Bartholomew County IN Archives Biographies.....Pfeifer, Frank 1816 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 21, 2007, 12:54 am

Author: B. F. Bowen (1904)

p. 197-198

FRANK PFEIFER.

   Frank Pfeifer has passed the eighty-seventh milestone on life's journey.
Comparatively few reach this advanced age and the lives of none of the venerable
citizens of Indiana have been more stainless in reputation, more fearless in
conduct or more devoted to what is right and honorable between themselves and
their fellow men. He was born on the 2d of February, 1816, in the Rhine
province, Germany, and there passed the days of his childhood and youth, but as
he neared the age of twenty years, knowing that he would be subjected to draft
for service in the German army, he resolved to seek a home in the land of the
free. Accordingly he went one hundred and fifty miles from his old home and
there took passage on board a westward-bound sailing vessel, having resolved to
come to America-He had worked as a plasterer and brick layer in former years and
had thus earned the money which enabled him to make the voyage. After forty-five
days spent upon the water he landed in New Orleans and thence proceeded
northward to Cincinnati, where he worked at his trade for about five years. On
the expiration of that period he came to Indiana and settled near the town of
Hope in Flat Rock township, where he lived for some time thereafter. Later he
took up his abode in the vicinity of Columbus and in 1858 he purchased a farm
adjoining the site where Henry Horn now lives. It is at the present time within
the corporation limits of Columbus, bordering on Sixteenth street. This Mr.
Pfeifer has since sold, disposing of the property in 1877, at which time he took
up his abode in the city, where he has since continued to reside, covering a
period of twenty-six consecutive years. In 1883 he purchased the Western Hotel
property here. He continued to work at his trade until he was fifty-five years
of age and then retired from active labor, for in the meantime he had acquired a
comfortable competence as the result of his unflagging diligence and unabating
energy. Whatever he possesses in life has been acquired entirely through his own
labor and he certainly deserves great credit for the honorable place he has won
in the regard of his fellowmen and for the prosperity that he has gained.

   In 1837 Mr. Pfeifer was united in marriage to Miss Magdaline Ross, who was a
native of Germany, but was livng [sic] in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the time they
were joined in wedlock. They became the parents of eleven children, but at this
writing only three are now living, namely: Martin, George and Philippine, the
last named being the wife of Henry Horn. For more than a half century Mr. and
Mrs. Pfeifer traveled life's journey together, sharing with each other its joys
and sorrows, its adversity and prosperity. In November, 1889, however, they were
separated by the hand of death, Mrs. Pfeifer being called to her final rest. On
the 5th of May, 1892, Mr. Pfeifer was again married, his second union being with
Mrs. Grace Senff, the widow of Henry Senff. She bore the maiden name of Grace
Troutman and was first married in Germany, her native land. Coming to the new
world with her husband, they took up their abode in Hope, Bartholomew county, in
1859. By this union she had six children, of whom three have passed away. Those
still living are Anna, the wife of Dr. M. M. Hart, who is living in Mississippi;
Arthur, who married Pearl Transou and is engaged in harness-making in western
Indiana; and Conrad, whose home is in Columbus.

   Mr. Pfeifer acts as agent for the German Fire Insurance Company of
Indianapolis, which he has thus represented for over a half century. He was
reared in the Catholic faith and his wife is a member of the Moravian church at
Hope, of which organization her children also became members. Mr. Pfeifer
belongs to St. John's Lodge No. 20, Free and Accepted Masons, and is one of the
oldest representatives of the craft in Indiana. He is also- a member of Columbus
Lodge No. 58, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He cast his first presidential
vote for William Henry Harrison and since that time has affiliated with the
Democracy. He is now one of the venerable citizens of Bartholomew county and is
known far and wide because of his upright, honorable and useful life. The years
have been crowned with good deeds and effort, with honorable purpose and upright
action and upon the county, with which he has been long identified, he has left
the impress of his individuality in a most beneficial way. Friends and neighbors
give to him their highest respect and esteem and upon the pages of the county's
history his name is fittingly inscribed.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY
INDIANA

INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GOVERNORS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF INDIANA

ILLUSTRATED

1904

B. F. Bowen PUBLISHER

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