My Genealogy Hound

HENRY FLESH, merchant and banker; P. O. Piqua; was born in Bavaria, Germany; in 1837, the son of a well-to-do country merchant, where he received common-school and commercial education; he emigrated to this country in 1852, at the age of 15 years; soon after his arrival in this country he came West, and took a situation as salesman in a clothing establishment in Dayton, Ohio, where he remained for five years; he removed to Troy, Ohio, occupying a similar situation until 1858, when he came to Piqua, and entered the clothing establishment of A. Friedlich as salesman and book-keeper, which position he held until the fall of 1862; in that year he married the eldest daughter of Moses Friedlich, Esq., and soon afterward commenced, with limited means, the clothing and merchant tailoring business on his own account; this business he carried on, with uninterrupted success, up to 1878, when he sold out his merchant tailoring business, and confined himself exclusively to the ready-made clothing and gent’s furnishing goods business, at this time probably doing the largest business in that line in the county of Miami. In January, 1880, he was unanimously elected Cashier of the Citizen’s National Bank of Piqua, and at present occupies that position, devoting his time exclusively, during banking hours, to that business, giving his morning and evening hours to the details of mercantile business. Socially, Mr. Flesh is held in high esteem, and has held in his own city the most responsible positions of honor and trust; he has been a member of the City Council for twelve years, and is now, and has been for the past four years, the President of that body; he is also President of the Board of Trade, and the Border City Building and Loan Association of Piqua, one of the most popular and prosperous institutions of that kind in the State. Mr. F. is a Free Mason in high standing, having acted as Master of the lodge for several years. Mr. F. is regarded by his neighbors as a self-made man, always prominent in every public enterprise calculated to add to the prosperity and improvement of his city.