^^ PUBLIC LIBRARY
977 . 201 FORT WAYNE & ALLEN CO.. IWa
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1420258
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
LLEN COUNTY PUBLIC UBRARY
3 1833 01786 7497
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HISTORY
MAUMEE RIVER BASIN-
ALLEN COUNTY
INDIANA
OOL. ROBERT S. ROBERTSON
ASSISTED BY A CORPS OF ABLE EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS
ILLUSTRJITEI]
VOL. Ill
BOWEN & SLOCUM
14^0258
INDEX
Ashley, George L 427
Atchison, Mrs. Lewis E 341
B
Baade, Christian 566
Baird. David W 472
Baird Family 469
Baird, Robert D 470
Baird, William H 473
Baker, Kilian 481
Barnett, Charles E 106
Bamett, James 176
Barnett, Walter W 407
Bass, John H 112
Bates, Alfred H. 490
Beard, Milo 448
Becker, Henry W 348
Beerman, Henry 299
Bell, E. Edwin 367
Berning, H. F. William 185
Bower, George B. M 307
Bowers, Adam M 319
Bowser, Sylvanus F 304
Bradbury, Sheriod 546
Branning, Ernst F. W 205
Breen, William P 23
Buchman, Alpheus P 439
Carey, Willis W 530
Carroll, Charles E 516
Casselman, John 487
Chambers, John D 395
Cheney, James 48
Clark, Wilson 249
Colerick, Walpole G 169
Cooper, Henry 259
Cooper, William P 317
Corbat, Alphonse 478
Corbat, Frank 478
Cosgrove, Franklin N 582
Covington, Thomas 474
Cressler, Alfred D 416
Cunnison, James 462
D
Daugherty, Alfred 540
Deming, Nelson L 65
DeWald, George 272
DeWald, Robert W. T 101
Diamond, Adolph 137
Dickerson, William 323
DifEenderfer, William A 280
Downing, Jeremiah B 252
Dunkelberg, Charles A 405
INDEX.
Bckart, Fred 511
Edwards, John W 493
Eick, Frank J 189
Eme, Louis J 498
Bnslen, William 286
Etzold, William C 411
P
Fahlsing, Frederick W 295
Fair, Gabriel 509
Fairfield, Charles W 573
Felger, Henry G 422
Fleming, William 208
Fortmeyer, Frank 442
French, Rufus M 315
G
Gandy, Clyde M 382
Geake, Martin T 62
Getz, Henry 569
Gieseking, Frederick W 284
Gilbert, Newton W 125
Gillie, John L 430
Gorsline, Homer A 522
Graham, Jacob 451
Graham, James A 140
Grice, Jesse 390
Gruber, Joseph L 436
Guldlin, Olaf N 67
H
Haley, Joseph M 380
Hamilton, Andrew H 334
Hamilton, William A 192
Hanna, Joseph T 37
Hanna, Samuel 80
Harris, Emmett V 216
Harrod, Morse 172
Hart, Jonathan 198
Hartman, Lemuel R 277
Hartzell, John R 350
Hayden, Frederick J 157
Heaton, Benjamin F 154
Hettler, Christopher F 133
Higgins, Cecilius R 235
Hilgemann, Henry F 373
Hilgemann, Harry H 123
Hofer, Theobald 446
Hoffman, William H 118
Hughes, Rev. Joseph 537
Hunting, Fred Stanley 467
J
Johnson, William A 425
Jordan, George 293
K
Kalbacher, Anton 370
Kane, Alfred 393
Kelsey, Elva C 552
Klaehn, Frederick C. W 182
Krill, David 543
Kruse, Ernest W 302
L
Lasselle, Francis D 221
Lomont, Herman L 187
Long, Mason 336
Louttit, George W. 212
Lowry, Robert 238
Mc
McCaskey, George W 218
McHugh, James B 332
McKee, Warren 560
INDEX
McKeeman, Robert B 327
McMaken, Henry C 288
McMaken, William B 309
M
Marquardt, Jacob 484
Meeks, John W 329
Melcbing, Albert E 385
Meyer, John C 555
Miller, John A 455
Morris, Elmor E 127
Morris, John 56
Munson, Charles A 534
Murray, Kerr 418
N
Niesehang, Charles C. F 420
Niezer. Charles M 34
O
Ogden, Benjamin F 531
Olds, Charles L 526
O'Rourke, Patrick S 29
O'Rourke, William S 365
P
Page, William D 26
Peltier, J. C 121
Peltier, Louis 41
Pfeiffer, Charles F 263
Pfeiffer, Charles G 103
Pfeiffer, Christian F 432
Pfeiffer, John C 270
Pfeiffer, Joseph C 35
Phelps, Charles A 513
Pickard, Thomas R 528
Poinsett, John S 563
- Porter, Miles F 368
Prange, Christian 444
Purcell, Frank E 159
Randall, Franklin P 518
Rastetter, Louis 240
Reiling, August W 413
Reynolds, William E., Jr 243
Robertson, Robert S 17
Robinson, James M 53
Rose, Morris F 201
Rousseau, Reuben 503
Ruch, Joshua 174
Rush, Fred 129
Schick, Martin F 108
Schneider, Adam L 409
Schnelker, Henry F 359
Schnitker, August R 355
Scott, William 195
Shaffer, John 579
Shoaff, Frederick B 99
Shoaff, William W 465
Smith, Willard 210
Sprankle, John D 458
Stellhom, Charles 558
Stellhorn, Frederick W 397
Stellhom, John H 402
Stout, George W 387
Strawbridge, Charles T 282
Sweetser, Madison 224
Tapp, Herman W 46
Taylor, Robert S 32
INDEX.
Thieme, Theodore P 161
Thomas, Charles M ,228
Turflinger, Thomas 363
U
Ungumach, John H 267
V
Vesey, William J 142
Vonderau, Christ G 345
W
Waltemath, Charles H 377
Waltemath, William H 375
Wayne Knitting Mills 162
Weaver, Isaiah 549
Whery, Mary A 39
White, James B 144
Wheelock, Kent K 233
Wiebke, Henry A 496
Wiese, Christian 246
Wilbur, George W 255
Williams, Jesse L 165
Williams, Samuel M 73
Wolf, Samuel 214
Woodworth, Mrs. Charles B 44
Word en, James L 88
Work, Wesley 1 78
Wybourn, William T 500
Y
Yant, Cornelius 576
Yaple, Carl 110
Z
ZoUars, Allen 150
£:'ia *«. yjr: ^ a^Mams d-Sn! /-n^
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 17
PERSONAL MENTION
COL. ROBERT S. ROBERTSON.
Indiana has been especially honored in the character and career
of her public and professional men. In every county are to be found
individuals born to leadership in the various avocations and profes-
sions, men who dominate because of their superior intelligence, nat-
ural endowment and force of character. It is always profitable to
study such lives, weigh their motives and hold up their achievements
as incentives to greater activity and higher excellence on the part of
others. These reflections are suggested by the career of one who has
forged his way to the front ranks of the favored few, and who, by a
strong inherent force and superior professional ability, directed by
intelligence and judgment of a high order, stands today among the
representative men of Allen county and northern Indiana. It is
doubtful if any citizen of this part of the state has achieved more
honorable mention or occupied a more conspicuous place in the pro-
fession which he represents than Robert S. Robertson, the well-known
attorney of Fort Wayne, to a brief epitome of whose life the reader's
attention is herewith invited.
Robert Stoddart Robertson was born on the i6th of April, 1839,
at North Argyle, Washington county. New York, and is the son of
Nicholas and Martha Hume (Stoddart) Robertson. The paternal
grandfather, Robert Robertson, was born in October, 1755, in Kin-
ross-shire, Scotland, on the farm of "Touchie Miln," which had been
inherited by the several generations of the family from their an-
cestor, Robert Robertson, of 1470. The grandfather, as a younger
2
1 8 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
son, emigrated to the United States in 1793, settling in Washington
county, New York, where he carved a home out of the wilderness,
and there resided during the remainder of his life, his death occurring
on the 6th of November, 1840. This farm is now owned b)^ two of
his grandchildren. Nicholas Robertson, father of the Colonel, was
born at North Argyle, Washington county, New York, on May 12,
1803, and his death occurred there in 1896. He possessed great
strength of character and marked abilit)^, and stood high among his
fellowmen, having served as postmaster of North Argyle and for
many years as a justice of the peace. His, vocation in early life was
cabinet-making, but later he became a mill owner and operator. On
May 27, 183 1, Nicholas Robertson was united in marriage to Miss
Martha Hume Stoddart, who was born in New York city on March
20, 1812, the daughter of Robert and Anne (Hume) Stoddart. Her
lineage traces, on both the paternal and maternal sides, to prominent
Scottish families — the Humes and the Stoddarts. The Stoddart
family is "one of illustrious record, its name being derived from the
term 'standard,' inasmuch as the first of the name went to England
with William the Conqueror, as standard bearer for the Vicompte de
Pulesden." The late Lyon King-at-Arms of Scotland came from this
family. The Humes were also prominent in Scottish annals, and the
Colonel's maternal great-grandfather was a captain in the British
army during the American war of the Revolution, but subsequently
married a Long Island girl and became a citizen of New York. The
death of the subject's mother occurred on the 20th of January, 1867.
Robert S. Robertson received his elementary education in the
common schools, supplementing this by attendance at Argyle Acad-
emv, his vacation periods being devoted to work in his father's mills.
His boyhood experiences were much the same as those of most other
boys reared in country villages, though he was considered more studi-
ous than others of his associates, being an omnivorous reader of the
best literature within his reach. He early decided upon the law as
his life profession, and to this end he, in 1859, became a student in
the law office of Hon. James Gibson, in Salem, New York. In i860
he went to New York city and continued his studies under the pre-
ceptorship of Hon. Charles Crary, author of that standard work,
"Special Pleadings." In November, i860, he was admitted to the
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 19
bar, and in 1861 he went to Whitehall, New York, and entered upon
the active practice of his profession, as successor to Hon. John H.
Boyd, member of congress from that district, who was retiring from
the practice. His plans were soon interrupted, however, for upon
the outbreak of the great Southern rebellion his love of country over-
rode all other interests, and he at once devoted himself to raising a
company of volunteers. During the autumn and early winter of
1 86 1 this company remained at Albany, but upon the order to con-
solidate parts of companies and regiments, his company became a part
of Company I, Ninety-third Regiment New York Volunteer In-
fantry, in which Mr. Robertson was mustered in as a private. Be-
fore leaving the state, however, he was appointed orderlv sergeant.
He participated in all the campaigns, battles and skirmishes in which
his command was engaged, and gained for himself a splendid repu-
tation as a faithful and courageous soldier. He was promoted to a
second lieutenancy in April, 1862, to first lieutenant in May, 1863,
and subsequently, for "gallant and meritorious services in the field,"
he received two brevet commissions — one from the President, con-
ferring the rank of captain of United States volunteers, and another
from the governor of New York, brevetting him colonel of New
York volunteers. He served as personal aide to General Nelson A.
Miles while the latter was in command of the famous fighting First
Brigade, First Division, Second Army Corps, and while so serving
was twice wounded, the first time at Spottsylvania Courthouse on
May 12, 1864, where he was struck on the knee by a musket ball,
and again on the 31st of the same month at Totopotomoy Creek,
where he was shot from his horse in a charge, a minie ball passing
through his abdomen from the front of the right hip to the back of
the left. His wound was considered fatal, but he possessed a vigorous
constitution, and recovered in a measure, and again entered the active
service. However, during the siege of Petersburg, his wounds broke
out afresh, and on September 3, 1864, he was discharged "for dis-
ability from wounds received in action." Subsequently Colonel
Robertson received the "congressional medal of honor" for services
rendered at Corbin's Bridge, Virginia. May 8, 1864.
Upon his return from the South, Colonel Robertson located in
Washington. D. C, and became a member of the law firm of Crocker,
20 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Robertson & Bramhall. In 1866, acting partly on the advice of Vice-
President Colfax, he came to Fort Wayne, where he has since re-
sided, having been continuously engaged in the active practice of his
profession. His abilities were soon recognized here, and during
1867-8-9 he served as city attorney. In 1868 he was the Republican
candidate for state senator, but could not overcome the normally
heavy Democratic majority. From 187 1 to 1876 he served as United
States commissioner and register in bankruptcy. In the latter year he
was nominated for lieutenant-governor of the state, with Godlove S.
Ortli as gubernatorial candidate, who, it will be remembered, was
compelled to resign from the ticket, and was replaced by General
Benjamin Harrison. The ticket was defeated. In 1886
General M. D. Manson resigned the lieutenant-governorship,
and in the ensuing election Colonel Robertson was chosen
as his successor, and later, in the presence of the general
assembly, took the oath of office. "Then followed what
eventually proved to be one of the most critical and exciting periods
in the political history of the state. The Democrats had decided to
regard the election as unauthorized by law. and, having a majority
in the senate, forbade him to assume the duties of presiding officer
in that body, a position prescribed as the function of the office to
which he had been elected. Attempts were made by the opposition
to secure a judicial decision, by means of two injunction suits, but
the outcome was a ruling by the supreme court to the effect that the
legislature had exclusive jurisdiction in the premises. Upon making
a second formal demand for his rights as lieutenant-governor, Colonel
Robertson was forcibly excluded from the senate chamber. This
action caused the wildest excitement, but the subject's calm, dignified
and courageous bearing had great injfluence in averting a calamitous
and disgraceful outcome of this deplorable affair. He counseled that
no attempts by force be made in his behalf, but that the question be
submitted to peaceful arbitration by the people. His attitude and wise
conduct undoubtedly prevented a serious outbreak, which might have
proven disastrous to the welfare and dignity of the state. In all other
functions of the office to which he had been elected the lieutenant-
q-overnor performed his duties Without hindrance, and the people at
large recognized his loyalty to the best interests of the state. While
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 21
in that ofifice he was for two successive years elected president of the
state board of equalization, a position which had hitherto been in-
variably filled by the governor." Colonel Robertson was appointed
by President Harrison, in 1889, a member of the Utah commission,
and served efficiently in this connection until his removal by Presi-
dent Cleveland in 1894.
Soon after his arrival in Fort Wayne, Colonel Robertson formed
a professional partnership with Lindley M. Ninde and Robert S.
Taylor, under the name of Ninde, Taylor & Robertson, which associa-
tion was terminated in 1868, after which the subject was associated
with David P. Whedon. under the firm name of Whedon & Robert-
son, this relationship ceasing in 1871, when the senior partner re-
moved to Utah. Soon afterward the firm of Lx)wry, Robertson &
O'Rourke was formed, and so continued until 1876, when INlr. Lowry
was elevated to the bench, Mr. O'Rourke receiving similar prefer-
ment the following year. Thereafter for a number of years Colonel
Robertson was associated with Judge James B. Harper, and in 1894
formed a partnership with William S. O'Rourke, a firm which from
the beginning occupied a leading place at the bar of the state. As a
lawyer Colonel Robertson evinces a familiarity with legal principles
and a ready perception of facts, together with the ability to apply the
one to the other, which has won him the reputation of a sound and
safe practitioner. Years of conscientious work have brought with
them not only increase of practice and reputation, but also that growth
in legal knowledge and that wide and accurate judgment, the pos-
session of which constitutes marked excellence in the profession. In
the trial of cases he is uniformly courteous to court and opposing
counsel, caring little for display, and in discussions of the principles
of law he is noted for clearness of statement and candor. His zeal
for a client never leads him to urge an argument which in his judg-
ment is not in harmony with the law, and in all the important litiga-
tion with which he has been connected no one has ever charged him
with anything calculated to bring discredit upon himself or cast a
reflection upon his profession. By a straightforward and honorable
course he has built up a large and lucrative legal business and has
been successful beyond the average of his calling.
On July 19. 1865, at Whitehall, New York, Colonel Robertson
22 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth H. Miller, whose grand-
father, Alexander Robertson, came to New York in 1804. To this
union were born the following children : Nicholas Alexander, now
city attorney of Eureka, Utah; Louise, who is the wife of William
H. Shambaugh, city attorney of Fort Wayne ; Robert Strowan, of the
Ferguson Palmer Lumber Company, of Paducah, Kentucky ; Mabel is
the wife of Ernest F. Lloyd, who is engaged in the gas construction
business in Detroit, Michigan; Annie M. is the wife of William N.
Whitely, assistant manager of the Farmers' Co-operative Manu-
facturing Company, of Springfield, Ohio. Mrs. Elizabeth Robertson
died in May, 1896, and subsequently, August 31, 1898, the Colonel
wedded Mrs. Frances M. Haberly (nee Stinson), a lady known inter-
nationally as an authority on art and a lecturer in many states upon
that subject. Politically, as has been before indicated. Colonel Rob-
ertson gives an earnest support to the Republican party. His fra-
ternal relations are as follows : In 1862 he became a Free and Ac-
cepted Mason, and in this order has taken all the degrees of the Scot-
tish Rite up to and including the thirty-second ; he joined the Grand
Army of the Republic in 1866, and has ever maintained an active
interest in this association of his old comrades in arms ; in 1882 he
joined the Ohio commander)^ of the Militar}^ Order of the Loyal Le-
gion, and subsequently, in 1888, became a charter member of the
Indiana commandery ; he also belongs to the Medal of Honor Legion,
Socially, he is a member of the Fortnightly Club, of Fort Wayne.
He was long a member of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, the Indiana State Historical Society and of the
Congress International des Americanistes, of Europe. He is the
possessor of an interesting and valuable collection of minerals, fossils
and prehistoric curios of great value, and has devoted much attention
to historical and scientific studies, having written many able and
valuable articles pertaining to the results of his research, these having
appeared in the reports of the Smithsonian Institution, in the North
American Review, the Magazine of American History and other
leading publications.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 23
WILLIAM P. BREEN.
Among those who have conferred honor and distinction on the
bar of Allen county and that of the state of Indiana, whose jurists
and legists have commanded the admiration and respect of men from
the early pioneer epoch to the present, stands the subject of this
brief sketch, — a representative member of his profession in the city
of Fort Wayne, where he has been engaged in active practice for a
quarter of a century.
William P. Breen claims the Hoosier state as the place of his
nativity, having been born in the city of Terre Haute, on the 13th
of February, 1859, and being a scion of stanch Irish stock. His
father, James Breen, was born in the fair Emerald Isle, in the
year 1820, where he was reared to maturity and where he received
fair educational advantages, of which he made good use. In the year
1840, when a youth of twenty years, he severed the home ties and
came to America, thoroughly imbued with the ambition and de-
termination to make for himself a place in the world. He remained
in the east for five years, at the expiration of which he came to In-
diana and located in Terre Haute, where he continued to reside until
1863, which year marked his advent in the city of Fort Wayne.
Here he engaged in the mercantile trade, with which he continued to
be identified for many years, having built up a prosperous business,
while as a man of inflexible honor, marked intellectual acumen and
force of character, he attained to a position of prominence and in-
fluence in the community. He served for many years as a member
of the city council, and at the time of his death was a valued member
of the board of water-works trustees, while he was ever found at the
front in supporting measures having as their object the welfare and
advancement of the city of his home and of his loyal pride. He was
24 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
summoned to the life eternal in the year 1883, having been a con-
sistent communicant of the Catholic church, in whose faith he was
reared, his wife likewise being a devoted member of the great mother
church. The latter' s maiden name was Margaret Dunne and she
was likewise born in Ireland, the date of her nativity having been
1 8 18, while she survived her honored husband by five years. The
subject of this sketch is the only child born of this union.
William P. Breen acquired his preliminary education in the school
maintained in Fort Wayne by the Brothers of Holy Cross of the
Catholic church and supplemented this training by entering that
great and noble institution, the University of Notre Dame, near
South Bend, this state, where he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1877, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Endowed with
alert mentality, ambition and initiative power, it is scarcely necessary
to say that the young man had ere this formulated definite plans for
his future career, deciding to adopt the profession of the law. In
order to properly prepare himself for this important and exacting
vocation Mr. Breen entered, in the same autumn of his graduation,
the law oiftces of Coombs, Morris & Bell, at that time one of the
leading law firms of Fort Wayne. Under most effective preceptor-
ship he thus continued his technical studies with so much discernment,
discrimination and assiduity that in May, 1879, he was duly admitted
to the bar of his native state, and in the following September he began
his practical novitiate in the work of his chosen profession, being
only twenty years of age at the time. From the start he was asso-
ciated with Warren H. Withers, and this loyal professional alliance
remained unbroken and inviolate until the death of Judge Withers,
on the 15th of November, 1882. Thus identified in their practice, the
two were mutually helpful, utmost harmony characterized their re-
lations and they retained a clientage which was of singularly repre-
sentative order. After the death of his able and honored confrere
and friend. Judge Withers, Mr. Breen continued an individual
practice of constantly increasing scope and importance until 1893,
in the spring of which year was formed the copartnership between
himself and John Morris, Jr., an able young attorney and the son
of Judge John Morris, who passed to his reward in 1905, having
been one of the most venerable and distinguished members of the
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 2$
bar of Fort Wayne, where all of honor and reverence crowns his
memory.
The writer of this article has previously had the pleasure of en-
tering a published estimate concerning the life and services of Mr.
Breen, and feels that there can be no inconsistency in here quoting
briefly from his earlier sketch : "In active practice our subject is
eminently a man of resources. Always a stlident, careful in the
preparation of cases and always quick to see and to anticipate dif-
ficulties which are or may be encountered, he has been
enabled to so shape his various causes as to avoid these dif- .
Acuities and obstacles. Strong and forceful in the presentation of his
cases, he has gained the good will and commendation of both his
professional confreres and the general public, retaining his reputation
among men for integrity and high character and never losing that
true dignity which is the birthright of a gentleman."
In his political allegiance Mr. Breen is known as one of Indiana's
stalwart and aggressive Democrats, and in his characteristic, vigorous
way he has done much to further the party cause, though never a
seeker of political preferment. In religion he holds tenaciously and
consistently to the revered faith of his fathers, and is one of the
valued members and devoted communicants of the Cathedral church,
Roman Catholic, in his home city, Mrs. Breen likewise being a devoted
churchwoman.
On the 27th of May, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Breen to Miss Odelia Phillips, of Fort Wayne, where she was born
on the 13th of March, 1859, being a daughter of the late Bernard
Phillips, who was long a prominent business man and honored citizen
of Fort Wayne, where both he and his wife died.
26 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WILLIAM DAVID PAGE.
The march of improvement and progress is accelerated day by
day, and each successive moment seems to demand of men a broader
intelligence and a greater discernment than did the preceding. Suc-
cessful men must be live men in this age, bristling with activity, and
the lessons of biography may be far-reaching to an extent not
superficially evident. There can be no impropriety in justly scanning
the acts of any man as they affect his public, social and business rela-
tions. Among the able and representative men of Allen county, In-
diana, is William D. Page, who has had to do with matters of public
interest and importance and whose executive capacity has been such
as to enable him to achieve a noteworthy success, while the methods
employed have been such as to gain and retain to him the confidence
and high regard of his fellow men. It is both gratifying and profit-
able to enter record concerning the career of such a man, and in the
following brief outline sufficient will be said to indicate the forceful
individuality, initiative power and sterling character of a well-known
citizen of Fort Wayne.
William D. Page is a native of the Wolverine state, having been
born at Monroe, Monroe county, Michigan, on the i6th day of
August, 1844. His parents were Rev. William and Frances
(Durand) Page, the fonner a native of Middlebury, Vermont, and
the latter of Bethlehem, Connecticut. In William Page's veins flowed
English blood, while his wife was descended from sturdy French
Huguenot ancestors. The subject of this sketch received his
elementary education in the public schools, supplementing this by
graduation at the West Rockford (Illinois) high school. He also
pursued a course of study at Dr. Holbrook's Academy, at Clinton,
New York, and later entered Hamilton College, located at the same
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 27
place. At the early age of ten years, the subject commenced to
learn the printer's trade in the office of the Expositor, at Adrian,
Michigan, and thus gained that practical knowledge and experience
which has so well served him in his later enterprises. He made
good progress in both mechanical and financial way and in 1866 be-
came publisher of the Expositor. In 187 1 he came to Fort Wayne,
Indiana, and in 1874 founded the Fort Wayne News, which he suc-
cessfully conducted until its sale in 1892 and which has been for
many years one of the leading and influential newspapers in north-
eastern Indiana. In the dual capacities of publisher and editor, Mr.
Page evinced qualities of the highest order, having both the executive
ability and the clearness of vision to enable him to successfully guide
his business affairs, while he has at all times wielded a forceful and
trenchant pen.
When the dark clouds of civil strife hovered over our land, and
the President found it necessary to call for volunteers to assist in
maintaining the national union, Mr. Page was one of the first to offer
his services, enlisting in April, 186 1, in the Fifth Regiment Wis-
consin Volunteer Infantry ; but because of his youth he was not per-
mitted to go to the front, being discharged by order of Brigadier
General Rufus King. He afterward, however, served in the quarter-
master's department through the last Shenandoah campaign, and,
though not at the battle's front, he nonetheless contributed his quota
toward the successful prosecution of the war. Mr. Page was at
Harper's Ferry on the night of President Lincoln's assassination and
was present at the grand review of the victorious armies at Wash-
ington, probably in many respects the most impressive military spec-
tacle the world has ever witnessed.
On the 24th of September, 1866, William D. Page was united
in marriage with Miss Chloe Elizabeth Warner, who was born at
Adrian, Michigan, April 7, 1849, the daughter of T. C. and Elmina
Warner. To Mr. and Mrs. Page have been born two children,
Frances Elizabeth Page-Willey and Josephine Page-Wright. In
religion Mr. Page and family are connected with the Presbyterian
church, and take an active interest in all movements looking to the
moral, educational and social advancement of the community. In
politics, Mr. Page has, ever since attaining his majority, given a
28 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
stanch support to the Republican party, and has served the public
as postmaster of Fort Wayne for eight years, proving one of the
most capable, as well as most accommodating and popular, in-
cumbents of this office. He also served for six years as president
of the board of trustees of the Eastern Indiana Hospital for the
Insane. His interest in all that concerns the progress and prosperity
of Allen county is unabating, and those who have known him since
his first advent here are numbered among his cherished and devoted
friends, while he commands unequivocal esteem in the community at
large.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 29
HON. PATRICK S. O'ROURKE.
Not dead, — nor yet can all be told,
Casket and bell and carven line on stone, —
They only claim their puny, meager own;
A precious dross, whUe time shall jealous hold,
The priceless treasure of a life which lie
Lived as a manly man, lived true and earnestly.
From "In Memorium," by S. B. MoManus.
Hon Patrick S. O'Rourke was a unique and pronounced character
in the history of northern Indiana and his strong imprint may be
found on the business, poHtical and social events of his day. Sum-
ming up mere years briefly, he was born September 30, 1830, and
died February 12, 1898, — not a long lifetime as years are counted,
but as deeds are reckoned, a fair and goodly portion of time. His
birthplace was Newark, New Jersey, and he was the son of Chris-
topher and Ellen (Flannagan) O'Rourke. The father was a man of
pronounced business ability and was prominent as a railroad con-
tractor, having been identified with the building of the Pittsburg,
Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. It was not at all strange that
the son should drift into work similar to his father's and in 1856
he took a position as conductor on a construction train, soon after
being promoted to freight conductor, and in three years from the
beginning he was made conductor on a passenger train. In 1866 he
became master of transportation of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne &
Chicago Railroad and in 1871 was appointed assistant superintendent
of the Michigan Lake Shore road, but, before the expiration of the
year, was made superintendent of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Rail-
road, in which capacity he remained until the time of his death.
These rapid promotive changes involved no shifting of employers,
and thus for nearly half a century he was identified with one system
30 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
of railways. Be it said Mr. O'Rourke was a faithful employee as
well as a capable employer. One of the secrets of his successful life
was that he believed in conscientious work and that a thing that was
worth doing was worth doing in the very best manner possible. No
make-shift or compromise answered the purpose ; he had no patience
with half-hearted service and, as an employer, he would have none
of it. The man who shirked was the man who very soon found
himself out of his employ and it was equally sure that the man who
did his duty and his best was certain of continued favor. He loved
justice and exercised it in all of his dealings and no man could say
that he had been dealt unfairly with knowingly. His record as a
railroad man stands unblemished and his long career in the capacity
of superintendent is one of which the most critical might be proud.
His best energies found expression in practical work and his services
were valued accordingly.
Mr. O'Rourke was twice married, the two children of the first
union being Mrs. John H. Cody and Mrs. George Waltke. Mr.
O'Rourke's second wife bore the maiden name of Eliza Boulger
and the children bom to them were as follows : Mrs. J. W. Hunter ;
William S. O'Rourke, the well-known attorney of Fort Wayne; Ed-
ward O'Rourke, of Grand Rapids, Michigan ; Mrs. Charles Keasey,
of Kendallville, Indiana; Mrs. William Wagoner and Miss Grace,
both of Fort Wayne.
In religion Mr. O'Rourke was a Catholic; not half-hearted,
neither narrow nor bigoted, but a Catholic in the truest and most
dignified sense of the word. He was devoted to his religion and had
abundant and abiding faith in it, and his activity in connection with
various organizations attached to his church brought him into much
prominence. He organized the St. Joseph Benevolent Society of
the Cathedral of Fort Wayne, which has been a power for good from
the day of its inception; in 1893 he organized the American Sons of
Columbus and promoted the sister society, the Daughters of Isabella.
He also organized the first branch of the Catholic Knights of America
in Fort Wayne and was supreme trustee one term.
In politics Mr. O'Rourke was a Democrat of the most pronounced
and virile kind. He had faith in the party and some of his best and
most brilliant efforts were directed in its behalf. The politics of
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 31
his home city always claimed a lively interest for him and his en-
deavor was constantly for the betterment of them. In 1896 Mr.
O'Rourke disagreed with his party on the currency question and
allied himself with the National Democrats, giving his support to
Palmer and Buckner. As a writer and speaker upon political topics
he had but few equals in Indiana or the west. He was a ready de-
bater, a man of wide and comprehensive information and possessed a
strong grasp on public affairs and was combative to perhaps more
than an ordinary degree. His mind was well disciplined and Igocial
and his command of language was notable, possessing a power of
expression far beyond the ordinary. As a writer he was equally
forcible and commanding and his literature is characterized by a
splendid strength and virility. He was the author of a number of
books and pamphlets, some of which had a wide reading. As the
reverse side of the medal, — the complement of the practical, uncom-
promising business man, in which character he was perhaps best
known, — ^his literary work along the line of romance presents an
almost antagonism. His stories were full of fancy that suggests a
Rider Haggard and no one can read them without experiencing a
lively and devoted interest.
To write the history of Mr. O'Rourke would be to write a book
and the limits of a brief sketch have already been reached. To sum
up : He was a good man, — a man that the world was better for his
having lived in it. He was a good husband and father, faithful and
loving; a good citizen and friend, constant and reliable; a man in the
fullest sense of the word, wide, comprehensive and far-reaching in
life and personality, — a man to be missed and lamented; but his good
deeds shall live after him.
32 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
ROBERT S. TAYLOR.
One of the distinguished citizens and leading members of the bar
of Allen county is Judge Taylor, who has made his home in the
city of Fort Wayne for the past forty-five years. He has ever com-
manded imiform confidence and esteem as a lawyer and a citizen,
has been a prominent and influential figure in political and general
civic affairs. He was bom near the city of Chillicothe, Ross county,
Ohio, on the 22d of May, 1838, being a son of Rev. Isaac N. and
Margaretta (Stewart) Taylor. His father was one of the pioneer
clergymen of the Presbyterian church in Ohio, having been located
in turn at Chillicothe, Celina and St. Mary's, that state, while in
1844 he removed with his family to Jay county, Indiana. A few
years after coming to Indiana, inspired by devotion to the cause of
education, he founded Liber College, near Portland, and in this well
conducted institution many of the youth of that section laid the
foundation for future honor and usefulness.
Robert S. Taylor secured his early educational discipline in the
common schools of Indiana and in due time entered the college which
had been founded by his honored father. In this institution he
was graduated on the 30th of June, 1858, and within a few months
after receiving his diploma he was united in marriage to his classmate,
Miss Fanny W. Wright. His attention was turned in the direction
of the law, and he initiated his technical reading and study under the
preceptorship of Judge Jacob M. Haynes, of Portland. In No-
vember, 1859, he took up his residence in the city of Fort Wayne,
where he completed his work of preparation for the bar, to which
he was duly admitted in this county, in the following year. During
a portion of his first year of residence in Fort Wayne he was en-
gaged in teaching school, and in November, i860, he became a
clerk in the office of L. M. Ninde, one of the representative members
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 33
of the bar of the county at that time. Two years later he was ad-
vanced to a partnership, the firm of Ninde & Taylor being then
formed. In 1866 Colonel Robert S. Robertson became a member of
the firm, which became one of the most prominent and influential in
northern Indiana.
Upon the establishment of the criminal court in Fort Wayne, in
1868, Judge Taylor was appointed its prosecuting attorney. Within
the same year the finn of Ninde, Taylor & Robertson was dissolved,
and the subject of this review was appointed judge of the court of
common pleas. This position he held until the next election, when
he was chosen to represent Allen county in the lower house of the
state legislature. In 1874 he was the Republican candidate for con-
gress from this district, his opponent being Hon. Holman H. Hamil-
ton; and in 1880 he was again the nominee of his party for this high
office, against Walpole G. Colerick. On each occasion he met defeat,
as had been anticipated from the normal political status of the district,
but in the latter instance particularly the great reduction of the ad-
verse majority clearly demonstrated the high esteem in which Judge
Taylor was held by the people of the district. He still takes an
active part in political discussions and work, and is a popular speaker
in all important campaigns. In March, 1881, Judge Taylor was ap-
pointed, by President Garfield, a member of the Mississippi river
commission, to succeed General Benjamin Harrison, who had been
elected to the United States senate. This position has occupied a
large portion of Judge Taylor's time and attention to the present time.
He still retains his residence in Fort Wayne and is engaged in the
work of his profession, confining his efforts largely to cases of the
more important order and being held in veneration and high esteem
as one of the pioneer members of the bar of the city and state.
One child only has come to the home of Judge Taylor, a son,
Frank B. Taylor, bom November 23, i860. He is a geologist, and
has achieved high rank in that profession as a student of and writer
upon the post-glacial geology of the great lake system of the United
States.
34 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
CHARLES M. NIEZER.
For the high rank of her bench and bar Indiana has ever been
distinguished, and it is gratifying to note that in no section of the
commonwealth has the standard been lowered at any epoch in its his-
tory. To the subject of this review we may refer with propriety and
satisfaction as being one of the able and representative members of
the legal profession in Allen county; and that he is a native son of
Indiana lends somewhat to the significance of the prestige which he
has here attained.
