EDWARD SCHLEICHER. Among the numerous interests that have been attracted to Gary during recent years because of the ideal location and surpassed facilities of this thriving industrial city, one of the most prominent is the Schleicher Incorporation, of which Edward Schleicher is president. Mr. Schleicher is a self-made man, having commenced his career at the age of fourteen years as a Western Union Telegraph messenger boy, and now finds himself, by reason of his industry and business capacity, at the head of an enterprise which is one of the largest and most prominent in its field.

Edward Schleicher was born at Louisville, Kentucky, August 20, 1873, and is a son of Charles and Christine (Echsner) Schleicher. Charles Schleicher was born in Germany and came to the United States in young manhood, settling at Louisville, whre he secured employment as a mechanic. Possessed of great inventive genius, he invented the first automatic car coupler, as well as a lathe machine which was adopted by the Brennan southwestern Agricultural Works, in addition to which he did considerable research work for the Kentucky Wagon Works. He died in 1893 and his wife, a native of Saint Galen, Switzerland, died in 1898, and both are buried in a cemetery at Louisville. There were nine children in the family: Charles and Henry, who are deceased; Robert, a resident of Louisville; Frank, a retierd cigar box manufacturer of Maplewood, New Jersey; John, who is engaged in the box manufacturing business at Saint Louis, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Hopenjon, of Kansas City, Missori; Emma, the widow of C. M. Ross, of Louisville; Anna, who died in December, 1929, as the wife of Charles E. Laufer, of Louisville; and Edward, of this review.

Edward Schleicher attended the public schools of Louisvile and at the age of fourteen years secured a position as messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Company. He remained with that company until 1901, gradually advancing in position because of his ability and fidelity, but in the year mentioned resigned a responsible post to engage in the brokerage business at Louisville. In 1909 he went to Chicago, Illinois, where he engaged in the insurance business, and was successfully engaged therein until 1917, when he founded the business of which he is now the head. This company operated with success at Chicago until 1924, when he and E. P. Hettiger purchased the plant of the old National Steel Door company, at 3824 Georgia Street, Gary. The present commodious and modern plant of 40,000 square feet of factory surface has been made since October, 1924. Improvements which have been completed in 1920, at a cost of $75,000, include new offices, recreation grounds, cafeteria parlors for conferences, a suite of rooms for the accommodation of visiting dealers, extensive show rooms, landscape gardening and additional factory equipment. The plant is a model industry, in that latest devices provide for the comfort and safety of employees at all times. Shower rooms, tennis courts, putting greens and convenient sanitary arrangements are provided. At present the plant is giving employment to nearly 100 people.

The Schleicher plant, which is trademarked "Slyker," is at present the largest manufacturer of all-metal radiator coverings. A large assortment of designs is offered, period designs, the new mottled, rough finish that is proving so popular, imitation wood and cane coverings. Its officers are: Edward Schleicher, president; P. E. Schleicher, vice president, inventor and designer of most of the covers; and C. E. Bergren, treasurer. The covers are sold to hotels, apartment buildings, theatres and clubs, and are usually retailed through furniture stores. They consist of ornamental coverings which completely conceal the ordinary coil heating radiator and at the same time moisten the atmosphere of the room and protect walls and draperies. The general construction is pressed steel, annealed, welded and riveted. The finish is a variety of forms, all baked enamel and Duco. Each piece of metal before it is finished has been enameled and run through nine baking processes. Among the most beautiful of finishes are the natural wood patterns, made in imitation of walnut and mahogany grains. The pattern is transferred by means of a photo-engraving process, insuring absolute accuracy in imitating the natural grain of the wood. The mottled and rough finished tinted designs are mostly hand work, the rough surface carefully built up and hand painted by an artist from his palette.

As president of this concern Mr. Schleicher occupies a high standing among Gary's business men. He is a member of the Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce, the Gary Country Club and the Builders Club of Chicago, and for a number of years was active in Louisville Lodge No. 8, B. P. O. Elks. He takes only a good citizen's part in politics, but is progressive in his views as to needed developments and beneficial movements.

