| HenryM Schmoldt |
HENRY M. SCHMOLDT, Beardstown, Illinois.-Itis the constitutional privilege of every American to aspire to the highesthonors within the gift of the people; and when such aspiration is supplementedby progressive and well balanced mentality, backed with integrity, tactand energy, it follows as a law of natural selection that such a man isa leader among his fellow men. It matters not whether his father be a princeof fortune, or an humble mechanic; the law of selection, made natural bythe inspired principles of our constitution, remains the same; for underthe beneficent and noble doctrine of a true republican government, monarchialsuccession is relegated to the repellent past, and all men are born equal–equalin the right of law and privilege, the only aristocrat being the man possessinga wealth of brains. Such a man may have an academic sheepskin learnedlyinscribed as an early voucher to his mentality and title to distinction.When such is happily the case the man simply rises the more rapidly, simplyobtains an earlier hold upon the confidence and respect of his fellow men.The history such a man makes becomes his own property, so to speak, andnot alone an embellishment of the future. His progress has outstrippedtime, and he lives to read, in accredited form and in the suffrage of approvalof his fellow men, the story of his life. How eminently fitting to a goodlife is such an honor, and how few men enjoy it! It is one of those few,a man who, though still in the morning of his life, has made a record worthythe pages of history that this sketch is written.Henry M. Schmoldt was born in Cass county,Illinois, September 19, 1858. He is the eldest son of Robert G. and Johanna(Blohn) Schmoldt, both natives of Hanover, Germany. Robert G. Schmoldtwas the eighth son of Herman Schmoldt, a wealthy land owner in Hanover.The father of Henry M. Schmoldt spent a portion of his early life uponthe ocean. In 1852 he was married, by the American consul at Hamburg, toMiss Johanna Blohn, of Hanover, after which he emigrated to the UnitedStates, locating in New York city. In July of the following yearhe removed to Beardstown, where with his good wife he enjoys the fruitsof a well-earned competence and good name.
In 1890, at the retirement of his fatherfrom business, Henry M. Schmoldt, in company with his brothers, AdolphE. and Robert W., assumed full control of the extensive business builtup by their father, a business which with the advent of younger blood atthe helm has made additional strides in the favor of the public. The boyhoodof Henry M. Schmoldt was full of active usefulness and hard work. At theusual age he entered the public school at Beardstown, and to this, theeducation there obtained, was added a commercial course of study in a businesscollege in St. Louis, Missouri, after which he took a course at Asbury(now Depauw) University, Greencastle, Indiana.
In 1876, he returned to Beardstown and associatedhimself with his father in the manufacture of cooperage supplies, and hascontinued in the business ever since, the firm now being Schmoldt Bros.& Company. This firm also deals extensively in lumber and house-furnishingsupplies.
Mr. Schmoldt, of whom this sketch is written,is one of the younger war horses in the Republican party, and has widenedhis strength and wisdom in ofice by having been repeatedly elected to theoffice of Mayor of Beardstown, besides having served as Alderman for severalyears. He is a hard worker, scrupulous and exact in his dealings with men,and a staunch advocate of the principles of the great party, in whom andthrough whom he sees the great truths which his party believes have madeAmerica what it is. He is, however, more of a statesman than a politician;for politicians are not generally given to great scruples in matters ofconscience in politics, and Mr. Schmoldt is; but it is the honest, straightforwardman that wins a lasting meed of victory in politics as well as in socialand business life; and such is the record of Mr. Schmoldt. In the localcounsels of the Republican party he is an able and welcome adviser.
On May 12, 1880, Mr. Schmoldt was marriedto Miss Lena Earhardt, of Beardstown, daughter of the late Dr. Fred Earhardt,an old and leading physician of Cass county. They have one child, a daughter,whom they have named Jennie.
Socially, Mr. Schmoldt is a prominent memberof the Masonic fraternity, and also of the Odd Fellows. Personallyhe is kind, courteous and affable.
Biographical Review of Cass, Schuylerand Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago,1892, pages 182-184.
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