August Daniel Sturm
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August Daniel Sturm was an Indianapolis citizen who ensured the midwest region a supply of canned food. He was one of the leading canners of the state of Indiana and was the organizer and founder of the Central State Canning Company and the Sturm Canning Company, of which he was president.[1]
Mr. Sturm was born in Marion County, Indiana on January 5, 1865. His parents John and Elizabeth (Greenwalt) Sturm were both natives of Germany, where they were married. Two of their children were born in the old country. Owing to the restrictions and conditions of life in Central Europe John Sturm sought better opportunities industrially as well as politically in the New World, and about 1862 arrived with his family in Indianapolis. He was a man of very humble means and had to practically break his way into the strangeness of American life and make for himself a position of reasonable success. His first employment here was in a brick yard. A few years later he went to farming, and save for a short time continued that occupation all the rest of his life. He was also a teamster in the city. John Sturm was born March 1, 1830, and died May 7, 1895. His wife was born January 15, 1835, and died February 2, 1898. They were quiet hard-working people but enjoyed high esteem in their community. They were members of the Zion Evangelical Church.[2]
August Sturm attended the common schools of Marion County and for a short time was a student in the Lutheran parochial school. As a very small boy, he helped earn his own living by selling papers on the streets of Indianapolis and also blacking shoes. At the age of thirteen, he began regular employment as a farmhand. After his marriage, he rented a small farm south of the city, lived there for a year or two, and thorough knowledge of intensive farming is naturally of great value to his business. From the farm he went to work as a drayman for Charles Roesener of the Central Transfer Company.[3]
Mr. Sturm's introduction to the canning business was gained when after two years as a drayman he went to work for the Van Camp Packing Company. He was given many responsibilities in their plant, having charge of packing and shipping. With this experience and with his modest capital he organized in 1914 the Central State Canning Company, and was made president.[4]
Central State Canning Company
editThe Central State Canning Company was founded in 1914 in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana by August Daniel Sturm. The Central State Canning Company had a large plant on the near southside of Indianapolis and turned out an enormous product of canned goods, principally corn, peas, beans, and pumpkins. These goods were distributed principally through the retail trade over the Midwest.[5]
In 1916, The Central State Canning Company incorporated, followed with an announcement of $25,000 of preferred stock.[6]
Sturm Canning Company
editThe Sturm Canning Company was founded in 1919 in Bargersville, Johnson County, Indiana by August Daniel Sturm.[7]
Family
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August married Emma Louise Hartman at the Zion Evangelical Church in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 28th, 1889.[8] Together they had three children.
- Ada Ellen Sturm Webb Morgan 1891-1980
- Richard John Sturm 1893-1955
- Anna Elizabeth Sturm Robinson 1895-1982
August passed away March 15th, 1943, his wife Emma passed away April 5th, 1954, both are buried at Round Hill Cemetery, Marion County, Indiana.
References
edit- ^ Dunn, Jacob Piatt. Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood. Volume I. The American Historical Society. Chicago. 1919. Page 1792.
- ^ Dunn, Jacob Piatt. Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood. Volume I. The American Historical Society. Chicago. 1919. Page 1792.
- ^ Dunn, Jacob Piatt. Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood. Volume I. The American Historical Society. Chicago. 1919. Page 1792.
- ^ Dunn, Jacob Piatt. Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood. Volume I. The American Historical Society. Chicago. 1919. Page 1792.
- ^ Dunn, Jacob Piatt. Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood. Volume I. The American Historical Society. Chicago. 1919. Page 1792.
- ^ Indianapolis News, Indianapolis. March 9, 1916.
- ^ Dunn, Jacob Piatt. Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood. Volume I. The American Historical Society. Chicago. 1919. Page 1792.
- ^ Zion Evangelical Church Records. Marriage, Birth, Baptism, and Deaths 1860-1900. Indianapolis.