At Louisville, Kentucy, October 10, 1894, Mr. Schleicher was united in marriage with Miss Irene Hecht, a daughter of Charles and Justine (DeLoi) Hecht, the former of whom was for years a prominent merchant tailor at Louisville, where he died in 1900, Mrs. Hecht having passed away in 1894. Mrs. Schleicher was educated in the public schools of Louisville, where she graduated from high school, and for years was active in the Dominican Catholic Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Schleicher there have been born three children: Alice Justine, the wife of J. E. Johnson, of Gary, who has three children, Joseph Owen, Justine Alice and Mark E., Charles Henry, educated in the public schools of Louisvile and high school at Chicago, who is now a manufacturer's representative at New York City, married Miss Evelyn Delanoie, and has two children, Alice and Charles H. (Sonny); and Paul E., born November 11, 1900, was educated in the grade and high schools of Kentucky, and spent two years at Loyola University, Chicago. Since that time he has been identified with his father's business at Gary, of which he is vice president, designer and inventor. He married, July 1, 1922, Miss Marguerite Whipple, of Chicago, daughter of Dennis and Mary Louise (Anderson) Whipple, of Chicago, the former of whom was for years engaged in the automobile business at Chicago, where he died in 1920, his wife now residing at Evanston, Illinois. Mrs. Paul E. Schleicher was educated in the public schools of Chicago and at Principa University, Saint Louis, and is active in the First Church of Christ, Scientist, and in club and social circles. Mr. and Mrs. Schleicher have three children, Paul E., Jr., Robert E. and Marguerite E.

During the war Charles Henry Schleicher enlisted in the United States Army, and after training at Camp Thomas, Kentucky, was assigned to a tank company, with which he served eleven months in France. Paul E. Schleicher was in training at Camp Polk, Raleigh, North Carolina, at the time of the signing of the armistice, and therefore was not called into active service. Paul E. Schleicher is known as one of the energetic and progressive young business men of Gary, where he is a member of the Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce and active in civic affairs. He belongs to Gary Post, American Legion and the Gary Country Club.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


CARL HOCKER. In an industrial city of the size and prominence of Gary it is but natural that electric power should have a prominent place. Of the numerous enterprises connected with this phase of the city's activities none has gained a greater degree of leadership than the Hocker Electric Company, of which Carl Hocker is president. Still a young man in years, Mr. Hocker has had long, thorough and varied experience.

Mr. Hocker was born at Beaver Dam, Kentucky, July 22, 1896, an dis a son of William D. and Mary (Stevens) Hocker. The Hocker family is of English origin, and was founded in Kentucky in 1790, by the great-great-grandfather of Carl Hocker, who was an early pioneer of the Blue Grass State, coming from Baltimore, Maryland, to the new country, where he secured land from the Government which still belongs to members of the family. The old log cabin in which this hardy pioneer made his home is still standing, in a fair state of preservation, and is one of the historic spots of the state. William D. Hocker was born at Beaver Dam, where he received a public school education, and was reared to the pursuits of agriculture. He has been a farmer and stock dealer all of his life and is now one of the substantial citizens of his community, where he is held in high respect and esteem for his many sterling qualities. Mr. Hocker has been content with the life of a private citizen, never having cared for public office, but has always supported good public measures and enterprises and has contributed his share to the furtherance of worth while projects. He married Miss Mary Stevens, who was born, reared and educated in the same community as her husband, and was active in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church up to the time of her death in 1923, when she was buried in the cemetery at Beaver Dam. She likewise belonged to a pioneer family which has resided for many years in Kentucky. There were seven children in the family of whom three died in infancy, the living being: Calvin, who is now a resident of Arizona; Fred, who still resides on the old home property at Beaver Dam; Carl, of this review; and Clayton, of Detroit, Michigan.

Carl Hocker was reared on the home farm and attended the public schools of Beaver Dam, where he graduated from the high school as a member of the class of 1914. He then finished a three-year course at the Evansville (Indiana) Technical School, and during this period was employed at times by contracting firms up to 1917. In that year he joined the emergency fleet of the United States Shipping Board, under Chairman E. N. Hurley, with which he remained until April, 1919, and at that time came to Gary to begin his service with an electric company. He belongs to the Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce, and is chairman of the Lions Club for 1930-1931; and belongs to Gary Lodge No. 677 A. F. and A. M.; Gary Chapter, R. A. M., and Gary Council No. 103, R. and S. M.; Gary Lodge No. 1152, B. P. O. Elks; the Electrical Craftsmen; Gary Chapter, O. E. S., of which he is patron; and Gary White Shrine No. 3. He is a Republican in his political allegiance, and his religious affiliation is with the First Methodist (City) Church.

