Maricopa-Yavapai County AZ Archives Biographies.....Luhrs, George Henry Nicholas March 31, 1847 - living in 1896 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/az/azfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 1, 2005, 7:32 pm Author: McFarland & Poole p. 443-444 GEORGE HENRY NICHOLAS LUHRS. It is not always the men who start with the largest capital and under the most favorable conditions who do the most to build up the trade of a city, or, eventually, the most to benefit themselves: those who start upon a smaller basis and gradually increase in prosperity, step by step, usually accomplish the most. George H. N. Luhrs belongs to the progressive order of men and has been the architect of his own fortune. He was born at Neuhas, a. d. Oste, Hanover, Germany, March 31, 1847, the son of John Christoph Luhrs and Miss Sophie Margarete Henriette Wilhelmine Dickmann, who were also natives of the same place. The father was a wagonmaker and this trade our subject began learning under his father, after first receiving a good practical education in the common schools. With the usual hope of youth and a more than ordinary amount of energy he determined to cross the ocean and make his home in America, and accordingly, at the age of twenty, located at Camptonville, Yuba County, California, where he remained about sixteen months following his trade. He then went to San Francisco and from there, in January, 1869, to White Pine, Nevada, where he continued his former occupation for seven months. On August 14th of that year he started for Arizona, and the following September arrived at Wickenburg, where he worked at wagon-making and carpentering at the Vulture Mill until July, 1872. In January, 1873, he went to Smith's Mill, fifteen miles away, which place he left in 1874 for Ehrenberg, on the Colorado river, where he remained three months. He then went to Prescott, but after a short time returned to Wickenburg and was employed by the California and Arizona Stage Company at wagonmaking until the last of May. 1876. Mr. Luhrs then made a trip to the old country, but in October returned to the United States and resumed his trade at Wickenburg for his former employers. Phoenix became his home in March, 1878, and he was engaged in business alone until September 19, 1881, when he became a partner of Newell Herrick, under the firm name of Herrick & Co. July 13, 1883, they added to their other enterprises the livery business. In March, 1886, they began the erection of the Commercial Hotel, which they rented the following December. The party to whom they rented died in January, 1887, and Mr. Luhrs and his partner completed the business and during the summer of 1887 made a large addition to the building, making it a three-story structure. The firm closed up their blacksmith business in October, 1887, owing to a marked increase in their hotel business, which required all their time and attention. October 27, 1890, the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Luhrs purchasing the entire interest of his partner in the hotel, real estate and livery business. This he has continued to the present time and is justly regarded as one of the most popular hotel men in his part of the Territory. He is the owner of the block diagonally across the street from his hotel and is one of the solid, financial men of Phoenix. February 10, 1884, Mr. Luhrs married Miss Catherine Margarete Dodenhof, who was born January 3, 1862, in his native town in Germany. Four children have been born to their union: Arthur Cleveland, born December 14, 1884; Ella Louise Henriette, born August 11, 1886; Emma Sophie Johanne, born December 13, 1888; and George Henry Nicholas, born June 28, 1895, who was named in honor of his father. Mr. Luhrs is prominent in Masonic circles, being a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and Shrine in Phoenix. He was the first to be admitted in the Blue Lodge during the time it was working under dispensation, September, 1879, and was the first in the Chapter (May, 1880). In May, 1883, he became Knight of the Temple at Tucson, and in 1891 became a charter member of Phoenix Commandery. February 10, 1896, he became a member of the Ancient Order of the Mystic Shrine, of which he is at present the treasurer. Mr. Luhrs has also been treasurer of the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery since 1893, and of the Grand Commandery since November of that year. Additional Comments: From: A Historical and Biographical Record of the Territory of Arizona Published by McFarland & Poole, Chicago, 1896 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/az/maricopa/bios/gbs6luhrs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/azfiles/ File size: 4.9 Kb