Charles Mahlon Niezer was born in Monroeville, Allen county,
Indiana, on the 31st day of March, 1877, ^^^ is the son of John
Bumard and Sarah T. Niezer, natives of Indiana and Pennsylvania,
respectively. The subject secured his preliminary education in the
common schools of Allen county, and supplemented this by attendance
at Notre Dame University, at South Bend, Indiana, Indiana State
University, at Bloomington, Indiana, and Columbia University, New
York city, receiving, successively, the degrees of Bachelor of Arts,
Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. He had given close and con-
scientious study to the principles of law and jurisprudence, and im-
mediately upon his admission to the bar, he, on September 19, 1901,
commenced the active practice of his profession at Fort Wayne, His
abilities were promptly recognized, and he has rapidly acquired a
reputation as a shrewd, able and sagacious attorney, having a large
and representative clientage. A man of courteous manners, genial
disposition and genuine worth, he has won and retains a host of warm,
personal friends. In 1905 the well-known legal firm of Olds &
Doughman, of Fort Wayne, was dissolved, Mr. Doughman going
to Cleveland as general attorney for the Lake Shore Railroad Com-
pany, and Judge Olds took as junior partner the subject of this sketch,
the firm being known as Olds & Niezer.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 35
JOSEPH C. PFEIFFER.
Mr. Pfeiffer is a native of Allen county, and one of the repre-
sentative young men of Washington township, of which he is serv-
ing as trustee at the time of this writing.
Mr. Pfeiffer was bom in Washington township, this county, on
the 29th of August, 1871, and is a son of Christian F. and Charlotte
E. (Edwards) Pfeiffer, prominent and honored residents of the
county, to whom more definite recognition is accorded in the personal
sketch of the father, appearing on other pages of this work. The
subject was reared on the farm and secured excellent business train-
ing, since his father dealt extensively in live stock for many years.
After completing the curriculum of the public schools, he took a
course in a business college in Buffalo, New York, where he was
graduated. For a time after leaving school he was engaged in clerical
work in Buffalo, and he thereafter began to assume greater business
responsibilities, advancing gradually to a position of prominence. He
is now the local representative of his father as to the latter's large real
estates interests in Allen and Huntington counties and the North
Wayne addition to Fort Wayne. The latter, which originally com-
prised about one hundred and sixty acres, has been platted, and on
it have been built a large number of attractive houses, the subject
having entire control of the platting, improvement and sale of the
addition.
In politics Mr. Pfeiffer accords an uncompromising allegiance to
the Republican party, and he has been an active and effective worker
in its local ranks. Recognition of his eligibility and personal popu-
larity was given in a significant way in his recent election to the re-
sponsible office of trustee of Washington township, where he secured
a large and flattering majority, though the normal political complex-
36 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
ion of the township is strongly Democratic, and he was, as a matter
of course, the candidate on the RepubHcan ticket. In a fraternal
way Mr. Pfeiffer is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum and Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks in the city of Fort Wayne, and his
religious faith is that of the English Lutheran church, in which he
was reared.
On October 7, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pfeiffer
to Miss Anna B. Redman, a daughter of David Porter Redman, a
well-known stock dealer of Omaha, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs.
Pfeiffer have two children — Helen R. and Alice R.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 37
JOSEPH T. HANNA.
This popular and representative citizen and prominent business
man of Fort Wayne is a scion of one of the oldest and most honored
families of Allen county, while he is a native of Fort Wayne, which
city has ever been his home. He was born in the family homestead
on East Washington boulevard. Fort Wayne, on the 1 7th of February,
1857, and is a son of Henry C. and Elizabeth C. (Carson) Hanna,
the former of whom was bom in Fort Wayne, and the latter in
Cobourg, Canada. The father of the subject was one of Fort Wayne's
prominent and influential business men and public-spirited citizens,
and his name is indelibly inscribed on the annals of the beautiful Sum-
mit City.
Joseph T. Hanna secured his preliminary educational discipline
in the public schools of Fort Wayne, and at the age of fourteen years
he became a pupil in the excellent private school for toys conducted
by F. W. Barron, near Cobourg, province of Ontario, Canada, while
later he continued his studies at Dundas, that province. Mr. Hanna
passed his young manhood as a traveling salesman, and later engaged
in business for himself im his native city, where he is now at the head
of the well-known firm of J. T. Hanna & Company, dealers in bot-
importers, agents, and handling goods of the highest grade. In a
fraternal way he is affiliated with Wayne Lodge, No. 25, Free and
tied goods, where an extensive enterprise is carried on, the firm being
Accepted Masons.
On the 26th of April, 1893, Mr. Hanna was united in marriage
to Susannah Vesta Alvaretta (called Sue Vesta), second daughter of
Luke and Susannah T. Tousley and born and reared in Whitley
county, this state. Mrs. Hanna traces her genealogy back to the fif-
teenth century, and among her American ancestors were men of dis-
38 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
tinction in the colonial history of our nation and in the war of the
Revolution. She is a lady of gracious presence and marked accom-
plishments, having been a contributor of both prose and verse of high
order to various periodicals, and utilizing a nom de plume in the con-
nection. She has thus devoted attention to literary work for a num-
ber of years past, while she is well known locally as an artist, and is
held in high esteem in the social circles of the city.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 39
MARY A. WHERY, M. D.
The great value of woman's interposition in the practical work of
medicine and surgery is now conceded on every side, though not
many years have passed since the woman physician met with opposi-
tion and even ridicule on the part of the rank and file of the noble
profession into which she has succeeded in making her way. She
has proven herself strong, helpful, resourceful; has shown that true
sympathy which transcends mere emotion to become an actuating
motive in the relieving of suffering; and she has not failed in up-
holding the prestige of the profession from which she was formerly
barred. The subject of this sketch is, without consideration of sex,
one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Fort Wayne, and
is thus well entitled to consideration in a publication which accords
review of the careers of the leading members of the profession in
Allen county.
Mary A. Whery was born in Whitley county, Indiana, and was
educated in the public schools of her native county, at the Jefferson
high school, of Fort Wayne, and at the Methodist College, of the
same city. For a few years she engaged in teaching school in Whit-
ley county. She was married to Dr. W. P. Whery in 188 1, and un-
der his preceptorship began the study of medicine and assisted in his
office operations. Later she entered the Fort Wayne College of Medi-
cine and completed the full course with honors, graduating in March,
1888. This college is a coeducational institution and requires women
students to take all the same studies and to attend the same clinics
as the male students. After graduating she practiced medicine and
surgery with gratifying success, having adopted obstetrics and gyne-
cology as her specialty, and has performed most of the usual opera-
tions connected with it, some them of peculiar difficulty. She acted
40 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
as assistant to the chair of diseases of women in the Fort Wayne
College of Medicine. She is a member of the Fort Wayne Medical
Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical
Association, as well as the Medical Association of the Upper Maumee
Valley and the Tri-State Medical Association, and has read papers
before them. She has served as delegate to the American Medical
Association and to the Women's Medical Congress at the World's
Fair, and in the latter was representative of the state of Indiana and
read a paper there. She has served in several offices, including that
of president, in the alumnae association of her college, and she has
been elected a trustee of Hope Hospital, Fort Wayne, where she has
been for years chairman of the training school for nurses, and has
lectured on gynecology in that institution.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 41
LOUIS PELTIER.
Few men of Allen county, Indiana, were as widely and favorably
known as the late Louis Peltier, of Fort Wayne. He was one of the
strong and influential citizens whose lives have become an essential
part of the history of this section of the state, and for years his name
was synonymous for all that constituted honorable and upright man-
hood. Tireless energy, keen perception and honesty of purpose, com-
bined with everyday common sense, were among his chief character-
istics, and while advancing individual success he also largely
promoted the moral and material welfare of his community. At
the time of his death Mr. Peltier enjoyed the noteworthy dis-
tinction of being the oldest native of Ft. Wayne, his birth having
antedated by sixteen years the incorporation of Fort Wayne as a
town, and during all the subsequent years of his life he kept in close
touch with the growth and development of the city and county.
Peltier is a name prominently associated with the early history of
Fort Wayne, and indeed of the entire northwest. The subject's
grandfather, who was a Frenchman by nativity, came to America in
an early day in company with Cadillac, Chapeteau and other of the
courageous pioneers who settled about Detroit. The subject's father,
James Peltier, a French Canadian, came to Fort Wayne about 1790
and engaged as a trader with the Indians. He was a surveyor, also,
and was for some time engaged in carrying dispatches between De-
troit and Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), traveling through the wil-
derness on horseback by way of Fort Wayne. James Peltier married
Emeline Chapeteau, the granddaughter of Baptiste Maloch, a fur
trader, and on March 15, 1813, their son Louis was bora. The
family were at that time living within the stockade walls of old Fort
Wayne, and the child's earliest years were passed amid stirring
42 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
scenes. The Indians were in an ugly mood, owing to their recent
defeats, and made life precarious for the early settlers. It naturally
followed that educational opportunities here were very meager, and
such education as Mr. Peltier had was obtained from private instruc-
tion. His playmates were for the most part the young Indian boys
and girls, and he learned their language perfectly, becoming from
the first their friend, and receiving in return their utmost confidence.
Through his earlier years Mr. Peltier found employment as an inter-
preter, traveling over the territory with the traders and acting as an
intermediary in their transactions with the Indians. While yet in his
teens, Mr. Peltier engaged to learn the carpenter and cabinet-making
trade with James Wilcox, who had a shop on what is now Calhoun
street. Here were made most of the coffins used for the burial of
the dead, and this was the first undertaking establishment in Fort
Wayne. Upon the death of Mr. Wilcox, four years later, in 1840,
Mr. Peltier succeeded to the business. Shortly afterward Mr. Pel-
tier went to Cincinnati, and then to New Orleans, remaining about a
year, and then returned to Fort Wayne, where the remaining years
of his life were spent. At this time he established undertaking as a
definite department of the business, the latter line having been con-
tinued uninterruptedly ever since, first by the father and later by the
son, James C. Peltier, who now conducts it, the former having re-
tired from active participation in business in 1882. In his death there
passed away the last representative of the earlier residents of the city,
and whose life formed a connecting link between the present and the
past. The venerable man had been in declining health for several
years, though suffering from no definite disease, and at the last mo-
ment the Aveakened body sank so peacefully into the last sleep that
those about his bedside were scarcely aware when the end came.
Death occurred on the 22d of October, 1904, the subject thus being
in his ninety-second year.
Though ever occupying a prominent place in the life of Fort
Wayne, Mr. Peltier never held public office. His earliest political
affilition was with the Whigs, and in 1852 he cast his ballot for Gen-
eral Winfield Scott. In 1856 he became a Democrat, and throughout
the remainder of his life he continued faithful in his allegiance to that
party. Mr. Peltier was a devoted member of the Catholic church.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 43
having been one of the first members of the Catholic congregation
founded in Fort Wayne by the early missionaries, and when Father
Benoit began; the erection of the cathedral here in i860 Mr. Peltier
was one of his strongest supporters and leading assistants.
Louis Peltier was twice married, his first wife having been Miss
Laura Gushing, to whom he was wedded in 1833. To this union
were bom three children, of whom two survive, namely : Mrs. Ellen
Meegan, of New York, and James C. Peltier, of this city, a sketch
of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Laura Peltier died
in 1844, and six years later the subject married Miss Mary Nettle-
horst, a native of Germany, who survives him. Mrs. L. G. Laughlin,
of Tipton, Indiana, is the only surviving child of this union.
Louis Peltier was universally recognized as a splendid citizen, of
lofty character, sturdy integrity and unswerving honesty. During
the pioneer period he shared fully the trials and difficulties of those
days. He was one of the sturdy figures upon which the burdens of
the new community fell, and he struggled devotedly with others in
bringing about the resultant evolution of development. Hand and
heart and purse were always open to the necessities of his neighbors,
and the record of those years is one of tireless and unselfish devotion.
44
THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
MRS. CHARLES B. WOODWORTH.
The lady whose name appears above has long- occupied a leading
position in the best circles of Fort Wayne, and has taken an active
part in movements tending to the advancement of the best interests
of her sex. Early recognizing the value and importance of the wom-
an's club movement, she at once gave to it her encouragement and
active support, and few women of this city have done more than she
in securing for the women of Fort Wayne the advantages and bene-
fits derived from organizations whose aim and object have been up-
lifting and helpful, both socially and educationally. The possessor
of charming personal qualities and recognized ability, she is properly
considered a leader in the circles in which she moves, and exerts a
definite and healthful influence upon all with whom she is brought
into contact.
Mrs. Woodworth is a native of the Lone Star state, having been
born in Victoria, Texas, on the 28th day of December, 1852, the
only child of Joel T. and Loly Arvilla (Cook) Case. Her ancestors
for several generations have been American, while her parents were
natives of Connecticut. The latter were, in their youth, brought to
Ohio by their respective parents, this having been in the closing years
of the eighteenth century, when the tide of emigration flowed toward
the western states from the colonies of the east. Joel T. Case re-
ceived a good education and took a degree in theology at Yale C0I-.
lege, with the intention of entering the ministry of the Presbyterian
church, but before becoming ordained he pursued other callings for
a time, having, some time in the early '40s, established the Mobile
Advertiser. In 1845 he joined the celebrated Santa Fe expedition,
during the course of which he had a narrow escape from death. He
with a number of his companions were captured by the Mexicans,
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 45
and were drawn up in line to be shot, but his Hfe was saved by his
drawing a black bean, seventeen of which had been placed in a jar,
in which one hundred and fifty-three white beans had also been placed,
to correspond to the number of prisoners. Mr. Case subsequently
followed his original intentions and entered the ministry at Victoria,
Texas. In a young ladies' seminary at this place the subject of this
sketch secured a good education. On the 30th of January, 1873, she
was united in marriage to Mr. Charles B. Woodworth, of Fort
Wayne, Indiana, who was born in the latter city on December 3, 1848,
the son of Dr. Benjamin S. Woodworth. This union has been a most
congenial and happy one, and has been blessed in the birth of two
children, Benjamin S. and Carl B.
46 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
HERMAN W. TAPR-
As a contractor for stone and concrete masonry, Mr. Tapp occu-
pies a prominenit position in Fort Wayne, being a representative busi-
ness man of the "Summit City," and one who is upholding the high
reputation gained by his honored father in the same important field
of industrial enterprise. He controls a large business, has executed
contracts of great magnitude and his reliabilty and his fidelity to
contracts are recognized wherever he is known.
Herman W. Tapp was born in the beautiful old capital city of
Berlin, Germany, on the 14th of December, 1856, and is a son of
Ferdinand and Wilhelmina (Siedschlag) Tapp, who immigrated
thence to America in i860, making the city of Chicago their destina-
tion and there remaining until 1865, when they located in Fort
Wayne, where the father attained to a position of prominence as a
bridge contractor, especially in the construction of high-grade rail-
road bridges, and other stone and concrete work. During the latter
portion of his active business career he was associated with his son,
Herman W., subject of this review, the operations being carried for-
ward under the firm name of F. Tapp & Son, while of this firm Her-
man W. is the direct successor. Ferdinand Tapp died on the 29th
of April, 1903, honored as one of Fort Wayne's representative citizens
and business men, and his devoted wife was summoned into eternal
rest on the 24th of January, 1905, both having been lifelong members
of the Lutheran church.
Herman W. Tapp secured his early educational training in the
parochial schools of the Lutheran church, and in the Fort Wayne
public schools, while later he took a course in the Fort Wayne Com-
mercial College. In the meanwhile, at the age of fifteen years, he be-
gan his practical apprenticeship at the trade of stonemason, under the
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 47
direction of his father, who was a skilled artisan in the line. He
followed the work of his trade about six years, and then engaged in
contracting, as a coadjutor and partner of his father. He has ever
since continued to give his attention to contracting for stone and con-
crete masonry, and his success has been practically unqualified from
the start, while he has control of a large and important enterprise in
his line, making a specialty of railroad work. His executed contracts
in 1904 represented one hundred thousand dollars, at a conservative
estimate.
In his political allegiance Mr. Tapp is a stanch adherent of the
Republican party, and while he takes a lively interest in the suprem-
acy of the party cause he has never permitted his name to be con-
sidered in connection with public office. He has contributed liberally
to the party work and his friends in the Republican ranks have urged
him to accept nomination for the office of mayor of Fort Wayne, but
he has felt no inclination to enter the political arena in this way, and
has considered his business affairs worthy of his undivided time and
attention. Mr. Tapp is an appreciative affiliate of the time-honored
order of Freemasonry, being identified with the following named
bodies : Wayne Lodge, No. 25, Free and Accepted Masons, of which
he is past master; Fort Wayne Chapter, No. 19, Royal Arch Masons;
Fort Wayne Commandery, No. 4, Knights Templar, and Fort
Wayne Grand Lodge of Perfection, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite,
in which body of the fratemit>' he had attained to the fourteenth de-
gree. He is also a member of Harmony Lodge, No. 19, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, and Fort Wayne Lodge, No. 116, Knights of
Pythias. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tapp are active members of the Luth-
eran church.
On the i6th of February, 1878, Mr. Tapp was united in mar-
riage to Miss Elizabeth M. Winter, a daughter of Philip Winter, of
Allen county, and they have had six children : Ruth died August 25,
1894; Frederick, Bessie, Elsie, Emma H. and Roscoe H. Bessie is
the wife of Harry A. Ross, of Fort Wayne, and the family is one of
prominence in the social life of the city, their magnificent home being
one of the most attractive in Fort Wayne, which is recognized as a
city of beautiful homes.
THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JAMES CHENEY.
James Cheney was the son of Roswell and Abigail (Williard)
Cheney. His father, Roswell Cheney, was a native of Keene, New
Hampshire, and his mother, Abigail Williard, was bom in Vermont.
Abigail Williard's father, James Williard, was born in England
and came to America during the latter part of the eighteenth cen-
tury. During the war of 1812 he remained a stanch Tory and
after the termination of tlie war he went to Canada for a number
of years. Roswell Cheney left his Vermont farm and came over-
land with his family to Toledo (or Port Lawrence, as it was then
called) in 1834. Here he took up large tracts of land and also
established himself in a general merchandise business. And here
he died in 1846, at the early age of fifty-six years. His wife sur-
vived him, dying at Logansport, Indiana, in June, 1861. They were
the parents of three children, Roswell Williard, who died in Toledo
in 1844, at the age of twenty-six years; James, the subject of this
sketch, and Cornelia M., the wife of George Knickerbocker, of Hills-
dale, Michigan.
On the 15th of December, 18 17, James Cheney was bom at
Sutton, Caledonia county, Vermont. At that early day the educa-
tional opportunities of a Vermont farmer's son were meagre. But
here, as everywhere and at all times, the mettle of the scholar meant
more than his educational system, and when James Cheney, at eleven
years of age, left school and began clerking in a general store in
Center Harbor, New Hampshire, he had made the most of his
opportunities and, leaving school, had but begun his real education,
which continued through life. After three years he went into busi-
ness for himself in Genesee county, New York, and later came with
his parents to the village of Toledo. Here he was soon employed
by S. & M. Collins at their Indian trading post, three miles from
itfS S i^A/liams SBm A^J^
(^l^^^^l-t-cje^
^^cjS^^(^_
^^^_
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 49
town. Soon he was sent to establish a branch store at Adrian,
Michigan, and in a year was taken in as half owner. Upon the
bankruptcy, soon afterward, of Mr. Collins, the firm became Cheney
& Wilson and so continued until 1839, when Mr. Cheney bought out
his junior partner and the firm became R. & J. Cheney, so continu-
ing for three years. During this partnership the firm took a con-
tract for the construction of three miles of the Wabash and Erie
canal.
In 1842 Mr. Cheney went to Defiance, Ohio, where he held
the state appointment as collector of tolls until 1845. At this time
he built the Pavilion, a large hotel for the day, but sold it in
1847 ^^^ removed to a farm on the Maumee river, two miles from
Defiance. In 1853 he sold this farm and in the following year
established a banking house in Defiance, and later came to Fort
Wayne, where he at once became identified with banking operations
and other important business interests. In 1855 he removed to New
York city, where he continued operations on Wall street with much
success, also forming the acquaintanceship of many of the leading
financiers of the day. In the spring of 1857 ^^- Cheney located in
Logansport, Indiana, being one of the twenty distinguished gentle-
men who organized the Bank of the State of Indiana. Of that
score of brilliant men, headed by Hugh McCulloch, he was the last
survivor. When the institution was finally merged into a national
bank he became a member of its directorate, while he also served for
a time as cashier, remaining in control of the most of the stock
until his death. He also became a heavy stockholder in the National
City Bank of New York. His activities were so far-reaching and
varied in the great domain of financial and industrial operations
that it is impossible to enter into details concerning them in an article
of this nature. We may offer a brief resume, however. He was
interested in the construction of the Atlantic cable, being associated
with other leading financiers, and for many years he was an active
operator in the great stock market of the national metropolis. In
1858, in partnership with J. Uhl, he erected a flouring mill in
Logansport, Indiana, and a few years later he sold his interest to his
partner's sons. He maintained his home and business headquarters
in New York from 1872 until 1878, when he returned to Fort
4
50 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Wayne. Here he remained as president of the Fort Wayne Gas
Light Company from 1878 until 1894, when the gas company sold
its stock to the Dietrich syndicate. Mr. Qieney was associated with
Jay Gould in the reorganization of the Wabash Railroad Company,
of which he was a stockholder until its final sale, in 1885, while he
was appointed a trustee on the mortgage in connection with the
Central Trust Company at the time of this sale. He was actively
identified with the Masonic fraternity for many years, taking his
dimit only when the infirmities of advanced age rendered it im-
possible for him to attend the lodge meetings.
We find it apropos to quote from the appreciative estimate pub-
lished in a Fort Wayne paper at the time of Judge Cheney's death,
which occurred at his beautiful home on Spy Run avenue, where
his declining years w^re passed in practical retirement, though he
continued to exercise a general supervision of his financial interests
until his summons came, his death occurring on the 13th of Decem-
ber, 1903. "Judge Cheney's career was a remarkable one in many
ways. He fought his way by his inherent ability to a place among
the foremost financiers of America. Quiet and unobtrusive always,
he was better known in the financial circles of Wall street than in
the affairs of his own city. Though a leading factor in some of
the greatest movements of modern times, his was an unassuming
nature. A man of few words, he acted rather than talked, and even
his most intimate friends hardly appreciated the tremendous part
played by this modest gentleman in the financial world. Mr.
Cheney w^as a man of keen business insight and was a bom financier,
yet he never departed from the path of absolute rectitude and honesty.
In all his long and useful life two qualities — integrity and love of
justice — were especially noticeable." His success in life was such
as would command respect and admiration anywhere. His results
were not accidents, as all his operations were managed with far-
seeing shrewdness. He had the genius of hard work and the in-
stinctive knowledge of men which guided him so safely in his choice
of business associates. Most orderly, exact and just in all his busi-
ness dealings, he required the same methods in others. He managed
to make money as dry goods merchant, contractor, miller, banker
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 51
and as stockholder in many industrial enterprises. Absolutely in-
dependent in thought and action, he would charge no usurious rate
of interest, yet neither would he give except to a cause which com-
mended itself to his best judgment. Firm and unbending in his
duty, his strict integrity made him always just and honorable in all
his dealings. His own diligence and his fidelity in the many posi-
tions of trust he held made him quick to appreciate these qualities
in others. In private life he was the most companionable of men.
Whatever the subject of conversation, his comments were never shal-
low, but always thoughtful and keen. His long, busy life gave him
many opportunities of observing state and national affairs. His
pleasant narration of these experiences made him a most entertaining
talker, while he was noted for the dignity and polish of his man-
ners. Although he had been reared a Congregationalist, he leaned
to the Quaker belief, especially admiring the absence of display in
their manner of life and their simplicity of thought. Mrs. Cheney
was a Presbyterian and Mr. Cheney was one of the chief benefactors
of the First Presbyterian church of Fort Wayne.
That a man of so broad a nature should feel a deep interest in
matters of public polity was a foregone conclusion, and in his earlier
years Mr. Cheney took an active part in political affairs in Ohio,
while he never wavered in his allegiance and fealty to the Democratic
party.
On the 2d of May, 1842, Judge Cheney was united in marriage
to Miss Nancy B. Evans, who was born in Defiance, Ohio, on the
2 1 St of February, 1824, and whose death occurred on the 27th of
June, 1895, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Knight, of Fort
Wayne. She was a daughter of Pierce Evans, one of the representa-
tive citizens of Defiance county, where she was reared and educated.
She was a woman of gentle and gracious personality and for many
years was prominent in the social life of Fort Wayne, while her
earnest Christian character was a source of inspiration to those who
came within the sphere of her influence. In Mount Hope cemetery,
at Logansport, Indiana, are laid to rest the remains of Judge Cheney
and his devoted wife. They became the parents of four children,
Helen, who is the wife of John A. Kimberly, of Neenah, Wisconsin;
52 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Roswell W., who is engaged in business in California, and who
served during the Civil war as a member of the Ninth Regiment of
Indiana Volunteer Infantry; Mary Cornelia, who is the wife of
Hon. John C. Nelson, of Logansport, Indiana; and Alice, who is
the wife of Charles S. Knight, of Fort Wayne.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 53
JAMES M. ROBINSON.
The history of a county or state, as well as that of a nation, is
chiefly a chronicle of the lives and deeds of those who have con-
ferred honor and dignity upon society. The world judges the char-
acter of a community by those of its representative citizens and yields
its tributes of admiration and respect to those whose works and ac-
tions constitute the record of a state's prosperity and pride. Among
the prominent citizens of Fort Wayne, Allen county, Indiana, who
are well and favorably known because of the part they have taken in
public affairs is James M. Robinson.
Mr. Robinson was born in 1861, the place of his nativity having
been on a farm in Pleasant township, this county. His parents were
David A. and Isabella (Bowen) Robinson, both of whom were na-
tives of the state of Ohio, the former having been born in 1834 and
the latter in 1833. In the year 1855 they came to Allen county, In-
diana, and took up their abode on a frontier farm. On this pioneer
homestead they reared their three children, of whom James M., the
immediate subject of this sketch, was the youngest. The subject is
of Scotch-Irish descent, his ancestors having come to this country in
its early history and settled in Virginia and New Jersey. They were
of sturdy, patriotic stock, and at least one of these ancestors served
in the defense of the colonies during the Revolutionary war. The
subject's father served in the Union army during the Civil war as
a member of the Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and in the
battle of Chickamauga he was wounded and captured and sent to
Libby prison, returning to Indiana at the close of the war. However,
because of the lack of proper care, his wound eventually resulted in
total disability.
The subject's boyhood days were passed on the parental farmstead,
54 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
where he acquired that vigor of body, clearness of mind and firmness
of character which contributed in so large a degree to his subsequent
success. His educational advantages were limited to the common
schools of Allen county and the city of Fort Wayne. The family
were poor, and before completing his common school course he found
it necessary to employ his leisure hours in earning money with which
to pay for his books and clothing. He was employed as a newspaper
carrier for the Daily News, and at the age of fourteen years was pro-
moted to the position of collector for this paper. At the age of fifteen
years he secured employment as a machine hand in the wheelworks of
N. G. Olds, at a wage of seventy-five cents per day, and which en-
abled him to contribute to the support of his mother, of whose com-
fort and welfare he has ever been tenderly solicitous. Early deciding
to make the legal profession his life work, young Robinson employed
all his leisure moments to the earnest study of such legal authorities
as he could gain possession of, and in 1881 he entered the law office
of Colerick Brothers, distinguished members of their profession, mak-
ing such advancement in his studies that in 1882 he was admitted to
practice in the United States and state courts. Thereafter his rise in
the profession and success in securing a representative clientage was
pronounced and certain. His qualifications as a lawyer were soon
recognized, and in 1886 he was unanimously nominated for the office
of prosecuting attorney of Allen county and overwhelmingly elected,
being again nominated and elected in 1888. In 1892 he made the
race for the Democratic nomination for congress, but was defeated
in the convention by five delegate votes by Hon. W. F. McNagny,
who was elected. However, in 1896, Mr. Robinson was the recipient
of a unanimous nomination for congress, the first time this high com-
pliment was ever paid a candidate in the twelfth district. Mr. Rob-
inson was triumphant at the ensuing election, running about eight
hundred votes ahead of the presidential ticket. In 1898 he was again
unanimously nominated for congress and elected, leading the state
ticket in his district eleven hundred votes. In 1900 the same story
was repeated, he again leading his ticket by several hundred votes,
and in 1902, for the fourth consecutive time, he was elected to repre-
sent the twelfth district in the national congress, thus breaking the
two-term rule that had for so many years prevailed in this district.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 55
In 1904 he was still again the candidate of his party for this high
position, but in the landslide of that year he went down to defeat
with the rest of his party ticket, being defeated by Hon. Newton W.
Gilbert. Early in his mature life Mr. Robinson displayed rare ability
as a public speaker, and to this, as well as his personal popularity, may
be attributed his success as a politician. He is a stanch Democrat in
a partisan sense, and also a democrat in the broader sense of the word,
his interests and sympathies being ever with those from whom he
sprung — the laboring man and the masses ; and herein lies his strength
with the people. Such pronounced success as he attained with a mini-
mum of time certainly bears emphatic evidence of the honest worth
and unmistakable capacity of the man, and that it has been richly
merited none can doubt who have watched his efforts and advance-
ment.
In 1900 Mr. Robinson was united in marriage with Miss Lily M.
Deihl. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias,
the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of
America and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr.
Robinson is now engaged in the active practice of his profession in
his home city and at Washington, D. C, and has a large and repre-
sentative clientele.
56 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JOHN MORRIS.
The strong-, true men of a people are always public benefactors.
Their usefulness in the immediate and specific labors they perform
can be defined by metes and bounds, but the good they do through
the forces they put in motion and through the inspiration of their pres-
ence and example is immeasurable by any finite gauge or standard of
value. The late Judge John Morris, of Fort Wayne, was such a
man. The nestor of the bar of Allen county at the time of his death,
he was also one of the best known and most distinguished citizens of
northeastern Indiana, while his life and services have entered into and
become an integral part of the history of this commonwealth. To
epitomize his life and character within the limits of a publication such
as this is impossible, but less than most men intellectually his equal
does he need the voice of eulogy. The stalwart proportions of his
living presence were realized in the void made in his death, and "his
works do follow him."
John Morris was born near New Lisbon, Columbiana county,
Ohio, on the 6th of December, 1816, being the fourth in a family
of twelve children. His paternal great-grandfather, Jenkins Morris,
was a naval engineer who immigrated from Wales to America in
the latter part of the eighteenth century, settling in Loudoun county,
Virginia. His son John, grandfather of our subject, removed from
the Old Dominion to Ohio in 1801, taking up his abode in the wilds
of Columbiana county, where he purchased a tract of land and
began the development of a farm. On this place his children were
born, as were also those of his son Jonathan, father of him whose
name initiates this sketch, while the old homestead is still owned and
occupied by direct descendants of the Morris line. Jonathan Morris
married Sarah Snider, who was of German descent, her family having
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 57
immigrated from the city of Worms and settled in Columbiana
county, Ohio, in 1799.
The earlier years of Judge Morris' life were passed upon the old
homestead farm of which mention has been made, and until he was
fifteen years of age his life was not different from that of the aver-
age farmer lad of the locality and period. During the winter months
he attended the Quaker schools in the neighborhood, the same being
exceptionally good for those primitive days. At the age of fifteen,
with the idea of gaining a more advanced education, young Morris
went to Richmond, Indiana, where he entered the well equipped acad-
emy there, maintained under the auspices of the Society of Friends.
In this institution he devoted three years to the study of history, nat-
ural philosophy and mathematics, and after thus completing his course
he returned to New Lisbon, Ohio, where he devoted the ensuing three
years to work at the trade of millwright. During this time his studies
were not neglected, literature and mathematics claiming his enthusi-
astic attention.
Judge Morris had attained to his legal majority before he turned
his attention to the profession which was to be so signally honored
and dignified by his identification therewith. He initiated his read-
ing of the law in New Lisbon, having as his preceptor William D.
Ewing, who at that time one of the leading members of the Ohio
bar. Four years later, in 1841, Judge Morris was duly admitted to
practice, at New Lisbon, while it may be stated that at that time
examination for admission to the bar was a considerably more for-
midable proceeding than has obtained in more recent times. Among
those associated in the examination of the ambitious young attorney
were Judges McClain and Hitchcock, of the Ohio supreme court;
Edwin M. Stanton, who later became secretary of war in the cabinet
of President Lincoln, and David Tod, who later served as governor
of Ohio and as United States minister to Mexico. Immediately after
being thus granted admission to the bar of his native state. Judge
Morris formed a professional partnership with Hiram Griswold, with
whom he was associated in practice for three years. He grew restless
under the conditions encompassing him and determined to locate in
some growing town further to the west, believing that he could thus
secure better opportunities for growth and success in his chosen pro-
58 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
fession. In 1844 he came to Indiana and located in Auburn, DeKalb
county, which was then a distinctively new section of the state, with
primitive life in evidence in the straggling little village in which
Judge Morris established himself in practice. He met ^vith no insig-
nificant success, his practice being extended not only into the courts of
DeKalb county, but also into those of the surrounding counties, while
his reputation and professional prestige grew apace. Of this portion
of the life of our honored subject another has pertinently written as
follows : "Many were the legal battles which he waged for clients in
those pioneer days, not alone in the county courts, but also before the
pioneer justices of the peace, whose conception of the law was often
limited, but whose sense of common justice between man and man
was not often at fault. It was one of the delights of Judge Morris'
later life, when retrospective thought or some incident carried his
memory back, to recount anecdotes of the courts and cases, the clients
and the colleagues of pioneer days in northern Indiana."
In 1852 Judge Morris was the Whig candidate for judge of the
common pleas court of the district comprising DeKalb and Steuben
counties, and though the circuit was strongly Democratic he was
elected. He had achieved front rank as a practicing attorney, and it
is recorded that his career on the bench was equally creditable. In
the year 1857 Judge Morris removed from Auburn to Fort Wayne,
where he achieved the highest eminence in his profession, and where
the remaining years of his long, useful and noble life were passed.
He located here upon the invitation of Charles Case, forthwith be-
coming a member of the law firm of Case. Morris & Withers. Mr.
Case was later elected to congress, and under these conditions, in
1864, Judge Morris entered into professional partnership with his
lifelong friend. Judge James L. Worden, under the title of Worden
& Morris. Judge Worden was elected to the supreme bench of the
state in 1870, and Judge Morris continued to be associated with Mr.