At Richmond, Virginia, December 17, 1917, Mr. Hocker was united in marriage with Miss Grace Ferguson, a daughter of John and Martha Ferguson, of Evansville, Indiana, where Mr. Ferguson was engaged in the lumber and sawmill business for many years, until his death in 1922. His widow still resides at the old home at Evansville. Mrs. Hocker was educated in the public schools of Evansville, where she graduated from high school, and has been active in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Eastern Star, the Women's Relief Corps, the White Shrine and the Woman's Club.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


CHARLES A. SPAULDING, superintendent of schools at Plymouth, Marshall County, is a native of Southern Indiana, and his people have been in the state since pioneer times.

His great-grandfather came from England. His grandfather was born at Bardstown, Kentucky, January 6, 1802, and died in Indiana January 8, 1873. Charles E. Spaulding was born at French Lick Springs, Indiana, January 13, 1869. His father was also a native of Indiana and died March 13, 1896. The mother of Professor Spaulding was Ann Moore, who was born July 19, 832, and died June 3, 1906. She was of English and Dutch ancestry.

Charles E. Spaulding attended country schools, the Paola High School, and was graduated from Indiana University in 1897. During the past thirty years he has taken a great deal of additional work at colleges and universities, being at the University of Chicago in 1905 and also in post-graduate study at Indiana University, and has completed several courses by correspondence. He was granted his first certificate to teach at the age of fifteen. He taught in French Lick Township, for several years was principal of the high school at Hagerstown, was superintendent of schools at Orleans for four years, at Converse five years, Winnemac six years, three years at Decatur, five years at Columbia City and three years at Tipton. He came to Plymouth in 1924 and is now on his second three-year contract.

Mr. Spaulding's father, Richard A. Spaulding, who was born in 1830, was a farmer, grain and live stock dealer. For five years he held the office of township trustee and during that time he rebuilt all the school houses in his jurisdiction. He was also a Civil war veteran, being a member of Company G of the Forty-ninth Indiana Infantry. He entered the service August 1, 1861, served in the ranks and was mustered out in 1865. While he was in the army his wife remained at home after the farm and her five children.

Mr. Charles E. Spaulding married Nora Alice Faucett. They have one son, Wayne Faucett Spaulding, born July 20, 1901. He graduated from the Columbia City High School in 1919 and completed the course in electrical engineering at Purdue University in June, 1923. He is now a traveling salesman for the General Electric Company. Wayne F. Spaulding married Eva Lawrence on September 3, 1922, and has two children Katherine, born June 23, 1924, and Charles David, born April 18, 1926.

Professor Spaulding is a member of the Methodist Church, belongs to the Masonic Lodge at Decatur Indiana, and is a Kiwanian. His hobby is philosophy and poetry.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


IRA J. BIESECKER is a veteran Indiana banker, and has been active in the banking affairs of Morocco for thirty years. He is cashier of the Farmers State Bank of that city.

Mr. Biesecker, while a native of Illinois, is a member of one of Newton County's oldest families. His grandfather, Joseph Biesecker, came to Indiana and acquired by homestead and purchase from the Government a section of land located seven miles from Morocco, in Beaver Township, Iroquois County, Illinois. Ira J. Biesecker is today the owner of this land, which had long constituted one of the valuable farms of Iroquois County.

Ira J. Biesecker was born April 7, 1855. His father was also named Joseph and died many years ago. The mother of the Morocco banker was Genevieve Myers, whose father, Conrad Myers, came from Germany and settled near Lafayette, Indiana. Ira J. Biesecker has one brother, Joseph.

He was educated in public schools in Illinois and has lived at Morocco since 1900. For a number of years he was president of the State Bank and in 1920 became cashier of the new Farmers State Bank. Mr. Biesecker is a Republican in politics and a member of the Knights of Pythias.

