cane from Kensington, Pa., and settled in the city "just below the Falls." During the three generations the Stoys have been a part of the warp and woof of the business, social, religious and educational life of Yew Albany, and have always been noted for their public spirit and enterprise. The mother of Louis R. Stoy is still living, esteemed and respected by a large circle of friends. ROBERT W. WAITE, vice-president and treasurer of the Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Company, and also of the United Gas & Electric Company, of New Albany, Ind., was born at Buda, Bureau county, Ill. March 6, 1870, his father being Benjamin F. Waite, a well-known resident of that place. After attending the public schools of his native town Robert took a full course in stenography in the Eclectic shorthand school of Chicago and began his business life as a stenographer in the Buda Foundry & Machine Works, which soon afterward removed to Harvey, a suburb of Chicago. He remained with this concern for three years, then went to Omaha, Neb., as stenographer for the wholesale brokerage firm of John H. Leslie & Co.; a year later went to the Omaha Coal, Coke and Lime Company as bookkeeper; caught the gold fever and went to Cripple Creek, Col., where he remained for a few weeks, and then returned to Chicago. Next he took a position with the Edison EIectric Company as a substitute stenographer; soon obtained a permanent position with the company; one promotion after another followed, until he was made credit man and head of the mercantile branch of the accounting department;' became confidential assistant to the general officers, and one of the most useful men connected with the company. When the president of the company, Samuel Insull, in 254 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY company with the Trobridge & Niver Company, also of Chicago, became interested in the gas and electric interests of New Albany and Jeffersonville, in March, 1902, Mr. Waite was made vice-president and treasurer of the company controlling these properties. Since then the company has absorbed the light, heat and power company, and the gas light and coke company of New Albany; the Jeffersonville Light and Water Company and the electric light, gas, heating and coke company of that city. The traction company operates the New Albany street railway under a lease; has built and equipped the Jeffersonville street railway; also the interurban road connecting the two cities; rebuilt a large portion of the tracks in New Albany; opened "Glenwood Park," on the bank of Silver creek, between the two cities, which is fast becoming a popular resort for the people of all three of the cities about the Falls; rebuilt the power plant at a cost of more than $200,000; introduced the most modern cars in the street railway service; has a leased contract over the Big Four bridge connecting Jeffersonville with Louisville; also a franchise for landing its passengers in the latter city, and as soon as the approaches to the bridge are completed will run its cars to the corner of Third and Market streets, in Louisville. Besides all this, the company has under contemplation the building of interurban lines to Corydon, French Lick, Sellersburg, Columbus and Madison, Ind. Large improvements have also been made in the gas plants controlled by the company, and since the advent of Mr. Waite as vice-president the quantity of gas has been doubled and the quality improved. Much of this progress is due to the untiring energy, the sagacity, tact, and superb qualifications of Mr. Waite. The official roster of the company is Samuel Insull, president; R. W. Waite, vice-president and treasurer; J. 0. English, secretary. Mr. Waite belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, which is the only fraternal organization to claim him as a member. AUGUST BARTH, deceased, founder of the August Barth Leather Company of New Albany, Ind., was born in Germany in the year 1835. In his native land he learned the tanners' trade, and at the age of nineteen years came to the United States. After a few years in New York and Chicago, he came to Louisville, Ky., and a year or two later he, in company with C. Groscurth, located in New Albany and established the business that still bears his name. The partnership continued until 1885, when Mr. Barth became the sole proprietor. The business prospered from the beginning, owing to the excellent quality of goods turned out by the tannery, the grades of leather being hand-stuffed MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 255 oak harness, fair saddle seating, whole hide russet collar leather, and the different grades of light bridle leather. Mr. Barth died on Jan. 31, 1902, and on the rrth of February following the business was incorporated by his four surviving sons, with Ernest F. as president, August, Jr., as vice-president, Hugh A. as secretary and treasurer, and Oscar C. as superintendent. Ernest was born Oct. 30, 1872, Oscar in 1873, Hugh A. in 1875 and August in 1879. Thus it will be seen that the plant is now in the hands of young men full of energy and thoroughly acquainted with every branch of the business. The buildings of the company are six in number, two and three stories high, all built of brick and fireproof. A 120 horse power boiler and a ninety horse power and three smaller engines furnish the power to the latest improved machinery for producing leather, while from forty to fifty skilled workmen are employed, the annual capacity of the tannery being 30,000 hides. Ernest F. Barth, the president of the concern,. completed the course in the New Albany public schools, took a course in bookkeeping in the business college there, and attended the Kentucky Military institute for two years. He is a gentleman of fine educational attainments and possesses a high order of executive ability. On July 18, 1900, he was united in marriage to Miss Florence Lee of Louisville, and they have three interesting children: Mary Lee, born May 30, 1901; Lucy, born Aug. 20, 1902, and Ernest F., born April 26, 1904. EDWARD T. SLIDER, one of the largest dealers in coal, lime, sand and cement, etc., about the Falls of the Ohio, was born in the city of New Albany, where he now resides, March 4, 1866, and is a son of John T. Slider, a well-known resident and retail coal dealer. After attending the public schools until he was fourteen years of age he began his business career as the driver of one of his father's teams. The first money he ever earned was as a driver for the Terstegge & Gohmann Stove Foundry. After two years with this concern he bought two teams of his own, hired drivers, unloaded grain in summer and hauled coal in winter, meanwhile attending business college at night until he graduated. Since then his rise in the business world has been almost phenomenal- 256 - MEMOIRS OP THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY In 1888 he bought the teams and business of John Hamilton; the following year he became the owner of a three-team transfer company operated by Everton & Yeaden between Louisville and New Albany; in 1891 he purchased the business of his father, which was his beginning in the coal trade; soon afterward he bought a piece of ground on West Second street, between Main and the Ohio river, for a retail coal yard; in 1895 he purchased the site, clocks and elevator of Charles H. Fawcett, on East Fourth street and the river; purchased additional .ground in 1896 that gave him railway connection with all the roads centering at New Albany; added lime, cement and sand to his business in 1898, and put on a line of pump boats; also the steam tug Louise; put on a steam coal digger the same year, the second machine of the kind below Cincinnati; in 1900 he purchased the property adjoining his yards, and fronting on the river, from the John Plotz estate; put on an additional "digger" to be used for lightening barges, etc.; built the harbor towboat, the E. T. Slider, and eight small barges for sand, crossties, etc., and began pumping sand on his own account; has the best equipped pumping outfit about the three falls cities, having a capacity of 800 cubic yards per clay; ships both by rail and water to all the surrounding towns; purchased the property of the Republic Iron and Steel Works, better known as the New Albany Forge and Rolling Mills, in March, 1902, and installed a $30,000 unloading plant, with a daily capacity of 25,000 bushels. This property is on East Water street, between Sixth and Eighth streets and adjoined his yards. Its purchase gives him better railway facilities, as it extends from the Pan Handle tracks to the Belt line. He has about 1,300 feet of siding along the former, enough to hold twenty-five cars at one time, and nearly a thousand feet of siding along the Belt line railroad. With his superior unloading facilities the coal can be dumped into these cars after being rescreened, or it can be loaded on wagons for local delivery or dropped in the yard, where he has storage for 1,000,000 bushels of coal and 20,000 tons of sand and gravel. Altogether he has one of the most complete coal, lime, sand and cement outfits on the river, and has the satisfaction of knowing that he has built up this magnificent business by his energy, his strict attention to business, his square dealing and his general superb business qualifications. As he is a young man, with good health, it is more than likely that the future contains for him even greater prosperity than he has enjoyed in the past. Mr. Slider was married in 1888 to Miss Anna Conner and they have six children living. MEMOIRS OP THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 257 CHARLES HEGEWALD, president of the Charles Hegewald Company, founders and machinists, of New Albany, Ind., was born in Saxony, Germany, Sept. 18, 1832. He was reared and educated in his native land, there learned the trade of machinist and worked at it as a journeyman long enough to get money to pay his passage to America. About the time he reached his majority he came to this country, and in 1854. he located at New Albany, which city has ever since been his home. His first employment in New Albany was with the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad Company in the shops. A strike caused him to lose his place there, and he went to work for the Union foundry. In 1856 he went to the American foundry, and was later employed in the works of Lent, South & Shipman, where he remained until the breaking out of the Civil war. He then returned to the American foundry as foreman and stayed with that concern until the year 1873, when he formed a partnership with the late W. C. DePauw, under the firm name of Charles Hegewald & Co. In 1878 N. C. DePauw purchased his father's interest and continued until 1889, when he retired, and the business was incorporated under the name of the Charles Hegewald Company, with the subject of this sketch as president, E. J. Hewitt as secretary, A. F. Hegewald as treasurer, and F. C. Hegewald as assistant secretary. The company does a large business in stationary and steamboat boilers and machinery, glass works machinery, all sorts of brass and iron castings, smokestacks, sheet iron and steel work, and mill supplies. The plant covers half a square of ground at the corner of Lower State and Water streets, and employs from 100 to 150 men, the annual business amounting to over $200,000. The goods turned out by the Charles Hegewald Company have a widespread reputation for being honestly and scientifically constructed, and the name of the company on a piece of machinery is a guarantee of its workmanship. Mr. Hegewald was married in 1855 to Miss Catharine Meyer, and they have four children: Emma is the wife of Edwin Reiley, proprietor of the Boston Shoe Store in New Albany; John F. C. is a graduate of West Point, and now lives in Louisville, Ky., and Arthur F. and Edwin C. are both officers in the Charles Hegewald Company. I-17 258 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY REV. EDWARD M. FALLER, dean of the New Albany district and rector of the Church of the Annunciation of the B. V. M., is one of the oldest and most notable ecclesiastics in the diocese of Indianapolis. He was born at Barr, in the province of Alsace, now a part of the German