My Genealogy Hound

LOUIS E. TAUBEL, one of the leading manufacturers of Norristown, and proprietor of the Star Knitting Mills at Penn and Arch streets, Norristown, is a native of New Jersey, having been born at Riverside, that state, July 9, 1856.

His parents are Charles and Amelia (Clott) Taubel, natives of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. They had eleven children, six sons and five daughters, of whom seven are now living, as follows: John; Rosa, wife of Charles Hamil; Louis E.; Henry; William; Katie, wife of Theodore Snyder; Hannah, wife of Augustus Weber. All are residents of Riverside except Louis E. Taubel, of Norristown.

The father was a shoemaker in early manhood, at Riverside, which is still his home. For the past ten years he has lived retired. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. MIr. Taubel’s ancestors for many generations on both sides were Germans.

Louis E. Taubel grew to manhood at Riverside, attending the public schools there, but his educational privileges were somewhat limited. He followed various pursuits and then started in the knitting manufacturing works as an engineer, and gradually acquired a knowledge of the business. In May, 1895, he came to Norristown and built the Star Knitting Mills in 1898, for the manufacture of all kinds of hosiery, and now gives employment to about three hundred and seventy-five persons. Mr. Taubel sells his goods in all parts of the world. The building which Mr. Taubel now occupies is one hundred and eighty-six feet long and forty-five feet in width, with three stories and basement, and separate dye houses, boiler and engine-room.

On January 26, 1879, he married Miss Rosa Gerner, daughter of Frederick and Mary Gerner. They had four children, three sons and one daughter: William, George and Edward, and a daughter, Mary, who died aged six years and three months.

Mrs. Taubel died in April, 1900, aged forty-one years. She was a member of the Moravian church at Riverside but after coming to Norristown united with the First Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Taubel and his son, William, are also members. He is also an Elk. Politically Mr. Taubel is a Republican but is not a politician nor has he ever sought or held office. He is recognized as one of Norristown’s most enterprising and public-spirited citizens.

The establishment of Mr. Taubel, like many others of its class in Norristown, is a boon to working people, furnishing steady employment throughout the year to several hundred persons. In the summer of 1903 he established a branch manufactory at Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, employing forty-five people. In his Norristown building he manufactures all his packing boxes. Such men as he, who have the ability to plan and operate profitably enterprises of this character are public benefactors, enabling hundreds of families to procure by their industry the means necessary to pay rent, store bills and other household expenses. The fact that Norristown has been fairly prosperous even during the years of financial depression, is due largely to the energy of such men as Mr. Taubel, who are willing to invest their capital and devote their time and attention to business that furnishes employment to those who desire it. The more of such manufactories, especially where they are judiciously managed, the better it is for the community in which they are located.