JACOB HARBOLD, a self make business man of Springfield, has built up a large enterprise from a small beginning, and is now a recognized authority along the line of his specialty. He was born in St. Louis, Mo., March 10, 1859, son of Jacob and Fanny Harbold, natives of Germany, who came to the United States in youth. The parents were married in the United States and in 1860 came to Springfield where for twenty years the father was engaged in an express business. He was an active member of the Lutheran Church and he and two other persons bought the old church near the Chicago & Alton depot. In politics he was a Democrat. He died in Springfield in 1880, and his widow now lives with her son Jacob, being seventy-two years of age. They had two children, Jacob, of this sketch, and George, of Indiana.

Mr. Harbold was educated in Springfield public schools, and after completing his education spent a short time teaching in a Lutheran school, then entered the old Aetna foundry to learn the trade of machinist, receiving at first but three dollars per week. Later he spent six years in the rolling mills, and at the end of that time engaged in business on his own account. He has made a specialty of pumps and has spent twenty five years in his present enterprise, being an expert in his line. He is proud of the fact that while at the outset he had but forty five cents as capital, by his energy and ambition he soon began to prosper, and has been successful in so gratifying a degree that he now owns a very comfortable home and property. His line includes several kinds of pumps. Being an expert mechanic at the outset, and possessing business instinct and enterprise, Mr. Harbold could not fail in his venture, but has built up his enterprise step by step, each one being the result of well planned effort.

Mr. Harbold has been twice married: (first) to Mrs. Elizabeth Hartford, a widow, their union taking place December 28, 1890, and (second) July 13, 1902, he married Fanny Hudson, who died in 1907. Mr. Harbold is a stanch Republican and takes an active interest in politics. He is a devout member of the Lutheran Church, to which he is a liberal contributor. He is well known in Springfield, where he has lived since infancy.