Mr. Howard was born at Jeffersonville, Indiana, October 2, 1876, and is a son of Edmonds J. and Laura (Burke) Howard. His grandfather, James Howard, was born in England, and was a child when his parents brought him to the United States, the family first settling at Cincinnati, Ohio, where the youth became interested in shipbuilding. In 1834 he came to Jeffersonville, established modest yards and docks, and started business, as James Howard, by building his first boat, the steamer Hiperion , a 170-foot side-wheeler. From that time forward he built sixteen boats until 1848, and in the year mentioned he founded the firm of James Howard & Company, taking into partnership his brother, Dan Howard. The business was at that time removed to its present site, in the 800, 900, 1000 and 1100 blocks of East Market Street, and between 1848 and 1884 the firm built about 400 boats. In 1884 the name was changed to the Howard Ship Yard, Edmonds J. Howard becoming the active manager.
Edmonds J. Howard, was born at Madison, Indiana, and as soon as he had completed his education entered his father's business, of which he took charge at his father’s demise in 1876. He was a man of business ability, a graduate of the Kentucky Military Institute, and was active in public affairs as a member of the City Council of Jeffersonville for several years. From 1884 until his death, January 30, 1919, the company built about 1,200 boats of all kinds, the firm in the meantime having been reorganized, in 1917, under the name of the Howard Ship Yards & Dock Company, its present style. During the war between the states James E. Howard was manager of stores at the Quartermasters Depot at Jeffersonville. E. J. Howard married Laura Burke, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, who died in December, 1919, and they had two children: Clyde Howard, the operator of the Mound City Marine Ways at Mound City, Illinois, who married Julia Thompson, of Jeffersonville; and James E., of this review
James E. Howard and his brother attended the public schools at Jeffersonville and a preparatory school at Louisville, Kentucky, following which they entered their father's' business and became identified with its every department. When the elder man died James E. Howard became manager, and was engaged as such until 1925, when he purchased his brother's interest and became sole owner and president, Loretta M. Howard being secretary and treasurer. The plant and yards cover about sixteen acres of land and 200 people are given employment in the manufacture of ships and boats of every kind. Since the death of Edmonds J. Howard about 1,200 boats have been constructed at the plant which, during the World war, was worked 100 per cent for boats and supplies for the United States Government. During that period James E. Howard was on various committees engaged in Liberty Loan, Red Cross and War Stamp drives in Clark County. He is a member and an ex-president of the Chamber of Commerce; a charter member of the Rotary Club, from which he recently resigned; and a member of the Indiana Manufacturers Association.
Mr. Howard married Miss Loretta Wooden, a native of Jefferson County, and to this union there have been born three children: Edmonds J., a student of the Manual Training School of Louisville, Kentucky, who is learning the business with his father, and is in the fourth generation; and the Misses Martha and Ruth, who are attending school. Mrs. Howard was formerly president of the Women’s Civic Club of Jeffersonville, and is active and popular in social circles.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
THOMAS O'BRIEN. The career of Thomas O’Brien is illustrative of what may be accomplished through the homely traits of industry, integrity and perseverance when backed by character and native ability to accept opportunities as they are recognized. He was a poor immigrant youth of nineteen years when he first came to the United States, and it took many years for him to work his way, step by step, to his present position, that of manager of the Gary Tin Mill, of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company, one of the most important enterprises of this great industrial city.
Mr. O'Brien was born January 1, 1868, in Wales, and is a son of Thomas and Julia (Collins) O'Brien. His parents, who were born and reared in County Cork, Ireland, went to Wales as young people and were there married and spent a number of years. Eventually Thomas O'Brien, the elder, decided that America offered better opportunities for the gaining of independence of a financial character, and accordingly, in 1887, he brought his family to the United States and took up his residence at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Wales he had followed the calling of a miner and at Pittsburgh found employment of the same nature, remaining at that city until 1892, when he removed to Elwood, Indiana, and there spent the remainder of his life in following his occupation, with the exception of the last few years, when he was retired. He died in 1921, his worthy wife having in passed away in 1918. Both are buried at the Elwood (Indiana) Cemetery. There were ten children in the family: Mary, of Elwood; Catherine, who makes her home in England; Bridget, who is deceased; Henry; Dennis, who is deceased; Thomas, of this review; Daniel, deceased; William; John, deceased; and Arthur, manager of the Bethlehem Steel Tin Plate Plant at Baltimore, Maryland.
