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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
A Standard History of
THE HANGING ROCK IRON REGION OF
OHIO
An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with the Extended
Survey of the Industrial and Commercial Development
Vol. II
ILLUSTRATED
Publishers - The Lewis Publishing Company
1916
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JAMES HENRY FERGUSON.
The extensive mineral and industrial resources of the Hanging
Rock Iron Region have naturally developed a number of finished
experts in mining, manufacturing and all the allied industries
that depend upon coal and iron ore. Of these men perhaps
none has had a broader field of experience and a reputation more
generally recognized throughout the country than James Henry
Ferguson, who for forty years has been connected with almost
every phase of coal mining, iron mining, blast furnaces, iron
manufacture and has been an individual workman, an expert
investigator, and a manager of large plants and of large forces
of employes.
James Henry Ferguson was born at South Point, in
Lawrence County, Ohio, Jan. 29, 1852. His parents were
john and Elizabeth (Thomas) Ferguson, both of whom
represented some of the earliest families of Lawrence County and
were both natives of South Point. The father was born in
1818 and the mother in 1828, and the former died in 1898 and the
latter in 1906. John Ferguson was a farmer and boatman.
Their seven children were Vincent, James, Henry, Samuel,
Theodore, Mary, Addie and Cynthia.
James Henry Ferguson grew up in the atmosphere of
coal and ore industries, but was also equipped with a liberal
education in preparation for his life work. After
leaving the public schools of South Point he entered what is now
the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and was a
student there until 1873. In the meantime he had
assisted his father on the farm, was for two years a merchant at
South Point, and finally sold out and went west to Colorado,
where 2½ years were spent as
a laborer in and around mines and furnaces and this experience
gave him an intimate and practical knowledge of mining
activities. On his return to Ohio, he was manager of the
store conducted by the Crafts Iron Company at Greendale in the
Hocking Valley for three years, then for three years was
superintendent of coal mines with the Star Consolidated Coal
Company of Colorado, again returned to Ohio and was
superintendent of mines and blast furnaces from 1878 to 1889,
and from that year until 1902 was superintendent of mines and
coke ovens at Carperton, Fayette County, West Virginia.
The following two years were spent as superintendent of coal
mines at Congo in Perry County, Ohio, and from 1904 until 1905
he was superintendent of coal mines and coke ovens at Raton, New
Mexico. From 1905 to 1907 Mr. Ferguson was
superintendent of blast furnace and coal and ore mines at
Rockbridge, Virginia, and then entered the service of the
Tennessee Coal & Iron Railway Company, first as superintendent
of coal mines and coke ovens at Ensley, Alabama, from 1907 to
1908, then at Tray City, Tennessee, as superintendent of coal
mines and coke ovens from the spring of 1908 to the fall of the
same year, and finally six months as superintendent of mines and
coke ovens at Birmingham, Alabama. The Lookout Mountain
Iron Company then employed him as superintendent of their ore,
coal mines and coke ovens and blast furnace during 1908-09, and
up to the spring of 1911 he was .superintendent of furnaces for
tin; Columbus Ohio Iron & Steel Company. His next field of
work was again in West Virginia as superintendent of mines and
coke ovens until 1912, up to 1913 was connected with the Union
Iron & Steel Company of Ironton, Ohio, and after that with the
Lawrence Iron Company in the Lawrence Furnace from 1913 to 1914,
at which time the works shut down.
As this list indicates, Mr. Ferguson has
for nearly forty years, since 1876, held prominent positions
with many large corporations, and it is a significant fact that
he has never asked for a position from any company, his services
having always been in demand and several limes different
corporations have vied with each other in competition for his
ability as an administrator and expert on all phases of mining
and ore manufacture.
On Oct. 25, 1887, Mr. Ferguson married
Mary Barton, daughter of William Barton,
a steamboat man at South Point in Lawrence County. They
have two children, Margaret Kyle and James
Barton. Mr. Ferguson is affiliated
with the Masonic Order, belongs to the First Presbyterian Church
of Ironton, and is a republican in polities. He is the
owner of eighty acres of improved land on section 32 of Perry
Township in Lawrence County and has a comfortahle residence in
Ironton.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 1296 |
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LOUIS A. FILLGROVE.
An old and substantial business in Ironton has been conducted by
Louis A. Fillgrove for nearly forty years. A tinner
and roofer, he has made a reputation of performing skillfully
and efficiently all contracts entrusted to his charge, and on
this reputation has been based his standing as a business man
and citizen.
Born in Pennsylvania Jan. 2, 1856, he is a son of
George and Henrietta (Reuper) Fillgrove, both of whom were
native of Hanover, Germany. His father was born in 1822
and his mother in 1821. Coming to America and settling in
Pennsylvania in 1854, the father lived there a few years, and in
1861 transferred his residence to Lawrence County, Ohio, and
quietly followed his vocation there until his death in 1890.