Withers until 1873, when he became a member of the law firm of
Coombs, Morris & Bell. Touching pertinent points in his career, we
are able to quote somewhat freely from a previously published sketch
of the life of Judge Morris: "In 1881 the Indiana legislature pro-
vided for a commission as an auxiliary to the supreme court, designed
to relieve that body of the press of business which was accumulating
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 59
more rapidly than it could be disposed of by the regular court. The
act provided that the members of the supreme court should appoint
five commissieaecs ±0 serve in such capacity, and it was arranged by
the judges that each should select one Tnembcr of ihe -ocMmmssiQn.
from his own judicial district, and these selections were then con-
firmed by the court. Judge Worden, though a Democrat, promptly
chose his friend, Judge Morris, who was a Republican, as a member
of this commission, and in this capacity Judge Morris served from
April 2y, 1881, to September i, 1883, when he voluntarily resigned,
to resume the practice of law in Fort Wayne. While on this com-
mission Judge Morris decided a total of one hundred and seventy-five
cases, which are reported in volumes 73 to 91 of the reports of the
supreme court. His decisions are characterized by lucid style, sound
logic and a strong sense of justice and equity. Resigning his place
upon the supreme court commission. Judge Morris resumed practice
in Fort Wayne, with Charles H. Aldrich and James M. Barrett, un-
der the firm name of Morris, Aldrich & Barrett. He remained at the
head of this firm until Mr. Aldrich removed to Chicago, in 1886,
after which Judge Morris and Mr. Barrett continued the business,
as Morris & Barrett, until 1891. In the latter year the firm of Morris
& Barrett and the firm of Bell & Morris united under the firm name
of Morris, Bell, Barrett & Morris, the individual members being
Judge Morris, Hon. Robert C. Bell, Hon. James M. Barrett and
Samuel L. Morris. This was widely recognized as one of the very
strongest law firms of the Indiana bar. It was continued for a period
of seven years, until January i, 1898, when Mr. Bell retired from
the firm, and the firm became Morris, Barrett & Morris.
"When the federal bankruptcy law went into effect, in 1898, pro-
viding, among other things, for a referee in bankruptcy for the dis-
trict of Fort Wayne, Judge John H. Baker, then upon the bench of
the United States court for the district of Indiana, appointed Judge
Morris as the first referee in bankruptcy for this district, and he
withdrew from his legal partnership. Within a short time Judge
^•.lorris discovered that the burdensome clerical duties of the position
were not to his liking, and he resigned the ofiice, resuming the prac-
tice of law, in partnership with his grandson, Edward J. Woodworth.
Here, at an age long past that at which most men have been compelled
6o THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
to relinquish even an attempt at business or professional life, Judge
Morris retained a close touch with legal affairs, and exercised by
close attention a directing hand in the legal practice of the firm. At
more than four score years of age Judge Morris yet appeared in court
in active practice, and it has only been within the past two years that
his extreme age and enfeebled condition prevented an active partici-
pation in the work of the profession he adorned for so many years."
One who was long and intimately associated with Judge Morris
has offered the following estimate : "His success as a lawyer was
due to the careful preparation of every cause in its minutest details,
to his strong sense of right, to his absolute integrity as a counselor,
and to his high regard for the truth, as well as the law. No breath
of calumny ever assailed his professional or private life. No sus-
picion of wrongdoing ever compromised his personal honor. He al-
ways enjoyed the confidence of courts and juries, and the respect,
esteem and love of his professional associates. By hard labor, close
attention to business, an indomitable will, unimpeachable integrity and
unswerving fidelity to clients, he soon reached the front rank of his
profession, and for more than fifty years he enjoyed the distinction
of being the recognized leader of the bar of northern Indiana. The
members looked to him for guidance and his influence among them
has been unmeasured. He possessed the highest qualifications for a
judge — independence, clear perception, patience in argument, thor-
oughness in investigation, sound judgment and absolute integrity,
both moral and intellectual."
In politics Judge Morris was originally affiliated with the Whig
party, but he cast his lot with the Republican party at the time of its
organization, and ever afterward accorded to the same his unequivo-
cal allegiance. He was frequently importuned by party leaders to
accept nomination for important ofiice, but declined all such overtures,
loving his home and his profession too deeply to enter the tumultuous
arena of practical politics. He was a man of the highest intellectu-
ality and of pure and lofty ideals, while to him came the affection
and regard of all who came within the sphere of his gracious influ-
ence. We are pleased to quote farther from the tribute paid him
in a Fort Wayne newspaper at the time of his death : "Judge Morris
was of charming personality, and he has been in the completest sense
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 6i
a type of the grand old man. Somewhat frail of figure, yet singu-
larly erect of form and active in movement, with pleasing, regular
features, hair and beard white as purest snow, he was a striking fig-
ure. Unfailingl}'^ affable, polite and genial, his manner was quiet
and dignified, yet in no degree wanting in cordiality. Thoughtful
of the rights and feelings of others, tender-hearted as a woman, gen-
erous to a fault, Judge Morris quickly won and steadfastly retained
the unbounded respect and friendship of all with whom he was thrown
in contact. His life has been an exemplification of the sturdy yet
unobtrusive virtues and the polished graces of a dignified, courteous,
kindly gentleman. In professional and personal life alike Judge Mor-
ris' position has always been one of exceptionally high degree, and
in his career, private and public, was exemplified the noblest type of
American citizenship."
At New Lisbon, Ohio, on the 27th of April, 1841, was solem-
nized the marriage of Judge Morris to Miss Theresa Jane Farr, who
proved to him a devoted wife and coadjutrix, their felicitous married
life extending over a period of more than half a century, and the
gracious ties of companionship being broken by the death of Mrs.
Morris, in September, 1902. Three sons and three daughters survive
the honored parents. Samuel L. and John, Jr., are representative
members of the Fort Wayne bar; Stephen is an attache of the Old
National Bank, of this city; Martha is the wife of James C. Wood-
worth, of Fort Collins, Colorado; Julia M. is the wife of E. A.
Barnes, of Detroit, Michigan, and Miss Mary remains in the beauti-
ful old homestead on Maple avenue, where the death of the loved and
devoted father occurred on Saturday morning, February 4, 1905. In
his death the city lost one of its most distinguished citizens, the bar
of the state one of its worthiest members, and the world a man of
signal purity of character, one whose life counted for good in all
its relations. Judge Morris was a firm believer in the Christian faith,
and his Ife was in harmony therewith. He was for many years a
regular attendant of the Wayne Street Methodist Episcopal church,
of which his wife also was a devoted member.
62 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
MARTIN T. GEAKE.
Chosen, in the general election of November, 1904, to represent
Allen county in the state legislature, Mr. Geake was accorded a grat-
ifying mark of popular confidence and esteem in the section where
practically his entire life has been passed, and, as representative from
the twelfth district, he is one of the youngest members of the sixty-
fourth general assembly of the Indiana legislature, even as he is one
of the prominent and popular young business men of Fort Wayne and
a member of one of our honored families.
Martin Thomas Geake, more familiarly known by his second
name, was born in the city of Toledo, Ohio, on the 29th of April,
1 88 1, and is a son of William and Alice (Clayton) Geake, who have
maintained their home in Fort Wayne for nearly a quarter of a cen-
tury. The father of our subject is one of the representative business
men and honored citizens of Fort Wayne, where he is an extensive
contractor in cut-stone work, in which line his operations are of very
wide scope, being excelled by those of few if any contractors in the
state. William Geake was born in the city of Bristol, England, in
1849, ^nd was a lad of five years when his parents, in 1854, came
to America, locating in the Dominion of Canada, where they re-
mained four years, at the expiration of which they returned with their
children to England, where they passed the remainder of their lives.
In 1868, shortly before his twentieth birthday anniversary, William
Geake again came to America, and he first located in Oswego, New
York, whence he removed to Toledo, Ohio, a few months later. In
the city last mentioned he engaged in contracting for cut stone, in
partnership with his cousin, John J. Geake, and they built up a pros-
perous enterprise. He remained there a number of years, and then
removed to Emmet county, Michigan, locating near the city of Pe-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 63
toskey, where he took up a quarter section of wild land and became
one of the pioneers of that locality, where he maintained his home
about six years. He then came to Fort Wayne, with whose industrial
and civic affairs he has ever since been identified, being one of the
most substantial and prominent stone contractors in the state, and
having done a large amount of important work in connection with
the erection of public buildings in divers parts of northern Indiana.
He is specially well known in Masonic circles, being an appreciative
a prominent member of the time-honored fraternity, in which he
has attained to the maximum degree possible to be gained in America,
being raised to the thirty-third degree in the Ancient Accepted Scot-
tish Rite, northern Masonic jurisdiction, while he is past grand mas-
ter of the Masonic grand lodge of Indiana. He is also identified with
the Royal Arcanum and the Sons of St. George, and in politics is a
stanch Republican. In 1873 was solemnized the marriage of William
Geake to Miss Alice E. Clayton, of Toledo, Ohio, and of their nine
children we enter brief record as follows : Hon. William C. is dep-
uty attorney general of the state of Indiana ; Charles H. is superin-
tendent of the Geake stone business, in Fort Wayne, the enterprise
having been established by his father in 1884; Sarah A. is the wife
of Delmer Franklin, of Chicago ; Charlotte E. is at the parental home ;
Martin Thomas is the immediate subject of this review; Edith B.
and Ella G. remain at home and are students in the Fort Wayne high
school at the time of this writing ; George Pixley is a student in Howe
Military Academy, at Lima, Indiana, and Samuel Sweet is attending
the city schools of Fort Wayne.
Martin Thomas Geake was an infant at the time of his parents'
removal to Fort Wayne, and here he was reared to maturity, duly
availing himself of the excellent advantages afforded in the city
schools and being graduated in the high school as a member of the
class of 1899. After leaving school he became actively associated
with his father's business operations, with which he is still identified,
and he has shown himself to be an able and progressive young busi-
ness man and one of marked initiative and executive aptitude. Ever
since attaining years of maturity he has been an ardent advocate of
the principles of the Republican party and has been one of its promi-
nent and popular young devotees in Fort Wayne. Exceptional dis-
64 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
tinction and honor were conferred upon him in his election, in No-
vember, 1904, to represent the twelfth district in the lower house
of the state legislature, in which he has taken his seat at the age of
twenty-three years. Like his honored father, Mr. Geake is a loyal
and appreciative affiliate of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has
advanced to the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scot-
tish Rite, being identified with the Consistory of the Valley of Indi-
ana, at the state capital, in which he has been duly crowned as a Sub-
lime Prince of the Royal Secret. He has held various official posi-
tions in the different Masonic bodies in Fort Wayne, and is enthusias-
tic in the work of the grand order with which he is thus identified.
Mr. Geake is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, being
a member of Trinity parish, in his home city, and also being a mem-
ber of the fine vested choir for three years. The subject is a young
man of sterling character and one whose career is one of promise,
both in a business and civic way, for in the matter of political pres-
tige he has gained a noteworthy precedence for one of his years, and
bases the same on personal popularity and eligibility, the fealty and
loyalty of influential friends and the high standing of his family, so
that his ambition for a political career may readily be indulged and
fostered in case he sees fit to remain in the public service. He still
remains a member of the home circle, where he is held in affectionate
regard, not as the member of a dignified legislative body, but as
"Tom," the cherished son and brother.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 65
NELSON L. DEMING, M. D.
As a physician and surgeon of high attainments and distinctive
precedence, and as one of the popular representatives of his profes-
sion in the city of Fort Wayne, Dr. Deming is entitled to considera-
tion in his work.
Nelson Lloyd Deming was bom in Danbury, Connecticut, on the
2 1 St of November, 1868, and is a son of Charles J. and Annie Maria
(White) Deming, both of whom were born and reared in that state,
being representatives of old and prominent New England families.
The father has been engaged in mercantile and railroad work during
the major portion of his active career, and died August 30, 1905.
He was a member of the Connecticut legislature and served three
years as a Connecticut volunteer during the Civil war, being adjutant
of the Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery. Dr. Deming secured
his early educational discipline in the public schools and in a private
school in New York city, where he was prepared for matriculation in
the scientific department of the Sheffield Scientific School, from
which he graduated in 1890 with the degree of Bachelor of Philoso-
phy. He soon afterward (1890) entered the College of Physicians
and Surgeons in New York city, now known as the medical branch
of Columbia College, where he completed the prescribed course and
was graduated as a member of the class of 1893. From May of that
year until October, 1894, he served as interne in the city hospital of
the national metropolis, while later he held other hospital appoint-
ments which gave him exceptional advantages for clinical work and
study, while he continued in practice in New York until 1896, when
he came to Fort Wayne, where he has built up an excellent general
practice and is regarded as one of the leading medical practitioners
of the younger generation in the city. In politics the Doctor is an
advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party. His
5
66 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
religious connection is with the Protestant Episcopal church, while
professionally he is allied with the American Medical Association,
the Tri-State Medical Society and the Allen County Medical Society,
and also belongs to the Berzelins Society of Yale College.
On the 1 6th of November, 1898, Dr. Deming was united in mar-
riage to Miss Louise Camahan, who is a native of Indiana, being a
daughter of William L. and Clara (Hanna) Camahan, the former
of whom is deceased, while the latter maintains her home in Fort
Wayne. Dr. and Mrs. Deming have two children. Nelson L., Jr.,
and Mary Louise.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 67
OLAF N. GULDLIN.
Great achievements always excite admiration. Men of deeds are
the men whom the world delights to honor. Ours is an age repre-
senting the most electrical progress in all lines of material activity,
and the man of initiative is one who forges to the front in the indus-
trial world. Among the distinctive "captains of industry" in the
city of Fort Wayne a place of priority must be accorded to him whose
name heads this article, for to him is due the upbuilding of an in-
dustry which is not only one of the most important in this city, but
also the most extensive of the kind in the world, while the compara-
tively brief time within which these great results have been obtained
further testified to his exceptional administrative power and executive
ability. Though a native of a foreign land, where he was reared and
educated, Mr. Guldlin is a typical American citizen, thoroughly in
harmony with the spirit of the republic, while here he has made the
most of his opportunities and worked his way upward to a noble and
worthy success. He is president and general manager of the West-
ern Gas Construction Company, of Fort Wayne, of which due de-
scription will be entered in later paragraphs of this article.
Mr. Guldlin was born in the picturesque old capital city of Chris-
tiania, Norway, on the 6th of December, 1858. being a son of Lars
O. and Maren (Sander) Guldlin, both of whom were natives of the
same fair Norseland, where the former was born in 1828 and the lat-
ter in 1836. They immigrated to the United States in 1883, and set-
tled in Barnes county, North Dakota, where the father became a pros-
perous farmer, and where he died in 1898, while his widow still re-
sides in Valley City, that county. Their children are seven in num-
ber, and the subject of this review is the only son. Olaf N. Guldlin
was reared to manhood in his native land, and his father's financial
68 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
position was such that he was able to secure good educational advan-
tages. After his preliminary discipline in the common schools, he
entered a technical college in Bergen, Norway, where he completed
a course in mechanical engineering, being graduated when nineteen
years of age, while later he was a student in a prominent polytech-
nical institution in the city of Munich, Germany, where he further
fortified himself for the practical work of his chosen profession, as
did he also by experience in machine shops in both Norway and Ger-
many. In May, 1880, Mr. Guldlin came to America and soon after-
ward he secured a position as draftsman in the engineering depart-
ment of the great Baldwin Locomotive Works in the city of Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, and where he soon reached the position of ex-
aminer of drawings, continuing to be identified with this industrial
concern about two and a half years. In 1882 he made a visit to his
old home in Norway, and there remained a few months, after which
he came again to the United States. In 1884 he met, in the city of
Washington, D. C., on the occasion of a convention of the American
Gas Light Association, A. D. Cressler, one of Fort Wayne's repre-
sentative business men, and it was largely through the influence of
the latter that the subject was induced to take up his residence in this
city, his attention in the meanwhile having been directed to gas en-
gineering. He came to Fort Wayne in 1885, and forthwith identified
himself with its business interests, while of the rise of the great in-
dustry of which he is virtually the head an interesting description is
given in Volume II of this history, reference being made there to an
attractive brochure recently issued by this company, from which we
quote as follows : "The history of this company's development has
always proved an interesting one to the gas fraternity. In 1888 con-
ditions appeared very favorable for a gas engineering firm in the
west, and a partnership was formed by O. N. Guldlin, as manager
and engineer; F. D. Moses, as superintendent, and W. A. Croxton,
as secretary. A modest one-room office was by them opened in Fort
Wayne, Indiana. Considerable work was secured, but Mr. Moses,
and subsequently Mr. Croxton, in 1890, apparently seeing more
profitable opportunities in other lines, soon withdrew, although by that
time the business had justified more commodious business offices. A
ALLEN COUNTY, INDL4NA. 69
company was then incorporated, with Mr. GuldHn as the principal
owner and president, which position he has since retained.
"A vigorous poHcy of introducing originahty in the design of
gas apparatus resulted in a steadily growing business, and on the
expiration of the Lowe patent on water-gas apparatus, in 1892, the
company, which had previously given considerable attention to this
process, entered the market with its design, and several contracts were
secured. This branch of the business was then vigorously pushed,
and has ever since been given special attention. A number of patents
have been applied for and allowed, covering the development of the
apparatus, and this dvelopment has been continued, with additional
patents still pending, as represented in the perfect type of water-gas
apparatus now built by the company and in operation in some of the
largest gas concerns in the country. The special design of double-
gate valves for gas works was designed and patented during the ear-
lier years, and by their popularity these devices have materially in-
creased the company's business. In 1893 it was clearly demonstrated
that the business volume was in excess of what could be systematically
handled, the company being entirely dependent upon outside shops
for the execution of the work, and as a result about twenty-eight lots
were bought alongside of the Pennsylvania railroad and the original
machine shop built, the same being about sixty-five by one hundred
feet in dimensions, and adjoining this was erected what was at the
time considered a very commodious building. These provisions, how-
ever, gave only partial and temporary relief, and two years later, in
1895, the machine shop was extended one hundred and fifty feet,
which improvement was then considered to be such as to afiford ample
accommodations and facilities for years to come, a complete installa-
tion of modern and special tools for the work in hand being made
simultaneously. The business, however, kept growing, notwith-
standing the panic, and as more and more difficulty was experienced
in securing satisfactory foundry work, as well as shell work, the
company decided to establish both foundry and boiler shop of its own,
the result being that in 1900 about one-third of each of the present
shops was built, each having from one to three times the capacity of
the company's purchases up to that time, so that the company felt
justified in assuming that its needs had been taken care of for several
years to come.
70 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
"That the growth of the business was much underestimated was
quickly demonstrated as to the boiler shop and foundry, by the en-
ergetic adaptation and introduction of new designs of gas apparatus —
such as having taken up vigorously the introduction of an improved
Pelouze and Audouin tar extractor, with the earlier introduction of
which Mr. Guldlin had been identified in 1882, when employed as
engineer v/ith James R. Smedburg. The popularity and resultant
large orders of 'Western Gas' designs of valves; the introduction of
the 'duplex' purifier system ; improved forms of washers, both for coal
gas and water gas, since further developed and patented; and further
improvement in its water-gas apparatus, as well as the introduction
of the company's system of coal-gas condensation with intermediate
tar extraction, on which patent was granted; as well as the intro-
duction in this country of the Holmes Patent Rotary Scrubber, which
had already established such an unprecedented record abroad — re-
sulted in such a volume of business that in 1902 it was clearly demon-
strated that unless radical measures were taken for works of ample
capacity it would be a question, and a very serious one, of not being
able to fill orders as offered. It was then decided to act accordingly,
disregarding all previous consideration, and plans were immediately
prepared for such radical extension and rebuilding of the works as is
represented by the same as they stand today."
It may be stated that there was from this time on an amplification
of all the facilities of the great factory which grew up on the site
of the first little buildings, until Fort Wayne found itself here pos-
sessed of what is unmistakably the largest plant in the country ex-
clusively devoted to the manufacture of gas apparatus, while the
guiding hand throughout has been that of the able president and chief
engineer, Mr. Guldlin, whose technical knowledge is on a parity with
his administrative powers. The nature of this article is such as to
preclude more detailed description of the great industry, but in the
following paragraphs further incidental reference will be made, in
touching the personal career of the subject. It may be said that his
interests and ambitions center in the Western Gas Construction Com-
pany, whose great works now cover twelve and a half acres, while in
the same employment is given to an average corps of four hundred
operatives. Mr. Guldlin is interested in a financial way in other en-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 71
terprises, notably oil in California, coal in Illinois, and mining in
Colorado, but to the direction of the great industry described he gives
his time, thought and attention, while he has attained high prestige
in the line of his profession, both at home and abroad.
The Western Gas Construction Company made a significent and
most interesting exhibit at the world's fair at St. Louis, and in this
connection Mr. Guldlin, as well as his cultured wife, gained marked
recognition. Apropos of this we quote as follows from an article ap-
pearing in the American Gas-Light Journal, under date of Novem-
ber 28, 1904: "Mrs. O. N. Guldlin was hostess at the Indiana state
building during this month. Mr. Guldlin is an honorary member of
the Indiana state commission. The recognition extended to both Mr.
and Mrs. Guldlin is worthy of special notice at this time. The honors
to Mrs.- Guldlin are the sequel to those heretofore extended to Mr.
Guldlin. The board of commissioners of Indiana, realizing that the
magnificent exhibit of the Western Gas Construction Company
merited some unusual distinction, by unanimous vote made Mr.
Guldlin an honorary member of its body and presented him with
the official badge worn by themselves. The only other person in
the state to enjoy this honor was Governor Durbin." At the fair Mr.
Guldlin was also appointed one of the international jurors, also a
member of official committees, on which he officiated actively. He
received for his plant and its products three grand prizes, four gold
medals, and six silver medals, besides the first official recognition
of the gas-works industry at an international exposition. It may
further be stated that the first grand prize was awarded his com-
pany for complete exhibit of apparatus and methods for the manu-
facture of coal gas and water gas and recovery of byproducts; the
second grand prize for superior values and fittings for gas works;
while the third grand prize was awarded to Mr. Guldlin personally,
on the basis of the entire exhibit, embracing development of ap-
paratus, patents issued to him on his own inventions which have
merited adoption by all leading gas companies in the United States
and also in foreign countries. He was the only citizen of Indiana to
receive this distinguished personal honor at the fair.
Mr. Guldlin has always been a Republican on national issues. He
is a member of the Fort Wayne Manufacturers' Club, the Fort
72 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Wayne Commercial Club, the Lotus Club of New York city, the
Missouri Athletic Qub, of St. Louis, Missouri, and the Cosmos Club,
of San Francisco, California.
On the 28th of August, 1899, Mr. Guldlin was united in mar-
riage to Miss Addie L. Bleekman, who was born in the state of
New York, being a daughter of Jerome and Henrietta (Sixbey)
Bleekman, who are now living near Fort Wayne. Mr. Bleekman
was prominently identified with Fort Wayne business enterprises till
his retirement from active business a few years ago. Mrs. Guldlin
received her education in the schools of Fort Wayne ; after finishing
her course at the high school, she completed her education as Bachelor
of Philosophy in Buchtel College, at Akron, Ohio. She is a woman
of gracious presence and distinction, being prominent in the best
social life of the city of Fort Wayne, where she enjoys unequivocal
popularity, being identified actively with literary, club and church
work, while the beautiful home is a center of generous hospitality.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 73
SAMUEL M. WILLIAMS.
The subject of this review is one of the well known and highly-
honored citizens of Allen county, maintaining his residence in Mon-
roeville, where he devotes the greater portion of his attention to
the raising of fine poultry, being known as one of the leading chicken
fanciers of the Union, and by reason of his long residence in the
county and his high standing as a citizen it is most consonant that a
resume of his career be incorporated in this publication. He gave
evidence of his sterling patriotism during the crucial period of the
Civil war, bearing arms in defense of the Union and aiding in main-
taining its supremacy in many a hard fought battle.
Samuel M. Williams is a native of the old Buckeye state and a
representative of one of its honored pioneer families. He was born
in Harrison county, Ohio, on the ist of August, 1841, being a son
of John T. and Belinda (Selby) Williams, both of whom came to
Adams county, Indiana, and died there. The father of our subject
was born in Fauquier county, -Virginia, on the 8th of February, 1808,
and about the year 181 8 he accompanied his parents on their removal
to Harrison county, Ohio, where he was reared to manhood. The
genealogical line is traced back to stanch Welsh origin, and the
original American ancestors came to this county in the colonial era
of our national history. When the subject of this sketch was a child
his parents removed to Meigs county, Ohio, where he \vas reared to
maturity on the homestead farm, in the meanwhile availing himself
of the educational advantages afforded in the common schools of the
locality and period. At the age of eighteen years he secured employ-
ment in the oil fields of West Virginia, being thus engaged at the
time of the outbreak of the war of the Rebellion. His northern
sympathies and his outspoken loyalty to the Union caused him to
74 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
become persona non grata in West Virginia, and he, in company
with other northern men, was compelled to beat a hasty retreat, forth-
with abandoning their work. In company with seven others he
secured a boat and rowed the same down the little Kanawha river by
night and then crossed over the Ohio river into the state of Ohio. As
Mr. Williams has expressed the animus of those who were thus sum-
marily driven forth from the south, "The next thing in order was to
get ready and go back and see them about it." On the 8th of July,
1 86 1, he tendered his services in defense of the Union, but as the
regiment in which he enlisted did not secure its necessary quota as
soon as expected he was not mustered into service until the 8th of
the following September. The regiment was mustered in at Marietta,
Ohio, becoming the Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, while our
subject was a member of Company C. Colonel George Crook, who
afterward became major general, was assigned to the command of
the regiment, which was forthwith sent to Parkersburg, Virginia,
to prepare for service. Of his commander Mr. Williams has spoken
as follows : "Right well did Colonel Crook perform his part, while
he also gave us to understand that we must perform ours at the same
time and along the lines which he mapped out." Continuing his
description of his army career, Mr. Williams says : "Camp life had
its pleasures and also its drawbacks and disillusions, but reality came
when we met General Heath and his five regiments at Lewisburg,
Virginia, on the 22nd of May, 1862. Here, in less than thirty
minutes, with the assistance of the Forty-fourth Ohio, we obliterated
Heath and his forces from the map of Virginia." Within the limits
of an article of so circumscribed character as the one at hand it is
impossible to enter into minute details as to the military record of
Mr. Williams, but it may justly be said that his record is coincident
with the history of his regiment. With his command he next took
part in the second battle of Bull Run, after which he participated in
the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. The regiment then
moved back to western Virginia, and at Charleston embarked on
transports and proceeded by way of the Cumberland and Ohio rivers
to Nashville, Tennessee. From the latter city they proceeded to
Carthage, where they had a night battle with a cavalry force, in
the midst of a blinding thunder storm. They captured the enemy's
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 75
camp equipage and took a large number of prisoners. Moving thence
to Murfreesboro, the regiment thereafter took part in the engage-
ments at Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Ring-
gold, after which the command went back to West Virginia and was
in action at Cloyd Mountain and Staunton, after which they took
part in General Hunter's raid on Lynchburg, where they fought
almost continuously for a period of thirty days and met with most
serious losses, owing largely to the stubbornness and indiscrimination
of the commanding officer. Failing to take Lynchburg, the forces
under Hunter made a retreat across the mountains to meet the supply
train, in the meanwhile fighting and marching under cover of night
until Meadow Bluffs w^as reached. Our subject describes this trip
and further movements in the following words : "Many of our men
never reached that point. At Meadow Bluffs we met a provision
train, and after a brief rest we took up our line of march for
Charleston, where we took boats for Parkersburg, whence we pro-
ceeded overland to the Shenandoah valley. At Winchester we met
General Jubal A. Earley with a large force, and here we were routed
for the first time in all our experience, being flanked so successfully
that the only recourse left us was to proceed to the north, and we
'set the pace,' reaching Bunker Hill at nightfall, somewhat discom-
fited but not dismayed. To prevent any further flank movements
on the part of the enemy we continued north to Williamsport, Penn-
sylvania, in order to there get ourselves in shape to meet them again.
We next met the enemy at Charleston, in a light engagement, after
which the Confederate forces retired southward, making a stand at
Berryville. But they still thought the better fighting to be at Cedar
Creek, and had it not been for the timely arrival of General Sheridan
our second repulse would have been even worse than our first. Next
came the decisive battle for our arms in the Shenandoah valley, —
Opequon Creek, or sometimes called tlie second battle of Winchester.
This ended my services as a soldier in the ranks."
Mr. Williams made an admirable record as a valiant and faith-
ful soldier, serving three years and four months in the ranks and
taking part in thirteen of the most noteworthy battles of the great
yd THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
conflict, besides twenty-three skinnishes. He was slightly wounded
on two different occasions, — at Antietam and Lexington, Virginia.
He was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, and duly received his hon-
orable discharge, while he reached his home on the 9th of October,
1864.
On the 31st of Marcli, 1864, Mr. WilHams was united in mar-
riage to Miss Margaret J. Hanlin, and they continued their resi-
dence in Meigs county, Ohio, until October, 1867, when they re-
moved to Adams couty, Indiana, making the trip overland with
wagons. They settled on a farm, but did not find the life enjoyable,
and our subject therefore disposed of the property and located in the
village of Pleasant Mills, that county, in 1869, when he came to
Allen county and took up his residence in Monroeville, where he has
ever since maintained his home. Here Mr. Williams engaged in the
hotel business, in which he met with fair success, retiring shortly
after the death of his wife, who succumbed to consumption in De-
cember, 1874, their only son being summoned into the life eternal
only two years later. On the 20th of February, 1875, Mr. Williams
consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Emma
L. Lutz. They have no children, Mr. and Mrs. Williams have
continued their residence in Monroeville during the long intervening
years, and have witnessed the various stages of development and
progress, while our subject has at all times been recognized as a
liberal, loyal and public-spirited citizen. He devotes his attention
principally to the breeding and improving of fancy poultry, having
originated the now famous and popular White Plymouth Rock,
w^hich he has been breeding for a score of years, while the attractive
type has been disseminated throughout the various sections of the
Union. He is now engaged in building and equipping a steam
laundry, for the benefit of the rapidly increasing population of this
thriving community. What more pertinent as touching the position
of Mr. and Mrs. Williams could be asked than his own words : "We
are contented with out lot; we live comfortably, enjoy life, and hope
the world is not worse for our living in it."
In politics Mr. Williams accords a stanch allegiance to the Re-
publican party, though he has never been afflicted with office-seeking
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 77
propensities. He is a member of Lodge No. 293, Free and Accepted
Masons, at Monroeville, and was a charter member and quarter-
master of a former Grand Army post at this place, though not now
affiHated with the order. Mr. Williams is one of the most prominent
and enthusiastic members of the Fort Wayne Poultry, Pigeon and
Pet Stock Association, of which he is secretary at the time of this
writing.
78 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WESLEY I. WORK.
The responsible duties devolving upon him as truant officer for
Allen county are being most ably and acceptably discharged by the
present incumbent, who figures as the subject of this brief sketch and
who is one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of Fort
Wayne.
Mr. Work was born in Dekalb county, Indiana, on the 31st of
October, 1842, and is a son of Robert and Sarah (Emesy) Work,
the former of whom was bom in Lancaster county, Ohio, in the year
1812, while the latter was bom in Culpeper county, Virginia, on the
19th of September, 1818. They were numbered among the pioneers
of Allen county, Indiana, where their marriage was solemnized in
1834, but a year later they removed to Dekalb county and located
on a tract of wild land near the present station of New Era, where
the father developed a good farm. On this old homestead the devoted
wife and mother died, in 1852, and her husband thereafter remained
on the place until 1865, when he removed to the city of Fort Wayne,
where he passed the remainder of his long and useful life, his death
occurring in 1886. He was a member of the constitutional convention
of Indiana in 1852, as a delegate from Dekalb county, and in that
county he also served with distinction as probate judge. He was a
man of exalted character and much intellectual ability, while to him
was ever accorded the unreserved confidence and esteem of his fellow
men. He was thrice married, and from the first union were born
one son and six daughters, while one son was born of the third mar-
riage. Four of the sisters are living, namely : Mrs. W. W. Shoaflf,
of Fort Wayne ; Mrs. Peter Shoaff, residing near the old homestead
farm, in Dekalb county; Mrs. L. T. Sturgis, of Fort Wayne, and
Mrs. Hezekiah Hillegass, near Hunterstown, Allen county. R.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 79
C. Work, the only child of the third marriage, is a representative
farmer near Fort Wayne.
Wesley I. Work, the immediate subject of this review, passed
his youth on the old homestead farm in Dekalb county and in the
common schools of the locality he secured his early educational dis-
cipline. He continued his allegiance to the great basic industry of
agriculture after attaining to years of maturity, and was engaged
in farming in his native county until 1889, when he removed to Fort
Wayne, where he became identified with the agricultural implement
business, in which he was interested about seven years, after which he
engaged in the school-supply business, keeping in stock a general
line of textbooks, maps, blackboards and general supplies, including
seats, furnaces, etc. He has met with success in this enterprise,
which he continues at the present time. In May, 1904, the trustees
of the several townships of Allen county, constituting, ex-officio, the
county board of education, selected Mr. Work for the position of
county truant officer, this being a salaried office and one provided for
by an act of the state legislature in 1903. Mr. Work's official duties
require him to see that all children between the ages of seven and
fourteen years are kept in school during the full school terms,
and his jurisdiction includes the entire county outside of the city of
Fort Wayne, while his reports afford a complete record of his official
labors and are made to the state board of truancy, created by the same
act which has been mentioned in this connection. In his political ad-
herency Mr. Work is found stanchly aligned as a supporter of the
principles and policies of the Democratic party, and he has taken an
active part in local party work.
In Allen county, in the year 1869, was solemnized the marriage
of Mr. Work to Miss Jennie Warcup, a daughter of John and Sarah
Warcup, representatives of honored pioneer families of this county,
where they lived until venerable age and until the time of death, the
father having been a prosperous farmer and honored citizen. Mr.
and Mrs. Work have one daughter, who is now the wife of W. B.
Mayer, a traveling salesman, and she remains at the parental home.
8o THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
SAMUEL HANNA.
The spirit of a pure, noble and earnest life burned in the mortal
tenement of the late Judge Samuel Hanna, than whom no pioneer of
the city of Fort Wayne attained to higher distinction in connection
with the material and civic development of this favored section of the
state, while none wielded a wider or more beneficent influence in
connection with the promotion of the great public utilities which
conserved such development and progress. His life was one of ful-
ness and completeness, one of vigor and inflexible integrity. He
accomplished great things for the general good and was not denied a
due individual reward in the matter of temporal affluence. A man of
rugged strength of character, of finest moral fiber, and one who real-
ized a magnificent measure of useful accomplishment, his name is
deeply graven on the pages of Indiana history, particularly as apply-
ing to Allen county and the city of Fort Wayne, so that such a pub-
lication as the one at hand must needs enter a tribute of honor and
appreciation to his memory if any measure of consistency and sym-
metry is to be claimed for the same.
In reviewing the life and character of Judge Hanna we shall have
recourse to liberal quotation from a previously published memoir,
written by G. W. Wood, whose was personal knowledge of the man
and his accomplishment.
