Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Friedrich, Charles A. 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 17, 2006, 7:12 pm

Author: T. H. Ball (1904)

CAPTAIN C. A. FRIEDRICH.

    Captain Charles A. Friedrich is the proprietor of the Harbor Hotel at
Indiana Harbor and is one of the upbuilders of the town, which has had an
existence of but a very few years, but in this brief space of time has made
rapid strides, enjoying a marvelous yet substantial growth. The hostelry of
which Captain Friedrich is proprietor is the leading one of the town, and in
addition to its conduct he is also engaged in real estate operations.

    The Captain is descended from a distinguished family of Germany, prominent
in public life there. His grandfather Friedrich was commander of and had
supervision over all the fortifications in central Germany, and at his death was
buried under the monument which he had erected at Coburg, Germany. He married a
Miss Demuth, and among their children was Charles E. Friedrich, the father of
Captain Friedrich. He, too, was a native of Germany, and was in the government
service throughout his entire life. He lived for a time in Saerbricken. He
became a prominent officer, and the emperor voluntarily placed a medal upon his
breast—the medal of the order of the Red Eagle. He was twice married, his first
union being with Miss Leopoltina Miller, also a native of Germany and whose
father spent his entire life in that country, where he conducted a hotel. To Mr.
and Mrs. C. E. Friedrich were born three children, who are still living: Charles
A.; Emelia, the wife of Ernst Gross, of Rheinholz, Germany: and Julius, of New
York. After the death of his first wife the father married Katharina Dawald, and
they had four sons—Ernst, Robert, Rudolph and Carl, all in Germany. Charles E.
Friedrich died in the year 1899, at the advanced age of seventy-nine years,
while the mother of our subject died of cholera in 1866. Both were consistent
members of the Lutheran church.

    Captain Charles A. Friedrich was reared in the fatherland and acquired his
education in that country. When he had completed the high school course he
attended college and afterward entered a sailors' school at Hamburg, Germany,
known as the German Seamen's School, where he pursued a thorough course.
Subsequently he entered the merchant marine service, which claimed his time and
energies until 1901. His first trip to America was made in 1865, he landing at
New York in April on the day that President Lincoln was assassinated. He
continued to follow the ocean until 1869, when he began sailing on the Great
Lakes, and was captain of various vessels until 1901, when he determined to
abandon the vocation which had so long occupied his attention, and came to
Indiana Harbor.

    Captain Friedrich was the first man who slept in his own bed in the town. He
opened the Harbor Hotel, renting the building when it was but partially
finished, and the first night he had sixty-six boarders. There was not a
bedstead in the house at the time, although he had four thousand dollars' worth
of furniture upon the way, it being almost impossible to get the furniture from
the cars by wagon, because of the swampy and stumpy condition of the ground,
almost making hauling impossible. As rapidly as possible, however, he provided
for the comfort of his guests, and the Harbor Hotel has ever maintained the
first place among the leading hostelries of the town. He has a good patronage
and his success is assured because of the enterprising methods he follows, and
his earnest and untiring efforts to please his patrons. He is also interested in
the real estate business and has handled considerable property here.

    The condition of Indiana Harbor at the time of the opening of the hotel,
contrasted with its present condition, indicates the rapid growth of the town,
which now contains a population of three thousand and is still rapidly growing.
The wise system of industrial economics which has been brought to bear in the
development of Indiana Harbor has challenged uniform admiration, for while there
has been steady advancement in material lines there has been an entire absence
of that inflation of values and that erratic "booming" which have in the past
proved the eventual death knell to many of the localities in the central west,
where "mushroom towns" have one day smiled forth with "all modern improvements"
and practically on the next have been shorn of their glories and of their
possibilities of stable prosperity until the existing order of things shall have
radically changed. In Indiana Harbor progress has been made continuously and in
safe lines, and in the healthful growth and advancement of the town Mr.
Friedrich has taken an active part.

    On the 14th of May, 1898, Captain Friedrich was united in marriage to Miss
Nellie T. Burke, a daughter of John and Theressa Burke. He belongs to several
fraternal organizations, including the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and
the Improved Order of Red Men, and has attained the uniformed rank in the K. of
P. He is a member of the Indiana Harbor, Columbia and Jackson Park Yacht clubs.
Politically he is a Republican, but his attention has never been directed toward
office-holding, as he prefers to perform his duties of citizenship in other
ways. While on the water he had some thrilling experiences, and now he is living
the more quiet life of a hotel proprietor, ably ministering to the wants of the
traveling public and by his genial, obliging manner making many friends.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF
Genealogy and Biography
OF
LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA,
WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 
1834—1904

A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and
the Founding of a Nation.

REV. T. H. BALL
OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO   NEW YORK
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1904


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/friedric464gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/

File size: 6.3 Kb