Mr. Gruber was born in Martin County, Indiana, February 18, 1889. His father, William C. Gruber, was born in Ohio, in 1861, came to Indiana in early life and was engaged in farming until 1903. In that year he moved to French Lick and established a printing business. In October, 1904, from his plant was published the first issue of the Springs Valley Herald. Some years ago he turned his printing business over to his sons and is now conducting one of the widely known chicken hatcheries, the Hoosier Hatchery, at French Lick. He married Elizabeth Decker, who was born near Jasper in Dubois County, Indiana, in 1870. They have four children: Burt C., of French Lick; William F.; Clarence E., of Canton, Ohio, married Maude Hauger and has two children; and J. Earl, associated with the Springs Valley Herald, married Grace Liffler and has one child.
William F. Gruber attended public schools in Martin County. When his father moved to French Lick he at once entered his father's printing shop, and has a thorough technical master of the printing art. He has been for a number of years manager of the Springs Valley Herald, in which he is associated with his brother. Mr. Gruber is a member of the Weekly Press Association. He has served as clerk and treasurer of French Lick, is a member of the Kiwanis Club, a Democrat, a supporter of the Methodist Church and is a Royal Arch Mason.
He married in 1909 Maona Milburn, of Dubois County, niece of Attorney-General Milburn and daughter of James and Jane (Dooley) Milburn. By this marriage there were three children, Francis, Eugene and John. Mr. Gruber on August 29, 1925, married Mary C. Reynolds. They have two sons, Gordon L. and R. Glenn. Mrs. Gruber is an active member of the Christian Church.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
MRS. MAUDE A. BEATY, who served for ten years as librarian of the French Lick Public Library is a native of Orange County, and was actively identified with the library at French Lick from the time it was founded in 1920.
Her father, Thomas Lane, is a well known citizen of Orange County, a retired farmer. He was born in this section of Indiana, his parents coming here from South Carolina. Thomas Lane married Rachael Hobson, a native of Orange County. Of their ten children one died in infancy and the others are: Lucy, William, Maude, Pearl, Grace, Sampson, C. Ann, Ruth and Noble.
Mrs. Beaty was educated in the grade and high schools at French Lick. It was in 1920 that the public library was organized, and she was one of those chiefly interested in projecting the institution as a community enterprise and has served as librarian since the library was opened.
Mrs. Beaty was married in 1905 to Dr. Grant S. Beaty. Doctor Beaty served a year as captain in the Medical Corps during the World war.
The French Lick Public Library board comprises the following members: C. E. Ellis, president; N. B. Mavity,. vice president; Mabel Collins, secretary and treasurer; Cora Adkins, Mrs. Grace Pruett, Clarence Tolliver, Hulda Hancock and John Stack.
The present librarian is Mrs. Sarah Melton.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
GUY H. WILSON is a physician and surgeon at Bicknell in Knox County, where he has enjoyed favorable prominence as a professional man and citizen since 1917.
Doctor Wilson was born in Vigo County, Indiana, August 31, 1889, son of William M. and Nancy C. (Parker) Wilson and a grandson of William Wilson, a native of Putnam County. The Wilson family settled in Northwest Territory, in what is now Putnam County, soon after the armies of George Rogers Clark had cleared the way for peaceful advance of Americans from the East. The Wilsons were a Colonial family of Virginia. Doctor Wilson's grandfather, William Wilson, was a Union soldier in the Civil war and a farmer and cattleman, the occupation which was also followed by William M. Wilson.
Dr. Guy H. Wilson attended school at Terre Haute, spent two years in the University of Indiana and graduated in 1916 from Saint Louis University, where he took his Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine degrees. He was in the Saint Louis City Hospital and for one year was resident physician of the Lutheran Hospital of Saint Louis, and with this unusually thorough training and broad experience he took up the work of his profession at Bicknell in 1917. Doctor Wilson was city health officer of Bicknell from 1924 to 1928. He is a member of the Knox County, Indiana State and American Medical Associations, and in 1931 served as president of the Knox County Medical Society.
He married in September, 1917, Miss Maud E. Ecker, of Collinsville, Illinois, and they have one daughter, Dorris Mae. Doctor Wilson is a member of the Phi Chi college fraternity, the Phi Rho Chapter, is affiliated with Bicknell Lodge No. 535, A. F. and A. M., the Knights Templar Commandery at Vincennes and the Scottish Rite bodies and Mystic Shrine at Evansville.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
EUGENE O. BURGET was born at Burget's Corner in Clinton County, Indiana, January 5, 1869. His fellow citizens in Clinton County have followed with a friendly interest his career, made up of successive chapters as a teacher, county official, financier and insurance executive. Mr. Burget is president of the People's Life Insurance Company of Frankfort, one of the most successful organizations of the kind in the state.