The mother died in 1907. Their five children were:
Minnie, deceased; William M.; August; Louis
A.; and Charles, deceased.
Louis A. Fillgrove was educated in the public
schools of Ironton until seventeen and thereafter went to work
to learn a trade and make his own way. After an
apprenticeship in the tinner's trade, he worked as a journeyman
until 1876, and then opened a shop at Ironton, and has conducted
it with increasing success ever since. In the meantime his
business influence and possessions have increased, and beside
the work which constitutes his principal calling he is a
stockholder in the First National Bank and in the Home Telephone
Company, owns two double residences, five vacant lots and also a
business block on North 2nd Street.
On May 11, 1879, at Ironton, Mr. Fillgrove
married Sophia Horn, daughter of Henry and Dorothea
(Miller) Horn. Her father was one of the early
butchers of Ironton. To their union have been born seven
children: Henry C.; Clara D.; Edward C.;
Howard, deceased; Bertha; Edith; and one that
died in infancy. The son Henry, who is employed by
his father in the tinning and roofing business, married Rosia
Wolff, and their four children are: Mildred;
Dorothea, deceased; and Lester and Chester,
twins. Clara is the wife of Charles
Bester of Ironton, and their two children are Louis
and Karl. The son Edward is unmarried and is
also a tinner by trade. Bertha and Edith are
students in the Ironton high school. Mr.
Fillgrove is a republican in politics, a member of the
Lutheran Church, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 755 |
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CHARLES H. FOIT.
The value of a useful vocation and a thorough training, of
concentrating one's energy upon one line of endeavor, of forging
steadily ahead regardless of obstacles and difficulties, has
found emphatic expression in the career of Charles H. Foit,
proprietor of the Iron City Baking Company, of Ironton, Ohio,
and a citizen who has taken an active part in those affairs
which have contributed to the betterment of his community.
Mr. Foit was born at Pine Grove, Lawrence County,
Ohio, Nov. 22, 1878, and is a son of John and Lena (Meyers)
Foit, natives of that place, where the father was born in
1849 and the mother in 1851. John Foit, who
has been engaged in coal mining during the greater part of his
life, still makes his home at Pine Grove, and is a well known
and substantial citizen. There were six children in the
family: Charles H., Amelia, John, Jr., Annie, William and
Barney.
Charles H. Foit was given but meagre educational
advantages, as he attended the public schools of Pine Grove only
until the age of eleven years, but made the most of his
opportunities and was an industrious and receptive student.
On leaving school he entered upon his responsibilities as a
worker in the coal mines, remaining four years and then coming
to Ironton, where he became an apprentice under Andy
Able, who was at that time proprietor of the old Iron City
Bakery. Mr. Foit worked for Mr. Able
for one year at wages of $1.50 per week, remaining with him
until he thoroughly learned the trade of baker, and when the
bakery was incorporated into a stock company he had so
demonstrated his business and executive ability that he was
given the position of manager, which he held until 1910, in the
meantime acquiring an interest in the business. In that
year he became sole owner by buying the stock of the other
stockholders, and at this time is at the head of this
enterprise, which is valued at about fifteen thousand dollars,
and owns the plant at Third and Lawrence streets. Mr.
Foit has gained a full measure of success by his strict
attention to business, his unswerving integrity in all
transactions and his fidelity to every engagement. He is
widely known in the trade, and the high confidence and esteem in
which he is held by his associates has been evidenced by his
election to the office of treasurer of the Ohio State Master
Bakers' Association, he is a stockholder of the National Pretzel
Company, and in addition to his baking plant is owner of his own
comfortable residence at Fourth and Vernon streets. Mr.
Foit is a republican in his political views, and at this
time is a candidate for the office of county commissioner.
He takes an active and sincere interest in the welfare of his
city, as evidence by his membership in the Chamber of Commerce,
where he is chairman of the house committee. Fraternally
he holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, the Knights of Columbus and the Modern Woodmen of America,
and his religious affiliation is with St. Joseph's Catholic
Church. An enthusiastic sportsman, he is popular with his fellow
members in the Symes Creek Fishing Club.
Mr. Foit was married at Ironton, June 6,
1900, to Miss Amelia Hoffman, daughter of
Charles Hoffman, a pioneer settler of West
Ironton, and four children have been born to this union: Alma,
Charlotte, Ruth and Walter.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 774 |
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ALBERT J. FRECKA.
With a well equipped establishment at 28 South Third Street, in
the City of Ironton, Mr. Frecka conduets a prosperous
plumbing business, and he is known as one of the popular and
progressive business men of his native city, the metropolis and
judicial center of Lawrence County, where he was born on the
15th of June, 1883.