Samuel Hanna was torn in Scott county, Kentucky, on the i8th
of October, 1797, being a son of James Hanna, who removed with his
family to Dayton, Ohio, in 1804, settling on a farm lying contiguous
to the southern boundary of the town. Samuel was one of a numerous
family of children, all of whom attained respectable and most of them
distinguished positions in life. His early days were passed like those
of the average boy in a new country. He assisted his father in the
1
-agraved>y J C I'u*"^^'-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 8i
reclaiming of the wild land which constituted the home farm, and
his educational advantages were such as were afforded in the some-
what primitive schools of the locality and period. As a youth
the subject of this sketch found employment as a post-rider,
delivering newspapers to the widely scattered subscribers, as
postoffices were at that time almost entirely limited to the
county seats. In this humble calling the young man passed con-
siderable time, traversing, week after week, the then wilderness
of western Ohio. While still a mere youth, there came a pro-
nounced exemplification of the inviolable integrity which ever indi-
cated the man. In taking up a business enterprise in company with
another young man, he assumed an indebtedness and was swindled
out of the goods purchased, and while his partner secured immunity
from payment by plea of infancy, Judge Hanna refused to resort to
this method of evasion, holding the debt as one of honor, and ulti-
mately paying in full — at what sacrifice we may dimly imagine, tak-
ing into account the fact that he was but nineteen years of age at the
time, and dependent entirely upon his own resources. In the connec-
tion the following words have been written : "Integrity and upright-
ness thus early evinced, amidst strong inducements to a contrary
course, characterized his long and useful career and gave him im-
mense influence over his fellowmen." That the subject made good
use of such educational privileges as were his is manifest when we
find record of the fact that he was for some time successfully engaged
in teaching school. In 1818, with his brother Thomas, he attended
the Indian treaty at St. Mary's, in the capacity of sutler or purveyor,
furnishing both food for men and provender for horses, all being
transported with ox teams from Troy, Ohio, while with his own
hands he hewed out the feed troughs for the stock. The small amount
of money realized in this connection was his first substantial acquisi-
tion — the corner-stone on which his subsequent colossal fortune was
reared. Here, too, his purpose was formed of emigrating to Fort
Wayne, "where he was destined to act so conspicuous and important
a part in developing the resources of the country and building up a
city."
Judge Hanna arrived in Fort Wayne in 18 19, being then in his
twenty-second year. "He found the place a mere Indian trading
6
82 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
post, with very few white inhabitants, and those merely remnants
of the old military establishment. Outside of the 'post' and its im-
mediate vicinity there were no white settlers, and the country in
every direction, for hundreds of miles, was an unbroken wilderness,
swarming with the red men of the forest. He immediately entered
upon mercantile pursuits in a small way, at what is now the north-
west comer of Columbia and Barr streets. The town was not then
laid out. His first storehouse was a rude log cabin, erected mainly
with his own hands. This primitive structure was soon superseded
by a frame building, which in later years gave place to a substantial
brick block of business houses.
"From his first settlement at Fort Wayne Mr. Hanna, at all times
and on all occasions, evinced a strong desire to build up the town, to
advance its material interests in every way, and to improve and de-
velop the resources of the country; and though not inattentive to his
own individual interests, this cardinal purpose was kept steadily in
view during his whole life. In all meetings of the people for the
promotion of public improvements or public welfare he was always
a conspicuous and leading actor. He early perceived the indispen-
sable necessity of opening and improving roads and other facilities
for travel and intercommunication ; but to fully appreciate his designs
in this respect it may be necessary to revert to the condition of things
at that time. As has already been remarked, Fort Wayne, as he
found it, was situated in the wilderness, far removed from all im-
provements. The country around afforded no supplies, except the
inconsiderable amount yielded by the chase and a very small quantity
of com grown on the bottoms in the immediate vicinity by the occu-
pants of the post or fort. Practically all provisions and supplies had
to be brought from a distance — mostly from Miami county, Ohio,
by way of St. Mary's, being transported by wagons to the latter place
and thence on flatboats down the St. Mary's river to Fort Wayne.
The facilities for obtaining goods were little or no better. They
were mostly purchased in New York or Boston and brought up the
Maumee in pirogues or packed through the wilderness from Detroit
on horses.
"Samuel Hanna was emphatically a general in civil life. His
name is intimately associated and blended with every period in the
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 83
history of Fort Wayne. No public enterprise of importance was ever
undertaken without his concurrence and aid. His vast and controll-
ing influence is visible everywhere, and was potential for good wher-
ever it extended. Soon after commencing operations in Fort Wayne
he was appointed agent of the American Fur Company, which re-
sponsible position he filled for a number of years, to the entire satis-
faction of the company. He was also associate judge of the circuit
court, and was repeatedly elected, at that early period and in subse-
quent years, a member of the state legislature. As his means accu-
mulated he extended his mercantile operations to other places, partic-
ularly to Lafayette, Wabash and South Bend, and from all these he
realized large returns. He became an extensive landowner in the
Wabash valley and elsewhere."
To Judge Hanna must be ascribed the credit and honor of matur-
ing the first practical conception of the magnificent project of con-
structing a canal to connect Lake Erie with the Wabash river, and
his services in the connection were herculean and unflagging, result-
ing in the congressional grant of each alternate section of land for six
miles on each side of the proposed line, through its whole length, to
aid in the construction of the canal. Strange as it may seem at the
present time, much opposition was raised to the acceptance of the
grant by the state, and as champion of the measure in the legislature,
Judge Hanna made an ardent and protracted contest, which resulted
in the acceptance of the grant and the appropriation of one thousand
dollars to purchase the necessary engineering instruments and procure
the survey and location of the summit level. Judge Hanna, David
Burr and a Mr. Jones were appointed canal commissioners. "Judge
Hanna went to New York, purchased the instruments, and brought
them on horseback from Detroit to Fort Wayne. Civil engineers
were scarce in the west at that day, but the commissioners secured
one and immediately entered upon the sun^ey. commencing on the
St. Joseph's river, six miles above Fort Wayne, where the feeder-dam
was afterward built. Mr. Burr operated as rodman and Judge Hanna
as axman, both at ten dollars a month. The second day the engineer
was taken sick and was compelled to abandon the work. Judge Han-
na and Mr. Burr, alone, continuing and completing the survey of the
summit feeder. They made their report to the succeeding session of
84 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
the legislature, and Judge Hanna, being again a member, secured its
adoption, and the passage of an act authorizing the construction of
the Wabash & Erie canal. Thus originated and was inaugurated,
almost, if not entirely, through the untiring energy, the indomitable
perseverance of these two noble pioneers, Hanna and Burr, this stu-
pendous work of internal improvement — the longest continuous line
of artificial water communication on the American continent, if not
in the world, and one of incalculable value to Fort Wayne and all
northern Indiana. Judge Hanna was fund commissioner for several
years, and negotiated for most of the money with which the work
was carried on, and probably no one contributed more to the success
of the canal policy during the first and trying years of its progress
than did he."
Judge Hanna displayed distinctive wisdom and ability in his as-
sociation with the organization of the State Bank of Indiana. As
chairman of the committee on state banks, he drafted a charter, which
passed both houses of the legislature, being approved Januaiy 28,
1834. "Thus was created the State Bank of Indiana, by common
consent one of the best banking institutions that has ever existed in
this country, and one that continued in operation twenty years, af-
fording the people a safe and sound currency and yielding to the state
a large accumulated fund at its close; an institution that exerted a
marked influence on the subsequent bank legislation of many other
states. A branch was at once established in Fort Wayne, and Judge
Hanna was its president much of the time, while it was managed with
pre-eminent skill and ability."
Judge Hanna platted an extensive addition to the city of Fort
Wayne as early as 1836, and eventually he reaped large profits from
the same, though through it his affairs were much involved for a
time. With the thronging cares of his public and private interests,
he was every ready to lend his aid and co-operation in the furthering
of other enterprises for the general good. He was a prominent fac-
tor in securing the pioneer plank road of northern Indiana — from
Fort Wayne to Ontario. The construction of the first ten miles of
this road, leading from Fort Wayne, he personally superintended,
and, with ax in hand, helped to build. At the opening of the railroad
era Judge Hanna again proved himself a leader. When that grand
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 85
national line of railroad which is now the pride and strength of Fort
Wayne, and with which his name is forever identified — the Pitts-
burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago — was projected, Judge Hanna was
among the first to appreciate and take hold of the enterprise. The
Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad was organized in 1852, and Judge
Hanna was elected its president, thus serving until the consolidation
which gave birth to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway
Company, in August, 1856, when he became vice-president of the
latter. He retained this incumbency until his death. No man con-
nected with the management of this railway ever had a greater share
of the confidence of all interested in it than did Judge Hanna. About
three months before his death he was elected president of the Grand
Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company, though he had hesitated to
assume the responsibilities, seeming to feel a premonition of the com-
ing of the hour when he should "rest from his labors." Always hav-
ing in mind the welfare of Fort Wayne, he worked unceasingly for
the establishment of the immense railroad shops and other manu-
facturing industries here. He was associated in the establishing of
the woolen factory, the great Bass foundry and machine shops, the
Olds factories and other industrial undertakings whose inception and
maintenance depended largely upon his capital.
Judge Hanna literally remained in the harness until called upon
to obey the inexorable summons of death, his final illness having been
of comparatively brief duration. He passed to his reward on the
nth of June, 1866, in the fulness of years and well-earned honors.
The city of his home and his affections returned then its tribute of
grief, appreciation and deprivation. The city council passed resolu-
tions of sorrow, the bells of all churches tolled, and, amid somber
draperies on every side, a procession fully two miles in length fol-
lowed his mortal remains to their last resting place, in Lindenwood
cemetery. Thus ended the pure and noble life of one whose memory
must ever be cherished by the citizens of Fort Wayne, which owes so
much to him. In his religious faith Judge Hanna was in sympathy
with the Presbyterian church, in which he was a ruling elder at the
time of his death. In a fraternal way he was a member of the time-
honored order of Free and Accepted Masons.
On the 7th of March, 1822, at Fort Wayne, Judge Hanna mar-
86 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
ried Miss Eliza Taylor, who was born at Buffalo, New York, in 1803,
the daughter of Israel and Mary (Blar) Taylor, natives of Massa-
chusetts. She came to Fort Wayne in 1820, from Dayton, Ohio, on
a visit to her sister, Mrs. Suttenfield. She made the trip out in a
sleigh, but, the snow disappearing, she was compelled to delay her
return. About the same time, her father purchased the land east of
Fort Wayne now known as White's addition, where he built and oc-
cupied the house now known as the Golf Club house. Mrs. Hanna
was in many respects a remarkable woman, possessing nobility of
character, great personal courage, and the ability to handle the affairs
of home and society with ease. In her heart and home there was al-
ways *'room for one more." Though she already had the care and
responsibility of rearing her own eight sons, she also took into her
home Samuel Chute, the son of the first pastor of the First Presby-
terian church here, an act which the beneficiary has always remem-
bered with affection and gratitude. Mrs. Hanna's long life was spent
in well-doing and she was beloved by a large circle of relatives and
friends. Although delicate in appearance, she possessed a strong con-
stitution and was very active all her life. Her death occurred on
February 12, 1888, at Fort Wayne, in the house which she had oc-
cupied for so many years. It is worthy of note that Mrs. Hanna's
paternal grandfather Blar was an officer in the American army during
the war of the Revolution, and that at the time of his death he was
only a year short of one hundred years old.
Of the children of Judge and Mrs. Hanna we make the following
mention : Jesse Bayless, the eldest son, was a member of the firm of
S. Hanna & Sons, engaged in the general merchandise business at
the comer of Columbia and Barr streets. Fort Wayne, the old build-
ing being still in existence; Amos Thomas was also connected with
this firm ; Henry Qay was at one time in the grocer}^ business in Fort
Wayne and was also a partner in the firm of N. G. & H. G. Olds &
Company; Charles was a partner in the firm of French, Hanna &
Company, engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods; Samuel
Teford was associated with his father in the railroad business, being
the latter's private secretary while he was president of the Grand
Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company; Samuel D. was a public-spir-
ited man and at one tinje was an alderman in this city ; Horace Hovey
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 87
was the partner with J. H. Bass in the firm known as Bass & Hanna;
Wilham WilHs was a partner in the firm of French, Hanna & Com-
pany, woolen manufacturers; Hugh Taylor, the only surviving son,
is at present a resident of Fort Wayne ; the only daughter, Eliza, is
the wife of Fred J. Hayden, of Fort Wayne, whose sketch appears
elsewhere in this volume.
88 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JAMES L. WORDEN.
One of the conspicuous figures in the history of Indiana is the
distinguished jurist and lawyer to whom this memoir is dedicated.
He \^^as honored as a citizen and his career conferred credit and
dignity upon the commonwealth of whose supreme court he was
an associate justice, while his abilities significantly heightened the
fame of the bench and bar of the state. He held distinctive precedence
as an eminent lawyer, statesman and jurist and as a man of high
intellectual attainments, his reading and investigations having been
carried into almost every realm of thought which has engaged the
attention of the brightest minds of the world. A strong mentality,
an invincible courage and a most determined individuality so entered
into his make-up as to render him a natural leader of men and a
director of opinion. No name is more honored in the annals of Fort
Wayne than his, and it is essential to the consistency of this publi-
cation that a tribute to this strong and noble citizen be entered within
its pages.
James Lorenzo Worden was born in Sandisfield, Berkshire
county, Massachusetts, on the loth of May, 1819, being a son of
John and Jane Worden and a scion of sturdy New England stock,
the respective families having been founded in America in the early
rolonial era of our national history. When Judge Worden was
about eight years of age his father died, and a year or two later he
accompanied his widowed mother on her removol to Portage county,
Ohio, where he passed his youth on a farm and received such ad-
vantages as were afforded in the common schools of the locality and
period, while he early manifested a marked predilection for literary-
pursuits. At the age of nineteen years he began the study of law,
and in 1839, for the purpose of further prosecuting his technical
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 89
reading and discipline, he entered the office of Thomas T. Straight,
a representative member of the bar in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1841
he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Ohio, at Lan-
caster, and for two or three years thereafter was engaged in the
practice of his profession in Tiffin, that state. In the spring of 1844
the future jurist removed to Columbia City, Whitley county, Indiana,
where he opened a law office, while he took an active part in the
presidential campaign of that year, working in the interests of the
Democratic party, to which he gave an unequivocal allegiance
throughout life. In the autumn of 1845 Judge Worden, who had
married in the meanwhile, removed to Albion, Noble county, where
he soon gained distinctive recognition in his profession, building up
a representative practice. In 1848, while still resident of Albion,
he made quite a reputation and made friends in Fort Wayne by the
brilliant manner in v/hich he conducted the prosecution of a man who
had been indicted for murder in Noble county, the case having been
transferred to Allen county on change of venue. In harmony with
the solicitations of these new friends he removed to Fort Wayne
in 1849, ^^^ here he continued to make his home until the close
of his long and useful life. In 1850 he was elected prosecuting
attorney for the twelfth judicial circuit, embracing the counties of
Allen, Adams, Wells, Huntington, Whitley, Noble, Steuben, La-
Grange and Dekalb, and he remained an incumbent of this office
three years. Two years after his election the state was redistricted
for judicial purposes, and Allen county became a part of the tenth
circuit, which also included the counties of Adams, Wells, Hunt-
ington, Wabash, Whitley, Noble, Dekalb, LaGrange, Steuben, Elk-
hart and Kosciusko. A year later the counties of Huntington and
Wabash were taken from the circuit. Of this tenth circuit Mr.
Worden was appointed judge in 1855, by Governor Joseph A.
Wright, to fill a vacancy. At a general election, in the autumn of
that year. Judge Worden was elected to the bench of the circuit for
a full term of six years, without opposition. Judge Worden was a
la-wyer and not a practical politician, and had no desire for an office
which would deflect him from the line of his profession. In 1857,
however, while he was still on the bench, his popularity was such
that, contrary to his known inclination, his party associates made
90 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
him their candidate for congress. The district being largely Repub-
lican, he met defeat with the remainder of the party ticket. In 1858
he resigned his position on the bench to accept the appointment, ten-
dered by GriDvemor Williard, as associate justice of the supreme court
of the state, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge
Stuart, of Logansport, and he delivered his first opinion in the case
of Mills et al. versus the state of Indiana, ex rel., Barbour et al.
reported in 10 Indiana, 1 14, said opinion being delivered in open court
on the first day of the May term of that year. In 1859 he was
elected a judge of the supreme court for a full term of six years,
ending in January, 1865. In 1864 he was renominated for another
term, but suflfered, the defeat which attended the party ticket in
general.
In January, 1865, at the close of his service on the supreme bench,
Judge Worden returned to Fort Wayne and engaged in the general
practice of his profession. In the following May he was elected
mayor of the city, but after remaining incumbent of the office about
a year he resigned the same, in order to give his undivided attention
to his practice, which had become large and important. From that
time until January, 1871, he was associated in practice with Hon.
John Morris, who was his lifelong and most intimate and confidential
friend and of whom a memoir appears on other pages of this work.
In 1870 Judge Worden was again elected a judge of the supreme
court of the state, serving the full term of six years, at the expiration
of which, in 1876, he was renominated by his party. After the state
convention a person, whose name need not be mentioned here, being
disaippointed and dissatisfied with some appointments which had been
made by the supreme court, raised an unreasonable and unfounded
clamor about the expenses of that tribunal. Some of the judges who
had been renominated by the same convention concluded, unwisely
and unnecessarily, to decline the nomination and to leave the matter
to be adjusted by the Democrats of each of the supreme-court judicial
districts. Judge Worden was thus called upon, as are all men long
in public life, to meet the complaints and charges of the jealous,
envious and disappointed. The state was then, as now, divided into
five supreme-court judicial districts, corresponding with the number
of judges on the supreme bench. The constitution of the state re-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 91
quired, and still requires, that a judge of the supreme court shall
reside in each of those districts, although they are elected by the
people of the entire state. Judge Worden's district comprised the
counties of Allen, Whitley, Huntington, Wells, Adams, Grant, Black-
ford, Jay, Delaware, Randolph, Howard, Madison, Hancock, Henry,
Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin. In compliance with the order
of the Democratic state central committee, a convention was called
and assembled in that district and was attended by the most influential
and substantial men of the party. Judge Worden's private and
official life was not only approved and commended but it was also
unanimously resolved that he should stand as the candidate for the
position of supreme judge. That decision was approved by the
people, and he was re-elected by a handsome majority. By virtue of
this election Judge Worden entered upon his third term as judge of
the supreme court in January, 1877, so that his term would expire
in Januar}^ 1883. In 1882 his friends throughout the state insisted
that he should become a candidate for re-election, but he felt that
after having served on the supreme bench and performed the arduous
and exacting labors involved during a period of almost nineteen years,
he should not further prolong the service, and he declined re-
nomination. Upon this declination becoming known, his friends at
home determined to place him upon the bench of the superior court
of Allen county, and he was nominated and elected to that position
without opposition, at the general election in November, 1882. This
rendered it necessary for him to resign his position upon the supreme
bench, which he did soon after the election. He at once entered
upon the discharge of his duties as judge of the superior court, and
he remained in tenure of the office until his death, which occurred
at half past nine o'clock on the evening of the 2d day of June, 1884.
H'is death caused a wave of sorrow to sweep over the entire state
which he had honored and by which he had been honored. Upon the
4th of June a meeting of the Allen county bar was held, and ad-
dresses of highest commendation of the deceased were delivered by
Judge Morris, Hon. J. K. Edgerton and other representative members
of the local bar, while similar words of eulogy and sorrow came from
the judges of the supreme court, the governor of the state and other
distinguished men of Indiana. At the funeral those who had been
92 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Judg-e Worden's associates on the supreme bench, and also his suc-
cessor, and Judge Morris, his longtime associate in practice and
also associated with him as a commissioner of the supreme court, acted
as pall bearers. At the opening- of the November term of the supreme
court in 1884, a meeting of the bar was held and Judge Morris, in
behalf of that bar, presented an address upon the life, character and
work of Judge Worden, and the court ordered the same to be spread
upon its records and published in one of the reports of the decisions of
the court.
Judge Worden made no pretense to florid oratory, but in his
addresses to the court and jury he was logical, practical and con-
vincing. In the trial of causes his thorough knowledge of the law
and the rules of practice, his fine analytical powers and logical and
methodical manner of thought, enabled him readily to discern and
grasp the salient points and to handle them with consummate skill.
As a nisi prius judge he had but few if any equals in the state. Of
him it may truthfully be said that in no office to which he was called
did he fail to come up to the full measure of its requirements. Judge
Worden's work upon the supreme bench is what has most certainly
secured him an honorable and enduring place in the history of the
state. He went upon that bench when a young man, thirty-nine
years of age. His mind was clear, logical and discriminating, and
his sense of right and justice was broad and exact. He was not a
man of circumlocution, either in thought or word. There is clear-
ness, conciseness and directness of expression in his opinions, which
may well serve as models for judges and lawyers. He was by nature
a lawyer and judge, having the faculty, in an unusual degree, of
brushing aside all that might tend to becloud and confuse, and dis-
cerning readily the real question for decision, and determining what
the decision should be to conform to the rules of the law and work
substantial justice to the parties interested. His opinions not only
show his ability and his learning in the law but they give evidence
also of careful and laborious preparation. He had no toleration
for the weak and abused idea that the reputation of a judge upon
the bench of a court of final decision is to be established, or the value
of his labors measured, by the amount that he may write, and he was
governed by the one and only sensible idea that the reputation of
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 93
the judge upon such a bench will rest finally upon the character
and not the number of his written opinions. He acted in conformity
with the idea that care in the decision of causes and in the writing
of opinions lessens the business in the supreme court by lessening
litigation below, while haste and the consequent looseness in ex-
pression, in an attempt to multiply opinions, necessarily results in
misunderstanding on the part of the profession, in the multiplication
of suits below and the increase in the number of appeals. He knew,
as every lawyer of experience and observation knows, that suits are
very frequently instituted on no other foundation than a dictum
which has been found in some previous case and which ought not to
be there, standing only as the evidence of undue haste on the part
of the judge who wrote the opinion. Such cases invariably go to
the supreme court, and thus haste in such a court increases rather
than curtails its business.
Judge Worden wrote, perhaps, as few opinions in the same length
of time as any judge who has ever been on the supreme bench of
Indiana, but in the way of reputation he was in the front rank, if
not the first man in the rank. By the lawyers of the state and by
the courts, including the supreme court, his opinions are read and
cited with a feeling of security. There is assurance that he was not
only capable of deciding and stating the law correctly, but also that
he had bestowed the labor and taken the time necessary to enable him
to thus state it correctly. It is for this reason that his opinions are
the more frequently cited and relied upon, not only in Indiana but
elsewhere. By his work on the bench of the supreme court, as em-
bodied in his written opinions extending over so many years, Judge
Worden erected his own monument and wrote his own inscription.
He needs naught else.
While Judge Worden was a firm and conscientious advocate of
the principles and doctrines of the Democratic party, he was in no
sense an aggressive or active partisan. The result was that he
was singularly free from the assaults of party opponents, which,
almost invariably, every public man has to meet. Indeed, Judge
Worden always received a considerable support at the polls from those
of the opposing political party who knew him well. On one occasion
only was he assailed with anything like violence, and that assault
94 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
was absolutely unfounded, while he never took the trouble to defend
his position, deeming such action incompatible with the dignity of his
position on the supreme bench. At the present time, however, in
justice to his memory, it is well that the facts become known. In
1869 a law was passed which dispensed with the annual general
elections and provided that, commencing with the year 1870, a
general election should be held biennally on the second Tuesday in
October, and that at such elections all offices whose terms would
expire before the next general election thereafter should be filled. So
long as the elections were held in October the terms of county officers
began and ended in that month, subsequently to the general election,
and they were so commissioned. In April, 1880, some constitutional
amendments were submitted to the people of the state for adoption or
rejection by popular vote. One of these amendments provided for
a change of the date of the general elections from October to the
first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Almost imme-
diately after the vote had been taken the question was made and
insisted upon that the amendments had not been adopted by the
requisite vote. The controversy soon assumed the form of a legal
contest in court and went upon appeal to the supreme court. It will
readily be seen that if that court should hold that the amendments
had been adopted, the next election, in the fall of 1880, would be in
November instead of October, and that the four years' terms of
many county officers would expire in October before the November
election in 1882. In that event, in order to comply with the law of
1869, above mentioned, it would be necessary to elect successors to
such officers in 1880.
Acting upon the assumption that the amendments had been
adopted, there were in Allen county, where Judge Worden lived, a
number of candidates for nomination for the four-year county offices
by the Democratic convention, soon to assemble. If the amendments
were not adopted there would be no expiration of terms in such
offices before the election of 1882 and hence no vacancies to be filled
by election in 1880. By reason of the position of the candidates
above mentioned, Judge Worden's friends in Allen county thought
it would be best to know, if possible, before the assembling of the
county convention whether or not the amendments had been adopted.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 95
The convention was called to meet on Saturday of the week in
which the case was argued in the supreme court. If the amendments
should be held to have been adopted it would be necessary to nominate
candidates for the four-year offices, otherwise not. While the argu-
ment was in progress a prominent citizen of Fort Wayne was in
Indianapolis, and in a conversation with Judge Worden, in the
presence of a close friend of each, spoke of the condition of things
in Allen county. Then, without an intimation as to whether he
wished a decision one way or the other, or that he held the matter
as one of any consequence whatever, he requested that if a decision
should be reached before the coming Saturday the judge should tele-
graph him at home the result. The case was decided before the
coming Saturday and it was held, Judge Biddle writing the opinion,
that the amendments had not been adopted by the requisite vote.
After the opinion had been read and approved by the court and had
thus become open for inspecton by all, Judge Worden met the friend
who had been present at the conversation with the Fort Wayne gentle-
man and said to him that the decision was that the amendments had
not been adopted, and requested him to telegraph the fact to the boys
at Fort Wayne. That conversation was overheard by a newspaper
reporter and he has contended that the judge requested the friend
to "telegraph it to the boys," not mentioning Fort Wayne. Whether
he may have been wrong or not in that contention is a matter of no
consequence and can not affect the real truth in the matter, because
Judge Worden had and could have no thought except to have the
fact communicated to his friends at home, in compliance with the
request before mentioned, which friends he called "boys." He was a
man of too much dignity and too high a sense of propriety to speak
of any save his intimate friends at home as "the boys." But for
the peculiar condition of affairs in Indiana at the time doubtless no
notice would have been taken of Judge Worden' s innocent remark.
Indiana was just entering upon one of its most exciting political
campaigns. Up to that time the general elections had been held in
October. The state was one of the few known in the political world
as an October state, and having been regarded as a close and pivotal
state the presidential campaigns here had always been exciting and
closely contested, calling to the field a large number of the best
96 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
speakers of both parties. A president of the United States was to
be elected in 1880. The friends of Governor Hendricks in Indiana
were making a vigorous effort for his nomination by the Demo-
cratic national convention. The convention was about to assemble
in Cincinnati, and many of the delegates were already there when
the aforementioned decision of the Indiana supreme court was ren-
dered. Although the opinion in the case was written by Judge
Biddle, who had not been elected as a Democrat and never had been
a Democrat, yet owing to the fact that the majority of the members
of the court had been elected as Democrats, for the purpose of turn-
ing every possible thing to political advantage in the close and fierce
contest that was just opening. Judge Worden's innocent statement
was tortured and twisted from its true and only reasonable meaning,
with the contention that his purpose was to have the news of the
decision telegraphed to the delegates in Cincinnati, and that there-
fore the decision had been rendered for the purpose of assisting in
the nomination of Governor Hendricks for the presidency.
The real facts in the case, as above stated, fully meet and over-
throw such an unreasonable contention and such an unjust and un-
reasonable torture of Judge Worden's statement, as above recited.
In refutation of these malign charges nothing farther could be de-
manded than a reference to Judge Worden's high character, dignity
and sense of propriety; his well known and uniform personal, official
and judicial integrity ; and to the estimate placed upon him by all who
knew him well. In determining a man's character there is no criterion
so reliable as the judgment passed upon him by the people among
whom he has lived for a lifetime and who have thus had the oppor-
tunity of knowing him well in all relations of life. Judge Worden
was a resident of Indiana a few months more than forty years. As
prosecuting attorney, judge of the circuit court, mayor, judge of the
supreme court and judge of the superior court of Allen county, he
was in public service for more than twenty-seven years of that time.
His life was thus, in a large measure, an open book, inviting the
closest scrutiny and challenging it. When not in the public service
he was in the practice of law at home and in a large number of sur-
rounding counties, and he was thus still, in a sense, in public life. At
no time did the people who knew him best have more confidence in
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 97
his integrity and lofty character than in the later years of his life.
The final manifestation of enlightened popular confidence shown in
his election to the bench of the superior court of Allen county after
his long service on the supreme bench, is of itself more than suf-
ficient to meet and overthrow the unreasonable and unjust imputation
above mentioned.
It is a matter in which his widow, children and friends have a
just pride that after having spent the greater part of his active career
in the public service he went to his grave respected and honored by
the people who knew him and by the bar and courts of the state, —
an honest and honorable man, an honest and faithful public servant.
So long as Indiana shall be a commonwealth, so long as its people
shall have laws and courts, his name will be known and honored.
How much good he accomplished for the people of the state may never
be fully appreciated by the people in general, but it will be, in a
measure at least, by the profession and by the more observing citizens
in other walks of life.
In the spring of 1845 Judge Worden was united in marriage to
Miss Anna Grable, daughter of Benjamin Grable, at that time county
treasurer of Whitley county and one of the honored and influential
citizens of that section of the state. Mrs. Worden proved a devoted
wife and coadjutrix to her honored husband, sharing in his ambitions
and honors and making the home one worthy the name. She survives
him and still maintains her residence in Fort Wayne, where her
circle of friends is circumscribed only by that of her acquaintances.
Three sons survive their distinguished father, James Willis Worden,
Charles H. Worden and Harry Lawrence Worden.
Charles H. Worden is well upholding the professional prestige
of the honored name which he bears. He was born in Fort Wayne,
on the 14th of September, 1859, and after completing the curriculum
of the public schools of his native city he was for two years a
student in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. He was
admitted to the bar of the courts in Allen county in 1882 and later
to practice in the federal courts in the state. From 1886 until 1894
he was associated in practice with John Morris, Jr., son of his
father's old-time partner and friend, Judge John Morris, above
mentioned, the firm name being Worden & Morris. In 1895 Mr.
7
98 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Worden formed a partnership with Hon. Allen Zollars, under the
name of Zollars & Worden, and this professional alliance continued
until 1902, in June of which year Mr. Worden was elected vice-
president and managing officer of the First National Bank of Fort
Wayne, of which dual office he is incumbent at the time of this
writing. He is a Democrat in politics and is known as an able
lawyer and public-spirited and progressive citizen. On the loth of
June, 1884, Charles H. Worden was united in marriage to Miss Eliza-
beth M. Hoffman, of Fort Wayne, and they have three children,
Alice, Marshall Wines and Charles James.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 99
FREDERICK B. SHOAFF.
Of admirable professional attainments and recognized as one of
the representative young members of the bar of Allen county, Mr.
Shoaff further merits consideration in this work by reason of the
fact that be is a native of the county and a scion of stanch pioneer
stock both in the paternal and maternal lines. On other pages of
this work will be found due record concerning the respective families,
whose names are honored and prominent ones in this section of the
state.
Frederick B. Shoaff was born in the city of Fort Wayne, on the
7th of October, 1877, and is a son of John A. and Susan R. (Barnett)
Shoaff. His fundamental educational training was secured in the
public schools of his native city, in whose high school he was gradu-
ated as a member of the class of 1895. During the succeeding three
years he was a student in old Williams College, at Williamstown,
Massachusetts. He was then matriculated in the University of
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he completed the literary course
and was graduated as a member of the class of 1900, receiving the
degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Shortly after his graduatit)n Mr.
Shoaff was favored in being able to make a trip abroad and to avail
himself of the privileges afforded in the historic old University of
Heidelberg, Germany, where he completed a course in Roman law,
remaining a student in this institution during the year 1901. He
then returned to America and entered the law department of Co-
lumbia College, in the city of New York, where he completed the
prescribed technical course and was graduated as a member of the
class of 1903, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Shortly after
his graduation Mr. Shoaff went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he
secured admission to the bar and where he was engaged in the prac-
tice of his profession until June, 1904, when he returned to Fort
loo THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Wayne, where he is now engaged in the work of his profession. His
technical equipment is exceptionally complete and he is thoroughly
en rapport with his profession, in which his advancement is certain
to continue along the higher lines, while he is distinctively popular in
the business, professional and social circles of his native city of Fort
Wayne. In politics Mr. Shoaff is a stanch advocate of the principles
and policies of the Democratic party, and he is a member
of the Presbyterian church, while his wife attends the Episcopalian
church.
On the 2 1 St of June, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Shoaff to Miss Alice J. Dryer, who was born and reared in Fort
Wayne, being a daughter of Dr. Charles R. and Alice P. (Peacock)
Dryer, who removed from this city to Terre Haute, this state, about
eight years ago.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. . , loi
ROBERT W. T. DeWALD.
As one of the representative business men of Fort Wayne and as
the president of the George DeWald Company, one of the largest
wholesale dry-goods houses in the state, Mr. DeWald merits con-
sideration in this publication, while farther interest attaches to his
career from the fact that he is a native of Fort Wayne and a son
of the late George DeWald, one of the most distinguished and hon-
ored of the pioneer merchants and citizens of the "Summit City." As
a memoir to George DeWald is incorporated on other pages of this
work, together with data concerning the business at whose head he
stood until the time of his death, it is unnecessary to re-enter the data
in the present connection.
Robert W. T. DeWald was bom in the old family homestead,
which stood on the site of the present magnificent federal building
in Fort Wayne, on the 7th of March, 1862. His early educational
training was secured in the parochial and public schools of his
native city and supplemented by a course in the Catholic cathedral
school. At the age of sixteen years he gave inception to his business
career by entering the dry-goods store of his father in the capacity
of salesman. He learned the business thoroughly in all its details and
has manifested the same pragmatic ability and discrimination which
so characterized his father. In January, 1900, he, with his brother
George L. and William P. Beak, was instrumental in the organization
and incorporation of the George DeWald Company, of which he
has since been president, while he has directed the executive afifairs
of this extensive wholesale house with marked ability, expanding its
trade and functions and making it one of the leading commercial in-
dustries of the city. Mr. DeWald is also vice-president of the
People's Trust Company, of Fort Wayne, and is a member of the
I02 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
directorate of the German-American National Bank, while he is
interested in a capitalistic and executive way in other important en-
terprises in his native city. In politics he accords allegiance to the
Democratic party, but he has never been active in political affairs.
Both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church, in
whose faith they were reared.
On the 25th of January, 1889, Mr. DeWald was united in mar-
riage to Miss Mary P. Henebery, daughter of Matthew and Mary
Henebery, of Peoria, Illinois, where her father was a prominent
banker, capitalist and influential citizen at the time of his death, No-
vember 4, 1903.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 103
CHARLES G. PFEIFFER.
We are pleased to incorporate in this work a resume of the career
of this venerable and honored pioneer of Allen county, where he has
passed the major portion of his life, which has been principally de-
voted to agricultural pursuits. He is the owner of a valuable landed
estate in Washington township, and is now living practically retired,
after years of earnest and indefatigable effort, through which he has
attained to marked prosperity.