He is of English ancestry and of Revolutionary stock. One of his forefathers, Emanuel Burget, was a soldier of the Revolution, went as a pioneer to Southern Ohio, settling in Butler County, and was killed by Indians while trying to reach his block house after swimming the Big Miami River. The grand- parents of Eugene O. Burget were William and Lydia (Keever) Burget, substantial and highly respected people of Butler County, Ohio, and Clinton County, Indiana, where they were pioneers in Johnson Township, where their daughter Elizabeth had the distinction of being the first white child born in the township.
William M. Burget, father of Eugene O., was born in Clinton County, Indiana, June 28, 1844, and the first break in the quiet routine of existence on the home farm came when he enlisted, August 13, 1862, in Company H, Eighty-sixth Indiana Infantry. He was with the Army of the Cumberland in campaigns through Kentucky, Tennessee., Georgia and Alabama, being a participant in the battles of Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Knoxville, and later in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, which completed the rout and dissolution of Hood's Confederate forces. He served until honorably discharged, June 6, 1865. He was three times married and was the father of nine children. His first wife and the mother of Eugene O. Burget was Permelia Mott, daughter of Sayres Mott. Eugene was the second of her four children.
Eugene O. Burget supplemented his advantages in the local schools by attending the Indiana State Normal at Terre Haute, and for several years was a successful teacher, being principal of schools at Scircleville and Hillisburg. In 1894, at the age of twenty-five, he was appointed deputy county auditor of Clinton County and in 1902 was elected chief of that office for a term of four years. After leaving the auditor's office he was assistant cashier of the Clinton County Bank, resigning to become secretary and general manager of the People's Life Insurance Company in 1907. He has had the general management of this insurance organization for twenty-three years, and since July 1, 1926, has also served as president. Mr. Burget has a sound knowledge based on long experience of the insurance business, and has been satisfied to see his own company steadily increase its resources and extend its service until it now has over $54,000,000 of insurance in force and assets of over $8,000,000.
Mr. Burget is a director and former president of the Frankfort Chamber of Commerce, is a past eminent commander of the Knights Templar Commandery at Frankfort and also belongs to other bodies of York and Scottish Rite Masons, and Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Indianapolis. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, B. P. O. Elks, Improved Order of Red Men. He is a Republican and a Methodist.
Mr. Burget married at Frankfort, June 28, 1899, Miss Carrie Boyle. She was born at Michigantown, Clinton County, Indiana, daughter of Josiah L. and Mary Boyle.
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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
THOMAS ERROL THERIAC, manager of the personal loan department of the First National Bank of Vincennes, judicial center of Knox County, is a representative of one of the sterling French families that was founded in this city about the year 1812. He is a son of Thomas and Clara (Inderrieden) Theriac, the former having been the fourth child of Mitchell and Elizabeth (Mominee) Theriac, and Mitchell Theriac having been a scion of the third generation of the original ancestor who came from France and made settlement in Vincennes about 1812, the family name having been worthily identified with the history of this fine old city during the passing years, as one generation has followed another on to the stage of life's activities.
Thomas Theriac was born and reared in Vincennes and here passed his entire life, he having here been in the Government postal service during a period of seventeen years and in his character and achievement he worthily upheld the honors of the family name. His father, Mitchell Theriac, served as a gallant soldier of the Union during virtually the entire period of the Civil war, he having been a member of the Fourteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry and having participated in many engagements, including a number of major battles. He specially distinguished himself at the battle of Chickamauga, where he was with the forces commanded by General Thomas. Mitchell Theriac was long one of the influential business men and representative citizens of Vincennes, and here was engaged in the manufacturing and repairing of carriages long prior to the advent of the automobile.