Empire, Jan. 3, 1824; educated at Strasburg until his sixteenth year; embarked for America, Jan. 19, 1840, and landed at New Orleans on the 11th of April; reached Vincennes on the 1st of May; in the autumn of the same year entered the diocesan seminary there, where he took a course of six years, and was ordained priest by Bishop Hailandiere, July 5, 1846. Since then the life and work of Father Faller have been a part of the warp and woof of the diocese. For nearly threescore years he has followed his holy calling without faltering, though at times the outlook was anything but propitious. His first mission was at Lanesville, Harrison county, Ind., where he began two clays after his ordination and continued until October 7th following; then at St. Augustine's, at Fort Wayne, until 1848, when he organized the Mother of God congregation in that city; left this congregation with fairly good buildings and out of debt, in March, 1857; then came to New Albany and took charge of the Annunciation congregation; remained there ten years and one month, during which he paid $2,200 of the debt he found on his arrival, and built the main part of the present church at a cost of $20,000, every dollar of which he paid; next he went to St. Benedict's, Terre Haute, where in four years he improved the grounds, paid a debt of $8,000, half of which was his personal contribution; from St. Benedict's he went to Cannelton, Ind., taking charge there on March 3, 1871, of St. Michael's congregation; here he found a debt of $9,000; paid $4,000 of it in a few months, and with $10,000 of his own money built a new parsonage and improved the church. He remained at Cannelton until November, 1878, also having charge of St. Paul's, at Tell City, during the last twenty-one months of that time. He then removed to Tell City and there remained until Oct. 12, 1882. In that time he finished a church that had been commenced, and paid the debts hanging over his congregation, in all amounting to $21,000. From Tell City he went to St. Michael's, at Madison, Ind. Here Father Faller found a congregation that was under an apathy he was unable MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OH1O VALLEY - 259 to dispel. After nearly three years there he asked for another mission, and in July, 1885, was sent to St. Ann's, in Jennings county. Here he paid a portion of the $i,ico indebtedness, built a new school house, added to the parsonage, and improved the church, all amounting to about $8,000, of which he paid $7,000. On July 14, 1886, he returned to New Albany as rector of the Church of the Annunciation. His predecessor, Father Klein, had commenced the work of enlarging the church, and Father Faller carried out the original designs, later building a new rectory at a cost of $7,500, and spending $5,000 on paintings, statues, organ, etc. At the Fourth Synod of the diocese of Vincennes, November, 1886, he was appointed dean of the New Albany district, composed of the counties of Floyd, Clark, Harrison, Crawford, Washington and Scott. He was not present at the time, and his appointment came unsought and unexpected. Fourscore years have passed since Dean Faller first saw the light of day, in the litt'e Alsatian town beyond the sea. Nearly three-fourths of that time has been spent in the business of his Master. As he looks back over the long life he awaits the words of approbation, "'dell clone, thou good aid faithful servant." THE DAY LEATHER COMPANY of New Albany, Ind., in the the oldest concern of its hind in the vicinity of the Ohio Falls, and is generally spoken of as the “Pioneer Tannery." It was founded in 1838 by Theodore Day, who was born in Prussia in 1852 and came to the United States in 1837. It was first located at Lanesville, ten miles from New Albany, but in 185I was removed to the city. In 1883 the business was incorporated as the Day Leather Coripany, with Theodore Day as president, and Anthony T. Day, secretary and treasurer. Upon the death of Theodore Day in 1885 the official personnel of the company was changed to Anthony T. Day, president. John I. Day, vice-president, and Charles Day, secretary and treasurer, and has thus remained ever since. The tannery is located at the corner of Fourth and Oak streets, employs about sixty workmen, and has a capacity of 600 heavy hides per week, the product being sold all over the United States. The founder learned the business of leather making in Prussia, Austria and France, and the technical knowledge he acquired has been imparted to his sons, the result being that the leather turned out by this concern has no superior in the markets of the country Anthony T. Day, the president of the company, was born near New Albany, May 15, 1844. He was educated in the public and private schools of that city and for two years in his early manhood he con- 260 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY ducted a leather store in St. Louis, Mo. In 1871 he sold out this store and returned to New Albany, where he has since been connected with the company of which he is now the official head, most of the time as its active manager. He was married on July 18, 1875, to Miss Elizabeth Poole, a native of Iowa, and they have three children. George H. is a physician of Louisville, Ky.; Clarence C. holds a responsible position with the firm of Hanna & Co., in their extensive saw and planing mills and lumber yards of Cincinnati, and Nellie B. is at home with her parents. Charles Day, the secretary and treasurer of the company, was born in the city of New Albany, June 13, 1863. After graduating from the Yew Albany business college he became connected with the business founded by his father, and since 1885 has held his present position. The llay brothers have a high standing in the commercial circles of New Albany, and are regarded as among the representative citizens of the city. Public-spirited, progressive and charitable, they have won a prominent position in the estimation of their fellow-men. GEORGE M. CLARK, president of the Ohio Falls Iron Company, New Albany, Ind., was born in the city of Cincinnati, March 4, 1855. His father, George W. Clark, was formerly a banker of that city, but at the close of the Civil war moved across the river to Covington, Ky., where the son was reared and educated; graduating from the Hughes high school in Cincinnati at the age of eighteen years. He then went into a brass foundry and supply house, the firm of William Kirkup & Son, Cincinnati, and remained with them until 1881, when he withdrew to become a member of the firm of Clark & Hawley, lead pipe and sheet lead works, and dealers in plumbers' and steamfitters' supplies, in Cincinnati. This business is still carried on under the name of Crane & Hawley. In 1891 Mr. Clark sold out his interest and bought a large share in the well known Mitchell-Tranter Company, manufacturers of iron and steel. Of this concern he was president until 1899, when it was merged into the Republic Iron and Steel Company, Mr. Clark continuing with that corporation as a director and district manager. A little later he severed his connection with the company, however, came to New Al- MEMOIRS OF TILE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 261 bany; bought the idle plant of the Ohio Falls Iron Works; organized the company of which he is now president, and Henry Green vice-president; expended $50,000 in a little over a month in putting the plant in good working condition; and in the latter part of 1899 cornmenced business. Within less than two years the volume of business had increased to such an extent as to make necessary the erection of a new rolling mill just west of the old one, and since then both mills have been running to their full capacity, the plant employing about goo men and having an annual capacity of 40,000 tons of bar iron, most of which finds ready sale in the railroad shops and car works of the country, because of its superior quality. Mr. Clark is vice-president of a large mercantile concern in Cincinnati, known as the Cincinnati Iron Store Company, which he was instrumental in organizing in 1901. This company deals in iron and steel and all kinds of structural materials. He is also a director in the First National bank of Covington, Ky. In the business life of Mr. Clark the young man may find an example worthy of the highest emulation. Realizing that we live in a commercial age, he caught in early life the spirit of the time, and has gone steadily forward from one enterprise to another, turning his attention to that which the demands of the day seemed most to justify. By his close observation of the market conditions, he has been able to embark in lines of business that were certain to yield returns; by his industry and well directed efforts he has made those undertakings successful; by his sound judgment and conservative methods he has avoided everything like speculation and confined himself to legitimate schemes; and by his sterling integrity he has made friends in the business world who know that he can always be relied on to carry out his contracts to the very letter. Mr. Clark is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, being a thirty-second degree member of the Scottish Rite and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He was married Dec. 20, 1876, to Miss Ada Tranter of Covington, Ky., and they have three children: Lucy is now the wife of William F. Streich of New York, and the two sons, Clifford E. and James T., are associated with their father in business. WILLIAM A. M'LEAN, vice-president and general manager of the Wood-Mosaic Flooring Company of New Albany, Ind., and Rochester, N. Y., and also vice-president of the Hugh McLean Lumber Company of Buffalo, N. Y., was born near Montreal, Canada, May 31, 1868. He was reared and educated in Canada, and at the age of sixteen years began his business career. At the age of twenty-one he 262 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY went to Buffalo, N. Y., and secured a position in a hardwood lumber concern, remaining there for three years, in which time he learned the details of the business. In 1892 he formed a partnership with his three brothers, Hugh, Angus and Robert D., under the firm name of the Hugh McLean Lumber Company, with headquarters in Buffalo. It carries on an extensive lumber business all over the country, with branch offices at Louisville, Isy.; New Albany, Ind.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Ledford, Ind., and Rochester, N. Y. Angus McLean is president and general manager of the Hugh McLean Lumber Company, Hugh is treasurer, William A. is the vice-president, and Robert D. is the secretary. At the New Albany branch of the company they are operating a large plant known as the Wood-Mosaic Flooring Company, of which C. E. Rider of Rochester is president, William A. McLean vice-president and general manager, Angus McLean secretary and treasurer. Besides the plant at New Albany, the company has factories at Buffalo and Louisville. Mr. McLean came to New Albany in 1900. He is fond of sports, particularly hunting, and every autumn he joins a party of friends for a deer hunt in Canada, where the four brothers have a game reserve of 121 square miles. He is a Knight Templar. HENRY GREEN, vice-president of the Ohio Falls Iron Company, was born Dec. 16, 1846, in Shropshire, England, on a farm which had been in the possession and the residence of some of his family name for two hundred and forty-five ears. upon the death of his father IYenry decided to learn the business of iron making, and at the age of sixteen years he entered a rolling mill, where he served as an apprentice until he was twenty-three. He then left his mother country and drifted into foreign lands. First he went to St. Petersburg, Russia, but not understanding the language he made but a short stay and came to America, landing in New York in June, 1869. Mr. Green went direct to Pittsburg, where he took charge of the roll turning department of the Phillips & Jordan mills; then to the Fulton rail mill of. Cincinnati; next the Swift Iron and Steel Works of Newport, Ky., and in 1873 he assumed the charge of the Mitchell & Tranter rolling mills, in Covington, Ky. For MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 263 some time he continued