Shelby County Trail The Jasper Douthit Project
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        Max Kleeman, the senior mem- ber of the firm of Kleeman, Goldstein & Sons, is the oldest business man in Shelbyville, and the name of the firm of which he is senior member is a household word in Shelby and adjoining counties. Mr. Kleeman was born in Germany and came to Shelbyville and started in business in 1859. His business ran on a small scale at the beginning and has grown constantly and now the business in Dry Goods, Clothing, Boots and Shoes done by his firm is second to none in this part of the state. He has always lived in Shelbyville, knows all the people, knows what they need and what they will buy and so is able to suit everybody. Mr. and Mrs. Kleeman live in a pleasant home on North Broadway. His family consists of four, three sons and a daughter, all grown. Morris (Kleeman) is a member of the firm and manager, and the others, Sam and Phil, are members of the large Dry Goods firms “Kleeman Dry Goods Co.” of Terre Haute, the property of the father and his sons. Mr. Kleeman is a man of rare social qualities, full of public spirit, a friend of education, ever ready to do his part to build up useful local institutions, and though always voting the Democrat ticket and holding to the Israelitish faith, he is no narrow partisan but liberal in spirit and neighborly to all. Shelbyville greatly needs Max Kleeman and his old partner Wm. Goldstein.

   The above represents the oldest grocer in Shelbyville. Mr. Kurtz is universally trusted for his sound judgment and integrity, and a most upright and agreeable business man. C. J. Kurtz came to this place and embarked in the grocery business in 1860 and for thirty-one years has been continuously in the business. Part of the time, D. W. Marks was his partner and for many years Wm. Bivins, but since 1878, Mr. Kurtz has continued alone in the business. Before coming to Shelbyville, he lived for a time in Marshall County, Ill., working at the carpenter trade, which he had learned in Ohio. He had worked for his father at home until his twenty-first year, not far from Wheeling, W. Va., where he was born in 1833. He received his education in the public schools of his neighborhood. In 1865 he was married to Miss Mary Brokaw, who departed this life the same year. In 1871 Miss Alice Bivins became his wife. Three children, the result of this union, are living at home with the father  — the mother passed on during the present year. Mr. Kurtz is a business man of integrity and reliability and as such has built up an unusually good

H. C. Robertson

Robert E. Guilford

Dr. W. J. Eddy

  The above represents a nd most skillful young physician who has built up a remarkable practice around the place where he was born thirty four years ago. Wm. J. Eddy received much of his early training in a country school. He taught school to earn the money for a course of study in Valparaiso (Ind.) College, and in the Southern Illinois Normal at Carbondale. He also graduated and took a post-graduate course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, and practiced for a time in the hospitals of that city. Established himself in Shelbyville and began immediately have a large and successful practice. He is always busy at professional duties. Dr. Eddy has made the diseases of the eye a special study and took a course in the Chicago Ophthalmic College. His office is equipped with modern appliances for finding out just what is the matter with the eye so as to treat it intelligently. The doctor endeavors to keep up with the times and takes frequent review courses in the city hospitals. He also attends the meetings of the Medical Association. He is one of the successful physicians (who are becoming more common of late years) who never have occasion to prescribe alcoholic liquors. Dr. Eddy is an honest and safe man to have around in case of sickness.

    The above represents Thomas J. Graybill, the popular real estate dealer and trader. He is a native of Fairfield County, O., born 1846. With the family he came to Shelby county in 1858 and spent the early years of his manhood on the farm. He taught school successfully several terms. He farmed for several years and gradually became a stock farmer shipping and feeding stock. Mr. Graybill represented his township on the board of supervisors several terms and was circuit clerk of Shelby county for eight years. He was married in 1872 to Miss Thirrissa Travis, who died a year later. In 1876 Mr. Graybill was married to Miss Laura E. Newkirk of Ohio. Six children live at the family home in Deer Park, Ala. Mr. Graybill has always been a man of push and public spirit and always does his part to help along public enterprises. As a youth he was always “swapping knives” and as a man this same disposition continues. During the past fifteen years he has been actively engaged in the real estate business and will trade and sell farms almost anywhere. He has Shelby County farms of all sizes, Shelbyville lots, residences, and business property. He has 100,000 acres of yellow pine lands in Alabama and Mississippi and town lots in the new town of Deer Park, Ala. All these for sale or trade. If you want to come to Shelby county, or to change your location, T. J. Graybill will help you. You will find him an accommodating gentleman.