Mr. Frecka is a son of Charles C. and Mary E.
(Witting) Frecka, the former of whom was born at Wheeling,
West Virginia, in1860, and the latter of whom was born at
Ashland, Kentucky, in1862. The parents have been residents
of Ironton since 1872, and here the father was originally
employed as an expert wire-maker in a leading manufacturing
plant, but he now devotes his attention to the plumbing
business. Of the ten children all are living except one,
Henry. the names are here entered in the respective
order of the children's birth: Albert J., John and
Henry (twins), Karl, Margaret, Marie, Anna, Ralph,
Robert and Raymond.
Albert J. Frecka continued
to attend the public schools of Ironton until he had completed
the first year's study in the high school, at the age of
seventeen years. About six years prior to this, when he
was but eleven years old, he had initiated his virtual
apprenticeship at the plumber's trade, in which he eventually
perfected his knowledge and became an expert artisan. He
continued to work at plumbing at irregular intervals until he
left the high school, and for two years thereafter he was
employed in a nail and wire mill in Ironton, the ensuing three
years having found him engaged as agent and wagon driver for the
Model Laundry Company, with which he remained an additional
three years in the capacity of shipping clerk. Upon
severing this connection Mr. Frecka served two
years as manager of the Fred Frecka Company's
plumbing establishment, and he then, in 1908, purchased the
plant and business, which has since successfully conducted under
his own name and in an individual way.
Mr. Frecka has had no desire to withdraw from
the loyal cohorts of the republican party, is actively
identified with the Ironton Chamber of Commerce, and is an
appreciative and popular member of the local lodge of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On the 26th of February, 1908, Mr. Frecka wedded
Miss Margaret Rist, daughter of John Rist, of
Ironton, and they have three children, Lila E., Albert
J., Jr., and John C.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 760 |
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FRED FRECKA.
There is something to be found of a nature more than ordinarily
interesting in the career of one who has won his own way in the
world and who in spite of handicaps and difficulties has
attained the goal of success which he has set before him.
Such a man is Fred Frecka, well known as a plumber
and also favorably known to the citizens of Ironton as the
former capable superintendent of the waterworks. In almost
every respect he is self-made and self-educated, and the
services he rendered his community in his official capacity were
such as to entitle him to a place among the builders of Lawrence
County's most thriving city. Mr. Frecka was
born at Ironton, Ohio, April 5, 1873, and is a son of Henry
and Kathryn (Brinkman) Frecka.
Henry Frecka was born in Germany in 1838,
and like many of his ambitious fellow-countrymen decided that a
more promising future awaited him across the water.
Accordingly, at the age of twenty-two years, he emigrated to the
United States and soon settled at Ironton, where he became the
proprietor of a flourishing ice business and through industry
and integrity made a place for himself among his adopted city's
substantial men. He took a keen interest in civic affairs,
and during the two terms that he served as councilman was
instrumental in
the making of beneficial laws. His death occurred in 1908.
Mrs. Frecka, who was also born in Germany in 1838,
survives her husband and makes her home at Ironton. There
were ten children in the family: Kathryn, Minnie, Charles,
Tillie, Henry, Fred, Louis, Mary and two who died in
infancy.
Fred Freeka attended the public schools
of Ironton until reaching the age of fourteen years, and during
this time displayed his industrious and energetic nature by
working on the ice wagon for his father. He then became
apprenticed to the trade of plumber, and after working at this
vacation under Pete Constable for four years
opened a store of his own, continuing to conduct this
establishment until 1912. He gained during this time a
reputation for skilled workmanship and fidelity to engagements
which gained for him, in 1912, the appointment to the office of
superintendent of the water works, a position in which he
eminently proved his ability and his high value to the city.
During his incumbency Mr. Freeka improved the
water service in various ways, relaying a great deal of old and
small pipe with larger lines, and thus greatly increasing the
supply. His conscientious and energetic efforts met with
the approval of the people, 'and no city official was held in
higher general esteem. A republican in politics, Mr.
Freeka has been active in the ranks of his party, and has
served as councilman of Ironton since 1908. He is a member
of the Modern Woodmen of America, and his religious connection
is with the German Reformed Church.
.Mr. Freeka was married February 8, 1891,
at the home of the bride, to Miss Mary C. Massie,
daughter of Isaac and Philona Massie, of Greasy Ridge,
Lawrence County. Four children have been born to
this union, of whom two survive: Hazel G., who is a
popular school teacher of Ironton; and Chauncy M., who is
still attending school. The pleasant
family home is located at 249 South Third Street.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock Iron Region of
Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis Publishing
Company, 1916 - Page 791 |
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