The public schools and parochial schools of Wales furnished Thomas O'Brien with his educational training, and he was nineteen years of age when he accompanied the family to the United States. Not long after their arrival he secured employment in the Carnegie Steel Plant, at Pittsburgh, as a helper, and remained with that company until 1891, when he joined the P. H. Laughman Company, of Appollo, Pennsylvania. In 1892 he left this position to accompany the family to Elwood, Indiana, where he became a tinner in the tin plant, and remained with that concern for a period of twenty-eight years, gradually rising by promotion to a position of importance because of his natural and acquired ability, his faithfulness and his hard work. From 1906 until May 1, 1920, he served in the capacity of manager of that plant, and upon the latter date was transferred to the Farrell Works, at Farrell, Pennsylvania, as manager there. On August 1, 1929, he came to Gary as manager of the Gary Tin Mill, a position which he has since retained. Mr. O'Brien is admittedly one of the best informed men in his line in the country. As he has passed through the various grades and departments he has thoroughly assimilated all the details of each, and there is nothing about the mill that he does not know. He has gained his knowledge from first-hand contact and not through the medium of text books, and his associates have come to rely implicitly upon his judgment and acumen. While he has always been a strict disciplinarian, asking just as much from his men as he does from himself, he has an inherent sense of justice and he has experienced little labor trouble in his long and varied career. He has developed rare executive capacity, while at the same time making himself popular with his fellow-officials and the employes. Mr. O'Brien has of recent years found pleasure and relaxation in golfing. He is interested in civic affairs, belongs to the Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce of Gary and the Gary Country Club, and is on the advisory board of Saint Mary's Mercy Hospital. Politically he is a Republican and his religious connection is with Holy Angels Church.
At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1891, Mr. O'Brien was united in marriage with Miss Mary Meany, daughter of John and Hannah (Taylor) Meany. Mr. Meany was a blast furnace man with a concern in Wales for a number of years, but after coming to the United States and settling at Pittsburgh, he lived in retirement until his death in 1918. Mrs. Meany survived him until 1926, and both are buried at Pittsburgh. Mrs. O'Brien was educated in the public and parochial schools of her native town in Wales and was twenty years of age when she accompanied her parents to the United States in 1887. For some years she was active in church and social life at Sharon and Farrell, Pennsylvania and since coming to Gary has been a consistent and helpful member of Holy Angels Church. Six sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien: Thomas F., Jr., who attended the parochial school at Elwood, Indiana, and spent two years at Notre Dame University, now hot mill superintendent of the Sabraton plant of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company, Morgantown, West Virginia, married Miss Margaret Wander and has two children, Frances and Thomas III; John, who died at the age of twenty-two years; Dan, who died at the age of seventeen years; Leo, educated at the parochial school of Elwood and a graduate of the high school at Sharon, Pennsylvania, now a foreman in the hot mill department of the Gary Tin Mill; Maurice, a graduate of Sharon High School, who spent two years at Notre Dame University, now in the fuel engineering department of the Gary Tin Mill; and Joseph, a graduate of Sharon High School, who spent one year at Duquesne University and is now a student at Notre Dame University.
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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
JAMES MARRA. In the ranks of the business men of Jeffersonville who have gained position and wealth through native and acquired ability, tireless industry and natural and acquired talent, one who stands out prominently as an example to the aspiring youth of any community is James Marra, president of the Jeffersonville Baking Company. His has been a long and varied career, in which he has had to meet and overcome a number of obstacles, but he has always retained faith in himself and has striven to gain the confidence of others by his honorable dealing, and he now finds himself, when in middle life, with many powers unimpaired, at the head of a large industry and in the midst of a circle of well-wishers and admiring friends.
Mr. Marra was born at Jeffersonville, Indiana, December 29, 1874, and is a son of Michael and Mary B. Marra. His father was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, where he was reared and given a country school education, and was still a youth when he immigrated to the United States and took up his residence at Jeffersonville about the year 1863. He soon found employment with the Jeffersonville & Indianapolis Railroad and continued to be identified with that line for some years, but at the time of his demise was employed in a responsible capacity by the Sweeney Iron Foundry at Jeffersonville. Mr. Marra married Miss Bridget Corrigan, of Cynthiana, Kentucky, and they were the parents of five children.