L. S. Seaman was of a family of thirteen children, seven brothers and five sisters. He was born in Xenia, Oh., in 1828. In his twenty-first year he came to Illinois and was for three years in business in Vandalia and Lebanon. During his younger days, when there were no railways through much of the country, and private conveyances were the only means of travel, Mr. Seaman did much traveling, making collections through what are now the States of Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Iowa, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In 1863 he came to Shelbyville, where he has since lived. He was married in 1858, to Miss Mary Purnell, and their home is in a substantial dwelling on Main Street, near the church of his choice. Mr. Seaman is a director of the First National Bank.
    J. O. Seaman was born in Logan County, Ohio, and came with his parents to Illinois in 1851. During his youth he learned what farm life on the frontier meant  — herding cattle and driving oxen to break the sod. When about 19 years old he worked at the drug business in Lebanon, Ill. In 1866 he came to

Hiram M. Scarborough

   For over thirty years Col. Scarborough has been identified among the solid business interests of Shelbyville. Born and reared on a farm, he came West in 1856, and four years later began his mercantile career as a clerk in a store in Shelbyville. He responded to the call for recruits for the army of the Union and went to the front in 1861. After serving four years, and filling posts of honor and responsibility, he was mustered out as lieutenant-colonel at the close of the war. In 1865 he opened a dry goods store, in which business he has remained  — with what degree of success one can gain a faint idea by going to his store and seeing the large trade and observing the immense and well selected stock of dry goods, carpets and general goods with which the immense store room is filled. He makes a specialty of carpets, and many of the best rooms in the town and surrounding country are set off by a carpet bought at Scarborough’s.
  Mr. Scarborough goes to the large business centers and selects his own goods, so that he is sure to get the best in the market. Col. Scarborough can be reckoned among the business men of Shelbyville who have merited their good success. Although faithful in discharging his business duties, Mr. Scarborough does not allow his business to interfere with his religious duties. He and his good wife (until 1871 Miss Belle Middlesworth) are active members of the Presbyterian Church, and are liberal in their support to worthy religious and charitable objects. One son brightens their pleasant home on North First street. The store has several clerks, who have been with it for many years, and all work together to try and make Scarborough’s meet the needs of all classes of people in Shelby county. 
  All who deal with him trust Col. Scarborough as straightforward, and respect him as a courteous business gentleman.

Edward Bisdee

Shelbyville, and has since, with the exception of a few years at Carlyle, Ill., made this city his home and carried on the drug business with his brother. He was married in 1868 to Miss Fannie Durban, and with their six children, three boys and three girls, they live in a home with large grounds on North First street. The eldest daughter is a recent graduate of Jacksonville University, and the eldest son assists in the drug store. Both brothers are exemplary members and active supporters of the First M. E. church. They are square dealing business men, of strictly temperate habits, pleasant address, and


are friends of every worthy enterprise for building up the community.
  Seaman Brothers’ Drug Store was established in 1863, by the older brother and has long been considered one of the reliable firms of the city. They always keep up with the times, and besides a first-class stock of drugs, medicines and toilet articles have a large supply of wall paper and stationery. The stock has recently bee moved to a larger and finer room, just north of their former location.
strictly to business. His shop is a credit to Shelbyville. Mr. Bisdee is a native of England — born on a Somersetshire farm some forty-six years ago. In 1865 he came to America and engaged in the butcher business in New York for awhile and then in Indianapolis. Coming to Shelbyville in 1872, in company with his brother, opened a butcher shop and meat market, and by his attention to business, by his honesty and sobriety, has built up a large business. For a number of years he has conducted the business by himself, with the assistance of his sons, who are chips off the old block. Miss Mary Church was in 1872 made his wife, and with their children, three boys and one girl, they now live in a comfortable brick residence on North Second street.
  Mr. Bisdee is a plain, unostentatious man, but he has long been recognized as one of the solid men of Shelbyville and is always ready to assist in ay laudable enterprise. He uses water power in his shop and keeps up with the times.

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An old Scotch lady gave a pointed reply to a minister who knew he had offended her, and expressed surprise that she should come so regularly to hear him preach. Said she, “My quarrel’s wi’ you, mon; it’s no wi’ the Gospel.”

G. C. Klauser

G. C. Klauser, the harness maker, is a steady, honest young man who by his sober industry has built up a good business in harness and leather goods. He has served acceptably for several years on the board of Aldermen of Shelbyville. He was born and raised in Shelbyville and has been familiar with working in leather from early years. In 1882 with his saved up earnings he set up in business for himself, and still conducts the store on North Morgan Street, two doors from Main Street. He is his own foreman and works at the bench early and late. Those in need of a good article in the line of saddles, harness, buggy robes or whips, or who need repairing should give Mr. Klauser a call. He deals justly with all.

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To catch A Saint
A propos of the licensing of gambling by fair directors and the votes of several church members in favor of the gambling, how will this do from Shakespeare?
“O, cunning enemy, that to catch a saint, With saints does bait thy hook.”

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The way to come out right is to start in right.