The history of the Theriac family is one of interesting order. The first representatives in America made settlement in Canada, and there, in the City of Montreal, a French soldier, Francois Tiriac (original spelling of the family name) was united in marriage in January, 1743, to Magdelene Benard, daughter of Jean Batiste and Marie Magdelene (Pesillard) Benard. Francois Tiriac was a son of Jacques and Marie Agnes (Monigan) Tiriac, whose home was in the parish of St. Sulpice Church in Paris, France. He was a soldier in the company of the famous M. Linctot, who was destined to become a prominent figure in the intrigues that eventually led to the gaining of the great northwest possession of the United States. Linctot was a soldier and trader and figured prominently in early French history on the continent of North America. Francois Tiriac and his wife became the parents of six children, and about 1751 the family removed from Montreal and made settlement near DeRepentigny, in the District of Joliette. There was born the son Mitchell. The family thereafter followed the French settlers southward, and in January, 1796, as shown by records still extant, was solemnized the marriage of this son Mitchell to Therese Andre, of Vincennes, the ceremony having occurred at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral and Rev. Jean Francis Rivet having been the officiating priest. Mitchell and Therese (Andre) Tiriac (or Tiriaque) became the parents of Joseph Tiriac, who was born April 13, 1803, and this son married Ellen Villeneuve, a direct descendant of Mathurin Villeneuve, who made settlement in Canada in 1669 though the Villeneuve family had come to Vincennes, Indiana, prior to 1764, as shown by a land grant of St. Agne. Representatives of this family assisted General George Rogers Clark in his historic capture of of Vincennes and in recognition of this service they were accorded land grants.
Thomas Errol Theriac, immediate subject of this review, was born in Vincennes, on the 30th of July, 1897, was eldest in a family of six children and was about nineteen years of age at the time of his father's death, so that practical responsibilities soon fell upon him and he was denied higher educational advantages, his youthful education having been acquired in the St. Francis Xavier parochial school in his native city. The next younger of the children is Mitchell, who attended Jasper College, at Jasper, Indiana, and who is now identified with an enterprise in the City of Chicago, where he married Miss Mary J. Ashcroft. Miss Pauline Theriac still resides in Vincennes. Frances M. is the wife of Morris H. Reel, of Vincennes. Martha is here attending school, and John S., youngest of the children, died at the age of two.
Thomas E. Theriac, as the eldest child, began to contribute to the support of his widowed mother and the other children when the father passed away. He found employment in a local drug store, and in his native city he continued to be identified with this line of business ten years. In the interests of a New York City corporation he opened and assumed management of the branch Morris Plan Bank established in Vincennes, and several years later this branch was sold to the Morris Plan Corporation of Evansville, Indiana. Mr. Theriac continued in that management until 1931, when he assumed his present position with the First National Bank of Vincennes. He is a member of the local Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club, is a member of the Harmony Society in his home city and was its director five years, and is a popular member of Old Post Country Club. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and, the religious faith in which he was reared, he is an earnest communicant of the Francis Xavier Catholic Church. Mr. Theriac was married at Indianapolis, Indiana, by Bishop Chartrand, on October 24, 1923, to Estella M. Recker, daughter of Henry M. and Mary C. (Frund) Recker, of Vincennes. They have four children: Thomas H., born September 7, 1924, Mary Claire, born January 19, 1927, Owen Clinton, born December 23, 1928, and Carolyn Ann, born February 19, 1930.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JOSHUA L. BLAIZE, county clerk of Knox County, and a man known allover this part of Indiana, has long held the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens, and has added to his prestige by the manner in which he is discharging the duties of his important office. He was born in Pike County, Indiana, September 28, 1881, a son of John B. Blaize, of Pike County, the latter a farmer and educator, and for years county superintendent of schools, and for much longer period a school trustee. John B. Blaize was a son of Isaac Blaize, a native of North Carolina, who located in Pike County, Indiana, prior to the war between the states, and there he became a farmer. All his life he was a devout Christian. Five children were born to John B. Blaize and his wife, formerly Mary S. Hoover, of Indiana, namely: Sallie, who married Robert Grubb; Rufus, who is an educator of Terre Haute, Indiana; Joshua L., who was the third in order of birth; Guy Hoover, who married Grace Rumble; and Victor S., who died May 19, 1930, and who was principal of the Vincennes High School, married Jewel Sandige.
From childhood Joshua L. Blaize has been interested in intellectual matters, and after he had completed the public school work he entered Oakland City College and later was a student in the Indiana State Normal School, Terre Haute. Taking up the study of medicine, in Louisville, Kentucky Medical School, he was graduated therefrom in 1907, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Immediately thereafter he returned to Indiana, and until 1911, was engaged in practice at Stendal, but in the latter year moved to Oaktown, where he continued in practice until 1923, when he was elected clerk of the Circuit Court of Knox County and moved to Vincennes to assume the duties of his office. In 1926 he was reelected for a second term. A close student, he has not only pursued his own studies but has educated others, beginning to teach school at the age of eighteen years, and continuing in that calling from 1899 to 1906. While he was a student of the Louisville Medical College he also taught school. During a portion of his career he studied law through a course in the Hamilton College of Law, and this knowledge is proving very valuable to him in his present office. He is a member of Vincennes Lodge, No.1, A. F. and A. M., and the Modern Woodmen of America. In political faith he is a Democrat, and he is very active in party matters. The Baptist Church holds his membership and receives his generous support. During the World war he enlisted in the Medical Reserve Corps, was called three times, and as many times ordered to remain at Oaktown, where his services were so needed.