in charge of all lour of these plants, and in 1876 became one of the organizers of the Anchor Iron and Steel Works of Newport, remaining a stockholder in the concern during the period of its existence. About the same time he became interested in some coal mines near Terre Haute, Ind., but as they were eighteen miles from a railroad the project was abandoned. In 1890 Mr. Green severed his connection with all the mills except the Mitchell-Tranter Company, in which he then became a stockholder, and remained with the company until it was merged into the Republic Iron and Steel Company in 1899, and he still retains his stock in the latter corporation. While with the Mitchell-Tranter Company, Mr. Green formed the acquaintance of George M. Clark, president and general manager of the company, and has ever since been closely associated with him in business. (See sketch of Mr. Clark.) In 1899, in connection with Mr. Clark, he assisted in organizing the Ohio Falls Company and has been vice-president from the incorporation of the company. His company makes a specialty of bar iron, used by railroad shops and car works, and of special iron and steel machinery used in such works. For sonic time they have run night and clay to keep tip with their orders, and finally built a second rolling mill to supply the demand. In 187o Mr. Green took the degrees of Masonry in Colonel Clay Lodge, No. 159, of Covington; was made a Royal Arch Mason in Covington Chapter, No. 35, the same year; received the degree of Knight Templar in Covington Commandery, No. 7, in 1876, and in 1893 became a member of Syrian Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Cincinnati. He still holds his membership in these different Masonic bodies, and is a Knight of Pythias, being one of the charter members of Myrtle Lodge, organized at Covington in 1874. The following year he became an Odd Fellow in Kenton Lodge, No. 24, of Covington, and in 1901 he joined New Albany Lodge, No. 270, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Green has never married. He is a bachelor from choice, though he enjoys the society of refined ladies and has the highest respect for womanhood. Although a resident of New Albany but for a short time, he is frequently spoken of as one who has clone more to put new life into the city than any one else. He is a stockholder in a number of business enterprises and is a thorough-going business man—one of the twentieth century kind. Genial and generous, he is popular with his acquaintance and associates, and his well established reputation for honesty and integrity only adds to this popularity. 264 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY FRANK MANUS, head of the firm of Frank Manus & Son beef and pork packers, New Albany, Ind., was born in that city, Feb. 25, 1856. His father, whose name was also Frank, was a native of Germany, a butcher by trade, and followed that occupation for several years in New Albany. The son received his education in the New Albany public schools and the business college there, and then learned the butcher business before he was twenty-one years of age. In the fall of 1876 he started in the business for himself. Being young, ambitious and desirous to please, he soon came to be one of the most popular butchers in the city, many a woman advising her neighbors to try "the Dutch boy" if she wanted to get good meat. As the years went by his popularity did not wane, as he had learned that it paid to give the best meats to his customers for a reasonable price. In more recent years he has turned his attention more to the wholesale meat trade. He has a well equipped slaughter house on State street, where he slaughters about one hundred hogs a week, besides a number of cattle. Not far from his packing house he has a comfortable residence, one which he has paid for out of the proceeds of his own labor and which is one of the modern homes of the city. Mr. Manus was married on April 29, 1879, to Miss Eva C. Endres of Lanesville, Harrison county, Ind., and they have three children living and three deceased: Frank, Jr., is the junior member of the firm, and the other two living are John L. and Lulu May. Those deceased were Rudolph, Andrew and Lorena. Mr. Mantis is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In his lodges, as well as in the community, he has a high standing, and is regarded as one of the reliable and substantial citizens of New Albany. GEORGE MOSER, senior member of the firm of George Moser & Co., tanners and leather manufacturers, New Albany, Ind., was born in Germany in the year 1850. In 1867, at the age of seventeen years, he came to the United States and shortly after his arrival in this country he located at New Albany, which city has ever since been his home. For over ten years he was employed in the tannery of August. Barth, but in 1878 he decided to embark in the business for himself. MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 265 He accordingly purchased the tannery of Lockwood Brothers, on East Eighth street. This tannery was established in 1848 and has therefore been in existence and active operation for over half a century. Upon taking hold of the concern Mr. Moser set about enlarging and improving it, and during the time that he has been in possession he has added greatly to the efficiency of the plant by the introduction of improved machinery, new buildings, etc., and it is now an up-to-date tannery in every respect. The business was carried on under the name of George Moser until 1891, when his nephew, John M. Moser, was admitted to partnership and the firm of George Moser & Co. came into existence. In 1900 John M. Moser withdrew from the firm, his interest being taken by his brother, Charles E. Moser. George Moser is a tanner of the best kind. What he does not know about making leather, according to present established processes, is hardly worth learning. His firm makes a specialty of high grade collar leather, and while there may be larger tanneries, there are none whose products command a better place in the market. Mr. Moser is married and has a family of four children, three sons and a daughter. Charles E. Moser, the junior partner, was born in New Albany, March 31, 1874; was educated in the publ:c schools and the New Albany business college. He is a fine representative of the younger school of business men and has a high standing in commercial circles. He is married and has two children. FRANK ENSLINGER, of the firm of Schueler & Enslinger, butchers and dealers in meats, Yew Albany, Ind., was born on a farm near that city, June 24, 1863. He is a son of Frank Enslinger, a farmer, born in Germany in 1813, who came to America and settled in Floyd county about 1840. He died there in 1876, his wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, having died in 1869. Frank is the youngest of their ten children, the others being Pauline, now the widow of Philip Scharf; Joseph; Adam; Mary, now Mrs. John Lich; Fannie and Frank, living, and Helena, Catharine, August and Eva, deceased. The last named died as the wife of Joseph Fein. At the age of seventeen years Frank left the farm; came to New Albany and clerked in a grocery to the age of twenty-four; then 266 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY learned the butchers' trade with the late John Sheeler, the father of his present partner, and upon the death of Mr. Shueler in 1893 formed the partnership with his son Joseph, which arrangement still exists. The firm of Shueler & Enslinger commands a good portion of the retail meat trade of New Albany and vicinity, and they have one of the best appointed meat markets to be found anywhere. Mr. Enslinger was married on Jan. 24, 1:888, to Miss Anna Barbara Shueler, the sister of his partner, and to this union there have been born three children: John Frank, Herman Joseph and Karl Edward. Mr. Enslinger is a member of St. Joseph's Society of the St. Mary's Catholic church and of the Improved Order of Red Men. His partner, Joseph Shucler, was born in New Albany, March 16, 1869, his father, John Shueler, having been born in Germany in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, and locating in New Albany about the close of the Civil war. Joseph learned the butchers' trade with his father; at the tender age of sixteen he embarked in the business for himself, and since 1893 he has continued in it, as the partner of Mr. Enslinger. IHe is one of the best known butchers in the city, and one of the most proficient in his line of work. JOSEPH T. KREMENTZ, grocer and butcher, of New Albany, Ind., was born in that city, Aug. 3, 1862. His father, Joseph Krementz, was a native of Germany and a butcher by trade. He died when Joseph was about two years old. The subject of this sketch has lived in New Albany all his life; attended the public schools there learned the butchers' trade while still in his boyhood; and about fifteen years ago embarked in the business for himself. Since then he has made it a point to carry nothing but the best goods to be found, either in meats or groceries, and his large and constantly growing patronage demonstrates the wisdom of his course. In 1900 he bought a fine piece of business property, with residence attached, at No. 615 Vincennes street, where he has one of the best appointed grocery stores and meat markets in the city. Mr. Krementz takes great pride in his business, prompt attention to his customers, quick delivery of goods ordered, and a nice, clean store being some of the points upon which he always excels. He is a Knight Templar MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 267 Mason and a member of the Improved Order of Red Men. On Oct. 14, 1884, Mr. Krementz was united in marriage to bliss Louisa Sohn, a daughter of Anton Sohn, a former resident and prominent brewer of New Albany. Mrs. Krementz was born in New Albany, Jan. 26, 1864. During the twenty years of their married life Mr. and Mrs. Krementz have worked together in the upbuilding of the husband's business and the establishment of their hone. Two daughters have been born to them, Louise C. and Tillie W. The former died at the age of seven years and the latter is now a young lady of seventeen. JAMES T. RUBY, bicycle dealer and proprietor of the Crystal Laundry, New Albanx , Ind., was born in Wayne county, Ind., June 3, 1851, his parents being William T. and Rose Ann (Fender) Ruby, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Wayne county. The mother died in 1887, aged fifty-seven years, and the father on Oct. 20, 1903, aged about seventy-eight. He was the son of John Ruby, who was a son of Joseph Ruby of Pennsylvania, and the father of Joseph came from England. On the maternal side Mr. Ruby's grandfather was Gabriel Fender, a native of North Carolina, and his father was Henry Fender, of German descent. James T. Ruby lived on the farm in Wayne county until he was seventeen years of age, when he went to Richmond and worked at the printers trade for two years, after which he went into the depot restaurant there as a clerk, and two years later went to Cambridge City, Ind., where he held a similar position for six months, after which he had charge for ten years. In 1882 he went to Dayton, O., and became a collector for the Howe Sewing Machine Company, where he remained one year, was then manager for two years, when he accepted a position as traveling salesman for H. A. Lozier & Co., wholesale agents for the New Home sewing machine, of Cleveland, and for thirteen years covered the territory composed of Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky. He was next two years "on the road" for the Springfield (Ohio) Fertilizer Company, and a similar length of time for the Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works, of Fitchburg, Mass., covering the entire Southern states. In 1890 he came to New Albany and opened a bicycle store at No. 139 Market street, and in 1903 he became the proprietor of the Crystal Laundry, at No. 139 Main street. In addition to his business enterprises in New Albany, Mr. Ruby owns a fine farm of 320 acres in Guthrie county, Ia., one of the best agricultural regions of that state. Beginning life without a dollar, he has made his way in the world to his present position by indomitable industry, sheer force