Mr. Pfeiffer is a native of Wittenberg, Germany, where he was
bom on the ist of May, 1827, being a son of Christopher and Kath-
erirte (Hertsler) Pfeiffer, who emigrated from the fatherland to
America when our subject was a child of about five years. They first
located in Buffalo, New York, and in that state the father was identi-
fied with farming until early in the '40s, when they came to Allen
county, Indiana, and located in Washington township, near the city
of Fort Wayne, where they passed the remainder of their lives, hon-
ored by all who knew them, while the father became the owner of
a good farm of eighty acres. His death occurred in 1850, and his
wife also passed away, both having been consistent members of the
German Lutheran church. They became the parents of seven chil-
dren, all of whom are deceased except the subject and his brother,
Christian F., the latter being a resident of Buffalo, New York. The
names of the children are here entered in the order of their birth:
Rosina, Catherine, Regina, Barbara, John C, Christian F. and
Charles G.
Charles G. Pfeiffer, the immediate subject of this sketch, was
reared to the discipline of the farm, passing his youth in Buffalo, New
York, and being about thirteen years of age at the time of the family
removal to Indiana. That he has succeeded in his chosen field of
I04 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
endeavor is best indicated in the fact that he is the owner of a fine
landed estate of three hundred and eighty acres in Washington town-
ship, the property having the best of improvements and all being under
effective cultivation except about ninety acres, which are devoted to
pasturage. This farm has been devoted to general agriculture and
stock raising, and is one of the valuable places of the county, thrift
and good management being evidenced on every hand. Mr. Pfeiffer
retired from active labor several years ago, and now rents his farm,
the greater portion being in charge of his son Ivory. In 1900 our
subject removed to the city of Fort Wayne, where he has a pleasant
home and where he is enjoying a well earned rest and the rewards
of his former years of earnest toil and endeavor. He has gained a
competency through hard work and good management, having been
dependent upon his own resources from his early youth, while his
entire life has been characterized by inflexible integrity and honor in
all its relations, so that he has ever held the unqualified confidence and
esteem of his fellow men. He personally eff'ected the clearing of
more than three hundred acres of land, and the vicissitudes and hard-
siiips of the pioneer era represent more than mere names to him, since
he had close personal experience in the connection. His educational
advantages as a youth were limited to a very irregular attendance in
the primitive log school houses of the pioneer days, but through ex-
perience and active association with men and affairs he has gained a
large fund of practical knowledge and has been an able business man.
In politics he has supported the Republican party from practically the
time of its organization, and while he has never aspired to office he
has been called upon to serve in various township offices. He and his
worthy wife are valued members of the Lutheran church, and have
exemplified faith in the daily walk of life.
In the year 1850 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pfeiffer to
Miss Abigail Williams, who was bom in Wayne county, Ohio, being
a daughter of John and Perthina ( Sutton) Williams, who came from
Pennsylvania to Allen county, Indiana, in 1837, being numbered
among the early settlers of this section. The father was a shoemaker
by trade, but after coming to Indiana he gave his attention principally
to farming, taking up wild land and reclaiming the same to cultiva-
tion, while he also assisted in the cutting through of the early roads.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 105
Indians were still much in evidence, and Mr. Williams gained their
good will and esteem, while, as a shoemaker, he frequently mended
their moccasins. The family endured many privations in the pioneer
days, and for several days at a time their only food would be parched
corn. In the family were ten children, of whom only two are living,
Charles, who is a resident of Fort Wayne, and Abigail, who is the
wife of the subject of this sketch.
Mr. and Mrs. Pfeiffer have seven children, namely : George, who
married Miss Altha Cartright, and who is a prosperous farmer of
Allen county; Albert, who married Miss Regina Fitzsimmons, and
who likewise is a representative farmer of this county; William, who
remains at the parental home; Clara A., who is likewise beneath the
home roof; Frank, who married Miss Edith Monn, and is engaged
in farming in his native county ; Ivory, who is engaged in farming on
the old homestead, and Arthur, who resides at the parental home,
being a carpenter by vocation.
io6 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
CHARLES E. BARNETT, M. D.
One of the able, successful and representative members of the
medical profession in the city of Fort Wayne is Dr. Barnett, who is
here engaged in general practice as a physician and surgeon. He
was bom in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on the 30th of September, 1866, being
a son of Rev. William C. and Frances M. (Sullivan) Barnett, the
former of whom was bom in Pennsylvania and the latter in Virginia.
The father of the subject was a clergyman of the Lutheran church,
and continued in active service until the time of his death, which oc-
curred in Tennessee, in 1898, while his devoted wife was summoned
into etemal rest in 1880. Of their six children three are living.
When the subject was a child of two years his parents removed
from Butler, Indiana, to Boone county, Kentucky, in whose common
schools Charles E. received his early educational training, while he
was later graduated in the high school at Antwerp, Ohio, after which
he was matriculated in Edgewood College, at Edgewood, Tennessee,
in which institution he completed the scientific course, and was gradu-
ated as a member of the class of 1888. Shortly afterward he entered
the Fort Wayne College of Medicine, from which he received his
well-earned degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1890. In 1893. to fur-
ther fortify himself for the responsibilities of his chosen profession,
he took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic, while two
years later he did most effective post-graduate work in bacteriology,
in the medical department of Suwanee University, of the South. The
Doctor has devoted his attention largely to surgery during the years
of his active practice, and has been most successful in this important
department of professional work, in which he is looked upon as an
authority, both in theoretical and operative lines. Since 1896 he has
been a member of the faculty of his alma mater, the Fort Wayne Col-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 107
lege of Medicine, in which he holds at the present time the chair of
surgical anatomy and genito-urinary surgeiy.
Dr. Barnett initiated the practice of his profession by locating in
Archer, Nebraska, where he built up an excellent professional busi-
ness, and continued to make his home until 1896, in which year he
came to Fort Wayne, where he has since been actively engaged in
practice, and where he holds high prestige as a physician and surgeon
and as a loyal and public-spirited citizen. The Doctor is a member of
the Fort Wayne Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society,
the Mississippi Valley Medical Society and the American Medical
Association, while he has served as president and also as secretary of
the Alumni Association of the Fort Wayne College of Medicine. In
1898 Dr. Barnett was assistant surgeon, with the rank of captain,
of the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regiment of Indiana Volun-
teer Infantry, with which he was in active service during the Span-
ish-American war. In politics he is a stalwart adherent of the Demo-
cratic party, and in the Masonic fraternity he has advanced through
the chivalric grades, being affiliated with Fort Wayne Commandery,
No. 4, Knights Templar. He is distinctively popular in profes-
sional, business and social circles, and is one of Fort Wayne's repre-
sentative physicians and surgeons. It is the Doctor's intention to
leave in the fall of the present year (1905) for Vienna and BerHn,
where he will take post-graduate courses along the lines of his pro-
fession.
io8 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
MARTIN F. SCHICK, M. D.
In the present connection we accord representation to one of the
distinguished members of the medical profession in the city of Fort
Wayne, and one who is a member of one of the most honored famihes
of the "Summit City," where his father has been for nearly a half cen-
tury a member of- the faculty of Concordia College, one of the old
and noble educational institutions maintained under the auspices of
the German Lutheran church.
Martin Frederick Schick was born in the city of Chicago, Illinois,
on the 25th of Ma)^ 1861, and is a son of Professor George and Wil-
helmina (Zimmerman) Schick, who are still residents of Fort Wayne,
to which city they removed in 1861, at which time Concordia College
was established here, having been removed from Missouri, where it
was founded in 1839. In the college Professor Schick now holds
the chair of Latin and Greek, while he is one of Fort Wayne's best
known and most highly honored citizens, and one who has wielded
much influence in the educational world. Dr. Schick was but a few
months of age at the time of his parents' removal to Fort Wayne, and
in this city his boyhood and youth were passed. His early educational
discipline was secured in St. Paul's German Lutheran school,
and when twelve years of age he was matriculated in Con-
cordia College, in which he completed the course and was
graduated as a member of the class of 1879, receiving
the degree of Master of Arts. In the year 1880 he
entered the medical department of the University of the City of New
York, in which he was graduated on the 7th of March, 1882, with the
degree of Doctor of Medicine, while in the same year he took a post-
graduate course in Bellevue Hospital, while he served during the same
year as surgeon to the Bushwick Hospital, in the city of Brooklyn.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 109
He was thereafter engaged in the practice of his profession in New
York city until December, 1883, when he located in Saginaw, Michi-
gan, where he built up a large and representative practice, and where
he continued to reside until 1896. He then made a trip abroad for the
purpose of availing himself of the advantages of the great hospitals
and medical colleges of the old world. He was absent about eighteen
months, and within this period took special post-graduate work in the
medical department of the Frederich Wilhelm University, in the city
of Berlin, as well as in leading institutions in Munich and London.
He returned to the United States in the spring of 1898, and on the
loth of April located in Fort Wayne, where he has since been estab-
lished in the practice of his profession, and where his precedence is
such as his fine professional attainments justify.
On the 1 6th of April, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Schick to Miss Anna C. Bruns, of Fort Wayne, and they have three
children, Myrtle, Charlotte and Hildegard.
no THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
CARL YAPLE.
As one of the representative young members of the bar of Allen
county, Mr. Yaple is consistently accorded recognition in this work.
He is successfully engaged in the practice of his profession in the city
of Fort Wayne, where he is junior member of the well-known firm of
Heaton & Yaple.
Mr. Yaple was born in the beautiful little city of Coldwater,
Branch county, Michigan, on the i ith of March, 1877, and is a son of
Hon. George L. Yaple, who is at the present time presiding on the
circuit bench of the fifteenth judicial circuit of Michigan, and who is
one of the prominent and distinguished members of the bar of the
Wolverine state. He is a representative of one of the old and hon-
ored families of Michigan, and was born and reared in Mendon, St.
Joseph county, that state, where he now maintains his home. He is a
man of high scholastic attainments and professional ability, and has
been a prominent figure in the political and public affairs of his native
state, which has honored him with various offices of distinctive trust,
aside from that of which he is in tenure. He early attained a high
reputation for effective oratory, and has long been a valued exponent
of the principles and policies of the Democratic party. He served
two terms as a member of congress, and was at one time honored by
his party with the nomination for governor of his state, his defeat
being compassed by normal political conditions, as Michigan has long
turned up a large Republican majority, save in a few isolated
instances. As a young man. Judge Yaple was united in marriage to
Miss Mary Hankinson, who was bom in Rockford, Illinois, and of
the children of this union we enter brief record, as follows : Edward
Lewis is engaged in the practice of the law in the city of Kalamazoo,
Michigan; Frederick H., who is attaining noteworthy prestige as a
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. iii
poet and author, resides in Mendon, Michigan; Carl is the immediate
subject of this sketch; Harry is a practicing dentist; Marie died at
the age of sixteen years ; George L., Jr., is a student in the Chicago
University, and AHce is a student in the Presbyterian seminary in
Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Carl Yaple, the immediate subject of this review, secured his early
educational training in the public schools of his native state, and there-
after made good use of the excellent advantages afforded him in the
attaining of a liberal education in an academic sense, before taking
up his professional studies. He prosecuted his study in Kalamazoo
College for a time; was later a student in Albion College, Michigan,
and thereafter attended the celebrated University of Michigan, in Ann
Arbor, while in 1899 he was matriculated in the law department of the
University of Indiana, at Bloomington; he also secured admission
to the bar of the Hoosier state. In June, 1900, Mr. Yaple located
in the city of Fort Wayne and began his practical novitiate in the pro-
fession for which he had so carefully prepared himself, and here he
entered into a partnership with Benjamin F. Heaton, in 1902, an
association which has since obtained, and which has proved one of
mutual helpfulness and one of utmost harmony. The firm has built
up a representative practice, giving special attention to corporation,
real estate and commercial practice, and the clientage retained is of
an important order, insuring a cumulative prestige to the firm. The
offices of Heaton & Yaple are located in the Citizens' Trust Company
building, corner of Berry and Clinton streets, and are attractive in
their appointments, including a fine law library. Mr. Yaple is a close
student of his profession, and considers it worthy of his undivided
time and attention, so that he subordinates all other interests to the
same, though he finds opportunity for the carrying forward of other
intellectual application and for the enjoyment of the higher social
privileges, while he is known as an ardent advocate of the principles of
the Democratic party, in whose cause he has been an active and valued
worker, being one of the leaders among the younger party adherents
in Fort Wayne.
On the 2d of August, 1899, in the city of Fort Wayne, was solem-
nized the marriage of Mr. Yaple to Miss Fannie L. Russell, who was
born and reared in Coldwater, Michigan, being a daughter of the late
Benton R. Russell, who was a prominent contractor of that place.
THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JOHN H. BASS.
What of the man and what of his work? This is the dual query
which represents the interrogation at least nominally entertained
whenever that discriminating factor, the public, would pronoimce
on the true worth of the individual. The career of John H. Bass
indicates the clear-cut, sane and distinct character, and in reviewing
the same from an unbiased and unprejudiced standpoint, interpreta-
tion follows fact in a straight line of derivation. In this publication
it is consistent that such a review be entered, and that without the
adulation which is so intrinsically repugnant to the man as he stands
among his fellows. The city of Fort Wayne naturally takes pride
in the work performed by Mr. Bass, who has stamped the mark of
definite accomplishment on the highest plane of industrial activity,
and consistency demands that he be given due relative precedence in
a work which has to do with those who have lived and labored to
good purpose within the confines of Allen county, and thence per-
meated the great industrial and civic life of the nation, in which he
stands well to the forefront as one of our honored "captains of in-
dustry." In the present connection the writer feels justified in draw-
ing largely upon a sketch previously written by him as an apprecia-
tive estimate of the life and labors of Mr. Bass, and in view of such
former authorship takes the liberty of eliminating the customary
marks of quotation.
A native of Salem, Livingston county, Kentucky, John H. Bass
was born on the 9th of November, 1835, and is descended from hon-
ored pioneer ancestry identified with the history of the Virginias and
the Carolinas from the early colonial era of our national annals. His
grandfather in the agnatic line was Jordan Bass, who was bom in
the Old Dominion state, in 1764, and who removed to Christian
'^A//,^r^ &^ra
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 113
county, Kentucky, in 1805, becoming one of the sterling pioneers of
that section, where he passed the remainder of his Hfe, having been
eighty-nine years of age at the time of his death, which occurred in
1853. Sion Bass, the father of the subject of this review, was born
in North CaroHna, on the 7th of November, 1802, and was thus a
child of but three years at the time of his parents' removal to Ken-
tucky, where he was reared to manhood under the environments of the
pioneer epoch. He became prominently identified with the business
and civic interests of Livingston county, Kentucky, where he carried
on both mercantile and agricultural pursuits, and became the possessor
of much valuable property, while his intrinsic worth as a citizen was
recognized in a most unequivocal way. He married Miss Jane Dodd,
who was bom in Charleston, South Carolina, on the 19th of June,
1802, being a daughter of John Dodd, who likewise became an early
settler in Kentucky. In 1866 Sion Bass removed to Fort Wayne,
and here his cherished and devoted wife died on the 26th of August,
1874, while he survived her by more than a decade, having been sum-
moned to the eternal life on the 7th of August, 1888. They became
the parents of six children, of whom four attained maturity, while
of the number one son and one daughter are living at the time of the
present writing. The parents were zealous members of the Presby-
terian church.
It will not be malapropos in this connection to offer a brief tribute
to the memory of the eldest son, Sion S. Bass, who was born in Janu-
ary, 1827, and who was the first representative of the family in In-
diana, having taken up his residence in Fort Wayne in 1848, and
having been one of the prominent business men of the place in the
pioneer days of its industrial development. He became a member
of the firm of Jones, Bass & Company, which was succeeded by the
Fort Wayne Machine Works, and was identified with the* same until
his death. When the cloud of civil war cast its pall over the national
firmament, Sion S. Bass cast his business interests and cares aside and
responded to the first call for volunteers to aid in the suppression of
the rebellion. He assisted in the organization of the famous Thir-
tieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in 1861, and he was made colonel
of the command, with which he proceeded to the front, the regiment
taking active part in the maneuvers leading up to and culminating in
8
114 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
the battle of Shiloh. Reaching that field early on the second day o^
the battle, the Thirtieth Indiana had but little time to rest before
the order to advance was given. The command valiantly obeyed this
order, though a veritable torrent of lead and iron poured over and
through its columns. The sacrifice of men seemed necessary, and it
was made. The Thirtieth Indiana moved sternly forward, led by its
gallant colonel, but it was a dash to death, and the brave soldier and
patriot who led the regiment fell, mortally wounded, and thus the
honored pioneer of the Bass family in Indiana died among his fallen
comrades.
John H, Bass passed the days of boyhood and youth in the state
of his nativity, and there acquired a good academic and commercial
education. In 1852, at the age of seventeen years, he came to Fort
Wayne and joined his eldest brother, of whom mention has just been
made. He entered the employ of Jones, Bass & Company, for which
he served as bookkeeper from 1854 until 1857, when the firm dis-
solved partnership. He had applied himself diligently to the work in
hand and to the mastering of the details of the business, and in 1859
he initiated his independent business career by forming a partnership
with Edward L. Force, under the firm name of Bass & Force. They
established the Fort Wayne Machine Works, and the output of the
concern for the succeeding year reached an aggregate valuation of
twenty thousand dollars. The indirect value of this industry to the
little community at that time was incalculable, for out of it grew those
influences which have built up a great manufacturing city in northern
Indiana. From i860 until 1863 the business was owned and con-
ducted by Judge Samuel Hanna and Mr. Bass, and in the latter year
Judge Hanna transferred his interest to Horace H. Hanna, who re-
mained a member of the firm until his death, in 1869, when Mr. Bass
purchased the stock and became the sole owner and manager of this
establishment, which, under his able supervision, has had a marvelous
growth and has furnished employment to thousands of men, while
through its influence much has been done to promote the upbuilding
of the city of Fort Wayne. Indeed, the great enterprise may consist-
ently be referred to as being the nucleus of the great industrial city
of the present day, drawing to it various classes of workmen to be-
come good citizens, devoted to the welfare of their adopted home.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA, 115
After establishing this enterprise on a solid basis, financially and in-
dustrially, Mr. Bass felt justified in turning his attention to other
lines of enterprise which invited his marked initiative and adminis-
trative talents. In 1869 he extended his operations by founding the
St. Louis Car Wheel Company, of St. Louis, Missouri, in which he
has since owned a controlling interest and served as president. Dur-
ing the financial panic of 1873, when men of more conservative meth-
ods were deterred from making new ventures, Mr. Bass boldly
launched out in another enterprise, establishing an extensive foun-
dry in the city of Chicago. He is never unduly daring in business,
but seems to possess wonderful foresight and sagacity, as well as
sound judgment and discrimination, and he thus had the prescience to
discern in a degree what the future had in store for Chicago, believing
it a desirable field for investment. Time has shown conclusively that
he did not mistake in his estimate, and the extensive foundries both
in St. Louis and Chicago, where are manufactured car wheels and
general railroad supplies, now represent most profitable investments,
and have netted their founder a handsome fortune. Since 1880 Mr.
Bass has owned a plant for the manufacture of pig iron, the same
being located in northeastern Alabama, whence the output is shipped to
his establishments in Fort Wayne, Chicago and St. Louis, as well as
to the large foundry in the ownership of which he is associated at
Lenoir, Tennessee. Several states of the Union have thus been ma-
terially benefited by the efforts of this one man.
Aside from his manufacturing interests, Mr. Bass has been prom-
inently connected with various other lines of business which have
greatly enhanced the welfare of Fort Wayne. In association with
Stephen Bond, he was largely instrumental in building the street
railway system of Fort Wayne, and in the same, with its now modem
equipment and wide ramifications, these gentlemen for some time
owned a controlling interest, though Mr. Bass is not now identified
with it. For many years Mr. Bass has been one of the principal
stockholders of the First National Bank of Fort Wayne, of which
he has been president, while he has also been a member of the direc-
torate of the Old National Bank for a number of years past. Brook-
side farm, comprising three hundred acres of fine land, adjoining the
city of Fort Wayne, has attained to a national reputation, and repre-
ii6 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
sents another field which has benefited by the almost limitless enter-
prise of our subject, the place being devoted principally to the breeding
of Clydesdale horses and Galloway cattle, for the maintenance of which
large direct importations have been made by Mr. Bass, while upon
this farm is to be found some of the finest live stock in the world.
From the place a fine exhibit was made at the Columbian exposition
in Chicago, in 1893, and a still more noteworthy one in the recent
Louisiana Purchase exposition, in St. Louis, in 1904, while many
first prizes were secured in each instance. Mr. Bass owns fully fif-
teen thousand acres of land elsewhere in Allen county and in other
sections of this and adjoining states, while in Alabama he owns not
less than eighteen thousand acres of valuable mineral land. His capi-
talistic interests are most varied and important, being too numerous
to be consistently noted in detail in this connection, as his financial
valuation is variously estimated between five and six millions of " '
dollars.
In his political proclivities Mr. Bass has ever been a stalwart
Democrat, and he has been specially active in advocating a reform in
the tariff policy of the nation. In 1888 he was a delegate-at-large
to the Democratic national convention, and was nominated as presi-
dential elector on the party ticket the same year. While a man of
broad and intimate knowledge concerning matters of public polity,
and while taking deep interest in public affairs, his extensive business
interests have naturally compelled him to hold political matters in a
subordinate position, though he never neglects the duties devolving
upon him as a citizen. He is identified with various bodies of the
Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained to the thirty-third and
supreme degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. His re-
ligious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church.
In the midst of the thronging cares of an exceptionally active and
successful career in the industrial and business world, Mr. Bass has
never been else than the genial, true-hearted friend and sincere and
straightforward man, appreciative of the good in his fellowmen, no
matter of what station in life, and ever placing true valuations in all
the relations of life. He has had much to do with men in an executive
capacity, and has had a most subtle and yet readily understood power
of begetting loyalty on the part of those in his employ or working
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 117
under his direction. In this connection it is significant that none of
his great industrial enterprises have been menaced or impeded by-
strikes or other labor dissensions — a fact that shows his trust in his
men and theirs in him. His friends are in number equal to his ac-
quaintances, and yet this does not imply a weak or vacillating nature,
for he is stern in his ideas of justice and right and never compro-
mises with conscience for the sake of personal interests. No man in
Fort Wa5nie is held in higher regard as a business man and citizen,
and none has done more for the welfare of the city. His home rela-
tions are ideal in character, and in his beautiful home are centered
his affections, hopes and ambitions. In the year 1865 was solem-
nized his marriage to Miss Laura H. Lightfoot, who was born and
-reared in Falmouth, Kentucky, being a daughter of the late and dis-
tinguished Judge George C. Lightfoot, of that place. They have had
two children — Laura Grace, the wife of G. M. Leslie, M. D., of Fort
Wayne, and John H., who died August 7. 1891.
ii8 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WILLIAM H. HOFFMAN.
For more than thirty-five years was this sterling citizen promi-
nently identified with the business interests of Fort Wayne, where he
made for himself a place of honor in social and commercial circles,
his life being one of signal positiveness and integrity and thus wield-
ing an influence for good in all the relations of life. It is most con-
sistent that in this work be incorporated a tribute to his memory as a
representative citizen and business man.
Mr. Hoffman came of stanch Dutch ancestry and was a native
of the old Empire state of the Union, having been born in Orange
county. New York, on the 17th of February, 1840, and having been
a son of Nathaniel Hoffman. When he was a lad of ten years, his
parents removed to Rockville, Maryland, and there he completed his
academic education, while he also had the further discipline of learn-
ing the printer's trade in a local establishment, the advantages thus
afforded being practically equivalent to a further educational training
of liberal sort. After leaving Maryland he found employment in the
newspaper offices of Washington, D. C, where he was thus engaged
during the progress of the war of the Rebellion. After the close of
the great struggle which determined the integrity of the Union, he
came to Indiana and located in Kosciusko county, where he engaged
in the lumber business, in partnership with his brothers, Jacob R. and
Andrew E. Hoffman. In 1868 they removed to Fort Wayne and es-
tablished themselves in the same important line of enterprise, build-
ing up a business of very great proportions and for many years hold-
ing precedence as one of the principal concerns of the sort in this
country. The enterprise was conducted under the title of Hoffman
Brothers until a few months since, when it was incorporated as the
Hoffman Brothers Company, William H. becoming vice-president
I
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 119
and so continuing until his death. The business is still continued
under the title designated.
Mr. Hoffman identified himself most closely with the business and
civic affairs of Fort Wayne, and his standing was unimpeachable
during the long years of his residence here. He was a member of
the directorate of the First National Bank at the time of his demise,
and was otherwise concerned in local financial and industrial enter-
prises, while he was the owner of some valuable realty.
Concerning the death of Mr. Hoffman we quote from the col-
umns of a local newspaper of Tuesday, December 6, 1904 : "William
H. Hoffman, one of the old and prominent business men of the city,
is dead, due to a stroke of apoplexy. He had been in poor health for
a year past. Last April he suffered a stroke of apoplexy, and since
that time he has not been about on the streets, except to ride out oc-
casionally. He has not attended to business for a year. Yesterday
he was about the house, seemingly no worse than he had been for a
few weeks, although he was feeble. He was downstairs with his
family last evening, and about 1 1 o'clock retired to his room. Mr.
Hoffman has for many years been a member of the First Presbyterian
church of this city, and was for a long time an elder in the same. He
was a man of pure and lofty character and unimpeachable business
integrity; a devoted husband, a kind father, and a citizen who held
the esteem of his wide circle of acquaintances." It may further be
said that Mr. Hoffman was sincerely public-spirited in his attitude and
ever ready to do his part in the upholding of undertakings advanced
for the general good of his city and its people. Though never active in
political matters and never seeking official preferment, he was a stanch
supporter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party. Mr.
Hoffman was married on February 5, 1874, to Miss Mazie Evans, of
Fort Wayne, who died on the 21st of April, 1904, at Jacksonville,
Florida, whither she had gone for the benefit of her husband's health.
Mrs. Hoffman was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Evans,
who were well known in the early days of Fort Wayne, as Mr. Evans
had been interested in considerable railroad and iron operations in
Paulding county, Ohio, as well as in Pennsylvania. The
three children bom to Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman survive
them — Frederick E. and Misses Katharine and Emily R.,
I20 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
all of whom remain residents of Fort Wayne, where they
were bom and reared. Of the brothers and sisters of the subject
of this memoir the following named survive him : Anne E., who is
the wife of John W. Sale, of Fort Wayne; Andrew E., who is presi-
dent of the Hoffman Brothers Company, in this city, of which
our subject's only son is the treasurer ; Jacob R. Hoffman, of Charles-
ton, West Virginia, and Joseph C. Hoffman, a representative farmer
of Wayne township, Allen county.
To those who knew William H. Hoffman no word of eulogy is
needed, for his life was an open scroll, inviting the closest scrutiny and
giving no sign of blot on any portion of its surface, which was thus
unblemished by suspicion of wrong in any of its relations. He was a
man of honest worth and unostentatious depth of character, and his
name merits an enduring place on the roll of the leading business men
and representative citizens of Fort Wayne, where he so long lived and
labored to goodly ends.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 121
J. C PELTIER.
Among the native sons of Allen county, Indiana, who have gained
for themselves honorable recognition in business circles is he whose
name appears above. J. C. Peltier, who carries on a successful under-
taking and embalming business at No. 117 West Wayne street, was
bom in this city on the 21st of September, 1843, ^^^ is the son of
Louis and Laura (Gushing) Peltier, a sketch of whom appears else-
where in this volume. The subject received his early education in
the public and parochial schools of this city, and later pursued the
higher branches at Notre Dame. While he was yet in his teens, the
great southern rebellion became a fact, and he evinced his patriotism
by promptly offering his services in his country's behalf, enlisting in
Company K, Twelfth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was sent at
once to the front, and at the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, he was
severely wounded. Receiving his discharge at the close of three
months' service, Mr. Peltier returned to Fort Wayne, and during the
following three years was engaged with his father in the undertaking
business. During the following twelve years he worked at pattern-
making, in the employ of Storey & Bowser, and still later took up
photography with J. A. Shoaff, following that line for six years as an
assistant, and for a further period alone. He then took up the practice
of telegraphy, and upon attaining proficiency was made operator for
the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Gompany at Kendall ville, In-
diana, filling this position in a satisfactory manner for several years.
In 1873 the subject, in association with George S. Garr, purchased an
undertaking business in Fort Wayne, conducting the same under the
name of Louis Peltier, and in 1876 he purchased his partner's interest
and again became associated with his father. They carried on this
business together until 1882, when the subject purchased his father's
122 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
interest and has since carried on the business alone, under the name
of J. C. Peltier. In 1874 Mr. Peltier invented an embalming fluid,
having the necessary instruments made in Fort Wayne, and enjoys
the distinction of having been the pioneer in this line, as up to that
time no embalming fluid had been manufactured. He has been always
up-to-date and progressive in his methods, and has enjoyed at all times
the fullest confidence of all with whom he has had dealings.
On the 25th of December, 1865, Mr. Peltier was united in mar-
riage to Miss Selena F. Wadge, a native of Ashburton, England, who
came to Fort Wayne with her parents in 1862. This union was
blessed with the birth of two children, namely : William H. W. is a
successful dealer in automobiles in the city of Fort Wayne, and Laura
A., who still remains under the parental roof. Mrs. Selena Peltier died
on the 30th of September, 1893, and in November, 1894, he married
Miss Fannie J. Jones, who was bom in Lockport, New York, but who
accompanied her parents to Fort Wayne in i860.
In politics Mr. Peltier is a Democrat and takes a keep interest in
the success of his party and in the general trend of national political
events, though he takes no very active part in public affairs, beyond
the exercise of his right of franchise. Mr. Peltier is affiliated with
General Lawton Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and takes a deep
interest in the welfare of his old comrades in arms. In all the rela-
tions of life he has well sustained his part, and few men are the re-
cipients of so large a degree of general esteem among those who know
him best.
I
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 123
HARRY H. HILGEMANN.
This able and popular young member of the bar of Fort Wayne
is a representative of the third generation of the Hilgemann family in
Allen county, which stands in evidence of his being a scion of
pioneer stock, while the prestige which he is securing in his exacting
profession is the more pleasing to contemplate in view of the circum-
stance that he is thus winning for himself success and honor on his
"native heath." On another page of this work appears a memorial
tribute to the honored father of our subject, so that it will not be nec-
essary to re-enter the genealogical data in the present connection.
Harry H. Hilgemann was born in the family homestead, in the
city of Fort Wayne, on the 19th of August, 1881, and is a son of
Henry F. and Lisette (Bueker) Hilgemann, both representing stanch
German lineage. Our subject had due recourse to the advantages of-
fered by the excellent public schools of his native city, as well as the
West German school, while he was graduated in the city high school
as a member of the class of 1900. Shortly afterward he was matricu-
lated in the law department of the famous University of Michigan, in
Ann Arbor, where he completed the very thorough course provided,
and was graduated as a member of the class of 1903, receiving the
degree of Bachelor of Laws. He had previously carried on his technical
studies in the office of Judge Allen Zollars, of Fort Wayne, while
he also had as preceptor for a time Judge Robert Lowry, so that he
was signally favored in the tutelage which he secured. He was asso-
ciated with Judge Lowry in practice at the time of his admission to
the bar of his native county and state, in the summer of 1903. In the
following year he engaged in practice on his own responsibility, con-
tinuing his work individually until January, 1905, when he entered
into partnership with Clyde M. Gandy, under the firm name of Gandy
124 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
& Hilgemann, and this progressive firm of young attorneys and coun-
selors is meeting with merited success, the members proving able and
discriminating coadjutors. In his political allegiance Mr. Hilgemann
is stanchly arrayed as a supporter of the principles and policies of the
Democratic party. In addition to his professional duties, he is also
incumbent of the office of notary public. The firm has well equipped
offices at 134 East Berry street.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 125
NEWTON W. GILBERT.
Among- the citizens of this community who have won honor and
pubHc recognition for themselves, and at the same time have honored
the locality to which they belong, mention should be made
of him whose name forms the caption to this brief article.
For a number of years he sustained a very enviable repu-
tation in legal circles, and is now the popular represent-
ative of the twelfth district in the national house of repre-
sentatives. Newton W. Gilbert is a native son of the old Buckeye
state, having been born at Worthington, Ohio, on the 24th day of
May, 1862, and is the son of Theodore R. and Ellen L. Gilbert, also
natives of Ohio. When the subject of this sketch was but a youth
he was brought by his parents to Indiana, and in the schools of this
state he received his education, supplementing this by attendance in
the Ohio State University, not attending this institution the full
course. He then took up the study of the law, and upon his admission
to the bar at once entered upon the active practice of his profession.
Prior to this he had had good experience as a school teacher and in
surveying, at which he was engaged about four years. In his pro-
fessional career he early established a reputation as a safe and sound
counselor, a successful pleader and an indefatigable worker, standing
high in the esteem of his professional confreres and the general pub-
lic, commanding a large clientage almost from the beginning.
In politics Mr. Gilbert has always rendered an ardent and con-
sistent support to the Republican party, and from 1896 to 1900 he
represented the district composed of Steuben and Lagrange counties
in the state senate. From 1901 to 1905 he served his state as lieuten-
ant-governor, and in the fall of 1905 he was elected to represent the
twelfth district in the national congress, defeating Hon. James M.
126 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Robinson, who had represented the district for several terms. Frater-
nally, Mr. Gilbert is affiliated with the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights
of Pythias, the Elks and various other orders, while he is also a mem-
ber of the Anthony Wayne Club, of Fort Wayne, and the Columbia
Club, of Indianapolis. His religious connection is with the Protestant
Episcopal church.
On February 12, 1888, Mr. Gilbert was united in marriage with
Miss Delia R. Gale, who was bom at Angola, Indiana, December i,
1862, the daughter of Jesse M. and Elizabeth Gale. To them were
bom two children, Whiting and Lois, both of whom are now deceased,
and on January 2, 1901, Mrs. Gilbert also passed away.
Upon the outbreak of the war with Spain, Mr. Gilbert enlisted at
the first call for troops, being commissioned as captain of Company
H, One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer
Infantry. The regiment spent the summer at Tampa and Femandina,
Florida, and were mustered out of the service in November, 1898.
Possessing many fine qualities of character and strong social propensi-
ties, Mr. Gilbert always makes friends easily and is most highly re-
garded by all who know him.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 127
ELMOR E. MORRIS.