Doctor Blaize married, July 19, 1918, Grace E. Mason, of Missouri, and they have one living child, Floyd Luther Blaize, now attending school. In his office Doctor Blaize is proving the contention that no course of study is taken in vain; that each one develops some faculty that otherwise might have remained latent, and thus is a man enabled to be of further service to mankind.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
EDWARD F. STEFFEN is secretary and general manager of the Vincennes Rose Gardens, Inc., a concern that gives both industrial and aesthetic prestige to the fair and historic City of Vincennes, judicial center of Knox County.
Mr. Steffen was born in Vincennes, December 13, 1893, and is a son of Edward F. and Julia (Hamke) Steffen, both likewise born in Vincennes. Edward F. Steffen, Sr., was long and successfully established in the retail grocery business in Vincennes. His father, Albert F. Steffen, was born and reared in Germany and settled in Indiana prior to the Civil war, his children who attained to mature years having been four in number. Of the children of Edward F. and Julia (Hamke) Steffen the first born, Carl, is deceased. Marie is the wife of Joseph Lutzinski, of Marion, Indiana. Henry A. and Edward F., Jr., are twins, the former being a resident of Bicknell, Indiana, and connected with the American Mining Company, and the latter being the immediate subject of this review. Henry A. Steffen married Miss Carmen Byers, of Monroe City, Knox County, and his twin brother, Edward F., married, April 3, 1923, Miss Bernice C. Childress, of Lawrence County, Illinois, the two children of this union being Martha Jean and Lyda Lou.
The early education of Edward F. Steffen, Jr., was acquired in the Lutheran parochial school of Vincennes, and while still attending school he and his twin brother, Henry A., gained practical business experience and also contributed to the family revenue by selling on the streets of Vincennes the excellent bread and cakes baked by their mother.
After leaving school Edward F. Steffen entered upon an apprenticeship in the Emil H. Younghans cigar factory, and he there continued to be employed for about eighteen months. In August, 1908, he became associated with the Paul C. Schultz Greenhouse Company, with which he was here connected until 1912. He then passed a year in Indianapolis, in greenhouse work for Bertermann Brothers, and after his return to Vincennes he became again associated with the Schultz greenhouse business, to partnership in which he was admitted in 1920. He thus continued until January, 1927, when he sold his interest in this concern, and in the following April he effected the organization of the Vincennes Rose Gardens, Inc., the headquarters of which, of the best modern standard, are situated at 310 Busseron Street. B. F. Nesbitt is president of this corporation and Mr. Steffen is secretary and general manager. The concern ranks among the foremost in the domain of floriculture in this section of the state and has a large and representative patronage, as its products are of the finest type and uniformly challenge popular appreciation. The company specializes in the growing of all varieties of roses for the wholesale market, and it is interesting to record that in the year of 1930 it produced more than 750,000 roses, part of which were consumed locally, but the greater part shipped in wholesale lots. The fine rose gardens of this progressive Vincennes corporation have an area of two and one half acres, the general equipment being of the most approved modern order, and the best scientific methods are utilized. The company has twenty-five acres of land that is of the best in Knox County, located on the old Bruceville Road, four miles northeast of the business section of Vincennes. Much of its wholesale trade is centered in Cleveland, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; and Indianapolis, Indiana.
Mr. Steffen is affiliated with the Democratic party and as a citizen he takes loyal interest in all that touches the welfare of his native city and county, while as a business man he is distinctly progressive. He served as a member of the City Council from 1925 to 1929, as representative of the Fourth Ward. The attractive family home is maintained at 615 North First Street. Of the marriage and children of Mr. Steffen mention has been made in a preceding paragraph.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
ROBERT G. MOORE, M. D. In medical science the name of Moore carries distinction with it throughout Indiana, and the City of Vincennes 'is proud to record that it has been the birthplace and home within the last half a century of three generations of the name whose professional achievements have been notable. The present representative, Dr. Robert G. Moore, physician and sutgeon, is a worthy successor of his father and grandfather, and is universally recognized as a leader at Vincennes in advanced medical and scientific work. From boyhood his heritage as well as his natural urge inclined him toward medical science in his studies, reading and investigations and in 1924 he was graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine, at Indianapolis, and in 1925 he established himself in medical practice at Vincennes. He has a wide professional connection and is considered an authority on various medical questions. Doctor Moore is a member of the Knox County Medical Society, and a past secretary thereof, 1925-31, and also has membership in the Indiana State Medical Association and the American Medical Association. He is secretary of the Vincennes Board of Health, medical director of the Vincennes Medical Laboratory, member of the Indiana X-Ray Society and of the Radiological Society of North America. Additionally, Doctor Moore is an overseas veteran of the World war, in active service in France for eleven months, with base hospital units, connected with the Medical Corps at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, for thirteen months, and at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana, for three months. After his honorable discharge he completed his education in the University of Indiana.