James Marra attended the public schools of Jeffersonville until he was thirteen years of age, at which time he began work as clerk in a local grocery store, with which he remained for eight years. In the meantime he improved himself by attendance at night school and supplemented this by a course in a business college, so that in 1895 he was ready .to begin a career of his own and opened a modest grocery establishment at Court Avenue and Watt Street. He built up a successful and flourishing business there, but in 1913 sold out to his brother, Dan Marra. In the meantime, on April 14, 1910, he had founded the Jeffersonville Baking Company, Inc., of which he was treasurer and a member of the board of directors for six months, at the end of that time becoming president and treasurer, positions which he has retained to the present, a period of two decades. This concern manufactures all kinds of bread, rolls and biscuits, and now occupies one of the most modern plants in the state, with the latest automatic equipment and machinery. It was the first to completely modernize the baking business, the first to successfully wrap bread in this district, and the plant, which occupies 17,000 square feet of floor space, is absolutely dust-proof. Ten large motor trucks are utilized in the delivery of the company’s product, and thirty-two people are employed in producing a capacity of 75,000 loaves weekly, the greater part of which finds a market among the people of Clark County. Mr. Marra is widely known as a capable, energetic and honorable business man, and is president of the Mutual Loan Association No. 4 of Jeffersonville. He is a member of the advisory board of the Indiana Bakers Association, and during the World war, was bakery advisor to the food administrator, as well as being active in the Liberty Loan, Red Cross and War Stamp campaigns. He takes an intense and constructive interest in all civic affairs, and is a member of the board of directors of the local Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Rotary Club, director of the Jeffersonville Recreation Club, and vice president of Clark County Aerie of the Boy Scouts of America. For over thirty years he has been a trustee of Saint Augustine’s Church. Mr. Marra married Miss Alice R. Russell, of Clark County, and they reside at 917 East Seventh Street. They have no children.
Thomas H. Marra, a brother of James Marra, is president of George S. Anderson Company, founders and manufacturing machinists, of Jeffersonville. He married Miss Cora G. Lang, daughter of William Henry Lang, vice president of that old-established and substantial concern.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
WILLIAM LEE HUBBARD is president and owner of the W. L. Hubbard Company at Scottsburg. He grew up in the atmosphere of the lumber industry, his father having been a pioneer saw mill man in Scott County. Later Mr. Hubbard established a hardware business and in recent years resumed his connection with the lumber business as operator of a retail yard. He has a permanent and assured position in the business affairs of his native county and has been a leader in many lines of civic enterprise as well.
Mr. Hubbard was born in Scott County June 9, 1868, son of Madison Hubbard. His father, a native of Taylor County, Kentucky, came to Scott County during the Civil war. For many years he carried on a business manufacturing lumber and handling timber. He married Sicha Jane Richey, of Scott County. Her father, Richard Richey, was born October 9, 1812, shortly after the Pigeon Roost massacre, to escape which her parents had sought refuge in the block house at Charlestown, Indiana.
William L. Hubbard, the oldest of five children, was educated in common schools and as a boy worked for his father in the woods and lumber mills. In October, 1896, he became proprietor of a retail hardware business at Scottsburg, and has carried on that business now for thirty years. Since 1916 he has also been a dealer in lumber, his business being known as the W. L. Hubbard Company. Mr. Hubbard has enjoyed some interesting honors in connection with his business. From 1920 to 1926 he was a member of the National Board of the Hardware Dealers Association, in 1915 was president of the Indiana State Hardware Men's Association, has been on the advisory board of the state organization and is also a member and on the advisory board of the Indiana Lumber Dealers Association. He is president and senior member of the Baker Overall Company, a Scottsburg industry that affords employment to sixty-five workers. He was president and a director of the Citizens Security Company, and a director of the Scottsburg State Bank and of the Henryville Bank. He was the fourth president of the Scottsburg Lions Club and a member of the Commercial Club, and from 1908 to 1912 served on the City Council.