He married, September 26, 1875, Miss Florence Archibald, daughter of James Archibald. The one child of their marriage is Laura Gertrude, the widow of Albert Grant. She has two children, Vera, who married Van E. Cox, and they have one son, David, and Clifford Grant. The son, Clifford, who lives at Gary, Indiana, married Elva Hammer.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


ROBERT LEE STONE, an active young automobile man at Evansville, has had an interesting diversity of business experience and since early youth has been associated with Big Springs and with big men.

MR. Stone was born at Lyndon, Vermont, December 4, 1898. His father, Benjamin F. Stone, is also a native of Vermont, for a number of years was in the automobile business and is now retired, living in Florida. He married Lucretia Gregwire, who was born at Victory, Vermont.

Robert Lee Stone was the only child of his parents. He attended grammar and high schools in Vermont, completing his regular high school course at the age of fourteen and then remained two years in post-graduate study. After leaving high school he became secretary to the road master of the Boston & Maine Railway Company for two years. He left that to become secretary to the general manager of the Mathews Smith Chain Grocery business, one of the pioneers in chain store operations, a concern then doing $6,000,000 of business annually. For three years Mr. Stone had charge of the employment in this organization. For two years he was associated with the Piggly-Wiggly Chain Store Company as general manager and buyer at Cleveland, Ohio. For a year and a half he was acting general manager of the Gammeter Mercantile Company at Akron, Ohio.

MR. Stone for one year was secretary of the Guardian Realty Company of Chicago and in 1927 came to Evansville to become manager for a chain tire and automobile accessory concern, but resigned in November, 1928, to establish a service company for automobiles, and his business, located at 413 Sycamore Street, has become very popular among motorists. Mr. Stone is a Republican a Catholic and is affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose. During the World war he was enlisted in the navy from June, 1917, until January, 1919.

He married in May, 1928, Miss Lovena M. Hare, daughter of James and Mary Hare, of Mount Carmel, Illinois. They have one son, Robert Lee, Jr.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


RICHARD E. KEMPER is a prominent Evansville citizen whose career has been distinguished by long and faithful service for one corporation, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, and in more than forty years of active work he has risen from telegraph operator to division superintendent.

Mr. Kemper was born in Laurel County, Kentucky, May 17, 1872, sone of John R. and Frances (Calloway) Kemper. His parents were born in Kentucky and his father spent his active life as a merchant. He is now eighty-three years of age and his wife passed away September 10, 1900. Of their nine children three died in infancy. The children, with the dates of birth were: Richard E., May 17, 1872; Leila M., October 23, 1874; Keonard K., October 3, 1876; Nora L., November, 1878; Della L., February, 1881; E. Belva, September 24, 1884; Fred L., March 6, 1887; Ruby C., September 13, 1894; and Roland A., August 18, 1896. Leila is the widow of Otis Mouser, who was president of a large coal company, with holdings in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and lives at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To this union were born two children, Otis, Jr., and Vivian, the latter dying from being gassed in the World war. The daughter Nora married Edward B. Mouser, of Riley, Kentucky, and has a daughter, Sarah. Fred, a bond salesman in Louisville, married Evelyn King. The two youngest children Ruby and Roland, are unmarried.

Richard E. Kemper attended public schools in Laurel County, Kentucky. As a boy he learned telegraphy and that was the means of getting into the railroad service, and hard work and faithfulness have been the means of promoting him through successive grades of responsibility. He was telegrapher and station agent from 1886 to 1892 and on October 8, 1888, was transferred to Evansville, which has been his home ever since. From 1894 to 1903 he was a train dispatcher and chief train dispatcher. From 1903 to 1920 he was master of trains. In 1920 he was made assistant superintendent and on April 22, 1929, was made superintendent of the Henderson & St. Louis divisions at Evansville for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

Mr. Kemper is one of the best known railway officials of Southern Indiana. He is a member of the Rotary Club, Transportation Club, the Evansville Chamber of Commerce, is a Methodist and a Republican.