Doctor Moore was born at Vincennes, March 1, 1898, a son of Dr. Maurice Gardner Moore, whose death occurred January 27, 1911., and whose birth took place in Indiana. Dr Maurice Gardner Moore was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after which he was engaged in professional work until his death, specializing in surgery. He married Miss Flora Krueger, of Bloomington, Indiana, and although they had two children but the one reached maturity. Dr. Maurice Gardner Moore was a son of Dr. Reuben Gardner Moore, also a physician of Vincennes. He was a graduate of the Ohio Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio, and established himself in practice at Vincennes at a date prior to the opening of the war between the states. He married Miss Sarah Celine Burns, a graduate of Moorehill College, Indiana.
Dr. Robert G. Moore was graduated in medicine in 1924, from Indiana University School of Medicine, after which he served his interneship in the Indianapolis City Hospital for a year; and then, in September, 1925, commenced his practice at Vincennes. He is a member of Vincennes Lodge, No.1, A. F. and A. M., the Phi Rho Sigma, Phi Kappa Psi, and is active in fraternal matters. The First Presbyterian Church of Vincennes holds his membership, as does also the American Legion ,Post, No. 3, of Vincennes.
The wife of Doctor Moore bore the maiden name of Gertrude Benner, and she was born at Burlington, Iowa. Doctor and Mrs. Moore have three children: Mary Ellen, Joanne and Robert Gardner, Junior. It is a source of pride to Doctor Moore that he and his can trace back their line of ancestry to Daniel and Lucy Moore, of the distinguished Moore family of Virginia, which contributed valiant soldiers to the American Revolution, as well as notables in private life during the Colonial epoch in the country's history.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
WILLIAM F. HOLLAND, president of the W. F. Holland Company, a leading concern in the wholesale produce business in the City of Vincennes was born in Somerset County, Maryland, March 29, 1889, and is a son of James A. E. and Ella E. (Hickman) Holland, both likewise natives of Maryland and representatives of sterling old families of that historic commonwealth There James A. Holland was born in Somerset County, and in the years of his active business life he gave major attention to enterprise along the line of his dual trade, that of blacksmith and wheelwright. Of the two children William F., of this review, is the elder, and James A., Jr., is a manufacturing cabinet-maker in Baltimore, Maryland.
William Holland received his early education by duly profiting by the advantages of the schools of his native state, and there alsohe acquired his initial business experience. He was an ambitious youth of twenty years when, in 1909, he came to Indiana. After passing a short period of time in Indianapolis, he became a salesman for a wholesale produce commission concern in Terre Haute, and in January, 1917, he transferred his residence to Vincennes and initiated a produce business for Joseph Diekenper. On the 6th of March, 1921, he engaged in the same line of enterprise in an independent way. His thorough knowledge of and former experience in the business, as coupled with careful and honorable policies, caused the enterprise rapidly to expand in scope, and September 1, 1923, as a matter of commercial expediency, he effected the incorporation of the business, under the title of Holland-Cook Company, which continued until December, 1929, at which time the present corporation was formed as the W. F. Holland Company. Mr. Holland is serving as president of this substantial and progressive corporation, and Kenneth Waters is the secretary and treasurer. The company specializes in the handling of fruits of vegetables, and in addition to its trade in Knox, Daviess and Gibson counties, Indiana, its operations are extended into Wabash and Lawrence counties, Illinois. The company buys produce from all sections of the Union, retains a corps of about twenty employes, and has in commission a battery of eleven motor trucks.
Mr. Holland has impressed himself as one of the forceful and progressive business men of Vincennes, is an active member of the local Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with Vincennes Lodge No.. 1, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is a Republican in politics, and he and his wife have membership in Bethany Presbyterian Church.
At Terre Haute, on July 28, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Holland to Miss Letha McCoskey, who was born and reared in Indiana, and the children of this union are five in number: Charles F., Bessie E., James Raymond, Alice May and Dorothy Marie.
The well equipped headquarters of the W. F. Holland Company in Vincennes are established at 2 North First Street, and Mr. Holland and his family have an attractive home on Hart Street Road.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
