Franz Fohr had been a long time family friend to the Eilers family, since at least 1876. He died at Karl Eilers’ home in Sea Cliff. His biographical notice was written by Walter R. Ingalls for the Engineering & Mining Journal.

=================

On July 27, 1919, there passed away a simple, unassuming gentleman, who, throughout his life, allowed his intense modesty to keep himself in the background and during his later years effaced himself so thoroughly that but few of his acquaintances knew aught of him. Yet he was one of our accomplished metallurgists, who did good work in the practice of his profession and lived an upright life. Now that he is no longer with us Franz Fohr cannot plead to be overlooked, and those who fondly remember him will be gratified by his receiving his due.

Franz Fohr was born, Sept. 7, 1838, in Mannheim, Germany. Of his ancestry, education, and early career we know scarcely anything. We do not even know just when he came to America, or what led him hither. The first record of his professional work in this country, found among his papers, shows that from July, 1870, to Jan. 1, 1872, he was superintendent of the Newark Smelting & Refining Works, then owned by Edward Balbach & Son. At that time the Balbach works at Newark, established in 1850, and the Selby works at San Francisco, established about 1866, were the only important silver-lead refineries in the United States. Mr. Fohr may have been associated with the Balbachs for some time before he became superintendent of their plant or he may have come from Germany but a short time previously. At all events, it is certain that he was at that time an experienced and accomplished metallurgist. After leaving Newark and going to San Francisco, he soon formed a connection with Thomas H. Selby & Co. Early in 1874, this firm sent him to New York to procure information respecting the manufacture of white lead. His engagement in New York terminated on Jan. 31, 1875.

During 1875, Mr Fohr spent some time at Silver Islet and in the Lake Superior copper region, but of his work there no record remains. In the latter part of 1875, or early in 1876, he associated himself as metallurgist with the Boston Silver Co., operating at Saint John’s, Summit County, in which William L. Candler, of Boston, was the moving spirit. That company was developing its mine in 1875. At the end of that year it “had about 800 tons of ore on hand, about three-fourths of which is dressing ore, to be concentrated in its very systematic establishment and to be smelted into pig lead.” Evidently Mr. Fohr was engaged for the latter purpose. Henry A. Vezin, erudite and painstaking, was the mechanical engineer for the company. In the fall of 1876, Anton Eilers took his family for the first time so far West as Denver and Mr. Fohr went with them. I do not think that Mr. Eilers had any connection with the Boston Silver Co., save possibly in a consulting capacity, but he visited Saint John’s and the enduring friendship among Eilers, Fohr, and Vezin, which terminated only with their deaths, dated from that time.

I ought to know more about the association at Saint John’s, for only a few years later I was under the tutelage of the distinguished and lamented Vezin, who never tired of relating the history of that famous, if not very successful enterprise, and also I knew Mr. Fohr from 1886 onward, but memory is an evanescent thing. My recollection is that a lot of excellent engineering and metallurgical work was done there for which there was not any great foundation. At all events, Mr. Fohr remained with this company nearly 3 years and then took charge of the smelting operations of the Horn Silver Mining Co. at Frisco, Utah, which he conducted from Aug. 1, 1878 to Aug. 1, 1879. This was the time of the height of the boom at Leadville, and it was but natural that Mr. Fohr moved promptly to the greatest silver-lead mining and smelting district. He became part owner in the Malta Smelting Co., below California Gulch, and had charge of its plant. In 1881, he became superintendent of the Harrison Reduction Works of the St. Louis Smelting and Refining Co. and retained that position until his retirement from active work. I do not remember just when his retirement took place, but my recollection is that it was during the ’90s. He then moved to New York and kept a little office there, in company with Faber du Faur, one of his early friends. Mr. Fohr went religiously to his office every day, spending a few hours there, reading and absorbing the general information for which all his life he was so greedy.

On his 75th birthday, which he celebrated with the Eilers family at Sea Cliff, Mr. Fohr said that in early life he had made up his mind to divide his years of life, 25 years to study, 25 to accumulating money and 25 to enjoyment. He then remarked that having passed 75 years he was free to do anything he liked. I do not think that he conformed exactly to that schedule, but he was methodical enough in his habits to develop such a plan and follow it generally.

Mr. Fohr was a tireless student both in his professional work and outside of it. Indeed, with his calm philosophy he was able to dismiss the affairs of the works when he left them for the day. He had them so well organized that he felt no concern about them ever. I sat at the same table at mess with him for two years, perhaps, and do not recall his ever talking “shop.” He preferred to talk about politics—in the broad sense— art, music, literature, and history. His knowledge was profound, his memory wonderfully accurate, and woe to anyone who challenged his statement of facts. So careful was he in discriminating between wheat and chaff that we used to say laughingly that he would not accept anything as being truly news of the day until he had the authority of the London Times, the weekly edition of which he read religiously.

In the latter portion of his life it had been his custom for many years to go to Sea Cliff every Sunday, spending the day alternately at the houses of Anton and of Karl. It was at the latter’s that he died, July 27. He had reached a ripe old age and had outlived nearly all of his early associates of his own generation. Of that famous galaxy of metallurgists that created the art of silver-lead smelting in this country between 1870 and 1885, he was practically the last. The seniors of the present time do not hark back to the pioneering stage, but belong to the early part of the engineering stage which followed. Mr. Fohr’s modesty and his disinclination to form a wide circle of friends prevented him from attaining the fame that might easily have been his if he had cared for it. Rather he chose to have only a few friends, but to them he was one of the closest and most loyal they ever had, and to their children he soon became and always remained “Uncle Fohr.” W. R. Ingalls.