He married, December 27, 1894, Miss Josephine Hawley. She died December 12, 1926, leaving a daughter, Ruth K., who is the wife of Norman Beach, of Evansville. On October 17, 1928, Mr. Kemper married Jennie Bush, daughter of Judge Charles H. Bush, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


HON. GEORGE CHRISTIAN KOPP. A lawyer by education and training, Hon. George C. Kopp, judge of the Fourth District Court, has been identified with such a variety of interests as to have become known as one of Southern Indiana's most versatile and capable citizens. His entire career has been a busy and interesting one. As a lawyer, in the preparation of his cases he was careful and painstaking and his thoroughness inspired confidence in his clients. As a judge he has been dignified, impartial and resolute. As an organizer of large enterprises and activities his executive ability has rarely been surpassed, and in citizenship he has established a record that may well be emulated.

Judge Kopp was born March 23, 1877, in Clark County, on his father's farm in Jeffersonville Township, and is a son of Christian and Catherine Wiedner (Warren) Kopp. His father, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, came to the United States at the age of fourteen years, and first settled in Kentucky, where at sixteen years, he enlisted in Company B, Twenty-second Regiment, Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, for the duration of the war between the states. Following the close of his military services he came to Clark County and settled on the farm in Jeffersonville Township, on which he still lives in comfortable retirement at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. In the fall of 1864 Mr. Kopp married Miss Catherine Wiedner, also a native of Bavaria, Germany, and of their nine children Judge Kopp, of this review, is the fifth in order of birth.

George C. Kopp attended the grade schools of Jeffersonville, and then entered the law department of the University of Louisville, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws as a member of the class of 1903. Admitted to the bar in the same year, he immediately began practice at Jeffersonville, and January 1, 1908, was elected prosecuting attorney for the Fourth Judicial District. He was reelected in 1909 and served in that office in 1910 and 1911, following which he resumed his private practice, although he acted as city attorney of Clarksville for eleven years, Claysburg eighteen years and Sellersburg twelve years, all of these being towns near Jeffersonville, in Clark County. In 1926 he was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit Court and assumed the bench January 1, 1927, for a term of six years. In 1909, when the Clark County Bar Association was threatened with dissolution, it was Judge Kopp who brought about a reorganization that placed the body upon a firm and substantial basis, and he still holds membership therein, as he does also in the Indiana State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. As an organizer and executive of large enterprises Judge Kopp has had few equals. He was one of the organizers of the Clark County State Bank, of which he was a director until the time of his election to the bench. He was one of the organizers and is vice president and a director of the Switow Theatrical Corporation, which controls eleven theatres, including houses at Jeffersonville, New Albany, Bedford, Paoli and Salem. He also organized and is president and a director of the United Home Furnishing Company, founded in 1921, which has been developed into the largest complete home furnishing house in Southern Indiana, with two stores at Jeffersonville, one at Sellersburg, one at Salem and one at Scottsburg. He organized the City Ice Company and the Clark Realty Company, of which he was president and a director, but has disposed of his interests therein, and the Indiana Braid & Cabinet Company, at Borden, Indiana. He also organized the Young Men's Business Association out of which grew the present Chamber of Commerce of Jeffersonville. During the World war Judge Kopp was a committeeman in the Liberty Loan drives, a chairman of the Clark County Americanization committee, and was very active in various other ways. Fraternally he is affiliated with Jeffersonville Lodge No. 340, A. F. and A. M., the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Kwsind Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men. A Democrat in his political views, he is known as one of the leaders of his party in Clark County, and his religious connection is with St. Luke's German Lutheran Church of Jeffersonville. His position in the community is that of a man who has lived according to the best that he has known, whose abilities have been trained upon the things that are worth while, and whose general character is such as to win him those most splendid and satisfyinig rewards, the consciousness of well-doing and the esteem of his fellow-men. He started the movement and personally raised the subscription of $50,000 for the election of the Clark County orphanage. This home will be built entirely by public subscription and will afford a home for fifty children.

Judge Kopp married Miss Frances Murphy, November 10, 1910, she being a native of Indiana and a daughter of J. B. Murphy, general superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railway, and a member of an old and honored pioneer family of Indiana. Judge and Mrs. Kopp have no children. They reside in a beautiful home at 1507 Spring Street.

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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


Deb Murray