of will, and unflinching honesty. Mr. 268 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY Ruby is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has a high standing. He has been married three times, his first and second wives having died. He has two sons by his first wife: Edward E., now a professor of Latin and French in Whitman college, Walla Walla, Wash., and Oliver A., who is associated with his father in business. Oliver A. is married and has two daughters, Irma Helen and Lucile Ethel. Mr. Ruby's present wife, to whom he was married on Oct. 16, 1899, was Lunettie Jackson. EDWARD P. VERNIA, freight agent and general yard master of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville railway, better known as the Monon, at New Albany, Ind., was born in that city, July 23, 1875. His father, the late Lewis Vernia, a wholesale grocer of New Albany, died on Aug. 22, 1902. Edward was reared and educated in the city where he was born, graduating from the Holy Trinity parochial school when he was sixteen years old. About a year after he left school he entered the employment of the Monon Railroad Company as a clerk. In 1899 he was made freight agent at New Albany, and in August, 1903, was made general yard master. Mr. Vernia has been all his active life in the employ of the same company, and when it is remembered that railway corporations are on the lookout for intelligent and trustworthy young men to fill places of responsibility, it speaks well for the character of Mr. Vernia that in the first eleven years of his railway service he worked himself up from a minor clerkship to the position he now occupies. To have done so it was necessary that he should apply himself diligently and willingly to whatever duty might be assigned him, and to always keep his mind upon his business. This he has certainly done, and his promotions have been the just reward of industry and fidelity to his employers' interests. As Mr. Vernia is yet a young man, there is little doubt that still higher positions await him in railroad circles. Mr. Vernia is a member of the Louisville local freight agents' association, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Holy Trinity Catholic church. Politically he is a Democrat, but he is first of all a railroad man, and never neglects his business to participate in politics. He was married on June 15, 1904, to Miss Catharine E. Jackson, an accomplished young lady of Cincinnati. S. J. GARDNER, a well known foundryman of New Albany, Ind., was born in, Paducah. Ky., in the year 1863. He acquired his education in the schools of his native city, and at the age of eighteen started in MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OF OHIO VALLEY - 269 to learn the trade of machinist. After serving an apprenticeship of four years he worked as a journeyman in railroad shops and manufactories in different parts of the country until 1897, when he came to New Albany and bought the plant of the old Webster & Pitt foundry, on First street, between Main street and the Ohio river. This concern had been standing idle for about three years, and Mr. Gardner spent a considerable sum of money in putting it in good condition, adding new machinery, etc. He has now been operating the plant for seven years, under the name of the S. J. Gardner Foundry and Machine Works, and has built up a good business, particularly on the Lithgow furnace, of which he is the builder, and which has become popular in the Ohio valley, the demand for it rapidly increasing as its introduction is extended into new territory. Mr. Gardner has made his way to the front rank as a manufacturer by his careful and conscientious methods in the construction of his work and his close application to his business. In 1892 he was united in marriage to Miss Maggie Carney of Paducah, and they have two children, Ella Laurence and Edward Merwin. TOBIAS HOFFER, a prominent wholesale liquor merchant of New Albany, Ind., is a native of that city, having been born there, May 30, 1862. He is a son of the late Frank Hoffer, a native of Germany, who settled in New Albany some time in the fifties, and who was for many years engaged in the wholesale liquor business there. He died on Feb. 24, 1889. Tobias was educated in the public and parochial schools of his native city and the New Albany Business college. In 1882 he went into his father's store as a clerk and was afterward engaged for some time as a traveling salesman for the house. From 1886 to 1890 he was in partnership with his brother in the wholesale liquor trade, under the firm name of Hoffer Bros. Since 1890 he has been in the same line by himself, having been located the whole time at No. 106 East Market street. Mr. Hoffer is a member of St. Mary's Catholic church and is regarded as one of the stanch business men of New Albany. His trade extends over a large section of the surrounding country, and he has one of the leading establishments of the kind about the Falls of 270 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY the Ohio. He was married on Oct. 12, 1886, to diss Mary Frances 13roecker of - ew Albany, and they have two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Estella Johanna. WILLIAM WIRT ROWLETT (deceased), familiarly known as "Buck" Rowlett, an old time newspaper man of Kentucky, was born in Owen county, of that state, May 24, 1845, and died at La Grange in Oldham county, Feb. 5, 1904. His life was an eventful one. While still in his boyhood his parents removed to Lockport, Ky., where he was educated in the public schools and in 1860 began life for himself as a clerk in a general store. He continued in that capacity until Aug. 7, 1861, when he enlisted in the Union army at Camp Joe Holt and was assigned to duty as corporal of Company C, Second IKentuckv Federal cavalry. He was soon promoted to first corporal, and fromthat position arose to orderly sergeant and later to regimental quartermaster. In 1864, although still in his minority, he was placed in charge of a fund of $30,000 appropriated by the Kentucky legislature to aid the work of the Sanitary Commission. The following year he was recommended by Gen. John Palmer for a captaincy, received a commission from Governor Bramlett, and was given command of Company E, Barracks battalion, at Louisville. In September of that year he became a member of the stock company of the Louisville theater, playing utility parts, subsequently taking the part of a low comedian, and remained with the company until the theater was destroyed by fire. For a time he engaged in school teaching; was then a pilot on the Ohio and Kentucky rivers; in connection with his father, contracted with the state to repair the locks on the Kentucky river, and put in the lock gates; was next in the business of building wooden truss bridges, and in 1871 located in Henry county, where he engaged in the mercantile line. Here he was elected justice of the peace, hold'ng the office for nearly five years. On May 26, 1875, he established the Henry County Tribune. at New Castle, which marked his entrance into the field of journalism. The following January he removed to La Grange, and on February 4th the first number of the Oldham County Era appeared. From that time until his death he continued to conduct the paper as "The only second class news- MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 271 paper in the United States," and since his death the publication of it has been continued by his sons, Bushrod and Felix. In 1885 Mr. Rowlett edited and published a book entitled "A Job Lot," being a collection of quaint sayings, witticisms, etc. In the preface he expressed the hope that the book would be read by many who had not purchased it, "for if there is an enemy of mankind it is the book borrower." Mr. Rowlett was a man of brilliant wit and endowed with a generous supply of what is known as common sense. As a conversationalist he was both entertaining and instructive. His original way of expressing ideas frequently aroused the mirthfulness of his listeners and fixed the fact firmly in their memory. During his life he was noted for his public spirit, always being identified with every movement to promote the interests of La Grange and Oldham county. Politically he was a Democrat of the kind that never apologizes for his political views, though he had many warm personal friends in the opposite party. As a Mason and an Odd Fellow he was always a welcome attendant at the lodge meetings because of his genial and sunny disposition, and his sound judgment when business of importance was to be transacted. At the battle of Perryville he sustained two painful wounds, and a short time before his death the government granted him a pension of thirty dollars a month—a somewhat tardy recognition of his valiant services when the nation was in peril. Mr. Rowlett was married in 1870 to Sallie R., daughter of William L. White of Lockport, and to this union there were born the following children: Bushrod; Ella, now Mrs. Clarence Kerr; Alma, Felix, Mamie, Annie, Charles and Robert. The mother of these children died in 1900. The eldest son, Bushrod, was born in Lockport, June 3, 1871 ; learned the printers trade with his father ; received his education at the Funk seminary at La Grange, from 1893 to 1898 was employed in the government printing office at Washington, and on April 29, 1898, enlisted as a private in Battery A, First District light artillery, for the Spanish-American war. From private he rose to corporal, sergant, sergeant- major, and at the time of his discharge, on Dec. 7, 1888, he was acting commissary. After the war he was at the Garfield Memorial Hospital, in Washington, for three months, ill with typhoid-malaria. On his recovery he returned to his old position in the government printing office, but a few weeks later was discharged to reduce the force. For some time he worked at his trade in different Eastern cities, and in igoo he returned to La Grange and took charge of the Oldham County Era, which be now ably conducts in connection with his brother, as already stated. 272 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY JOHN F. GEBHART, general manager of the New Albany Woolen Mill Company, New Albany, Ind., was born at Maytown, Pa., in December, 1831. With a moderate education in the public schools he started early in life to learn the business of making woolen goods with his father, who was the proprietorof a little woolen mill at Maytown. In 1860 Mr. Gebhart came to New Albany, and on the 1st of January, 1861, in company with John T. Creed, started a little woolen mill on State street, in the building afterward used as the Air Line railway station. In 1861 the New Albany Woolen Mill Company was organized, put tip a mill on Vincennes street, ran it for about two years at a loss of several thousand dollars, when, to secure the services of Mr. Gebhart, the company bought his concern and consolidated the two mills. Since then the success of the company has been steady and certain. In 1871 the first cotton mill was erected, three others having been built since. By his cool demeanor and sound judgment he kept the mills running through the depression that followed the panic of 1873, although the works had been placed in the hands of an assignee. In 1879 the hosiery department was started, which has since become a separate institution. In order to secure sufficient water supply for the manufacture of fancy plaid flannels, Mr. Gebhart secured the construction of tifle city waterworks in 1876, although few people believed that the movement was a successful one. Mr. Gebhart has been actively associated with several other enterprises. He was one of the organizers of the New Albany Eastern railroad, which connects with the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern at Watson; one of the promoters of the Belt railroad; has served as president of the street railway company; built the Highland railroad to the top of Silver Hills, thus making the hill-top a place of residence and resort; was active in organizing the New Albany Ornamental Brick Company, of which he is now president; and every one of these important industries owes much of its vitality to his sound judgment and superb ability. In church matters Mr. Gebhart has been a prominent