Maricopa-Yavapai County AZ Archives Biographies.....Luhrs, George Henry Nicholas March 31, 1847 - living in 1896
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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

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