It is with marked satisfaction that the biographer adverts to the
life of one who has attained success in any vocation requiring definite-
ness of purpose and determined action. Such a life, whether it be one
of calm, consecutive endeavor or of suddenJ meteoric accomplishments,
must abound in both lesson and incentive and prove a guide to young
men whose fortunes and destinies are still matters for the future to
determine. The subject of this sketch is distinctively one of the repre-
sentative professional men of Hoagland, Allen county, Indiana, a
position he has attained by dint of patient and persistent effort alone,
it being a well established fact that in what are termed the learned pro-
fessions success can be attained only by merit. Dr. Morris is a native
son of the Buckeye state, having been bom at Alliance, Stark county,
Ohio, on the 23d day of March, 1868. He is the son of J. L. and
Hannah A. Morris, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother
of Ohio, though of English and Welsh descent, respectively. On
the paternal side the subject is directly descended from Robert Mor-
ris, the noted financier and statesman of the early days of our nation's
history. Elmor Morris secured his elementary education in the pub-
lic schools, after which he attended the Tri-State Normal College, at
Angola, Indiana, and Mt. Union College, at Alliance, Ohio, receiving
from the last named institution the degree of Bachelor of Science. He
then entered the dental department of the University of Cincinnati,
in which he graduated in 1898 with the degree of Doctor of Dental
Surgery. He then entered the Eclectic Medical Institute, at Cincin-
nati, and in 1902 graduated, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medi-
cine. Immediately after graduation he entered upon the practice of
dentistry in Cincinnati, and was so engaged until removing to his
present location at Hoagland. Here he entered upon the general prac-
128 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
tice of medicine and dentistry combined, and has attained a distinctive
success. A thorough prehminary preparation and natural talent
have enabled him to handle successfully cases coming under his care,
and he was not long in securing the confidence of the people among
whom he was located. Of sterling personal qualities and possessing
a strong social nature, he has not been slow in making friends, which
he easily retains.
On June 20, 1901, Dr. Morris was united in marriage with Miss
Addie E. Smith, who was bom at Hoagland, Indiana, on August 29,
1876, the daughter of Dr. J. L. and Allie Smith, and their union has
been blessed in the birth of one child, Joseph E. Politically, the sub-
ject is a stanch Republican, and it would be strange were he not, for,
bom and reared as he was in the old McKinley district, he early im-
bibed those principles for which the grand old party has always stood
and of which the late lamented President was so able an exponent. In
religion Dr. Morris belongs to the Christian church at Fort Wayne,
while his fraternal relations are with that noble beneficent order, the
Knights of Pythias. He takes a deep interest in the general welfare
of the community, giving his aid and support to every movement for
the material, moral or educational advancement of his fellow citizens.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 129
FRED RUSH, D. O.
The system of osteopathy may be said to represent both modifica-
tion and amplification in the treatment of disease, and of how great
value has been this system, how far reaching and insistent its benefi-
cence, the laity have not even measurably appreciated. Osteopathy is
proving a leaven which is gradually but surely affecting the whole
lump and permeating the dispensations of the various established
schools of medicine. It stands as the ally of nature in her operations,
and not as a disrupter, and though at times the object of suspicion,
prejudice and enmity, the devotees of the new system have had the
fortitude to hold their position and defend their faith by demonstrat-
ing the efficiency of the so-called innovation.
Notwithstanding our vaunted progress in all lines of thought,
action and material accomplishment, human nature remains the same,
and men are reluctant to accept new ideas which seem to clash with
those long maintained. As a sponsor of osteopathy in Indiana, Dr.
Rush occupies a high position, and it can not but be a matter of satis-
faction to him to realize how high has become the status of his chosen
school and how great its influence in bringing about more humane and
scientific methods of practice. He stands at the head and front of the
Dr. Rush Infirmary of Osteopathy, in the city of Fort Wayne, and
may properly be said to be the leading representative of his school of
practice in the northern part of the state. He is clearly entitled to
definite recognition in a publication of the province assigned to the
one at hand.
Dr. Rush claims Illinois as the state of his nativity, having been
born in Rushaway, Menard county, and being a son of John T, and
Julia E. ( Simpson) Rush, the former of whom was born in Ohio and
the latter in Illinois, soon after her parents emigrated there from Ken-
I30 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
tucky. The father, who was a merchant by vocation during the major
portion of his independent career, died in 1879, in the prime of Hfe.
His wife is still living, and now maintains her home in California.
Dr. Rush secured his preliminary educational training in the public
schools of his native county, having been graduated in the high school
at Tallula, when sixteen years of age. For two years thereafter he
traveled in a commercial way, selling a line of notions to the retail
trade, and he then taught in the schools of his home county for two
years, proving successful in his pedagogic efforts. Upon attaining his
legal majority he opened a general store in Tallula, instituting opera-
tions on a modest scale and basing the same on borrowed capital, in
the sum of five hundred dollars. No better voucher as to his ability,
integrity, industry and good business management can be offered than
that afforded by the statement that within five and one-half years he
cleared ten thousand dollars, having built up a large and representative
trade. At the expiration of the period noted the Doctor disposed of
his interest in Tallula and removed to Wichita, Kansas, in which city
he opened a retail grocery, which he conducted for five years, then
disposing of the enterprise, in 1893. For the ensuing three years he
was a traveling salesman for a wholesale grocery house, and in the
meanwhile he had determined to prepare himself for the practice of
osteopathy, whose system he had been carefully investigating in a pre-
liminary way. He accordingly entered the Osteopathic Institute at
Quincy, Illinois, in which he was graduated as a member of the class
of 1897, while later he took special post-graduate courses in 1898
and 1899. He received his degree of Doctor of Osteopathy and came
forth admirably equipped for the work of his chosen profession, while
his success in the same has been pronounced and gratifying, both in
a subjective and objective sense. On the 15th of September, 1898,
Dr. Rush located in the city of Fort Wayne, where he established the
Fort Wayne Institute of Osteopathy, under which title the enterprise
was conducted until 1901, when the present form was adopted — the
Dr. Rush Infirmary of Osteopathy. His headquarters are in suites
49, 50 and 51, Pixley-Long building, where he has the best of acces-
sories and equipments for the work of his profession, his offices being
specially attractive in their appointments. As a licensed practitioner
of osteopathy he makes a specialty of all spinal, nervous and chronic
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 131
diseases, in the treatment of which his success has been so marked that
his reputation has grown apace. He has been at all times tolerant,
but has not sacrified his beliefs nor lacked the courage to defend his
position. He stands as an exemplar of true professional courtesy,
while as a citizen he commands unqualified esteem. He is a member
of the Indiana Osteopathic Association and takes a deep interest in
the for^varding of the work and prestige of his system of practice.
In politics the Doctor accords an unswerving allegiance to the Repub-
lican party, and fraternally he is identified with the Pathfinders. It
may be said without fear of contradiction that Dr. Rush was the pio-
neer osteopathic practitioner in northern Indiana, while he was the
first of his school in the city of Fort Wayne.
On the 7th of May, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Rush to Miss Mary D. Judy, of Ouincy, Illinois, and they have two
children — Ida May and Ralph Judy.
It can not prove malapropos in this connection to offer the fol-
lowing extract from the Chicago Journal of Health, since the article
has specially to do with the subject of this brief review : "If the older
schools of medicine were inclined to oppose osteopathy at its inception,
certainly the record it has made, the great number of remarkable cures
it has achieved, would forever silence unfavorable criticism and force
from its most bigoted opponents a tribute of praise as heartfelt and
emphatic as is deserved. When Dr. Still first promulgated his theo-
ries, only to have them combated by ultra-conservative members of the
medical profession, this publication preferred to await results before
judging hastily as to the merits of this new school, and results have
shown the wisdom of withholding judgment, for osteopathy has
proved to be all and more than was fondly hoped for it by its most
enthusiastic supporters. Today it has a place of its own in the fore-
front, a position honestly won and honorably held by right of almost
marvelous cures accomplished in some of the most obstinate cases,
where e^ery other source of healing and curative aid had been ap-
pealed to in vain.
"In following the wonderful progress of osteopathy the Chicago
Journal of Health has instituted a method of treating the subject
which by individualizing it confers a distinct benefit upon its readers.
We have reference to the custom of selecting the leading exponent of
132
THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
osteopathy in each of the larger cities throughout the United States
and giving a brief sketch of this representative of the science of oste-
opathy in his own community. In revievi^ing the remarkably success-
ful record of osteopathy in the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, no diffi-
culty presents itself when we would make a selection of the repre-
sentative practitioner of this section, as by common consent and in-
trinsic merit Dr. Fred Rush assumes the position of leadership. That
this physician is justly entitled to consideration as the representative
of osteopathy in Fort Wayne will scarcely be disputed by any one —
certainly not by one who takes the pains to follow the course of the
editorial correspondent of the Journal of Health and makes a thor-
ough inquiry among the highest authorities in Fort Wayne — those
who lead commercially, financially and socially — also makes a search-
ing examination of the record of cures effected by Dr. Rush, espe-
cially some most obstinate cases that had stubbornly refused to yield
to the skill of the foremost physicians of other schools. And this in-
vestigation was conducted without the knowledge of any physician in
Fort Wayne, osteopathic or otherwise, and no one was consulted that
was directly or indirectly interested in promoting the interests of any
physician or school of medicine, while no opinions were sought ex-
cept from those who were not only competent to express an intelli-
gent opinion, but were also in a position to give an opinion utterly
free from prejudice. As a result of tliis unbiased examination, we
speak with authority in saying that in no community of the United
States has the science of osteopathy made more headway among the
intelligent classes, and that no practitioner in Fort Wayne can boast
a clientele as great in numbers and influence, or can point to a more
significant record of cures in cases of long standing that have baffled
the efforts of other physicians, than can Dr. Rush, who is justly re-
garded as the foremost representative and exponent of osteopathy in
the city of Fort Wayne. In Fort Wayne this school of medicine is
firmly entrenched in the confidence and esteem of the elements repre-
senting the social, financial and commercial interests, and in the very
forefront of examples and exponents ranks Dr. Rush, who is a dis-
tinguished member of the school of practice in which he has met with
so eminent success."
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 133
CHRISTOPHER F. HETTLER.
To epitomize the life and character of the late Captain Hettler
within the limits which this work allows is impossible. The stalwart
proportions of his living presence were realized in the void made by
his death. But less than most men intellectually his equal does he need
the v^oice of eulogy, for his works do follow him. He was an honored
and influential citizen of Fort Wayne, doing much to promote and
conserve the interests of the city through his labors as an official and
through private effort ; he M^as for a number of years incumbent of the
responsible position of purchasing agent for the Pennsylvania lines
west of Pittsburg; his integrity in all the relations of life indicated
his fine moral fiber, and though of foreign birth, no man could be
more intrinsically American in attitude or more deeply loyal to the
land of his adoption, the most significant evidence of this being vouch-
safed in the faithful and valiant service which he rendered as a Union
soldier and officer in the war of the Rebellion. In his death, which
occurred on Monday, November 6, 1899, as the result of an attack of
pneumonia, Fort Wayne lost one of its most valued and popular citi-
zens, and it is fitting that in this publication be incorporated a tribute
to his memory.
Christopher F. Hettler was bom in Hohenhaslach, county of Vai-
hingen, kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, on the ist of April,
1834, and he was tlius sixty-five years of age at the time of his death.
In the excellent national schools of the fatherland he received a liberal
education, and after attaining his majorit}^ he determined to avail
himself of the superior advantages and opportunities afforded in
America, whither he immigrated in 1857, arriving in New York city
on the 8th of August. Soon afterward we found him located in
Preble county, Ohio, where he remained four years, at the expiration
134 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
of which, in the autumn of 1861, he came to Allen county, Indiana,
where he ever afterward maintained his home. For a year he resided
in New Haven, this county, and he then came to Fort Wayne, where
he secured a position in the shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com-
pany. As touching the salient points in his career, we are pleased to
quote freely from an appreciative tribute published in the Fort Wayne
News at the time of his demise :
"Although he had been but a few years in this country, his patriot-
ism for his adopted land was so well known and so generally recog-
nized that in 1864 he received a commission from Governor Oliver P.
Morton, appointing him recruiting officer at this point. He was suc-
cessful in securing a large number of recruits, and in September of
the same year selected a company of his own from those whom he had
enlisted, and he received at the time a captain's commission. His
company was organized as Company C of the One Hundred and For-
ty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and the regiment was assigned
to a place in the Army of the Cumberland. Captain Hettler served
his country at the head of his company until July 14, 1865, when the
command was mustered out. He then resumed his position in the
employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. In 187 1 the com-
pany, in recognition of his marked ability and his fidelity, appointed
him assistant purchasing agent, and from that time forward until his
death he remained a valued member of that department of the railroad
service.
"Ever since he came to this city Captain Hettler has made his
strong personality felt in public affairs and has taken a leading part
in municipal matters wherever there was a public benefit to be gained.
He represented the second ward in the common council from 1873 to
1882, and his presence there at that critical time in the history of the
city resulted in a cutting down of expenses and the hastening of mu-
nicipal improvements demanded. Captain Hettler stood for the ad-
vancement of the fire department's interests, and he was one of those
responsible for the installation of the first fire alarm telegraph system.
In 1876 Captain Hettler made the memorable speech in the council
which brought the municipal ownership of water-works first into pub-
lic notice. The story of his fight, against great odds, which resulted in
the present splendid system of water-works owned and controlled by
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 135
the city, is fresh in the minds of the older citizens. In 1879 the ques-
tion came up for popular vote, and Captain Hettler's position was
sustained by the people with an overwhelming majority.
"In his social and business life Captain Hettler has been easily
one of the foremost of Fort Wayne's German-American citizens. He
held the position of treasurer of the most profitable and most promi-
nent building and loan associations, and at the time of his death was
the largest stockholder and one of the controlling spirits of the Home
Telephone Company. He had long been a valued member of Har-
mony Lodge, No. 19, Independent Order of Odd Fellows ; of Sion S.
Bass Post, No. 40, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Fort
Wayne Saengerbund. While not formally identified with any re-
ligious body, he gave largely to church organizations and charities.
He was a firm believer in the spiritual verities as represented in the
Christian religion, and was an attendant at the Bethel church of the
Evangelical Association. When the new church edifice was erected
Captain and Mrs. Hettler were the largest contributors."
The subject of this memoir was a man of sterling character, broad
mental ken and mature judgment, placing true valuations on men
and things, and ordering his life upon the highest plane of honor. He
possessed to a marked degree the self-reliant spirit and pragmatic
ability so characteristic of the German type, and thus he was success-
ful in his various business connections, accumulating a competency
and thus making ample provision for his family. He was liberal in
his views, and kindly and tolerant in his judgment of his fellow men,
while to those affiicted in mind, body or estate he was ever ready to
extend a helping hand, though his benefactions were invariably of
the most unostentatious order. In political affairs he was a stalwart
advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and as such was
elected to the city council, in which he served so long and faithfully.
In the resolutions passed by the council at the time of his death we
find the following words : "He was a thoroughly upright official and
public-spirited citizen, ever zealous to advance the interests of Fort
Wayne. He was a generous man, a genial companion and a patriotic
American citizen, and his demise we sincerely deplore."
On the 26th of March, 1861, was solemnized the marriage of Cap-
tain Hettler to Miss Catherine Furthmiller, who was at that time resi-
136 ■ THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
dent of New Haven, this county. She was born in Stark county,
Ohio, and is a daughter of Jacob and Mary Agnes Furthmiller, who
were numbered among the early settlers of Allen county, where they
continued to reside until death, the father having been a farmer by
vocation. Captain and Mrs. Hettler became the parents of one son,
Herman Henry, who is now engaged in the lumber business in the
city of Chicago, where he has extensive interests. Mrs. Hettler sur-
vives her honored husband, and maintains her home in the beautiful
residence on East Dewald street, the same having long been a center
of gracious hospitality. She has long been a devoted member of the
Evangelical Association, and is one of the leading workers in the
Bethel church of the same, while she has also been specially active and
prominent in connection with various charitable and benevolent as-
sociations, being well known in the social life of the city, and having
the inviolable friendship of a wide circle of acquaintances. She proved
a true helpmeet and coadjutrix to her husband, and during their long
association on the journey of life each was solaced and sustained by
the abiding sympathy and love of the other, the gracious cords being
loosened only when death gave its inexorable summons to him to
whom this brief memoir is dedicated.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 137
ADOLPH DIAMOND.
The most elaborate history is, perforce, a merciless abridgement,
the historian being compelled to select his facts and materials from
manifold details and to marshal them in concise narrative. This ap-
plies to specific as well as generic history, and in the former category
is placed. In every life of honor and usefulness there is no dearth of
incident, and yet in summing up the career of any man the writer
must needs touch only the more salient points, giving the keynote of
the character, but eliminating all that is superfluous to the continuity
of narrative. The subject of this memoir left his impress upon the
civic, industrial and social life of Fort Wayne, where he was identi-
fied with important business enterprises, and where his intrinsic no-
bility of character gained to him the confidence and high regard of
all with whom he came into contact.
Adolph Diamond was born in Margelin, Prussia, on the 17th of
September, 1848, and in the excellent schools of his native place he
secured such educational discipline as was possible during his boy-
hood days, but he was soon called upon to face the responsibilities of
life and to depend upon his own resources, while his further education
was secured under the direction of that wisest of all headmasters,
experience. At the age of fourteen years he severed the ties which
bound him to home and native land and proceeded to England, thus
early starting forth as a free lance to fight life's battles. His father
was a man of industry and integrity, but the family was a large one,
there having been eight children, and the financial circumstances were
such that Adolph was thus early led to go forth to seek his fortunes
in a strange land. He arrived in England with but three dollars in
his pocket, but before the expiration of three years, by honest and
earnest effort, he accumulated a sufficient sum to pay his passage to
138 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
America, while his fiHal soHcitude also prompted him to send six
pounds of his hard-earned savings to his parents, who needed such
assistance. Arriving in America, Mr. Diamond took up his residence
in the city of New York, where he found employment in a wholesale
jewelry establishment, in which he familiarized himself with the de-
tails of the business, and incidentally gained a knowledge on which
was founded his success in independent operations. At the age of
twenty-one years he engaged in the wholesale jewelry trade on his
own account, and he brought to bear such discrimination, energy and
integrity of purpose that the enterprise was prosperous from the
start. In the interests of his trade he made trips to Cuba, Mexico
and Central and South America, and while sojourning in these coun-
tries he became conversant with the Spanish language, which he
learned to speak with much fluency, while he also mas-
tered the English. French, Hebrew, Latin and Italian languages,
in addition to his vernacular, the German tongue, becoming
an excellent linguist, principally through his varied associations
during his extensive travels. He continued to be actively
identified with the jewelry business for fourteen years, with head-
quarters in the city of New York, and within this time he accumu-
lated a considerable fortune. He made judicious investments in oil
fields, and in the connection added materially to his wealth. He was
finally called to the west by the Pottlitzer Brothers Fruit Company,
becoming a silent partner in the same and the principal financial
backer. At that time the company had headquarters only in Lafayette,
Indiana, while the business was conducted on a small scale. Mr. Dia-
mond surveyed the situation and quickly recognized the advantages
offered by Fort Wayne as a wholesale and distributing center, the
result being that he decided toi open a house in this city in connection
with the Lafayette concern. By shrewdness, integrity, honor and
wide knowledge of business he made the enterprise one of the most
extensive in this section of the Union, gaining control of the principal
trade throughout northern Indiana, southern Michigan and western
Ohio. The business grew to such proportions that he found it ex-
pedient and even imperative to open a branch house in Huntington,
this state, and he continued to be identified with this large and pros-
perous industrial enterprise until the time of his death, in the mean-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 139
while making Fort Wayne his home. He was also a large stockholder
in the Lafayette Cracker and Confectionery Company, of Lafayette,
and had other capitalistic interests of importance. He was essentially
loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, and in his political adherency
was a stanch Republican. In a fraternal way he was affiliated with
Wayne Lodge, No. 25, Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent
Orde of B'nai B'rith and the Royal Arcanum, while he was a promi-
nent and faithful member of the Jewish congregation of Fort Wayne.
He was summoned to his reward in the very prime of useful man-
hood, his death resulting from disease of the heart, and occurring very
suddenly, on the 6th of June, 1903. He was devoted to his home and
family, and within the precincts of his home his generous and noble
attributes of character displayed themselves most brightly, while his
death was mourned by a wide circle of appreciative friends, in busi-
ness and social circles. His funeral was conducted under Masonic
auspices.
In the year 1882 Mr. Diamond was united in marriage to Miss
Henrietta Pottlitzer, only daughter of the late Selig Pottlitzer, at
that time resident of New York city, but later a prominent citizen of
Fort Wayne. The nine children survive their honored father, and
remain with their widowed mother in the attractive family home in
Fort Wayne, their names, in order of birth, being as follows : Arthur,
Leon, Doris, Lester, Jacques, Helen, Alice, Ramona and George L.
I40 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JAMES A. GRAHAM.
The biographies of successful men are instructive as guides and
incentives to others. The examples they furnish of patient purpose
and steadfast integrity strongly illustrate what is in the power of each
to accomplish. The gentleman whose life history is herewith out-
lined is a man who has lived to good purpose and achieved a definite
degree of success, and is eminently worthy of a place in this volume.
James Armstrong Graham is a native son of the old Keystone state
of the Union, having been born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on the
25th day of December, 1856. He is the son of John and Martha
(McAleer) Graham, both of whom were natives of the north of Ire-
land. The father was born in 1825, emigrated to the United States
in 1847, ^^d settled in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where his
death occurred on Januar}^ 3, 1889. He was a stationary engineer by
vocation and for a number of years was employed in that capacity
in the shops of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad in
Allegheny. Plis wife, who was torn in 1827, came to America in
1847, and still makes her home in Allegheny.
The subject of this sketch was reared under the parental roof and
secured his education in the public schools of Allegheny. Upon attain-
ing the proper age he entered the car shops of the Pittsburg, Fort
Wayne & Chicago Railroad at Allegheny as an apprentice. He was
industrious and ambitious, and his disposition and ability were in due
time rewarded, he being promoted in 1884 to the position of superin-
tendent of passenger car work. In September, 1886, he was trans-
ferred to Fort Wayne and made general foreman of the car depart-
ment of the Pennsylvania Company, which position he still retains.
He has given at all times a faithful and conscientious attention to the
details of the work over which he has charge, which undoubtedly ac-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 141
counts for the pronounced success which has characterized his ad-
ministration of the department assigned to him. He is considered
one of the trusted and vakied employes of the company, and has the
full confidence of his superiors, as well as the regard and respect of
those under him.
In November, 1875, Mr. Graham was united in marriage to Miss
Ella McNurtney, who was bom in Washington, Pennsylvania, on
June 26, 1856, being the daughter of Patrick and Ellen McNurtney.
Their union has been a most felicitous one, and has been blessed in
the birth of two children, Martha B., now Mrs. Adam LaMar, and
Minnie A. Politically, Mr. Graham is a Republican, and takes a deep
and commendable interest in the trend of passing events. His reli-
gious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal church, while fra-
ternally he is identified with the Free and Accepted Masons and the
Royal Arcanum. In the first named order he belongs to Blue Lodge
No. 125, and has also taken all of the Scottish Rite degrees up to and
including the thirty-second. By a life consistent in motive and ac-
tion, and because of his many fine personal qualities, Mr. Graham
has earned the sincere regard of all who know him and in his home,
which is the center of a large social circle, there is always in evidence
a spirit of generous hospitality, old and young alike being at all times
welcome.
142 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WILLIAM J. VESEY.
It is not an easy task to adequatel)'' describe the character of a
man who has led an eminently active and useful life in connection
with the great profession of law and has stamped his individuality on
the plane of definite accomplishment in one of the most exacting fields
of human endeavor ; and yet there is always a full measure of satis-
faction in adverting, in even a casual way, to the career of an able
and conscientious lawyer. One of the successful and highly esteemed
members of the bar of Allen county is he whose name appears at the
head of this article.
WilHam J. Vesey was born April 19, 1857, at Lima, Lagrange
county, Indiana, and is the son of Benjamin W. and Sarah W.
(Waterhouse) Vesey, the father a native of Rutland county, Ver-
mont, and the mother of Portland, Maine. The subject's grand-
father, William Vesey, who was born in Vermont in 1801,
removed with his family to Ohio in 1837, and in 1839
to Goshen, Indiana, where he died in 1870. The subject of this
sketch was early inured to the labors incident to fann life and also
there learned the lessons of industry and independence which have
proved such a potential element in his subsequent success. His early
education was obtained in the common schools of his home neighbor-
hood and he early decided to make law his life study and profession.
To this end he removed to Fort Wayne in 1878 and entered the
office of Ninde & Ellison, where for two years he faithfully gave
his attention to Blackstone, Kent and other legal authorities. Ad-
mitted to the bar of Allen county the year of his removal to this
city, he has ever since been actively identified with the legal fraternity
here and has occupied a conspicuous place among his colleagues.
From t88o until 1890 Mr. Vesey was associated in the practice
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 143
with P. A. Rundall, and in the latter year formed a partnership
with Judge O. N. Heaton, under the name of Vesey & Heaton, which
association continued until, in 1899, Mr. Vesey was appointed judge
of the superior court of Allen county to fill an unexpired term. At
the conclusion of this official service Mr. Vesey associated himself in
the practice of law with O. N. Heaton, A. J. Vesey and B. F.
Heaton, under the firm name of Vesey & Heaton, which arrangement
continued until the election of Judge Heaton to the Ijench of the
superior court of this county, at which time the present firm of
Vesey & Vesey was formed, the partners being A. J. Vesey and the
subject. The firm has commanded a large and lucrative practice
and is considered one of the strongest legal firms in this city. Mr.
Vesey is a director in and general attorney for the First National
Bank of Fort Wayne, the Fort Wayne Trust Company and the Tri-
State Loan and Trust Company, and during his career at the bar he
has been connected with a number of the most celebrated cases that
have been tried in these courts.
Fraternally Mr. Vesey is a thirty-second-degree Mason, having
taken all the degrees of both the York and Scottish rites, and is also
a member of the Mystic Shrine and the Knights of P}^hias. In
politics he is an ardent Republican and takes a keen interest in
the success of that party, while his religious affiliation is with the
Wayne street Methodist Episcopal church of Fort Wayne.
On the 25th of July, 1882, Mr. Vesey was united in marriage
with Miss Maggie S. Studabaker, the daughter of Judge David
and Harriet (Evans) Studabaker, of Decatur, Indiana, her birth
having occurred on January 14, 1863. To this union have been
bom the following children: Margaret S., September 10. 1883;
Sallie W., July 5, 1885; Dick M., June i, 1887; William J., Jr.,
January 14, 1889; David S., January 31, 1891, and Catherine S.,
bom October 26, 1894. Faultless in honor, fearless in conduct and
stainless in reputation, William J. Vesey commands uniform regard
and from his friends he has won love and esteem.
144 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
CAPTAIN JAMES B. WHITE.
A few years since it was the privilege of the writer to prepare a
review of the career of Captain White, who was then Hving and in
the midst of the cares and exactions of his signally active business
life. Since that time the Captain has been summoned to the life eter-
nal, and it is now possible to sum up his career as one completed,
gaining the true perspective of his deeds and worthy services. It is
felt, however, that the previous resume, based upon data given by
the subject himself, covered the ground in so consistent a style that
liberal quotation may justly be made from the same, without further
credit marking than that involved in this statement, while metaphrase
will be made as need may be.
Captain White's life was not one of subjective exaltation or pre-
tentiousness, but was one signally true to high ideals and one filled
with definite and worthy accomplishment. He did much, and did it
well, and his name is honored in the civic and industrial history of
Fort Wayne and Allen county, within whose confines he lived and
labored for fully a half century, being one of the essentially repre-
sentative citizens and business men of the fair "Summit City." Cap-
tain White was born in the town of Denny, Stirlingshire, Scotland,
twenty miles east of the city of Glasgow, on the 26th of June, 1835.
His father, John White, was manager of an extensive calico-printing
establishment, was a man of high intelligence and utmost integrity,
while his wife was a true helpmeet, possessed of strong individuality,
mentality and earnest religious convictions. Under such environ-
ment it was but natural that the home discipline of our subject should
have been such as to engender self-reliance, thorough appreciation of
the higher ethics of life and a determination to be useful in the world.
He was the fourth in order of birth of the five sons and two daugh-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 145
ters bom to his honored parents, and of this number three now sur-
vive. His educational advantages were somewhat limited, but he
was enabled to secure a good English training, which he later supple-
mented most admirably by reading, study and contact with the world.
At the early age of twelve years he began an apprenticeship at the
tailor's trade, which he followed two years, after which he was em-
ployed in connection with the calico-printing industry until he had
attained to the age of nineteen years. This was a period of emigra-
tion, and, like many other young men. Captain White became imbued
with a desire to try his fortunes in America. Accordingly, in the
summer of 1854, he embarked on a sailing vessel at Glasgow, and
thirty-four days later arrived in the port of New York city. In the
national metropolis he obtained work at his trade until November,
when, somewhat disheartened at the outlook, he determined to seek
his uncle, who had some years previously settled in the vicinity of
Fort Wayne, Indiana. He proceeded by rail to Buffalo, thence by
steamer to Toledo, from which point he came by packetboat on the
Wabash & Erie canal to Fort Wayne, reaching his destination in the
latter part of November. His funds had by this time been completely
exhausted, and he was compelled to deposit his trunk at the packet
office, at the old Comparet basin, in the east end of town, until he
could make good the balance of three dollars due on his packet fare.
He discovered the whereabouts of his uncle, from whom he secured
sufficient money to redeem his trunk, after which he was temporarily
employed at his trade, in the service of Wade C. Shoaff, after which
he worked for a short time in a machine shop. In February, 1855,
he entered the employ of John Brown, who operated a stone yard,
receiving for his services three dollars a week and his board, and
being thus engaged for three months. He was subsequently again
employed by Mr. Shoaff, and also by the firm of Nirdlinger & Oppen-
heimer, and in the summer of 1856 he opened a tailor shop of his
own. Not meeting with the success which he anticipated, he became
dissatisfied, and in the autumn went to Cincinnati, and thence to St.
Louis, but a few months later found him again in Fort Wayne, where
he opened a tailor shop over the dry goods store of S. C Evans.
In 1857 Captain White was united in marriage to Miss Maria
Brown, a half-sister of John Brown, previously mentioned, and she
10
146 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
remained as his loved and devoted companion until the time of his
death, more than two score of years later. She was born in Glasgow,
Scotland, in 1836, and came to America with her brother in 1853.
She is a daughter of John and Jennie (Blair) Brown, the former
of whom was an extensive contractor and builder in Scotland, where
he died about 1840. His widow came to Fort Wayne in 1858, and
here continued to reside until her death, in 1878. Both were lifelong
members of the Presbyterian church, in whose faith they reared their
children, while Mrs. White has long been numbered among the val-
ued members of this church in Fort Wayne. Captain and Airs. White
became the parents of seven children, six of whom are now living,
namely: John W., who is the president of the White National Bank
of Fort Wayne ; Jessie ; Edward, president of the White Fruit House,
of this cit}^; Grace, wife of W. S. Morris, of Fort Wayne; James B.,
Jr., secretary of the White Fruit House, and Alexander B., who is
manager for the Higgins Artificial Ice Company of Fort Wayne.
After his marriage Captain White was for two years in the em-
ploy of Becker & Frank, who conducted a tailoring establishment at
Warsaw, and after this he was enabled to open a shop of his own
and purchase a home, his prospects for success being excellent. But a
higher duty came to him with the thundering of rebel guns against
Fort Sumter, for his loyalty to his adopted land was roused to re-
sponsive protest. His courage was that of his convictions, and in
August, 1861, he disposed of his little stock and business at a con-
siderable loss and assisted in recruiting a company, of which he was
elected captain and with which he proceeded to Camp Allen, Fort
Wayne, where it was made Company I of the Thirtieth Indiana
Volunteer Infantry. Securing the essential equipment at Indianapo-
lis, the regiment was sent to Camp Nevin, Kentucky, to join the com-
mand of General Wood. The Thirtieth Indiana was among the first
regiments to reach Nashville after the battle of Fort Donelson and
arrived at Pittsburg Landing in time to participate in the second
day's engagement. In the battle of Shiloh, during the attack in
which Colonel Bass, of Fort Wayne, was killed, Captain White was
wounded in the right side, by a spent minie ball, but soon recovered,
participating in the siege of Corinth and the skirmishes incident to.
that campaign. His regiment then joined in the pursuit of Bragg,
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 147
proceeding to Louisville and thence back to Nashville, and not long
afterward Captain White resigned his commission and, in the spring
of 1863, in company with Joseph A. Stell wagon, became a sutler for
the Eighty-eighth Regiment, in which capacity he remained engaged
until the close of the war. Within this time he was twice captured
by the enemy, and on one occasion, in the Wheeler raid near Chat-
tanooga, his wagons and entire stock of supplies were entirely de-
stroyed.
After the close of his faithful and prolonged military career
Captain White returned to Fort Wayne, where he established himself
in the grocery and fruit business. He was meeting with excellent
success when, in January, 1872, his store was destroyed by fire,
entailing a considerable loss. On the following day, however, he
resumed business in a building on the opposite side of the street. A
general financial depression followed hard upon this misfortune by
fire, but the Captain's methods were careful and conservative and
his discrimination so potent that he passed successfully through the
ordeal which overthrew so many business concerns, being con-
secutively successful in his operations. He continued to be identified
with the enterprise thus founded until the time of his death, and the
White Fruit House, as the establishment is known, still controls a
most extensive trade throughout northern Indiana and northeastern
Ohio, being recognized as representing one of the important com-
mercial industries of the state. This immense concern exercises
both wholesale and retail functions and is located in a fine modem
building at the comer of Calhoun and Wayne streets and the annual
business had attained to the notable average of fully a half million
dollars. The lines handled include groceries, fruits and general mer-
chandise, and the stock is large and comprehensive. The executive
corps of the concern, which is incorporated, is as follows : Edward
White, president; James B. White, Jr., secretary; and Alexander
B. White, the stock of the company being held entirely
in the family of the founder of the great enterprise. As his financial
resources increased Captain White made judicious investments in real
estate, and he not only added materially to his own fortune but also
did much for the improvement and advancement of the city through
148 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
his operations in this hne. He laid out four different additions to
Fort Wayne, and embelHshed and substantially improved the same.
Captain White started out in life dependent entirely upon his own
resources, and he won success through earnest and well directed en-
deavor along legitimate lines of enterprise. In partnership with his
eldest son, John W., he established and controlled a wheel factory,
in which about two hundred workmen were employed, the concern
being one of the largest of the sort in the Union and being suc-
cessfully carried forward under the active management of John W.
until 1892, when the plant and business were sold to the American
Wheel Company. In the same year Captain White became asso-
ciated with the same son, John W., in the organization of the White
National Bank, with a capital stock of two hundred thousand dol-
lars, and this institution stands today as one of the solid and popular
monetary concerns of Fort Wayne, John W. White being president
of the bank, while the subject remained a member of its directorate
until his danise. He was essentially public-spirited and held the in-
terests of Fort Wayne close to his heart, while to him was accorded
the unqualified regard of its citizens of all classes. He was one of the
commissioners from Indiana to the World's Columbian Exposition
in Chicago, in 1893, receiving the appointment from Governor
Hovey. He was one of the most popular and honored members of Sion
S. Bass Post, No. 40, Grand Army of the Republic, the same having
been named in honor of the colonel of the regiment of which he was
a member, the Thirtieth Indiana. In 1894 Captain White was a
member of the staff of Hon. Thomas G. Lawler, commander in chief
of the national organization of this noble order.