figure in the city ever since he came there. For over thirty years he directed the choir of the First Presbyterian church; raised the money and supervised the construction of the pipe organ in the building; served as president of the Y. M. C. A. building MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 273 committee, which erected the association's handsome building on the corner of Bank and Main streets, and has ever been identified with worthy projects for the improvement of public health and morals. Mr. Gebhart has been married four times. His first wife, to whom he was united on Sept. 4, 1851, was Susan Latchem. She died in 1854, and in 1857 he was married to Rachel Santee, who died in 1861. In 1865 he was married to Amanda Rodgers, and she passed to her rest in 1871. On Nov. 27, 1873, he was united to Miss Rosalinda Ridgway, a native of Delaware, who is his present wife. By his first marriage he has one daughter living, who is the wife of W. A. Redden of New Albany; by his second wife he has two children living, James, who is superintendent of a woolen mill at Omaha, Neb., and Letitia, now the wife of Edgar S. Crane, a prominent business man of Yazoo City, Miss.; to the third wife was born one son, Frederick, who died in his twenty-third year. By his present wife he has two sons: John Reuben, a traveling salesman for the woolen mill company, and David Ridgway, who is supervisor of music in the New Albany public schools. Both are married and both served in the Spanish-American war as commissioned officers, John R. being in the ordnance department and David adjutant of the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Indiana infantry. Mr. Gebhart is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and is an elder in the Presbyterian church. J. L. BERRY, proprietor and manager of a large sawmill at Louisville, Ky., was born in Jefferson county of that state, about twenty miles from the city of Louisville, Oct. 23, 1853. He is a son of Leander S. and James Anise (Curry) Berry, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Jefferson county, Ky. The father was a carpenter and builder who followed that vocation for many years in Louisville and died there about 1890. His wife survived him for about five years and passed her last days in the same city. She was a daughter of Philip S. and Elizabeth (Bean) Curry, both natives of Jefferson county, where the family were among the pioneers. Of their seven children one son, Thornton B. Curry, is now living. In 1861 Leander S. Berry removed with his family to Champaign county, Ill., and there the subject of this sketch grew to manhood, receiving his education in the common schools. In 1879 he went to Indianapolis, Ind., and after a short stay in that city returned to Louisville, where he has been practically all of the time since identified with the lumber and sawmill interests of the cities about the Falls. In 1886 he established his present mill on the block bounded by Third and Fourth avenues and J and K I-18 274 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY streets. At that time the surrounding lots were nothing but commons. Now the city has extended in that direction until it built up almost solidly all around the mill. Mr. Berry's mill has a capacity of about 20,000 feet of lumber daily, or approximately 4,000,000 feet a year. In the eighteen years that he has been established here it is estimated that he has produced 60,000,000 feet of hardwood lumber alone. Logs are shipped from all parts of Kentucky and neighboring states to supply the demand. Mr. Berry is a member of the Louisville Lumber-men's club, and there are not many points about the lumber trade upon which he is not thoroughly informed. He has been twice married. On Dec. 31, 1879, to Miss Christina Thorn, who died on December 31st, a few years later. A striking coincidence is that she died on the anniversary of her marriage, and almost at the same hour of the day. She left two sons: Morphy Edison, a graduate of the Louisville manual training high school, graduated from the mechanical department of Cornell university in 1904, completing a four years' course in three years and winning a fellowship besides, and in 1905 will enter the department of electrical engineering in Cornell. He was born Nov. r5, 1881, and his brother, George H., was born November 14, 1891, the latter lacking just one day of being ten years younger than his brother. George is now attending the public schools in Louisville. REUBEN T. DURRETT, lawyer, and author, was born in Henry county, Ky., Jan. 22, 1824. He is the son of William and Elizabeth (Rowlings) Durrett, both of old Virginia families who came to Kentucky about the beginning of the nineteenth century. His early education was acquired in a little country school-house built by his father for the benefit of his own and his neighbors' children. To prepare himself for college he entered Henry academy at New Castle. In 1844 he entered Georgetown college, completing the freshman year. In 1846 he entered the sophomore class at Brown university, Providence, R. I., graduating from the same with the degree of A.B. three years later. Completing the law course of the University of Louisville in one year, he received the degree of LL.B. from that institution. Brown university conferred upon him the regular degree of A.M., and Georgetown college, university of Louis- MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 275 ville and Brown university the honorary degree of LL.D. He at once began the practice of law in Louisville and continued it uninterruptedly for thirty years. Retiring on the competency he had by this time acquired, he devoted his time to literary pursuits, for which he had always had a strong desire. Gifted as a writer, orator and poet, he indulged his tastes in each of these lines. He was at one time editor-in-chief of the Louisville Daily Courier and wrote much for other newspapers and magazines of his time. His writings were usually distinguished for original research, and his article upon the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798-99, which appeared in the Southern Bivouac, may be taken as a specimen. Clearing up the historic errors about these celebrated resolutions, he has placed them where they and their authors should remain in history. Not a few of his court and public addresses were deemed worthy of publication and appeared in newspapers or in pamphlet form. In 1884 he and a few of his associates founded in Louisville the Filson club, a historic and literary association, for the purpose of collecting and preserving the history and biography of Kentucky. For each year of its existence it has published a volume of history and biography, the twentieth volume having now been issued. Of these volumes, Mr. Durrett is the author of the first, fifth, seventh, eighth and twelfth, having written the introduction to all of the others. His literary taste led him to the investigation of subjects, and, as he bought the books he needed, he soon accumulated one of the largest private libraries in the county, embracing almost every branch of human knowledge. Mr. Durrett has also been active in the establishing of a number of successful business corporations. His benevolence has led him into connection with charitable institutions, causing him to take a prominent part in some of the most worthy institutions of that kind in the state. He has served as a member of the city council and of the board of park commissioners, neither of which were offices of profit, but were deemed by him positions in the interest of the city. When Beriah Magoffin was a candidate for governor of Kentucky, Mr. Durrett took an active part in his behalf and helped to secure his election. After his election the governor sent for Mr. Durrett and asked him what he could do for him. Mr. Durrett replied that he wanted no reward other than the continuance of his good will. Governor Magoffin then said, "Well, I will commission you as a colonel on my staff," and he did so. This title of colonel will, no doubt, stick to Mr. Durrett the remainder of his life. Although advanced in years, the Colonel is still possessed of health and vigor. He stands six feet two inches high, as straight as an Indian 276 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY chief, and bids fair to outlive many of those around him who are of fewer years. His writings have caused him to be known at home and abroad, entitling him to be made a member of many historic and learned societies. COL. BENNETT H. YOUNG, lawyer, Louisville, Ky., who has been prominently identified with the development of Southern railway enterprises, and who, in many ways, has contributed vastly to the material prosperity of Kentucky, is of Scotch-Irish descent. He is the son of Robert and Josephine (Henderson) Young and was born in Jessamine county, Ky., May 25, 1843. He was fitted for college at Bethel academy and was preparing to enter Centre college, Danville, when the Civil war began. With other students, Colonel Young enlisted in the Eighth Kentucky cavalry, which became a part of Gen. John H. Morgan's command. Ile was captured in Morgan's raid across the Ohio, and for a short time confined in the military prison at Camp Douglas. Escaping from prison, he made his way to Canada, and there collected and conducted to the Confederacy, by way of the West Indies, a number of escaped Confederates. Later on he. returned to Canada bearing a commission as a Confederate officer, and from that vantage ground organized a series of expeditions into the United States, which at the time attracted much attention and occasioned considerable alarm on the part of the Federal authorities. At the close of the war Colonel Young went to Europe to pursue his studies for three years in the Scotch and Irish universities, supplementing his literary education by a thorough law course. In Queen's college, Belfast, he took the first honors of his class in the law department and the third honors in the literary department. In 1868 he returned to Kentucky, well equipped by education, travel and experience to enter upon his professional career. He located in Louisville, where he soon impressed himself upon the bar and public as an accomplished and resourceful lawyer, and built up a lucrative practice. In 1872 he formed a partnership with St. John Boyle, and with him became interested in railway construction. They operated together in the construction of the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis railway, now known as the St. Louis Air Line, and now a part of the Southern railroad system. For this important railway connection Louisville is indebted to this firm. Later Colonel Young was called upon to undertake the purchase and reorganization of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railway, a project that he conducted to a successful issue. He was general counsel for this railway MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 277 corporation until 1883, when he became its president, a position he afterwards resigned to give his attention to affairs of great importance to the city of Louisville and the State of Kentucky. Chief of the enterprises that occupied his attention at that time was, perhaps, the building of a second bridge across the Ohio river. This enterprise, which involved an expenditure of $2,500,000, was pushed to completion in 1886 by Colonel Young with characteristic energy. This was the largest cantilever bridge that had up to that time been constructed. To make the Kentucky and Indiana bridge a success, a Southern railway outlet was needed. In company with other Louisville capitalists he inaugurated the Louisville & Southern railway, connecting with the Cincinnati Southern at Burgin, which gave to Louisville another great Southern railway outlet. The completion of this line marked a new era in the development of Louisville and contributed vastly to her commercial importance. Thus without burdening herself with any obligations Louisville secured a trunk line railway connection with the South, similar to that for which Cincinnati a few years before had expended nearly $20,000,000. At a still later date Colonel Young became interested in the organization of the Richmond, Nicholasville, Irvin & Bcattyville railway, but left its construction to other parties. To the development of Southern resources and the rehabilitation and rejuvenation of the Southland he has largely devoted his time and energies during the most active period of his life. Still a leading practitioner at the Louisville bar, a large share of his time is devoted to the legal business of corporations. With all movements designed to promote the prosperity of Louisville he has been very actively engaged. In recognition of his services to, the city and state he was elected an honorary member of the board of trade, being the youngest man upon whom this honor had ever been conferred. In 1884 he was honored with the presidency of the Southern Exposition. In 1890 he was elected a member of the constitutional convention and was one of its most influential agents in forming the present organic law of the state. Notwithstanding the fact that he was a very busy man in his profession he has found time to devote to literary pursuits. He is the author of a "History of the Three Constitutions of Kentucky," and "A History of the Division of the Presbyterian Church of Kentucky." He has contributed largely to every phase of church work; established and largely endowed the Bellwood seminary and the Kentucky Presbyterian Normal School at Anchorage; was one of the reorganizers of the Louisville public library and has been its president for several years; is president of the Kentucky 278 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY Confederate Home; president of the Kentucky institute for the blind; commander of the Kentucky division of the United Confederate Veterans, and has established a reputation as one of the most successful and eloquent lawyers at the Kentucky bar. He enjoys a large and lucrative practice ; has declined all political honors ; has never held any office, and has persistently declined to seek any political preferment. EMBRY LEE SWEARINGEN, president of the Kentucky Title Company and the Kentucky Title Savings bank, of Louisville, was born at Millwood, Bullitt county, Ky., Jan. 27, 1863. He is a son of George W. and Mary (Embry) Swearingen, and is of the tenth generation from Gerrit Van Swearingen, the first of the family in America. Gerrit Van Swearingen was one of the younger sons of a Dutch nobleman and a native of Beemsterdam, North Holland. In 1656 he was sent to America in command of a vessel laden with supplies for the Dutch colony at New Amsterdam, now New York. The good ship was lost in a storm off the Atlantic coast, which led Captain Van Swearingen to abandon the sea and the same year he settled in Maryland. His wife was Barbara De Barette, of Valenciennes. Four generations of the family lived in Maryland. Toward the close of the seventeenth century the "Van" was dropped from the name and since that time it has been written "Swearingen." In the year 1804 some of the family came to Kentucky and settled in Bullitt county. At that time William Wallace Swearingen, the grandfather of Embry L., was an infant, having been born in Maryland in 1803. He grew to manhood in Bullitt county and in time became a wealthy farmer and slaveholdcr. He married Julia F. Crist, daughter of Ifon. Henry Crist, a native of Berkeley county, in what is now West Virginia. Henry Crist was one of the distinguished pioneers of Kentucky. He was noted as an Indian fighter and served in the Kentucky legislature continuously from 1795 to 1806. In 1809 he was elected to Congress and served two years. William Wallace Swearingen died in 1869 and his wife in 1838. He was widely known in Bullitt and adjoining counties and was an influential citizen. George W. Swearingen, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in Bullitt county. He was educated at the Washington MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 279 academy and Centre college, Danville, Ky., and after leaving school in 1856 taught for a year. In 1860 he purchased the old homestead and conducted it until 1866, when he removed to Louisville and there became actively identified with business enterprises. In 1869 he built the Mellwood distillery, which he successfully operated until 1890, its product being known far and wide as the equal of any in the market. In 1890 he organized the Union National bank and was elected president of the institution, which office he continued to hold by repeated re-elections until the time of his death. He was also one of the organizers of the Kentucky Title Company and was for some time its president. In addition to these two concerns he was connected as a stockholder and in other ways with various undertakings that tended to promote the industrial and commercial prosperity of Louisville. He was recognized as one of the liberal minded, public spirited men of the "Falls City," one who was always willing to contribute from his time and means to the public welfare. He was married in 1858 to Mary Embry, daughter of Samuel Embry, a veteran of the war of 1812, and a granddaughter of Henry Embry, who came from Virginia and settled in Green county, Ky., in 1790. One of her uncles, Ben T. Embry, was a prominent planter in Arkansas, served several terms in the legislature, and was once speaker of the state senate. During the Civil war he commanded a regiment of Confederate cavalry. In this connection it is worthy of mention that some of the Swearingen family have been in every war in which the people of the United States have been concerned since the middle of the seventeenth century. Their names appear on the muster rolls of the early Indian wars, the French and Indian war, the Revolution, the war of 1812, the Mexican war, and the great Civil war, many of them as commissioned officers. Embry Lee Swearingen was prepared for college at the Rugby school in Louisville. In three of the four years' course he carried off the first honors of his class and in the other year stood second. In 1878 he entered the University of Virginia but was soon compelled to leave on account of his health. A year later he returned to the university and after taking the academic course devoted three years to the study of special subjects, graduating from several different departments of the university. He then went to Philadelphia, where he became one of the partners in the establishment of a hosiery and knit goods factory. A year later, after thoroughly familiarizing himself with all the different processes of manufacture, he returned to Louisville and established a factory there for the manufacture of hosiery, knit goods, woolens and 280 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY jeans, one of the first factories of the kind in the South. He continued to conduct this business for about eight years, during which time he was constantly extending his trade into new territory, until his goods were sold in nearly every state of the Union. Toward the close of that period he employed about two hundred people. Although the concern was a good advertisement for the city the profits were not satisfactory to Mr. Swearingen and he disposed of the plant to become general manager of the Kentucky Title Company. He continued as general manager until 1895, when he was elected to the presidency, and he has been continued in that position ever since. As the chief executive officer of the company he has been brought into contact with the real estate interests and great financial institutions of the city, and has impressed himself upon the managers and directors of these interests and institutions as a man of sound judgment, sagacity, and correct business principles. In 1900 he organized the Kentucky Title Savings bank. Mr. Swearingen is also a director in the Union National bank; was one of the first members of the Commercial club; and an active member of the first City Development committee. In all these capacities his enterprise and public spirit have been made manifest in the promotion of various plans for the advancement of the city's prosperity. He was married in 1887 to Miss Lalla Robinson, daughter of Lawrence and Amelia (Owsley) Robinson, a granddaughter of Rev. Stuart Robinson, and a great-granddaughter of Hon. William Owsley, who was judge of the Kentucky appellate court from 1812 to 1828, and who was elected governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1844 and served four years. Mrs. Swearingen died in 1897, and in 19oi Mr. Swearingen was married to Miss Ada C. Badger, of Chicago, Ill., daughter of A. C. Badger, who came to Louisville from Portsmouth, N. H., when a boy and soon became identified with the business interests of the city as a partner in the well known banking firm of A. D. Hunt & Co. In 1850 he married Elvira C. Sheridan and in 1861 they moved to Chicago, where he became actively interested in banking and lumber business. JOHN FREDERICK KELLNER, prominent among the business men of the city of Louisville, and equally prominent in fraternal circles and as a member of the numerous German-American societies of the city, has had a career which illustrates forcibly the strength of the German character and the tenacity of purpose which makes the typical German successful in life. He was born in MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 281 Bavaria and is the son of John and Barbara (Boehlein) Kellner. His education was limited to attendance in the schools of his native city until thirteen years of age. In his native land, famous the world over for the excellence of its brews, he learned the art of brewing, or at least laid the foundation of his knowledge of the art. In 1864 he came to the United States, locating at Cannelton, Ind., where he found employment in the Cannelton coal mines. After six months' work in this field he went to Kankakee, Ill., where until 1868 he found fairly remunerative employment in various capacities. In that year he came to Louisville and went to work at his trade in the Zang & Vogt, now the Phoenix Brewing Company's plant. He worked for this firm until 1872, when he obtained a better position in the brewing business just then established by Frank Fehr and Mr. Brohm. He soon became actively identified with the business management of this brewery, and when Mr. Fehr organized and became the head of the corporation known as the Frank Fehr Brewing Company, took full charge of its collections and outside business. During these years of hard, earnest toil he demonstrated that he possessed strong business capacity, and learned how to husband his means, investing his savings in the stock of the corporation with which he was connected. In 1890 he was elected vice-president of this concern. Sharing in its prosperity and in the conduct and management of the business, he has succeeded in building up a fortune which he will know how to enjoy. His thorough knowledge of the business, his high standing in commercial circles and the intimate relationship that he sustained to Mr. Fehr made him the logical successor to the latter as head of the corporation, and on the death of Mr. Fehr in March, 1891, Mr. Kellner succeeded to the emoluments and responsibilities of that office. So successfully has he managed the affairs of the company that he still remains its chief officer. Mr. Kellner has at all times shown a broad liberality and a commendable public spirit. He and his business associates were the most liberal contributors to the entertainment of the thousands of veterans of the Civil war who visited Louisville in 1895, on the occasion of the National encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic. Hundreds of visitors were royally entertained by them, and among the most valuable souvenirs of the occasion was a vest-pocket scroll gotten up by the Frank Fehr Brewing Company, on which were printed the names and dates of all the battles of the great conflict between the states. When in 1901 the Frank Fehr Brewing Company was consolidated with five of 282 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY the other leading breweries of the city, under the name of the Central Consumers Company, Mr. Kellner's ability as a leader was recognized by his associates, who unanimously elected him to the presidency of the new concern. Mr. Kellner is actively identified with a number of other important interests, one of which is the