Mr. Hubbard married, February 23, 1897, Miss Florence M. Bailey, who was born in Scott County, Indiana. They have one daughter, Wilma, a student at DePauw University.
Mr. Hubbard is a member of the executive committee and is now treasurer of the Hoosier State Automobile Association. During the World war he was fuel administrator for Scott County, managed the first war drive, and was active in the subsequent local program of war activities. For two terms he was a member and president of the school board and is a member of the Tuberculosis Association. Mrs. Hubbard's father, James P. Bailey, was born in Kentucky, came to Indiana in 1859 and was a soldier in the Civil war. During the World war Mrs. Hubbard was a member of the Council of Defense and on the executive committee of the Red Cross and county chairman of the food clubs. She is a member of the Scott County Historical Society. The family are members of Scottsburg Baptist Church.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HARRY A. CHRISTENSEN. In every thriving and growing community one of the most important assets for protection is the fire department. In this connection Jeffersonville is fortunate in having as chief such an able and experienced man as Harry A. Christensen, who possesses the requisites of courage, executive capacity, judgment, diplomacy and energy in no small degree. His career, which started in early boyhood, has been a long, honored and varied one, and in each capacity in which he has acted he has held the full confidence of those with whom he was connected.
Chief Christensen was born at Watson, Clark County, Indiana, September 6, 1872, and is a son of Peter and Pateria (Dall) Christiansen, natives of Denmark. The parents were educated at Copenhagen, where they were married, and some time after the close of the war between the states, about 1869, immigrated to this country and settled in Clark County, Indiana, where Peter Christensen became a substantial and highly respected agriculturist and a citizen who had the welfare of his community at heart. He and his worthy wife were the parents of three sons and three daughters.
Harry A. Christensen attended the public school at Watson, which he left at the age of fifteen years, but though he has had no further school training he has been a great reader and student all his life, and thus has gained an excellent practical education and a broad knowledge of worth-while subjects. He began his career as the driver of a mule team at a cement mill, and from this humble position worked his way steadily upward by industry and fidelity until he became stationary engineer of the company, having worked through all the departments during his seven years of employment. In 1894 he resigned his position, and went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he became hoister at the round-house of the Pennsylvania Railway Company. Later he was promoted to the position of night foreman at the round-house, but at the end of five years resigned to join the Louisville Gas & Electric Light Company on their spillway. His next position was that of engineer of the steamer pump engine of the Jeffersonville fire department, in 1918, and early in 1919 was made chief. He served in this capacity until 1923, when he became yard foreman for the P. F. Myers Lumber Company, but at the end of four years was recalled to the fire department and has served as chief to the present. Under his administration the department has been improved in many ways, and now consists of twelve men, operating three pieces of modern motorized fire apparatus. He is a strict disciplinarian, cool and collected in times of emergency, and a "smoke-eater" whose exploits are well known far beyond the immediate vicinity of Jeffersonville. He belongs to the Indiana State Police and Fireman's Association, and has been a member of the Modern Woodmen of America for a quarter of a century. The present fire house was originally erected in 1900, and since then at various times has been improved and made larger, until today it compares favorably with many stations located in the big cities of the state. Chief Christensen has always been interested in civic movements and his support can be relied upon when advancement and progress are at stake.
Chief Christensen was united in marriage with Miss Lucy Williams, an orphan, of Seymour, Indiana, and to this union there were born five children: Henry, of Jeffersonville, a veteran of the World war; who saw two years of overseas service in France with the Thirty-fifth Infantry, A. E. F., and married Mattie Adkins; Ernest, who married Ann McCarthy; Calhoun, who married Lena Shea; Ruth, who married William Cole; and Lucille, who is deceased.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JOHN NYE ROBERTS. Among the more uncommon branches of manufacture, that of the making of veneer is an interesting one. Veneer is a beautifully grained or figured wood, which is, owing to its cost, rarely used in the form of solid boards, but cut into thin slices. Veneers are cut from almost all the finer woods, both native and foreign, including American walnut, mahogany, birch, rosewood, ebony, satinwood, cedar, tulipwood, Hungarian ash, sycamore and others, being principally used on pianos and fine furniture. In Indiana a representative concern which earned a reputation for excellent workmanship and high principles was that of John N. Roberts & Son, manufacturers of lumber and veneer at Jeffersonville, Clark County, the owner of which, John N. Roberts, has been engaged in the business for a quarter of a century. In March, 1931, the firm was incorporated as the Roberts, Dulaney Veneer Corporation.
