George  Theobald


            The subject of this review has earned an honorable place in the company of self-made men of Shelby County.  He has learned the great truth which so many fail to grasp--that energy is talent and time is capital.
            George Theobald  was born in this county November 26, 1862, being the son of  Michael  and  Catherine (Haehl) Theobald, both of whom were emigrants from Germany.  Michael Theobald was born in Rheinpfalz, Germany March 13, 1820.  He came to America alone in 1840, and was followed one year later by his parents.  Upon his arrival here he located at Natchez, on the Mississippi, where he worked for some time at his trade as a butcher.  From there he went to Cincinnati, where he was married, and where his first four children were born.  He then came to Shelby County, Indiana, where he continued to live until the close of his days.  He followed farming and stock buying after coming to Shelby County, and was an active, liberal and public-spirited citizen, a Democrat, but not an office seeker, and a member of the German Protestant Church.  His companion was also born in Rheinpfalz, Germany, in 1827.  She came to this country with her parents, who located at Cincinnati, where she was married to Mr. Theobald.  She became the mother of twelve children, of whom George was the ninth.
            George Theobald received a common school education and was reared to manhood on the farm.  When twenty-two years of age, December, 1884, he was married to  Elizabeth Hurst, daughter of  Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hurst.  She was born in Louisville in 1863, was reared to womanhood in Clark County, Indiana, and came to Shelby County in 1883.  She died June 28, 1887.  Her only son, Julius J., born September 12, 1885, married one of the daughters of  George Haehl, and lives in Rush County.
            Mr. Theobald's second wife was  Minnie Stickel, born November 26, 1870.  She has become the mother of six children, as follows:  Viola was born January 9, 1890;  Edna, June 6, 1892, married to  Chester Phares, a teacher in this county;  Florence, born February 8, 1894;  Earl Andrew, born August 11, 1898;  Rosie, June 21, 1902;  William Charles, September 10, 1904.
             Mr. Theobald has devoted himself to general farming and stock buying.  He is a Democrat and takes an active interest in the political affairs of the community.  His unimpeachable integrity and sound judgment have won for him the confidence and esteem of friends and acquaintances, and as a result he was called upon to serve as Township Trustee from 1900 to 1904, member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows fraternities, having filled all the important offices in both of these orders.  He and his family are members of the German Protestant Church, and are liberal and faithful in its support.  Through these many sided activities, the family has won a merited place among the records of Shelby County's citizens. 

--Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana--  pg. 584-585
Contributed by Melinda Moore Weaver

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