German Security bank. He is a Knight Templar, a Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight of Pythias and holds membership in a number of the leading German societies of Louisville. In politics he is a Democrat. In 1871 he married Charlotte Stigner, who died in 1888, leaving six children. In 1889 he married Anna F. Boschen, daughter of George Boschen, of Louisville. To this union four children have been born. GEORGE GARVIN BROWN, president of both the Brown-Forman Company, wholesale liquor dealers, and the Brown-Forman Distilling Company, both incorporated, was born in Montfordville, Ky., Sept. 2, 1846. He is the son of John Thompson Street and Mary Jane (Garvin) Brown. His father was born in Hanover county, Va., April 7, 1793, and his mother was a native of Londonderry, Ireland. His paternal grandfather, William Brown, a Virginian by birth, as a son of James Brown, a Scotchman who settled in Virginia about 1740. Win. Brown with his brother Patrick first came from Hanover county, Va., to Kentucky in 1782. Following "Boone's Trail" or the "Wilderness Road" through Cumberland Gap, they reached Harrodsburg on July 24th, of that year. Here they met their brother James, who had been in Kentucky for several years and who had co-operated with Gen. George Rogers Clark in protecting the settlers and making expeditions against the Indians. James Brown is said to have built the first house in Kentucky in 1774, near the site of Danville. The meeting between him and his brothers proved a reunion and a farewell meeting at the same time. On the following day he left them to go on an expedition against the Indians who had invaded Kentucky under the renegade Simon Girty, and was killed in the battle of "Blue Licks," Aug. 18, 1782. William and Patrick having joined the Logan command, visited the battlefield the following day and MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 283 buried the victims of the savages. Both William and Patrick were conspicuous in later wars with the Indians, and Col. Patrick Brown was especially famous as an Indian fighter. Major William Brown, the grandfather of George G., was a man of culture and education, as well as an intrepid and enterprising frontiersman. spending several years in Kentucky he returned to Virginia. In 1790 he made a second trip to Kentucky by way of the Ohio river. Returning to Virginia after an absence of two years, he married Hannah Street, daughter of John and Frances (Park) Street, and granddaughter of John Street, who was born in Bristol, England, and came to Hanover in early manhood. Here he purchased a plantation on which he resided the remainder of his life. After his marriage Major Wm. Brown remained in Virginia until his father's death, after which he returned to Kentucky and settled on a large tract of land near Elizabethtown. Both he and his wife were typical representatives of the fine old Virginia society in which they had been brought up. The maternal grandparents of the subject were High and Mary (Orr) Garvin, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who emigrated to America in 1828 and settled at Montfordville, Ky., where both of them died. John T. S. Brown, father of our subject, came to Kentucky with his parents in early manhood and settled at Montfordville, where he served as postmaster over fifty years and became the owner of several fine farms. He died in 1875, respected by his fellow townsmen. George G. Brown, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the schools of his native village and the Louisville high school. In 1865 he began his business career as a clerk in the wholesale drug house of Henry Chambers & Co., Louisville, serving as such for nearly five years. He next embarked in the commission and whiskey brokerage business as a member of the firm of J. T. S. Brown & Bro. In 1873 the firm was reorganized as Brown, Chambers & Co., becoming Chambers & Brown a year later. For six years it continued under this name, when George G. succeeded to the business and admitted to partnership some young men who had been in his employ, the firm now becoming Brown, Thompson & Co. In 1889, on the withdrawal of Mr. Thompson, the firm became Brown, Forman & Co. When Mr. Forman died in 1901 the business was incorporated as the Brown-Forman, Company, which name it still bears. The high regard and esteem in which Mr. Brown was held by his partners is shown by the fact that as the successor of each firm in the settlement of the affairs of the different firms, when 284 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY hundreds of thousands of dollars were involved, such confidence was reposed in Mr. Brown that his partners declined to examine the books and accounts, relying solely on his honor for a strict accounting. Mr. Brown has been president of the National Wholesale Liquor Dealers' association and for ten years president of the Louisville Presbyterian orphanage. He is also a member of the Filson, Pendennis and Tavern clubs. On Feb. 1, 1876, he married Mrs. Amelia (Owsley) Robinson, widow of Lawrence A. Robinson, of Louisville, who was the son of Rev. Stuart Robinson, an eminent Presbyterian clergyman of that city. She is the daughter of Erasmus Boyle Owsley and granddaughter of Wm. Owsley, once governor of Kentucky and justice of the supreme court under the old constitution. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have six children living: Mary Garvin, Owsley, Elizabeth Bodley, Robinson Swearingen, Innes Akin and Amelia Bella. ERNEST CHRISTIAN BOHNE, vice-president of the Southern National bank of Louisville, Ky., was born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, Feb. 8, 1840. He is the son of Johann J. J. and Helen Maria (Wurtemberger) Bohne. His father was an officer in the army of the great Napoleon, and after the Russian campaign, in which he took an active part, settled in the city of Cassel, capital of Hesse-Cassel. Here he embarked in business as a publisher and bookseller. For twenty years prior to his death he was city treasurer of Cassel. He had served as city counselor for thirty years. Ernest C. Bohne was educated at the gymnasium in Cassel, a famous institution of learning, where the present German emperor and his father were educated. In 1854 he left school and went to Bremen to learn the book trade. This occupation not being congenial, he went to sea as sailor and finally landed at New Orleans in 1856. From New Orleans he came directly to Louisville. Here, until 1861, he served as bookkeeper in a wholesale dry goods house. He next took charge of the office management of the Louisville hotel. During the Civil war he was connected with a company of home guards and saw military service as quartermaster sergeant, which he was enabled to do without relinquishing his position in MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 285 the hotel. In 1872 he organized the Western German Savings bank, becoming its cashier. Two years later this was reorganized as the Third National bank of Louisville with Mr. Bohne as cashier, a position he held untl January, 1905, when he connected himself with the Southern National hank. He has proved himself to be a capable and sagacious banker. A careful study of monetary problems, currency questions and banking methods has caused him to be recognized as an accomplished financier in the broader sense of that term. He has delivered several addresses before the American Bankers' association and, in each instance, has attracted marked attention in banking and financial circles. He has always taken an active part in the work of the Kentucky Bankers' association, frequently reading valuable papers at its stated meetings. In addition to his regular duties he has for several years transacted bus'ness for the British consul in Baltimore, the Imperial German consul in Cincinnati and the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian consul in Richmond, Va. Ever since Mr. Bohne became a citizen of Louisville he has taken an active part in promoting the city's welfare. As a banker and business man he has aided in the development of the resources of the city as well as in the expansion of its commerce. As a city official he has aided in the building tap and improvement of its civic institutions. He served as school trustee from 1867 to 1870, and as charity commissioner from 1877 to 1880. While on the school board he and Mr. L. L. Warren were instrumental in establishing the Louisville Normal school for teachers. In 1891 he was elected a member of the first board of park commissioners, and it was during his term that the present splendid park system was purchased and sprang into existence. He helped to select the sites of the present Cherokee and Shawnee parks and caused this park system to be placed in the hands of Ohmstead & Co., the most famous landscape gardeners in the United States, for improvement. This same firm laid out and improved the grounds on which the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago was held in 1893. The work done through Mr. Bohne has been highly gratifying to all parties interested in the adornment of the city's parks. As a charity commissioner he was instrumental in bringing about much needed reform at the city hospital and the alms house. He also served for three years on the board of managers of Lakeland Insane asylum, Lakeland, Ky. 286 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY SAMUEL GRABF LDER, a prominent merchant of Louisville, Ky., was born in Rehweiler, Bavaria, Germany, Sept. 2, 1844. He is the son of Samuel and Regina Grabfelder. His early education was received in the schools of his native town. In 1856, when still a boy, he came to America and the following year located in Louisville. There he attended the Louisville high school, where he paid especial attention to the mastery of the English language and to those other branches most essential to his success as a business man. Relying entirely on his own resources, and without influential friends to give him a start, he went to work determined to make a success in life. How well he succeeded the sequel will show. His aptitude in acquiring a correct knowledge of business methods, his industry and his general intelligence commended him to those with whom he came in contact, hence he had little difficulty in securing employment. By the close of the Civil war he had. developed into a capable salesman and business man. For several years after the war he was employed as traveling salesman for one of the large wholesale liquor houses of Louisville, his territory being the Southern states. Wherever he went he made friends and increased the business of the house he represented. While employed in this capacity he saved his money, which fact enabled him to embark in business in 1873 as one of the partners of the largest wholesale liquor house of Louisville. After six years' connection with this firm he withdrew from it to found the house of S. Grabfelder & Co. The business of the firm aggregated but fifty thousand dollars the first year, but gradually increased until now it does a business of millions annually. This result has been accomplished through close attention to all of the details of the business, unremitting efforts and an unswerving determination to be guided by the strictest principles of integrity and fair dealing. Traveling men now represent this house in every state and territory in the Union, and its famous brands of whiskies are known throughout the United States. Among the various houses engaged in the distribution and sale of Kentucky whiskies, none has a higher standing than that of the firm of S. Grabfelder & Co., and none more richly deserves abundant prosperity. Mr. Grabfelder is a member MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 287 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 president 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 $230,000. 