Mr. Roberts was born at Richmond in Wayne County, Indiana, March 28, 1863, and is a son of John and Mary (Nye) Roberts. His father, who was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, was brought to Indiana by his parents as a child, in 1840, and grew up on a farm, but later turned his attention to the manufacture of furniture, a field in which he gained much success. He was a man of good business judgment and sound ability and was known for his straightforward and honorable principles in business dealing. He married Mary Nye, who was born in Franklin County, Indiana, and they became the parents of five children.
John N. Roberts attended the public schools of Wayne County and Earlham College, and began to have an acquaintance with business affairs when he was only sixteen years of age, as a hand in his father's mill. He remained with the elder man until 1879, following which he was identified with various other mills of a like nature, learning the business in all its departments and particulars and carefully conserving his money with the idea in view of embarking in business on his own account. This ambition he realized in 1905, at which time he located at New Albany and erected a veneer mill, which he operated successfully for a period of thirteen years. In 1918 he sold out and came to Jeffersonville, where he organized the firm of John N. Roberts & Son and started the veneer mill which still bears his name, and which is known all over this section of the state for its fine work and the excellence of its material. This is now a partnership between father and son, and the business has been built up to large proportions and now employs some twenty- nine persons in the manufacture of lumber and veneer of American walnut for various large furniture companies. The plant covers ten acres and is furnished with all the modern machinery known to the trade. During the World war period it was engaged in 100 percent war production. Mr. Roberts is a member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has several civic connections. He has not taken any active part in politics.
Mr. Roberts married Miss Amy Willard, of Indianapolis, and to this union there have been born three children: Amy Rosbrugh, who was educated in a private and public schools at Indianapolis, and is now a resident of New Albany, Indiana; Lydia Mary, educated in a private school at Orange, New Jersey, who is the widow of Dr. Thomas Farris Hale, a physician; and John Ralston, a graduate of Purdue University, who served eighteen months in the United States Navy during the World war, and is now his father’s associate in business. The family home is situated on Silver Hill, New Albany.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
MARK STOREN, of Scottsburg, has long enjoyed a statewide reputation as one of the eminent members of the Indiana bar. He has been a practicing lawyer nearly half a century. Mr. Storen has held various positions of trust and responsibility and for eight years was United States marshal of Indiana.
He was born in Columbia County, New York, April 12, 1857, and was a boy of about eight years when his parents, Michael and Mary Storen, came to Indiana. His father spent many years in the railroad service and afterwards settled on a farm. Mark Storen, one of six children, grew up in Scott County had most of his school advantages there and for two terms attended the Terre Haute, Indiana, Normal School. While teaching for five years in Scott County he pursued the study of law under Judge J. D. New at Vernon, and in 1880 was admitted to the Indiana bar. Since that date he has had his law offices in Scottsburg, and has enjoyed many of the distinctions paid to the able lawyer and man of affairs. Many important cases have been entrusted to him in the course of his practice. In 1888 he was elected clerk of the Scott County Circuit Court and by reelection held that office eight years. He was also a member of the Indiana Legislature and representative of Scott and Jennings counties, and soon after the beginning of President Wilson's first term was appointed United States marshal for Indiana and in 1918 was reappointed by the president, serving until 1922.
When he became United State Marshall he resigned the office of president of the Scott County Bank. He had been president of that institution for several years and is still on the board of directors. Mr. Storen for twelve years was a member of the Scottsburg School Board. He has been a leader in the Democratic party and served on the county and state committees. He was the third president of the Scottsburg Lions Club, and is a member of the Indiana State and District Bar Associations. He belongs to the Scottish Rite bodies of Masonry at Indianapolis, also Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America and B. P. O. Elks. Scott County has no more disinterested and public spirited citizen than Mark Storen.
He married Miss Minerva E. Cravens, of Scott County, whose people were pioneers of this section of Indiana, coming from Kentucky and originally from Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Storen have one daughter, Merle, wife of Lawrence E. Reeves, a business man of Columbus, Indiana.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