At one time Captain White ov.ned an interest in the Fort Wayne
Gazette, and he always manifested a lively interest in political affairs,
though his active work in the arena of politics was done only in the
later years of his life. He was a stalwart Republican and was well
fortified in his convictions as to matters of public polity. He was
twice elected to the city council from the second ward, a Democratic
stronghold, and in 1874 he nearly overcame the three thousand
Democratic majority as the Republican candidate for clerk of the cir-
cuit court. In 1886 Captain White was prevailed upon to accept
the Republican nomination for congress, as representative of the
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 149
twefth district, which had previously shown a normal Democratic
majority of about three thousand. At the ensuing- election he ran
ahead of his ticket by about twenty-five hundred votes, — a fact which
attested his unbounded popularity and the unqualified confidence
reposed in him. That he was worthy of this distinguished prefer-
ment is shown by his record in the connection. During his term in
congress he was noted as a zealous worker, not only for the good of
the people of his own district and state but also for that of the gen-
eral public, and he introduced several measures for the benefit of the
working classes. These were not at the time adopted, but in the
future will be recognized as the proper foundation for legislation
for the amelioration of the condition of wag-e-earners throughout the
world. His minimum-wages bill was particularly calculated to help
the laboring class. In the fiftieth congress his voice was often heard
in the discussion of various measures, and particularly in the debates
on the tariff question. In this field his information was that of a
practical business man, and his arguments in the connection were
widely quoted and carried much weight.
After his retirement from congress Captain White resumed
management of his business affairs with undiminished energy, and
he continued in the harness until practically the time of his death,
which occurred on the 9th of October, 1897, at his home in Fort
Wayne. He was a man of intrinsic nobility, and this fact made his
life count for good in all its relations, while the record of his accom-
plishment, which so closely touched the city of Fort Wayne, must
remain an integral part of the history of this municipality and this
county. Captain White was broad and liberal in his views, and
was a firm believer in the spiritual verities as exemplified in the Chris-
tian faith, having for many years been a member and liberal sup-
porter of the First Presbyterian church. Honorable and straightfor-
ward in all the relations of life, he was justly numbered among the
most honored and valued citizens of Fort Wayne.
I50 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
ALLEN ZOLLARS.
Allen Zollars was born in Licking county, Ohio. The ances-
tors of Mr. Zollars were of German extraction and emigrated from
Prussia to this country at an early period. They belong to that
robust and intelligent class of early emigrants who, to secure their
political and religious freedom, were ready to encounter the priva-
tions and hardships of an unknown and unbroken wilderness, and
the dangers arising from the frequent hostilities of native savages
whO' claimed the whole country as their rightful and undoubted her-
itage. It was fortunate for the succeeding generations of America
that the circumstances attending the first settlement of the country
were somewhat forbidding, and such as to invite to its shores only
the liberty-loving people of Europe. The sturdy ancestors of Mr.
Zollars contributed their share in the stritggle for independence
and helped to secure for themselves and those to come after them
that complete national freedom and personal liberty which all en-
joy today. His paternal grandfather was an officer in the war of
the Revolution and served his country with distinction for more
than five years. Mr. Zollars' father was born in Washington
county, Pennsylvania, and at twelve years of age removed with
his parents tO' Jefferson county, Ohio. At that time Ohio had been
a state in the Federal Union but thirteen years, and was in a large
measure an unbroken forest. Until his manhtx)d and marriage the
father of Mr. Zollars lived in that county, when he moved to Lick-
ing county, of the same state. There in the course of time he be-
came the owner of flouring", lumber and woolen mills, which he
operated with success. Subsequently he disposed of those prop-
erties and engaged in farming and the raising of fine stock.
In 1868, in good health mentally and physically, he retired from
business, and until his death in March, 1889, at the age of eighty-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 151
seven years and three months, he Hved in happy retirement, manag-
ing his property and enjoying the most devoted love and affection
of an unusually large number of direct descendants. But a short
time before his death he had assembled under his own roof five gen-
erations of his family — himself and wife, with whom he had lived
for more than sixty-five years, and who survives him, some of his
children, some of his grandchildren, some of his great-grandchil-
dren, and one great-great-grandchild. He was a man not only of
remarkable health and strength physically, but also, as self edu-
cated, a man of strong mental power and extended reading. Upon
many subjects his thoughts were in advance of those among whom
he lived. It was a source of very great comfort to his family that
during his long and active life they never knew him to give the
least sanction by word or act, to anything that was immoral, dis-
honest or dishonorable, but on the contrary he uniformly con-
demned all such things in the strongest terms.
In early boyhood the subject of this sketch, after completing the
common-school course of study in his neighl^orhood. was placed
in a private academy, and there thoroughly prepared to enter col-
lege. He entered Denison University, at Granville. Ohio, pursued
a classical course and graduated in 1864, receiving the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. Three years later the university conferred upon
him the honoran^ degree of Master of Arts, and in 1888 the degree
of Doctor of Laws. Having finished his college course and at-
tained his manhood, the time had come for Mr. Zollars to decide
for himself what should be his life pursuit. Choosing the law, he
entered the law office of Judge Buckingham, of Newark. Ohio,
where he studied for awhile, and he then entered the law depart-
ment of the University of Michigan, and graduated in 1866, re-
ceiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Being thus prepared for
the practice of his chosen profession, Mr. Zollars located at Fort
Wayne, Indiana. He at once made a favorable impression upon
the bench, the bar and the people. All regarded him as a young
man of fine attainments, high moral character, and great profes-
sional promise.
In November. 1867, he was married to Miss Minnie Ewing. of
Lancaster, Ohio, a lady of ailture. who has contributed much to
the subsequent success of her husband.
152 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Mr. Zollars is a Democrat. In 1868 he was elected to the
legislature, in which body he took a prominent part in the debates
of the house, and was much esteemed for his statesmanship. In
May, 1869, he was chosen city attorney of Fort Wayne, and con-
tinued to serve in that capacity for six years. Upon the establish-
ment of the superior court of Allen county, he was appointed by
Governor Williams, judge of that court. He held the office for a
short time and then resigned in order to resume the practice of his
profession. In 1882 Judge Zollars was nominated by the Demo-
cratic party of the state as a candidate for supreme judge. He was
elected, receiving in the northern part of the state, where he was
best known, much more than the party vote. He was nominated
by his party for the same office in 1888, but was, with the rest of
the Democratic ticket, defeated. In addition to his general prac-
tice he is solicitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, operat-
ing the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad through Indi-
ana.
As judge of the supreme court Judge Zollars more than met
the high expectations of his friends, and so discharged the duties
of his office as to receive the hearty approval and warm commenda-
tion of the bar of the state without regard to party. As a judge he
was industrious, careful and singularly painstaking. In his high
office he was independent, fearless and honest. It is but just to say
and it is infinitely creditable to Judge Zollars that it may be truth-
fully said that no political bias, prejudice or zeal could deflect his
mind from its honest and intelligent convictions. There is not a
judge nor lawyer in the state of Indiana that does not know and
who would not assert this. The written opinions of Judge Zollars
found in more than the last thirty volumes of our reports attest
his fitness for judicial position. His style is lucid, unstrained and
vigorous, his statements full and comprehensive, his analysis per-
spicuous and complete. His opinions show great research, indus-
try and care. They challenge approval, and must commend them-
selves to bench and bar. The writer is somewhat acquainted with
the bar of the state and he has yet to hear an unfavorable criticism
of any opinion prepared by Judge Zollars. As a lawyer Judge
Zollars has always stood high. He has a large practice and has
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 153
been unusually successful. He has argued many cases in the su-
preme court and has lost but few. No one knows better than
Judge Zollars the necessity for thorough preparation in the trial
of cases, and no one more industriously prepares his cases than
he. Though of a warm and ardent temperament, Judge Zollars is
in the trial of a cause always master of himself; he is rarely not at
his best. He is always courteous and deferential toward the court
and kind and forbearing toward its adversaries. He examines a
witness carefully and thoroughly, but treats the witness with re-
spect, and as a general rule, so as to secure his good opinion and
make him feel that he has been treated kindly and forbearingly.
While subjecting the witness to the most severe tests he so ques-
tions him that the witness never seems to realize the fact. As a
speaker Judge Zollars is always direct, logical and forcible. His
treatment of his case is always full, comprehensive and accurate;
his analysis of the facts is clear and exhaustive. He sees without
effort the relation and dependence of the facts and so groups them
as to enable him to throw their combined force upon the point they
tend to prove. Judge Zollars is in the prime of life, rather below
the medium size, his head and chest are large, his frame compact
and vigorous ; he is graceful in action, in manner, courteous, for-
bearing and genial ; he is popular and his future is full of promise.
In domestic life Judge Zollars is most fortunate ; surrounded b\
a most estimable family, every member of which is thoroughly de-
voted to him and striving to add something to his comfort and
happiness, — a family that has deserved all the affections of his
heart, stimulated his pride, increased his hope and contributed to his
success in life and augmented his happiness.
Judge Zollars is a chapter, Knight Templar and Scottish-Rite
Mason of the thirty-second degree. — [Hon. John Morris.]
154 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
BENJAMIN F. HEATON.
The Heaton family has been conspicuously identified with the
civic and industrial development of Allen county, within whose con-
fines representatives of the name took up their abode in the very early
pioneer epoch, securing government land and reclaiming the same
from the native forest, while in each generation have been found ster-
ling citizens of marked public spirit and unqualified loyalty to the
county. In the present connection we have to do with a worthy scion
of this pioneer stock, and one who has attained to no slight prestige
and precedence in the profession of law, in whose practice he is suc-
cessfully engaged in the city of Fort Wayne, as a member of the firm
of Heaton & Yaple. His able coadjutor is Carl Yaple, concerning
whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work.
On the old homestead farm, in Marion township, this county,
Benjamin F. Heaton was born, the date of his nativity standing re-
corded as June i8, 1878, while the homestead, which is still in the
possession of the family, is a portion of the landed property secured
from the government by his ancestors, many decades ago. He is a
son of Jesse and Samantha C. (Larkin) Heaton, the former of whom
was bom in the southern part of Indiana, in the year 1829, while the
latter was born in New York state, in 1834. The father of our sub-
ject was a child at the time of his parents' removal to Allen county,
where he was reared to manhood, assisting in the developing of a farm
in the midst of the forest wilds of Marion township, where he con-
tinued to be actively identified with agricultural pursuits until his
death, which occurred in 1888. He was a man of exalted integrity
of character and one of high mentality, so that he naturally wielded
beneficent influence in the community in which he so long made his
home, while he gave an unqualified support to the Republican party
from the time of its inception until he was summoned from the scene
i
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 155
of life's endeavors, at the age of fifty-nine years. He was a sincere
and earnest member of the Methodist church, as is also his widow,
who now resides in the city of Fort Wayne. They became the parents
of eleven children, of whom seven are living: Dessie is the wife of
Dr. Calvin H. English, a representative physician of Fort Wayne;
Hon. Owen N, is the present judge of the superior court in Allen
county; Mary is the wife of Homer B. Smitley, a successful contrac-
tor in Fort Wayne; Luella and Ellis J. reside with their mother; Jes-
sie Pearl is the wife of George H. Allen, chief of the distributing
department in the Fort Wayne postoffice; Benjamin F. is the immedi-
ate subject of this review, and is the youngest of the children.
Benjamin F. Heaton secured his rudimentary education in the dis-
trict schools and thereafter continued his studies in the city schools
of Fort Wayne, after which he entered the Tri-State Normal Col-
lege, at Angola, Indiana. After leaving school Mr. Heaton became
associated with his brothers, Owen N. and Ellis J., in the breeding
and handling of high-grade live stock, in which connection they util-
ized the old homestead farm. They made a specialty of the raising
of sheep and swine, having fine herds of registered stock and through
the same doing much to improve the grade of stock in Allen county,
while their surplus stock was disposed of at public sales at various
points in northern Indiana and western Ohio. Our subject continued
to be actively identified with this important branch of industrial ac-
tivity for several years, and upon his retirement turned his attention
to the retail drug business, becoming one of the proprietors of the
Postoffice drug store, in Fort Wayne, and successfully conducting the
same about two years, when he disposed of the business. In 1898 he
took up the study of law, to the reading of which he continued to de-
vote his attention while conducting his drug store, and he passed
about two years as a student in the office of the well-known firm of
Vesey & Heaton, of Fort Wayne, his eldest brother. Judge Owen N.
Heaton, having been the junior member of the firm. Under this
effective preceptorship Mr. Heaton continued his technical discipline
until he became eligible for admission to the bar of his native state,
his admission being granted in June, 1900. Therefore he remained
in the office of his preceptors about one year and was made a member
of the firm. This relationship continued until the autumn of 1902,
156 THE MAUMEE .RIVER BASIN.
when he entered into his present professional alHance with Mr. Yaple,
and they are meeting- with distinctive success in their practice, which
is largely devoted to the commercial, corporation and real-estate de-
partments of law. In politics Mr. Heaton holds to the faith of his
father, and gives a stalwart alleg^iance to the Republican party, while
he is identified with Fort Wayne Lodge, No. 25, Free and Accepted
Masons; Fort Wayne Lodge, No. 155, Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks; Fort Wayne Lodge, No. 116, Knights of Pythias; the
Fraternal Assurance Society and the Tippecanoe Club, while he is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church and his wife of the Pres-
byterian church.
On the 1 8th of October, 1904, Mr. Heaton was united in mar-
riage to Miss Helen M. Reitze, who was born and reared in Fort
Wayne, being a daughter of William F. Reitze, who is paying teller
in the Old National Bank of this city.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 157
FREDERICK J. HAYDEN.
Among the leading and representative men of Fort Wayne is
the gentleman whose name appears above. Fred J. Hayden, who
was bom in Cobourg, Canada, is of English parentage. His father
was Rev. William Hayden, who, with his noble wife, served well
their day and generation, their memory being still revered by the
children and children's children of the early settlers of Cobourg
and the surrounding country. Mr. Hayden secured his early edu-
cation at Cobourg, and in 1866 received the degree of Master of
Arts from Victoria College. He then became secretary of the C,
P. & M. Railway and Mining Company of Canada, but in 1875 he
resigned this position and took up his residence in Fort Wayne,
where he has since resided. In 1884 Mr. Hayden was elected a
member of the lower house of the Indiana legislature, serving two
sessions, and in 1888 he was elected joint senator from the counties
of Allen and Whitley, serving two sessions in the upper house also.
In 1892 he was appointed by Governor Hovey a member of the
Indiana world's fair commission and at the organization of the
board he was unanimously elected its treasurer, which office he filled
until the close of the fair in 1893. How well he discharged the duties
of this position will be found in the report of the auditing committee
of the Indiana commission, consisting of the late Judge Garvin and
Edward Hawkins, from which report we quote as follows: "We
have examined with great care the final report of the treasurer,
which is a well digested and complete summary of all previous re-
ports. We have examined the vouchers and compared them \\'ith
the statement of expenditures as set forth in the final report and
find that the same correspond exactly, both in amount and dates,
with the original allowance. * * In making this report, your com-
mittee feels that it should call your attention to the manner in which
158 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
the duties of treasurer have been discharged by the Hon. Fred J.
Hayden. Its work has brought this committee into close contact with
his office and his methods in the management of its affairs. We
notice the extreme care and completeness with which the duties of
the position have been discharged."
Since his residence in Fort Wayne Mr. Hayden has evinced a
deep interest in all matters pertaining to agriculture and has been
a successful exhibitor of horses, cattle and grains at every fair in
Allen county, with one exception, receiving many first premiums on
his exhibits. He has taken a strong and influential part in support
of the present Allen County Fair Association and is now vice-presi-
dent of the association. For a number of years he has been a director
of the First National Bank, which he has also served as vice-presi-
dent. Like most Englishmen, Mr. Hayden is a lover of outdoor
sports and recreation.
In 1873 Fred J. Hayden married Miss Eliza Hanna, daughter of
the late Judge Samuel Hanna, of Fort Wayne.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 159
FRANK E. PURCELL.
The subject of this sketch has long occupied a prominent place
in business circles in Fort Wayne, where he has successfully con-
ducted a large and popular livery establishment, also hotels. Mr.
Purcell is a native son of the Wolverine state, having been born at
Hudson, Michigan, on the 12th of February, 1866. His parents
were natives of Pennsylvania and were of Irish, French and Scotch
lineage. The subject's mother, who married James D. Brown, is
still connected with the proprietorship of the Hotel Randall, in
this city, having been interested in the hotel business for the past
thirty-five years and acquiring the reputation of being one of the
best landladies in the state of Indiana. She now resides in Pasadena,
CaHfornia.
Frank E. Purcell received his elementary school education in the
schools of South Bend, this state, and upon leaving school became
a messenger boy, one of the first in South Bend. He also became
the first operator of a Bell telephone in Indiana, and has thus
been a witness of the wonderful strides which have been made in
this medium of communication during the subsequent years. He
then commenced clerking in a grocery store, but two years later
came to Fort Wayne and entered the employ of Pottlitzer Brothers in
the capacity of traveling salesman, remaining with this firm seven
years. He then established the Western Fruit Company, of which
he became president, the firm having branches in Huntington and
Montpelier, this state, and an office in Chicago. He subsequently
disposed of this business and entered the hotel and restaurant busi-
ness, having charge of the Rich Hotel and the Wellington Cafe. He
subsequently became one of the proprietors of the Randall Hotel,
which has long enjoyed a high reputation as one of the leading and
most popular caravansaries in this part of Indiana. He is also a
i6o ■ THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
large stockholder and president of the Frank Purcell Livery and Cab
Line Company, the leading enterprise of the kind in this city, and is
interested in a number of other business enterprises.
On September 19, 1888, Mr. Purcell was united in marriage with
Miss Evelyn Ross, who was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the i8th
of October, 1867, the daughter of R. C. and Zella E. Ross. To
this union have been bom two children, Marion, aged thirteen, and
Clayton, now deceased. In matters political Mr. Purcell gives his
support to the Democratic party and has taken a somewhat prominent
part in local public affairs. From 1896 to 1898 he served as council-
man-at-large and is now a member of the council, representing the
third ward. Fraternally he is a member of the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of. Elks, the Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of
United Workmen, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, being presi-
dent of the aerie of the last-named organization in this city, which
has now a membership of over six hundred. Socially he is a member
of the Commercial Club, while his religious affiliation is with the
Baptist church. Mr. Purcell has ever taken a keen interest in the
welfare of the city of his residence and supports every worthy move-
ment which promises to advance the material, educational or moral
standard of the community. He is widely known and is well liked
by all who know him.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. i6i
THEODORE F. THIEME.
In the roster of Fort Wayne's solid and influential business men,
the name of Theodore F. Thieme stands out prominently. As founder
and secretary and manager of the Wayne Knitting- Mills, Mr. Thieme
commands the respect of all progressive and public-spirited citizens,
and holds the esteem of the eleven hundred workers whose employ-
ment is the result of his untiring and successful endeavors.
Mr. Thieme was bom in Fort Wayne on the 7th of February,
1857, and is a son of Frederick J. and Clara Weitzman Thieme,
neither of whom are living. Both were honored pioneers of this city,
where the father was for many years a prominent clothing merchant
and influential citizen. The subject of this sketch secured his early
educational discipline in the public schools of Fort Wayne and in
Concordia College of this city. In 1876 he was graduated in the
New York College of Pharmacy, and he was for a time engaged
in the drug business in the national metropolis, whence he eventually
returned to Fort Wayne and established himself in the same line of
business, owning one of the principal drug stores in the city. Con-
cerning the conditions and personal action which led him to establish
the enterprise at whose head he now stands, we find the following
pertinent information in an article published in the Textile Record of
July, 1902 :
"In 1889 Mr. Thieme sold out his drug business and went abroad
to investigate some of the industries benefited by the McKinley tariff
law. While abroad he became interested in the hosiery industry in
Chemnitz, Germany, and spent a winter there studying and in-
vestigating this branch of business. In the spring of 1890 he
organized a company in Fort Wayne under the name of the Wayne
Knitting Mills, with a capital of thirty thousand dollars. Returning
II
i62 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
to Germany, he bought machinery there and brought over twenty-five
skilled knitters."
Starting in this modest way, and meeting the usual and many
unusual trials and difficulties incident to a new undertaking, Mr.
Thieme has piloted the enterprise safely into the harbor of assured
success. The success of the Wayne Knitting Mills, and Mr. Thieme's
personal success, are due entirely to his integrity, his energy, his
courage and to his initiative and executive ability.
In January, 1894, Mr. Thieme was married to Miss Bessie Lor-
ing, of Boston, to whom one child, a boy, has been bom — Wayne
Thieme. Mr. Thieme is a stanch Republican, always taking a
lively interest in local and national political campaigns. He is a
member of the order of Masons, a loyal and energetic member of the
Commercial Club and of the Anthony Wayne Club.
THE WAYNE KNITTING MILLS
Reviewing the advantages of industrial Fort Wayne, and enumer-
ating its many progressive manufacturing concerns, it is signally
fitting that specific mention be made of the Wayne Knitting Mills.
Of the founder of the enterprise. Theodore F. Thieme. individual
mention is made in preceding paragraphs, and the two articles are
to be considered in a sense complimentary, so that they should be
read in connection. No better idea of the extent and character of the
industry can be given than by quoting in full from an article entitled
"A Western Knitting Mill" and appearing in the Textile World of
February, 1904:
"The Wayne Kntting Mills, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was estab-
lished by Theodore F. Thieme in 189 1, soon after the passage of the
McKinley bill, starting in a small way in narrow rented quarters in
a store room, and against the strongest opposition of foreign manu-
facturers and local prejudices in favor of imported hosiery. Dealers
were soon convinced of the merits of Wayne Knit Matchless Hosiery,
and in 1892 the company built and equipped a plant of their own,
installing imported machinery such as was used in the most pro-
gressive European factories, and employing skilled knitters, many of
whom had been trained in the best foreign mills. This plant has
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 163
been enlarged from time to time until today it consists of brick build-
ings covering- one hundred and sixteen thousand square feet, having
three floors and giving employment to fully eleven hundred persons
making nothing but hosiery. In 1901 they issued their children's
stockings under a new trademark, calling' them Pony stockings, and
by unique and well directed advertising made them so well known
that today Wayne Knitting Mills are believed to have a larger output
than any other hosiery factory in the United States, their product
being sold in every state in the Union. On May i, 1902, the
United Knitting Mills, a factory organized by Fred J. Thieme, a
brother of the founder of the industry, was merged into the Wayne
Knitting Mills, making a combined capital of four hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars. This factory was situated on an ad-
joining site and had been selling its output through the older com-
pany.
"The intelligent and progressive class of labor found there makes
Fort Wayne a very desirable place for the industry. Laboring men
in this city are very thrifty. The Wayne Knitting Mills has fostered
this progressive spirit in its employees, impressing all with the fact
rtiat intelligent co-operation between employer and employee is
essential to industrial success. To this end it has established a
profit-sharing plan in which all heads of departments participate; it
has furnished a club room and dining hall, combined with a fully
equipped stage, etc. ; it has encouraged the operatives of the factory
to organize a dramatic club, a singing society, etc., which give numer-
ous entertainments. The managers are always interested in the
material and moral welfare of their employees.
"The equipment of the Wayne Knitting Mills is of the best, the
machinery being of the latest and most improved patterns. Ex-
perienced foremen are retained in each department, and the ventila-
tion, lighting and heating are matters of special attention. The build-
ings are of standard make and fireproof as it is possible to make
them. The company have their own lighting plant, and although the
water of Fort Wayne is excellent, they have installed a water-
purifying system of their own, while in addition to the fire pro-
tection afforded by the city they have their own fire-fighting
company and apparatus. The company have always been
i64 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
progressive and endeavor to keep their business in the
first rank. They are continually on the lookout for any-
thing new in their line, adding to their equipment from time
to time, as the styles on the market require. Every pair of hose goes
through thirteen departments and is handled by eighteen different
persons. The full fashioned knitting machines are very large and
intricate and seem almost alive as the yam carriers fly back and
forth knitting the web, sometimes using two threads and again three,
sometimes one color and again three or four colors, according to
the pattern desired. The dye house of the Wayne Knitting Mills
constitutes a model institution in itself, dyeing being one of the most
important features of good hosiery."
At the last meeting of the stockholders in May, 1905, it was
voted to increase the capital stock of the knitting mills to seven
hundred thousand dollars. This increase was imperative on account
of the constantly increasing demand for Wayne knit hose, which it
was practically impossible to supply without a material addition to
the factory equipment. The steady healthy growth of the Wayne
Knitting Mills is its best assurance of continual prosperity.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 165
JESSE L. WILLIAMS.
The subject of this sketch was one of the strong and notable men
of his day and generation, having been for many years closely
identified with a number of the principal public works in Indiana and
Ohio and was in a large measure instrumental in advancing to com-
pletion several of the largest railroads in the country. Mr. Wil-
liams was bom in Stokes county, North Carolina, on May 6, 1807,
and was the son of Jesse and Sarah T. Williams, who were members
of the society of Friends. About the year 18 14 he accompanied his
parents on their removal to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he obtained such
an education as was possible. Financial losses sustained by the father
prevented the son from obtaining such an education as he had desired.
However, he was able to attend the Lancasterian Seminary in Cin-
cinnati and afterwards attended school as he could at other places of
residence. He early decided to take up the profession of civil en-
gineering and every effort was bent to the end that he might become
proficient in this profession, he studiously investigating every branch
of knowledge which seemed to have a relation to that line. He
was thus largely self-educated, but his mastery of his subjects was
complete and at the age of seventeen years he became a member of
a corps of engineers who were detailed to make the first survey of the
Miami and Erie Canal from Cincinnati to the Maumee bay. Mr.
Williams continued to serve in the final location and construction of
this canal and had charge, as assistant, of the heavy and difficult
division near Cincinnati. On account of the sickness of the prin-
cipal engineer during the latter half of 1827, Mr. Williams was
compelled to temporarily take charge of the whole work between
Cincinnati and Dayton. In 1828 he was appointed to take charge of
the final location of the canal from Licking Summit to Chillicothe,
including the Columbus side-cut, and afterward supervised the con-
i66 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
struction of the division between Circleville and a point south of
ChilHcothe, this work including the dam and aqueduct across the
Scioto river. When twenty-three years old Mr. Williams was ap-
pointed on the board of engineers to decide upon the method of sup-
plying with water the summit level of the canal, their decision being
in favor of reservoirs. Early in 1832 Mr. Williams took charge,
as chief engineer, of the location and construction of the Wabash
and Erie Canal, and in 1834 he was appointed to survey the White
Water valley for the purpose of determining the practicability of
constructing a canal through that valley to Lawrenceburg, on the
Ohio. The several surveys of new canals in Indiana, ordered by the
legislature in 1835, were placed under his general supervision, and
throughout that year his duties were exceedingly laborious. In 1836,
on the passage of the law authorizing a general . system of internal
improvement, Mr. Williams was appointed chief engineer of all the
canals in the state, including the Wabash and Erie Canal, and thus
at this period he had under his personal charge canal routes amount-
ing to about eight hundred miles, and in 1837 he was also given
charge of railroads and turnpikes. Afterwards, when the appointing
power was changed, he was elected by the legislature to the same
positions, continuing therein until 1841, when the prosecution of
public works, except the Wabash and Erie Canal, was entirely
suspended. After March, 1840, Mr. Williams, in addition to his
duties as state engineer, became, by appointment of the legislature,
ex officio a member of the board of internal improvement and acting
commissioner of the Indiana division of the Wabash and Erie
Canal, in which capacities he served about two years, having charge
also of the selections, management and sales of the canal lands. The
financial revulsion of 1840 prostrated the state credit and checked the
progress of public works, and from 1842 to 1847 Mr. Williams was
occupied in mercantile and manufacturing pursuits in Fort Wajme,
the place of his residence. He was offered the presidency of the Madi-
son & Indianapolis Railroad, then about to be completed, the offices
of president and chief engineer being united in one. In 1847 the
Wabash and Erie Canal, with its lands, passed into the hands of a
board of trustees, the law creating this trust also providing for the
appointment of "a chief engineer of known and established char-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 167
acter for experience and integrity," to which responsible position
the subject was appointed in June of that year, holding the position
for many years and performing the duties with signal ability and
sound judgment. In February, 1854, Mr. Williams was appointed
chief engineer of the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, which position
he held up to the time of the consolidation with the Ohio & Penn-
sylvania Railroad and the Ohio & Indiana Railroad in 1856, and
from that time forward he was a director of the Pittsburg, Fort
Wayne & Chicago Railroad. In July, 1864, Mr. Williams was ap-
pointed by President Lincoln a director of the Union Pacific Rail-
road on the part of the government, and was reappointed each suc-
ceeding year until the work was completed in 1869, receiving com-
missions from three successive Presidents. As a member of the
standing committee on location and construction, the important en-
gineering questions connected with this work came within his sphere
of duty and called into exercise the professional experience which
forty years of public service enabled him to wield. On the 13th of
June, 1868, Mr. Williams was instructed by the secretary of the in-
terior "to examine and report specifically as to the condition of the
Union Pacific Railroad, where it has been constructed or surveyed."
From his report to the secretary, August 15, 1868, it will be seen
that this duty was performed, and it is worthy of note that the secre-
tary of the interior, in his annual report to the President of the
United States, of November 30, 1868, referring to this specific ex-
amination, said : "Mr. Williams is an experienced civil engineer and
performed the duty committed to him in a very satisfactory manner.
His report presented such statements that I deem it my imperative
duty to invite your attention to the leading facts he communicated."
Subsequently, as a result of this report the President appointed a sec-
ond commission, consisting of three experienced engineers, one of
which was Mr. Williams. The latter fully appreciated the high honor
of this appointment, but was nevertheless constrained by other duties
to decline. The remaining two engineers, however, confirmed in every
respect his former report. On the 19th of January, 1869, Mr. Wil-
liams was appointed receiver of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Rail-
road by the United States court, which ordered him to borrow money
by pledge of the railroad land and to build the road as required by
i68 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
law. In addition to the duties belonging to a financial trust like
this, he had also professional charge as directing engineer of the
work. These several duties were found to be so exacting that, in
October, 1869, he resigned his position as government director of
the Union Pacific Railroad. During the remaining years of his life,
Mr. Williams maintained his active interest in everything that tended
to the development and progress of his country, especially the section
in which he lived. His absolute integrity, under all circumstances,
was never questioned, while his natural and acquired ability was
recognized by every one competent to judge. A thorough gentleman
of the old school, courteous to every one who addressed him, and an
excellent conversationalist, he enjoyed a very extensive acquaintance,
and made friends of all who came into contact with him.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 169
WALPOLE G. COLERICK.
An enumeration of those men of the present generation in Allen
county who have won honor and public recognition for themselves
and at the same time have honored the state to which they belong,
must needs include Hon. Walpole G. Colerick, of Fort Wayne,
eminent as a lawyer and citizen, and one who ably represented his
district in the halls of the national congress. He has been and is
distinctively a man of affairs and one who has wielded marked in-
fluence in his profession and in the broad domain of public life, while
his technical and academic scholarship is of high order and his
dignity of purpose and his personal integrity such as to have ever
commended him to the esteem and good will of his fellow men.
It seems to the writer that consistent recourse may be made at
this point to an appreciative estimate of the life history and ante-
cedents of Mr. Colerick written by Judge Allen Zollars, of Fort
Wayne, one of his distinguished professional confreres at the present
time, since this estimate comes with the full force of intimate personal
acquaintanceship and significant and analytic appreciation. In mak-
ing excerpt from this previously published sketch we shall take the
liberty of making slight changes in phraseology, in order that the
subject-matter may be brought up to the date of present writing :
"Hon. Walpole G. Colerick was born in the city of Fort Wayne,
on the 1st of August, 1845, ^"^^ belongs to honorable and distin-
guished families in the lines of both his father and mother. He is a
son of the late Hon. David H. Colerick, and the maiden name of his
mother was Elizabeth Gillespie Walpole. He also belongs to families
of lawyers. John G. Walpole was a practitioner in Fort Wayne,
where he died many years ago, and Robert L. and Thomas D. Wal-
pole were distinguished lawyers at Indianapolis. His five brothers
all adopted the legal profession, and became successful practitioners.
lyo THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
and of the number two are engaged in practice at the present time.
His older brother, the Hon. John Colerick, one of the most promising
and brilliant of the younger men of the state, died in March, 1872,
which year also witnessed the death of another older brother, David
Colerick, a lawyer of ability and promise. Each of these brothers
had, in early life, been trusted and honored by the people, not only in
their controlling a large professional business, but also in the be-
stowal upon them of public office. Still later Thomas W. Colerick,
a younger brother of the subject, died when a young man and just
when he was entering upon what promised to be a successful and
brilliant career as a lawyer. He was not only a young man of fine
ability and character, but he also had the industry and methods of
study which always bring their reward by way of success in the
learned professions. Messrs. Henry and Philemon B. Colerick,
younger brothers, are both practicing and successful lawyers in Fort
Wayne, while the former served for many years as city attorney, and
the latter as prosecuting attorney of the county.
"The subject of this sketch received his early educational disci-
pline in the city schools of Fort Wayne, the course of study in which
is equal to that of many colleges. He, however, did not depend, nor
has at any time, upon what may be learned in pursuing the ordinary
courses of study provided by institutions of learning, but he has car-
ried forward with great discrimination and exactitude such reading
and study as are best fitted to fit one for the learned profession which
he has so signally honored with his labors and services. He had many
advantages which not many may enjoy in preparing for and entering
upon the duties of a profession. He not only had the benefit of his
honored and distinguished father's learning, experience, example, ad-
vice and encouragement, but also the help, advice and encouragement
of a mother of fine ability and culture. He had gone through a course
of study in the law, been admitted to the bar, and become a partner
of his father before he was twenty-one years of age. From that time
until the present he has been one of the leading and most successful
practitioners of the Allen county bar. He is able and patient in the
preparation of his cases for trial, and in the trial of them he is skillful
and successful. In the preparation of a case and presenting the same
to the court and jury he has few equals in discovering in advance the
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 171
controlling points and in so marshaling the testimony and handling it
in the argument as to produce the conviction that the cause of his
client is just and ought to prevail. He is a good judge of human
nature, and is remarkably conversant with the modes of thought on
the part of jurors. With these qualifications and his natural facilities
as a public speaker he is forceful and successful as an advocate in
jury cases. Added to his other elements of success is that of sincerity,
which has no little weight with both the court and jury."