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 industrious 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 Protestant 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 Gettysburg, Pa., and then completed his theological course at Wittenberg 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 successful 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 288 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY mission which has since become a successful and self-sustaining church. He took an active part in all aggressive Christian movements in the city and in the development of the Lutheran church in the West. For three successive years he was elected president 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 buildings in the city. As further recognition of the high standing of Mr. Waltz in the estimation of those who know him best, Wittenberg college 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 helping 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 residence 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, 18i5, he married Miss Mina L. Hastings, of Springfield, 0., 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. MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 289 COL. BISCOE HINDMAN, of Louisville, 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 superintendent 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 policy 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 magnificent armory to be built at once at a cost of about $425,000. Colonel 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 Frankfort. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, the immigrant ancestors settling 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 I-19 290 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY Hindman was a lieutenant in the same regiment. Dr. John Hindman 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 cavalier 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 Biscoe of Helena, Ark., the beautiful daughter of Col. Henry L. Biscoe, 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 descendant 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 Chambers 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 MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 291 firm and conducted the business successfully for several years. During 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 interested with Capt. Z. hi. 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 interest 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 connected 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, beng frank, outspoken and charitable. Owing to his active interest in so many of the most important business 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, William 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 & C'o., 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, railroad and mill supplies. His connection with the transportation lines during the later years of his father's life brought hint into close touch with the river interests, and in 1883, after the death of his father, he succeeded to the presidency of the Louisville & Evansville Mail Company and the Louisville & Jeffersonville Ferry 292 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY 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 & Cincinnati Packet Company. For twenty-eight years he has been prominently 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. Ile is the son of William H. and Eliza (Boyer) Shoemaker and conies of good old German stock, being of the fifth generation of both the Shoemakers and foyers who came from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary 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 Harrisburg. In 1883 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 Gaynor 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 MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 293 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 Independent. 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 several of the finest farms in the vicinity of North Madison. The father of the subject 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 entered 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 educated 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 Company of Louisville, a plant erected at the cost of $150,000. He next founded the Merchants' Refrigerator Company of Louisville, captalized at $200,000, for the manufacture of ice and for cold storage purposes. These two plants are mammoth affairs and turn out two 294 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY 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 MUECH, 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 excellent 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 (Pohardt) Seiffert, of Evansville, Ind. The ch-ldren 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. MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 295 JOHN H. BREWER, state manager for Kentucky of the Woodmen of the World, was born in Hardin county, Ky., November 11th, 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 Cecelian college during the day, and followed that calling for three years. Next he served for two years as fireman on the Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern 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, conducting 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 advancement 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, leaving 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 represented the National Fraternal Congress of America at the World's 296 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY 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 Company, Louisville, Ky., was born in Hamburg, 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 educated in the public schools of his native city. He then served his apprenticeship at the machinist trade, thoroughly mastering the same. Later he broadened his knowledge and increased his skill as a craftsman and by traveling through Germany, Sweden and Norway, 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, remaining two years. In 1853 he came to America the second time, engaging in the work of machinist and molder; also that of a sailor on an Atlantic coast vessel. On coming to Louisville in 1858 he secured employment as a tool-maker in the iron works of Barbaroux & Snowden. After being connected with the firm for a year he decided to go into business for himself by opening a small brass foundry and finishing shop. Later he made plumbing a feature of his business. This small plant was the foundation upon which the present 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 188 it was made a stock company with lfr. Ahrens as president, a position he held until his death. No better illustration of the Industrial development 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, MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 297 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 Louisville. Mr. Ahrens was born with the love of civic and religious liberty 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 election 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 honorary member of that organization. He was also an honorary member of the Liederkranz, the most popular and prominent German society of the city. He took an active part in Masonry, being a member of Zion Lodge. In 1853 he married Anna Maria Nebel, of Hamburg, 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 position 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. MATHIAS POSCHINGER, proprietor of the Louisville Ice Company and builder of its extensive plant, was born in Rotten' ach, Germany, Feb. 7, 1849. He is the son of Mathias and Catherine (Breinbauer) Poschinger. His father was a well-to-do farmer in his native country. Mathias was reared on his father's farm, and received his education in the country schools. At the breaking out 298 - MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY of the Franco-Prussian war he joined the Bavarian army and served his country throughout that war. He then went to work in a match factory in Switzerland. Here he afterwards learned the machinist trade, following this vocation for three years. In 1882 he came to America, locating in Frankfort, Ky., where he worked until 1884 as an engineer in a brewery. He then came to Louisville, where he was first employed as an engineer of an ice factory and then as a machinist in a machine shop. In 1894 he erected the extensive ice and refrigerator plant on East Main street, at a cost of $200,000. This plant is one of the most complete establishments of its kind in America. The building is of brick and presents a fine appearance among the other manufacturing plants of the city. Mr. Poschinger was married Nov. 11, 1894, to Elizabeth Schnell, daughter of Nicholas Schnell of the Texas family of Switzerland. Mr. Poschinger is a Democrat and a member of the St. Boniface Catholic church. JOHN FREDERICK OERTEL, proprietor of the Butchertown brewery, Story avenue, Louisville, Ky., was born in Baden, Germany, Feb. 25, 1855, and is the son of John and Maria (Schmitt) Oertel. He was reared in his native country, where he received a thorough high school education. Here he also served an apprenticeship of about six years at the brewer's trade. In 188o he came to the United States, located in Louisville, Ky., where for the next seven years he was employed at his trade. In 1887, with Charles Hartmetz as a partner, he established the Butchertown brewery. This partnership lasted three years, and then Mr. Oertel became the sole proprietor by purchasing the interest of Mr. Hartmetz. From that time on he has conducted the business successfully by himself, employing thirty-two men. The brewery has a capacity of three hundred barrels of beer a day. Its product is of the best quality and has a large sale in the principal towns of Kentucky and the Lower Ohio Valley. Mr. Oertel was married in June, 1885, to Sarah, the daughter of Cornell and Francisca Kaisir, of Carrollton, Ill. The names of their four children are as follows: Josephine, Katie, Louise and John F., Jr. Mr. Oertel is one of the most progressive and enterprising citizens of MEMOIRS OF THE LOWER OHIO VALLEY - 299 Louisville. He is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic church, the Young Men's Institute, St. Joseph Orphan society and Catholic Knights of America. He is also an active member of the following organizations: The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Fraternal Order of Eagles; the Benevolent Society of Gambrinus, the Sons of Herman, the Liederkranz, the Concordia and others. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party. SIMPSON SEATON MEDDIS, one of Louisville's most energetic and progressive citizens, was born May 21, 1837, on Frankfort avenue, formerly known as the Louisville and Shelbyville turnpike, and now the Aubindale addition to the city of Louisville. He is the son of Matthew and Apphia (Seaton) Meddis. His father, born in Jefferson county, Ky., first came to Louisville in 1837, where he followed the vocation of contractor for several years. Then for several years he gave his attention to farming in Jefferson county. In 1850 he returned to Louisville and embarked in the livery business at Second and Jefferson streets with Thomas Batman as partner. After conducting this business successfully for seven years, he purchased a farm on the Bardstown road, residing there until his death in 1882. Simpson's paternal grandfather was Godfrey Meddis, who was killed at the battle of New Orleans in the war of 1812. His maternal grandfather was George Seaton, a native of Kentucky and descendant of a prominent English family, whose son, Dr. John S. Seaton, was in his day one of the most eminent physicians of Kentucky. Later in life he was persuaded to visit California and Colorado to look after some ruining interest in which he with others had made investments. These mines that he owned at his death were later estimated to be worth $100,000,000. Among their may be mentioned the celebrated Stratton mines at Cripple Creek, since developed. His heirs, however, paid no attention to these properties and permitted them to pass by default into other hands. Simpson S. Meddis was educated in the private schools of Jefferson county, principally tinder the tutorship of Prof. W. F. Beach, a noted instructor of his day. He began his business career as deputy sheriff under sheriff Charles F. Quirey,