My Genealogy Hound

THEOBALD GAESSER, Jr., merchant of Troy, Ind., was born in the town where he now resides, February 7, 1861, being one of a family of four sons and four daughters born to the marriage of Theobald Gaesser and Fredericka Mellin, natives of Alsace, France (Now Germany), and Louisville, Ky., respectively. The father, who was born in 1832, came to America in 1854, with his parents, and located in Cincinnati, where he worked until 1855, when the family moved to Tennessee, and a year later to Keokuk, Iowa, and finally came to Perry County in 1857. The next year he came to Troy and learned the shoe-maker’s trade, which he followed until 1881. Since that date he has had an interest in the mercantile business with his son. Theobald, Jr., received a good education, having attended the Tell City High School and St. Meinrad’s College. In 1875 he went to Louisville, Ky., where he clerked in a drug store one year, and then attended the Louisville College of Pharmacy, from which he received his diploma in 1879. He clerked in that city until 1881 when he returned to Troy, and in company with his father bought the store of Ulrich Weber, which they restocked with a line of hardware, groceries and drugs. In October, 1883, they completed the commodious brick store-room in which they are now doing business. Theobold Jr., is secretary of the Troy school board, and is a member of the Indiana Pharmaceutical Association, of which he was vice-president in 1884. In April, 1885, he began the publication of the Troy Item, a bi-weekly newspaper devoted to local news and business interests chiefly. Mr. Gaesser and family are members of the Catholic Church, and are highly esteemed by the community.