FREDERICK VOELKE, proprietor of Tell City Brewery, is a native of Cassel, Germany, born August 30, 1832. He is the eldest child in a family of three daughters and two sons born to Frederick and Christine (Gebhardt) Voelke. The father, who was a brewer, followed the business in his native country unitl 1848, when he came to the United States, and worked in the glass works at Pittsburgh two years. In 1850 he came to Troy, Ind., and engaged in the brewery business, which he followed until his retirement in 1856. Frederick received a good literary and musical education in Prussia. He came to America with his parents, and traveled through the various States of the south and west, playing for theatrical companies, until 1856. In that year he took charge of this father’s brewery at Troy, and in 1861 built the establishment which he has since conducted at Tell City. August 12, 1856, he was joined in marriage with Nancy A. Taylor, by whom he is the father of ten children, Amelia (wife of John Herrman), Ella (wife of Nicholas Greathouse), Frederick W. (deceased), Claudine, Esther, Henrietta (deceased), Frederick, Hetty, Maud and Hessie. In politics he was formerly a Republican, but now affiliates with the Democratic party. During the war he was a captain of the Home Guards.
“History of Warrick, Spencer and Perry Counties, Indiana – Troy Township & Tell City” by Goodspeed Bros. & Co. – published in 1885
ELISHA S. WEEDMAN, of the firm of Weedman & Miller, proprietors of a saw-mill, Tell City, is a native of the county, born September 7, 1849. He grew up on the farm, receiving an ordinary education. At the age of nineteen he began flat-boating and saw-logging on the river, which, in connection with saw-milling and stave-making, he has followed ever since. In July, 1884, he engaged in his present business at Tell City, and the firm are doing a good business. In addition to his property here Mr. Weedman also owns good farm in Clark Township. September 15, 1874, Letitia Jarboe, a native of Perry County, became his wife, and to their union five children have been born, namely, Norman B., Mark, Grace, Pearl and Leslie. Mr. Weedman is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He is a son of Daniel and Nancy (Spurrier) Weedman, both natives of Kentucky. They came to Perry County about 1838, and located on a farm near Troy, and later on a farm on Anderson Creek, fifteen miles from Troy. The father died August 22, 1854, and the mother June 11, 1867. They had a family of seven sons and seven daughters.
“History of Warrick, Spencer and Perry Counties, Indiana – Troy Township & Tell City” by Goodspeed Bros. & Co. – published in 1885
JANUARY WEISENBERGER, foreman of the Chair Makers’ Union of Tell City, was born in Baden, Germany, November 11, 1840. His parents, George and Lena (Meister) Weisenberger, died when he was a small lad, and he was reared by a widow, a friend of his parents. At the age of seventeen he learned the stone-cutter’s trade, and in 1864 he came to the United States. In November of that year he located at Tell City, where he worked for two years in a foundry. He then worked for nine years at his trade with Henry Ludwig. In 1875 he bought an interest in the chair factory, and in 1880 was made foreman, a position which he has since held. In 1865 he wedded Mary Fuller, a native of Germany, by whom he is the father of four children, three of whom – Joseph, Frank and Mary P. – are living. Both he and family are members of the Catholic Church, of which he is one of the trustees.
“History of Warrick, Spencer and Perry Counties, Indiana – Troy Township & Tell City” by Goodspeed Bros. & Co. – published in 1885
REV. JOHN N. WERNICH, of Tell City, was born in the providence of Ermeland, Prussia, on February 21, 1846. He studied at the gymnasium in Elbing from 1855 to 1861, then in Braunsberg until 1864, having finished his theological studies in the Paderborn Seminary, and having received minor orders in 1868, he was ordained priest on September 30, 1868. He spent the first five years of his ministry on the missions of western Missouri. Having nearly destroyed his health there, he returned to his native country, and was appointed pastor of the parish of Olivia. The Prussian Government, not recognizing the bishop’s appointment, he returned to this country, June 16, 1880. Two weeks after he became the pastor of St. Anne’s, working hard, and in every way furthering the interests of his congregation. In February, 1884, he took charge of the Catholic Church at Tell City, and ever since then has remained in that place until the present time.
“History of Warrick, Spencer and Perry Counties, Indiana – Troy Township & Tell City” by Goodspeed Bros. & Co. – published in 1885