Farther it may be said that Mr. Colerick has maintained a strong
hold on the confidence and esteem of the people of his native county,
and that significant evidence of his popularity was that given in 1878,
when, as candidate on the Democratic ticket, he was elected to repre-
sent the twelfth district of Indiana in congress, making an excellent
record and being chosen as his own successor in 1880. Fidelity and
diligence characterized his congressional career, and he labored earn-
estly and effectively in advancing the interests of the people of his
district and those of the entire nation. After the expiration of his
second term in congress, Mr. Colerick resumed his professional work
in Fort Wayne, and continued actively engaged therein until 1883,
when he was tendered, without personal solicitation, the office of su-
preme court commissioner, accepting the office and entering upon the
discharge of his duties in November of the year mentioned. At the
expiration of his term, in 1885, he again resumed his professional
practice in Fort Wayne, and the ever-increasing demands of the same
now engross his time and attention. In politics Mr. Colerick is a
stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party.
172 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
MORSE HARROD, M. D.
The meciical profession has an able and worthy representative in
the city of Fort W^ayne in the person of Dr. Morse Harrod, whose
office and residence are located at 634 East Washington street. As
a physician and surgeon he has won prestige through his devotion to
the great profession for which he has so fully qualified himself, and
as a citizen he commands the same high degree of confidence and
esteem as denotes his professional status.
Dr. Morse Harrod is a native son of Allen county, and a member
of one of its representative families. He was bom on the homestead
farm, in Marion township, on the 6th of April, 1866, and is a son
of Morgan and Belinda (Bean) Harrod, both of whom were born in
Ohio, while they now both reside in Fort Wayne. The Doctor was
reared to the study and invigorating discipline of the home farm, while
his educational privileges in his youth were those afforded in the pub-
lic schools of his native township. He made good use of the oppor-
tunities thus afforded and in the meanwhile continued to assist in the
work of the homestead farm, in the management of which he was
associated with his father until he had attained his legal majority.
In the meanwhile he had formulated definite plans for his future ca-
reer, having determined to adopt the profession of medicine as his
vocation in life. With this desideratum in view, he began his tech-
nical reading under the preceptorship of Dr. Joseph L. Smith, of
Hoagland, this county, continuing his studies under these conditions
for one year, at the expiration of which he was matriculated in the
Eclectic Medical Institute in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he
completed the prescribed course, one of notable thoroughness, and was
graduated as a member of the class of 1891, while he simultaneously
received his coveted degree of Doctor of Medicine. He was gradu-
ated in January, and in the following June he established himself in
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 173
practice in Fort Wayne, where he has labored zealously and effectively
and gained success and precedence as a physician and surgeon. He is
a member of the Indiana Eclectic Medical Society, is also president
of Indiana Eclectic Medical Association, and is a member of Summit
City Lodge, No. 32, Free and Accepted Masons, and Phoenix Lodge,
No. loi. Knights of Pythias. In politics the Doctor is a stanch ad-
herent of the Democratic party, and he has served two terms as coro-
ner of Allen county, having been first elected to this office in Novem-
ber, 1892, and having been chosen as his own successor two years
later, so that he served four consecutive years. Both he and his wife
are members of the First Baptist church.
On the 31st of May, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Morse Harrod to Miss Jennie L. Lipes, who was likewise bom and
reared in Allen county, being a daughter of David D. and Mary J.
Lipes, of Marion township. Dr. and Mrs. Harrod have three chil-
dren, Camilla, Wayne A. and Velma J.
174 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JOSHUA RUCH.
Another of the native sons of Allen county who has here been
reared to the great fundamental art of agriculture and who has con-
tinued his allegiance to the same in his independent career, is Mr.
Ruch, who is one of the progressive farmers and popular citizens of
Jackson township, and who has resided in this county from the time of
his birth.
Mr. Ruch was born in Aboit township, this county, on the 17th
of May, 186 1, and is a son of George and Mary (Lopshire) Ruch, the
former of whom was bom in Germany, in 1826, while the latter was
born in Pennsylvania, in 1829, both representing fine German ances-
try. The father was a child of six years at the time of his parents'
immigration to America, and the family settled in Mercer county,
Ohio, whence they came to Allen county a few years later. Here
he was reared to manhood and here he received a good common-school
education. He grew up on the farm and continued to be concerned
in the operation of farming in Wayne township until he initiated his
independent career in the same line of industry. He was married in
1848, and both he and his wife now reside on a well improved farm
in Jackson township, being numbered among the honored pioneers of
the county. They have had fourteen children, of whom six are liv-
ing, the subject of this sketch having been the seventh in order of
birth. In politics the father was a stanch Republican, having origi-
nally been affiliated with the Whig party.
Joshua Ruch, the immediate subject of this sketch, was afforded
the advantages of the public schools of Allen county, and from his
boyhood up contributed his quota to the work of the homestead farm,
in whose operation and management he was associated until he had
attained the age of twenty-six years. He has been consecutively en-
gaged in farming in his native county, and purchased his present farm
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 175
in 1897, the same comprising eighty acres. The place was entirely
unimproved at the time he acquired the same, and he has already
reclaimed fifty acres to cultivation, while he has erected a good resi-
dence and barn, besides other buildings demanded for the accommo-
dation of stock, machinery, produce, etc. He has personally attended
to the clearing of his land, and his energy and good management are
indicated in the marked air of thrift which pervades his fine little
farm. In his political proclivities Mr. Ruch is a stalwart adherent
of the Republican party, and both he and his wife hold membership
in the Methodist Episcopal church.
On the 1 2th of July, 1888, Mr. Ruch was united in marriage to
Miss Delia E. Culver, who was born in Portage county, Ohio, on the
23d of March, 1866, being a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth
(Meads) Culver, of English descent, who came to Allen county in
1867, settling in Jackson township, where she was reared to ma-
turity. Her father has been dead some years, and her mother now
lives in Fort Wayne. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Ruch,
we enter the following brief record, in conclusion of this sketch:
Hazel M. was born September 8, 1889; Bruce K. was born August
21, 1891 ; Glenn J. was bom October 9, 1893, and died on the i8th of
July, 1900.
176 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JAMES BARNETT.
In the study of so eminently a practical and useful life as that
of the honored pioneer to whom this memoir is dedicated, we find
an opulence of incentive and are irresistibly moved to the according
of respect, admiration and veneration. The history of the life of Mr.
Bamett was closely interwoven with the early annals of Fort Wayne,
and his name is writ high on the roll of the sterling pioneers of this
section of the state.
James Barnett was born in the state of Pennsylvania, on the 15th
of March, 1785, and he died in the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana,
on the 7th of June, 185 1. He was a son of John and Elizabeth
(Fl}Tin) Barnett, who removed from the old Keystone state to Ken-
tucky shortly after the close of the war of the Revolution. John
Bamett had rendered valiant service as a private in the Continental
line during the great struggle for independence, and upon his dis-
charge had received land warrants purporting to entitle him to certain
property in Kentucky. It was with the intention of taking up this
land that he removed thither, but upon his arrival he found it im-
possible to locate the claim, owing to the defective description in
the land warrants, and after several years passed in the fruitless at-
tempt he removed to Montgomery county, Ohio, securing land near
the present city of Dayton and there reclaiming a farm in the midst
of the sylvan wilds. Of his children four daughters and two sons
lived to attain maturity. The daughters all married, and their names
after marriage were as follows : Elizabeth Harris, Mary Houston,
Susan Bruen and Rachel Watton. The elder son, Abraham, became
a pioneer member of the bar of Dayton, Ohio. John Bamett died in
1797, leaving his widow and her six young children in somewhat
straitened circumstances.
^^^^^lOLcS dOa/uuZ^
ALLEN COUNTY, INDL4NA. 177
At the time of his father's death James Barnett was twelve years
of age, and as his elder brother was his senior by only a few years
the burden of caring for the family rested in a larg'e part upon the
shoulders of the two boys, whose solicitude for their widowed mother
was unabating during the remaining years of her life. For a num-
ber of years the two brothers worked on the homestead farm, man-
aging to provide for their mother and sisters only by the most
strenuous exertion and careful management. During this crucial
period, however, they succeeded in giving to their sisters such edu-
cational advantages as were afforded in the schools of the locality
and period, and at a later period James assumed the entire charge
and care of the faiTn and family, in order to allow his brother the
opportunity of studying law. James thus acquired his own edu-
cational discipline principally through the aid of his brother and
sisters, who imparted to him each evening the knowledge which they
had acquired during the day at school.
As James grew to manhood and the cares of the farm and family
became somewhat less exacting, he engaged in fur trading with the
Indians, making long journeys into the west and south, by way of
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Several times he journeyed as far
as the city of New Orleans, then the principal market for the entire
district of the middle states, and while thus engaged in business he
became well acquainted with the location and latent advantages of
Fort Wayne, which was at that time little more than is indicated in
the name itself. His first visit to the fort had been made much
earlier, as he had accompanied his father on a trip to this point in
1797. ^^^ 1S12 he again visited the fort, as the captain of a com-
pany of volunteers from the vicinity of Dayton, his company being
a portion of the command which advanced to the relief of the fort
under General William Henry Harrison. It was during this visit
that Mr. Barnett canvassed the situation and determined to make
Fort Wayne his home. This design, however, he did not carry out
until a number of years later, and though it is impossible to determine
with absolute certainty the date of his making a permanent location
here, all evidence indicates that it must have been in the year 1818.
In the interval he had made several trips in transporting goods from
the east to the traders in Fort Wayne. These trips were made in
12
178 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
boats, by way of the Littte river and St. Mary's river, the goods
being carried across the portage some miles above Fort Wayne.
Upon making permanent location in Fort Wayne Mr. Barnett
opened a general store. In 1819 he was joined by Samuel Hanna,
another of the honored pioneers of the county and one of whom in-
dividual mention is made on other pages of this work, and they
formed a partnership under the firm name of Barnett & Hanna.
The business of this firm was that of selling at wholesale to the
traders throughout the country hereabouts, and the headquarters of
the firm was a log structure situated at the northwest comer of what
are now Barr and Columbia streets. Goods were brought from the
east by way of Toledo and thence up the Maumee river in pirogues
or dug-outs, and from Fort Wayne the distribution was made to the
various traders. About 1830 Mr. Barnett retired from active partici-
pation in this flourishing business enterprise, though he still con-
tinued to retain his interest in the same. " About the same time Allen
Hamilton was admitted as an active member of the firm, which con-
tinued the business under the title of Samuel Hanna & Company.
Among the other enterprises which gained the support and co-
operation of Mr. Barnett at this time was that of milling. In 1824
he associated himself with Anthony Davis in the erection of a mill
on the St. Mary's river, near the site of the present Orphans' Home
of Allen county, this mill being later known as Beaver's mill and
having been one of the first in this section of the state. Like many
others of the early settlers, Mr. Barnett made large investments in
r'eal-estate, and among other properties he owned a farm which em-
braced the block included l^etween Calhoun and Harrison and Berry
and Wayne streets, in the center of the city of Fort Wayne today.
In 1824 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Barnett to Miss
Nancy Welch Hanna, of Troy, Ohio, a sister of Samuel Hanna, who
came to Fort Wayne a few years later and become a partner with
Mr. Barnett in business. For their first home Mr. Barnett erected
what was then considered a very palatial residence, on East Columbia
street, this being the first brick structure built in the town. It is
interesting to note that this old landmark is still standing, being
now utilized as a bakery, by John H. Schweiter. After residing in
this house for a numlDcr of vears Mr. and Mrs. Barnett built for
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 179
themselves another residence, on West Berry street, on the site now
occupied by the estabhshment of the Wolf & Dessauer Dry Goods
Company, and in this home he continued to reside until his death,
June 7, 185 1, while his wife survived him by a number of years,
being summoned into eternal rest on August 10, 1857. Both were
devoted members of the Presbyterian church, and Mr. Barnett was
one of the founders and most influential members of the First Pres-
byterian church of Fort Wayne, and he was the second man buried
in Fort Wayne under Masonic auspices.
James and Nancy W. (Hanna) Barnett became the parents of
eight children, of whom only four lived to adult age. Concerning them
we incorporate brief record. John Houston Barnett died in 1872,
a bachelor. Mary was married, in 1849, to Watson Wall, of Fort
Wayne, and she now resides in St. Louis, Missouri, as do also her
four children, — Charles W., James, Mrs. Maitland Dyer and Mrs.
Susan Beard. Abraham G. Barnett was married, in 1859, to Miss
Elizabeth Angell, and of their children four are living, Byron H.,
Mrs. Katherine Beamer, James and Susan. Susan R. Barnett, the
next in order of birth of the four children who attained maturity,
was married, in 1870, to John A. Shoaff, and they became the par-
ents of three children, of whom two are living : Mary, who is the
wife of Albert J. Mitchell of St. Louis, Missouri; and Fred B., who
is individually mentioned on other pages of this work. Mrs. Shoaff
still resides in Fort Wayne, where she was born and reared and
where she has ever made her home. To her kindly offices we are
indebted for the data from which this memoir of her honored father
is prepared.
All who remember James Barnett seem to unite in appraising him
as a man of many sterling qualities. He is described as exceedingly
simple and frugal in his personal habits, yet generous to an unusual
degree toward others ; as fiery-tempered, yet of strong self-control ;
honest and just, and of great physical strength and courage. It is
said that he was known far and wide among the Indians for his
great strength and his swiftness as a runner. Owing to the hard-
ships and exposures of his early life, which were too great for even
his naturally robust constitution to withstand, he lost his health at
a comparatively early age, and, after a lingering illness of about
twelve years' duration, he passed to his reward.
i8o THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
As to the estimation in which James Barnett was held by his
contemporaries, the following editorial, which appeared in the Fort
Wayne Weekly Times of June 19, 1851, speaks for itself:
"We last week performed the melancholy duty of announcing
the decease of this venerable and highly respected citizen, and we had
reason to believe that some of his numerous friends who are ac-
quainted with his early history and subsequent career would, in time
for today's paper, prepare a suitable obituary. In this expectation
we have been disappointed, but we can not let the occasion pass
without testifying, however briefly and imperfectly, our respect for
his memory. Strange as it may seem, we have been unable to ascer-
tain with certainty his precise age or the place of his nativity, but
from the imperfect items we have been able to gather we believe his
age to have been about sixty-five years, and that he was born in Ken-
tucky. He was a hardy, efficient frontiersman of remarkable prowess
and brave as Caesar. At a very early age he was employed with his
father in packing provisions from the 'settlements,' as Cincinnati and
Dayton were then called, to the army in this region, and we have
been informed that when a very small boy, as early as Wayne's cam-
paign, he was at this place with his father. His peculiar personal
qualifications, his great sagacity and his experience rendered him a
most valuable assistant as messenger and bearer of dispatches be-
tween difficult and almost inaccessible posts and places during the
war of 18 1 2. Wherever there were difficulties to overcome or
dangers to be encountered in that line, on all this western frontier,
there was James Barnett.
"He settled permanently at this place, as nearly as we can learn,
about 18 18, since which time he has constantly resided here and
been intimately identified with the interests of the place, in its progress
from a mere trading post, when the country for hundreds of miles
in every direction was an unbroken wilderness, to its present pros-
perous and flourishing condition. He erected the first brick building
that went up in this town, — the two-story house yet standing on the
north side of Columbia street and first door east of the Times building.
He served for many years as justice of the peace. We have been
told, and that no doubt, that he brought more money here than any
other of the old class of settlers, and it is believed that but few of
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. i8i
the new ones brought as much, and with his abundant means at that
day, if he had been avaricious and grasping, he might have amassed
an immense fortune. But he was nothing of the kind, — his hand was
ahvays 'open as the day' to the needy and suffering. His capital was
always employed, but more frequently for the benefit of others than
himself. It was a 'placer' from which the foundation of several
splendid fortunes were dug. He was emphatically the poor man's
friend, and we doubt if ever a person approached him needing assist-
ance and was turned away empty. Honest and confiding to an
eminent degree himself, he was wont to confide too much in others,
and frequently suffered by becoming involved in their liabilities.
Still, it is supposed he has left a handsome competency for those near
and dear to him whom he has left behind."
Such was James Bamett, — a noble, honorable, generous, open-
hearted man, and, as was said at his funeral, "the noblest work of
God, an honest man." Owing to early hardships and exposures his
constitution had been shattered, and for the last three or four years
of his life he was quite feeble, being finally called from his earthly
habitation to dwell in the home "not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens." His funeral was attended by a large concourse of citizens
and by the Masonic fraternity in full regalia. His loss was felt as a
personal bereavement by the citizens in general, and in these later
years, seeing his life in strong perspective, we can well understand the
high regard in which he was held in the community which was so
long his home and the scene of his earnest and effective labors.
i82 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
FREDERICK C. W. KLAEHN.
At this point we enter brief record concerning one of the leading
farmers and most progressive and public-spirited citizens of Aboit
township, where he has resided from his boyhood days, while the
esteem in which he is held in the community is indicated in the fact
that he is at the present time incumbent of the responsible office of
township trustee.
Mr. Klaehn was bom in Prussia, Germany, on the 22d of May,
i860, and is a son of Frederick and Maria Klaehn, who emigrated
thence to the United States in 1869, coming to Fort Wayne soon after
their arrival in the new world. The father first secured employment
here in picking apples for Charles McCullough, but this work was in-
terrupted by an extraordinary snowfall in October, the trees being
broken down by the combined weight of fruit and snow. During the
first winter he was employed in connection with the grading of the line
of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad northward from Fort Wayne,
arid in the spring of 1870 he located on the old Bash farm, in Aboit
township. Nine years later he effected the purchase of the present
homestead farm, which is located in the same township, on the Illi-
nois road, and five and one-half miles west of the city of Fort Wayne.
He originally purchased eighty acres, for a consideration of three
thousand dollars, the place having been comparatively well improved.
Later he added an adjoining tract of one hundred and twenty acres,
and here he developed one of the fine farms of the county, being
a man of industry, integrity and good business ability, so that he was
very successful in his efforts and also held as his own the confidence
and esteem of those who knew him. He died on the 3d of Januar}^
1898, at the age of sixty-two years. His widow still resides on the
old homestead, in which she takes a lively interest, being still alert
and ambitious and keeping house for herself in a portion of the com-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 183
modious residence, while she also finds much satisfaction in keeping
her own cows, chickens, etc. Her friends are in number as her ac-
quaintances, and she is finding the evening of her life one of gracious
and pleasing order. The subject is the only child.
Frederick C. W. Klaehn was about nine years of age at the time of
his parents' immigration to America, and he had received his ele-
mentary education in the excellent schools of his native land, while he
later duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools of
Allen county, and for two winters attended a good business college.
He early began to render effective aid in the work and management
of the home farm, of which he has had entire charge since the death
of his father, being the only heir of his parents. He had previously
purchased a good farm in the vicinity of the old homestead, and he
has since added until his landed estate comprises three hundred and
forty acres of as fine land as can be found in this favored section of
the state. He has made excellent improvements on the farm, hav-
ing rebuilt the house, which is modern and attractive in design and
equipment, while he has also erected a fine bank bam and kept all
other buildings in the best of repair, so that thrift and prosperity are
to be noted by innumerable evidences. He is progressive in his ideas
and utilized the means and methods which will bring the maximum
returns, but he is not a follower of fads or one who wastes his time
and energy in fruitless experimentation. He is a type of the sturdy
and broad-minded yeomanry who constitute the bulwarks of our gov-
ernment and our prosperity.
In his political allegiance Mr. Klaehn is arrayed with the Re-
publican party, and he takes a lively interest in public affairs of a
local nature, while this interest is manifested in tangible aid and co-
operation when worthy objects are to be promoted. In November,
1904, he was elected trustee of Aboit township, assuming the duties
of his office in January following. He is specially concerned in the
educational matters in his jurisdiction. Aboit township has eight
school houses and an equal number of teachers, while the enrollment
of pupils at the time of this writing is three hundred and sixteen.
The township has no high school, but sends each year a due quota to
the Fort Wayne high school. It is the wish of Mr. Klaehn that all
teachers employed be residents of the township in case qualifications
i84 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
are the same, as he feels that this preference is but due, and that local
interest will be the greater. He is making an earnest effort to compass
the desired result. The school buildings are all substantial brick
structures, comparing more than favorably with the best in the county,
and the accessories and equipments are of modern standard. The
employment of duly qualified home teachers is the one desideratum
which most challenges the efforts of our subject. Mr. Klaehn is one
of the leaders of his party in Aboit township, and has frequently
served as delegate to county and congressional conventions, while he
has also been township assessor. Religiously, he belongs to the Evan-
gelical Lutheran church.
On the 30th of December, 1886, Mr. Klaehn was united in mar-
riage to Miss Elizabeth E. Kauder, who was born in Germany, and
who was five years of age at the time of her parents' immigration to
America. She is a daughter of Valentine and Elizabeth Kauder, well
known pioneers of Lake township. Mr. and Mrs. Klaehn have six
children, namely: Elizabeth E. M., WilHam F., Carl L. W., Elma
M. D., Bertha S. C. and Flora A. E.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 185
H. F. WILLIAM BERNING.
The subject of this sketch is the present able and popular incum-
bent of the office of trustee of Madison township, Allen county, and
he has the further distinction in the connection of having been the
first Republican to be elected to this position in the township within
a period of forty years. He has been a resident of Allen county since
1901, and is one of the progressive farmers and representative citizens
of the township mentioned. He is the owner of a weU improved lot
of a half acre, in section 19, and he has gained a strong hold upon
the confidence and regard of the community, as is evident from the
official preferment which has come to him.
Mr, Berning is a native of the old Hoosier commonwealth, and a
representative of one of its honored pioneer families. He was bom on
a farm in Adams county, Indiana, on the 7th of November, 1865, and
is a son of Henry and Louisa (Ahrens) Berning, of whose eight chil-
dren all are living. Both parents were born in Germany, but came
to America with their respective families when young, and the father
of our subject settled in Adams county, Indiana, in an early day, and
became one of the prosperous farmers and substantial and honored
citizens of that section. Both he and his wife are now living in Ad-
ams county. The subject of this review was reared to the sturdy dis^
cipline of the farm, and his early educational advantages were those
aflForded in the excellent public schools of his native county. He con-
tinued to be associated in the work and management of the home farm
until 1885, when he initiated his independent career by engaging in
farming and tilemaking in said county, where he continued operations
up to the time of his removal to Allen county, in 190 1. He is one of
the stalwart Republicans of Madison township, and takes an active
part in the party work here, while in 1904 he was made the candidate
i86 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
of his party for the office of trustee, to which he was elected by a
gratifying majority, for a term of four years. He is proving the right
man in the right place, and his services can not fail to redound to the
good of the township which he thus represents. Both he and his wife
are valued members of the German Lutheran church.
On the 7th of November, 1889, Mr. Beming was imited in mar-
riage to Miss Caroline Wistfeldt, who was bom and reared in Adams
county, this state, being a daughter of Frederick and Louisa (Netcher)
Wistfeldt, who were born in Germany, the father becoming one of
the substantial farmers of Adams county. Mrs. Berning was sum-
moned into eternal rest on the 9th of December, 1897, ^"^ is survived
by one child, Caroline. On the 13th of May, 1894, Mr. Berning
wedded Miss Louisa Witte, who was bom in Adams county, being a
daughter of William and Dora T. Witte, natives of Germany. Four
children have been born of this union, Rudolph, Edwin, Oscar and
Albert.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 187
HERMAN L. LOMONT.
The subject of this review is a native of Allen county and has here
maintained his home from the time of his birth to the present, while he
is one of the popular young business men of Monroeville, where he is
senior member of the firm of Lomont & Reynolds, dealers in fine
wines, liquors and cigars. He has been identified with business
affairs in this part of the country for several years past, and by his
reliability and honorable methods has gained popular confidence.
Herman L. Lomont was born on the homestead farm, in Jeffer-
son township, Allen county, Indiana, on the 15th of February, 1872,
and is a son of Francis and Cecilia (Peters) Lomont. both of whom
were born and reared in France, while both came to America in 1850,
While their marriage was solemnized in the following year. Soon
afterward they located on a farm in Allen county, and here the father
became a prosperous and highly respected citizen, continuing to be
identified with agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred
in September, 1891, while his devoted wife survived him by several
years, being summoned to tlie life eternal in December, 1902. They
became the parents of ten children, of whom five are living, and the
subject of this sketch was the ninth in order of birth. Herman L.
Lomont passd his boyhood days on the home farm, and he early be-
came familiar with the duties involved in its cultivation, while his
educational discipline was secured in the public schools of his native
township. After leaving school he continued to assist in the work and
management of the home farm until he had attained to the age of nine-
teen years, when he entered upon an apprenticeship at the carpenter's
trade, becoming a skilled artisan in the line and continuing to devote
his attention to the trade for a period of thirteen years. He then pur-
chased a half interest in the business in which he is now engaged,
i88 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
and he and his partner conduct a well regulated establishment and
secure the best class of trade in their line of enterprise. Mr. Lomont
takes a loyal interest in local affairs of a public nature, and while he
has never been an aspirant for official preferment, he has accorded a
stanch allegiance to the Democratic party, in whose cause he has been
an active worker.
On the 3d of February, 1891, Mr. Lomont was united in marriage
to Miss Sarah A. Rose, who was bom in Jefferson township, this
county, on the 4th of March, 1872, being a daughter of Morris and
Elizabeth (Snyder) Rose, well known and honored residents of this
part of the county, where her father has long been engaged in farm-
ing. Mr. and Mrs. Lomont have three children, Lottie Pearl, Harry
M. and Morris L.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 189
FRANK J. KICK.
America is essentially a cosmopolitan nation, having drawn from
the four comers of the earth in making up her social fabric, while to
her hospitable shores have come men of sterling character and deter-
mined spirit, who have worked their own way to positions of inde-
pendence, becoming valuable citizens and standing loyal to the insti-
tutions of the great republic. Such an one is the subject of this re-
view, who is one of the prosperous farmers and honored citizens of
Jackson township.
Frank Joseph Kick was born in the picturesque old city of Utrecht,
Holland, on the i6th of November, 1828, and is a son of Frederick
and Wilhelmina (Kohne) Eick, both of whom were bom and reared in
Reklinhausen, Westphalia, Germany, said province at that time hav-
ing been an integral portion of Prussia. After their marriage tliey
removed to Utrecht, Holland, in which city the father of our subject
was employed as foreman in a cabinet shop, having been a skilled ar-
tisan in his line. Shortly after locating there, however, war broke
out between Holland and Belgium, and the Holland government gave
orders to foreigners to either take up arms in defense of the country
or else leave said country. The mother of our subject urged thit
the family return to Germany, and this course was followed, Frank
J. being at the time but two years old. The little family had hardly
crossed the line between Holland and Germany before peace was de-
clared, and it was a source of frequent regret to Frederick Eick that
he did not remain in Holland and cast in his lot there. He returned
to his old home in Westphalia, where seven sons and two daughters
were added to the family circle, our subject having been the eldest
of the children and the only one bom in Holland. Three of the chil-
dren died in Germany. Frank J. came to America in 185 1, and the
parents, in company with their four other sons and one daughter,
I90 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
joined him here in 1855. The parents passed the remainder of their
lives in the state of Ohio, and of the children three, two boys and one
girl, are living at the present time.
The subject of this review secured his early educational training in
the excellent schools of his native land, and at the age of fifteen years
he began an apprenticeship at the cabinet maker's trade in his father's
shop. After completing his apprenticeship he traveled about as a
journeyman at his trade, and at the age of nineteen years he became
a member of the Seventh Pioneer Corps, a well known military or-
ganization. In 185 1, at the age of twenty-three years, Mr. Eick came
to the United States, believing that better opportunities were here
afforded for the attaining of independence through personal effort.
He settled in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he secured employ-
ment in the line! of his trade. In 1855 he was there married to Mrs.
(Huntelmus) Kuhne, and they became the parents of four children,
of whom Frederick, the eldest, died at the age of two years and five
months; Frank is a resident of Fort Wayne and has served for the
past eight years as head deputy sheriff of his county. The two other
children were girls, who died in early childhood, while the wife and
mother passed to the life eternal in 1864. In January, 1865, Mr.
Eick married Mrs. , whose maiden name was Winkler, and
of this union have been born nine children, two sons and seven daugh-
ters. Only two of the children are living, Sophia, who is the wife
of Barney Papenbrock, and Alvina, who is the wife of Peter Ross-
wurm.
Mr. Eick removed from Cincinnati to Allen county, Indiana, in
April, 1881, and purchased his present fine farm, in Jackson township,
the same comprising forty acres. The land was practically unreclaimed
from the forest when he purchased the same, and he has developed it
into one of the fertile and profitable farms of the township, while he
has made good improvements in the way of buildings. He and his
devoted wife have a pleasant home and are enjoying the due rewards,
of their former labors. Both are communicants of the Catholic
church, and in politics Mr. Eick is a stalwart Democrat of the Jack-
sonian type. He came to this country at the time when the Know-
nothing party was in power to a considerable degree, and at that
time he was led to espouse the cause of the Democracy, of whose prin-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 191
ciples and policies he has ever since remained an advocate, while his
loyalty to the country of his adoption is of the most appreciative and
insistent type. His political affiliation was determined when, on April
4, 1854, at Louisville, Kentucky, he viewed the riots, in which a large
three-story tenement house was destroyed, he being stationed at a fine
vantage point in the cathedral. He is a man of fine mental gifts, and
his life has been one of rectitude and honor, so that he has held the
esteem of his fellow men in all places and under all conditions. He is
one of the valued citizens of Jackson township, and is well entitled to
representation in the pages of this work.
192 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WILLIAM A. HAMILTON.
More than seventy years have elapsed since the parents of the sub-
ject of this review took up their abode in the midst of the virgin
forests of Aboit township, where he has passed his entire hfe, and
where he now has a finely improved farm, in section 17. He is to be
thus considered as one of the pioneer citizens of the county and a rep-
resentative of one of its old and honored families, so that the pro-
priety of according him a place of due distinction in this compilation
is manifest.
Mr. Hamilton was born on the pioneer farmstead in Aboit town-
ship, this county, on the ist of December, 1835, and there is no doubt
that in the diminutive but cheerful little log cabin home his advent
caused rejoicing that chill winter day. He is a son of William and
Joannah ( VanHoozen) Hamilton, both of whom were bom and reared
in the vicinity of the city of Syracuse, New York, while both repre-
sented families long identified with the annals of American history,
the ancestry in the paternal line being traced to the Scotch deriva-
tion, and that in the maternal line to the sturdy Holland Dutch stock.
The parents of our subject set out for what M^as then considered the
far west, the state of Indiana, in the year 1834, making the trip by
way of the Erie canal and Lake Erie to Toledo and coming up the
Maumee river in a pirogue, or dugout canoe, propelled by poles. Mr.
Hamilton had previously filed entry on a tract of government land in
section 17, Aboit township, adjoining the present farm of his son
William, subject of this sketch, and he came to his destination by
driving through the woods to his new farm, which was covered
with a heavy growth of timber, while no roads had as yet been con-
structed. He erected a log cabin of the type common to the locality
and period, the same having a clapboard and pole roof and puncheon
floor, all the fittings of the home being made by hand. Indians and
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 193
wild animals still roamed through the dim forest aisles and in the
vicinity of the new home of the sturdy pioneers were to be found but
two neighbors, each residing a number of miles distant. Mr. Ham-
ilton set to himself the task of reclaiming his land, burning fine tim-
ber that would have been of great market value today, and looking
upon the same as an incubus rather than a benefit. He effected the
clearing of one hundred acres and developed a good farm, while he
added to his holdings in the township until he had four hundred acres.
He continued to occupy a log cabin for twenty years, and then, about
1852, erected a frame house. The building is still standing, and is on
the farm now owned by George Brinsley, of Fort Wayne. William
Hamilton continued to reside on his homestead during the remainder
6i his life, doing his part in forwarding the development and progress
of the country and having the unalloyed respect and confidence of
those who knew him. He was summoned to his reward in 1875, at
the age of sixty-three years, while his loved and devoted wife, who
had been his companion and helpmeet for forty-two years, preceded
him into eternal rest by only one week, so that "in death they were
not divided." He was a Whig in politics until the organization of
the Republican party, when he identified himself with the latter, whose
cause he ever afterward supported. He served as township trustee
several years, and was also called upon to serve in other local offices.
Of the six children three attained to maturity, namely : Mary, who
is the wife of A. M. Darolins, of Morocco, Newton county, this state ;
Jane Agnes, who is the wife of A. M. Daro, of Montpelier, this state,
and William A., who is the immediate subject of this sketch.
William A. Hamilton was reared on the old homestead farm and
early became inured to the work connected with its development and
cultivation. At the age of twenty-one years he was married, and
thereafter continued to be associated with his father for seven years.
His father then gave him eighty acres of land, nearly all of which
was unreclaimed, and he still retains this place, while he has added
to his estate until it now comprises two hundred acres of as fine land
as is to be found in this part of the county. He cleared eighty acres
of his own land and also assisted in the reclamation of much of his
father's land. His original residence was a log house, the logs being
hewed, and his present commodious frame residence was erected
13
194 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
about twenty-two years ago, while eight years since he built a fine
barn, forty by one hundred feet in dimensions. The bam which had
previously stood on the same site was destroyed by fire, entailing a
loss of fifteen hundred dollars, aside from insurance, as the building
was well filled with grain, machinery, implements, etc. Mr. Ham-
ilton is recognized as one of the substantial farmers and loyal citizens
of his native county, where it is his just desert *ind good fortune to
command the uniform esteem of the community. Though never ac-
tive in political affairs, he is a stanch supporter of the principles of
the Democratic party.
In the year 1856 Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage to Miss
Barbara Scott, daughter of John and Nancy (Kite) Scott, early set-
tlers of Aboit township. Detailed mention is made of these sterling
pioneers in the sketch of the life of their son William, appearing on
other pages of this work, so that it is not necessary to re-enter the
data at this point. We enter the following brief record concerning
the ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton : John Archibald,
of Fort Wayne; Anna is the wife of Charles Crawford, of Hutchin-
son, Kansas ; George is engaged in farming near Pratt, Kansas ; Alice
is the wife of John Kelsey, a farmer of Oklahoma; Frank and Wilson
remain at the parental home ; Lillian is the wife of Lewis Shannon,
,of Hutchinson, Kansas; Henry maintains his home in Fort Wayne,
and is a locomotive engineer in the employ of the Pittsburg, Fort
Wayne & Chicago Railroad; Hugh died December 7, 1900, at the
age of twenty-three years, having met his death as the result of an
accident, shooting himself while participating in a rifle contest ; James
died at the age of twenty-three years, on the 31st of December, 1903,
of consumption. He served two years in the Philippines, having been
a member of one of the early regiments sent there ; Hugh also enlisted
for service at the time of the Spanish- American war, and was in
camp with his command, but was never called into active service.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 195
WILLIAM SCOTT.
The honored father of this representative farmer of Aboit town-
ship was one of the early settlers of said township, where he lived up
to the full tension of pioneer life and contributed his quota to the
founding and upbuilding of the substantial civic and industrial pros-
perity which now indicates this favored section of the old Hoosier
state. The subject of this review resides on a portion of the old home-
stead farm, and this has been his home from the time of his birth to
the present, while he is one of the successful and influential farmers
and citizens of his township.
Mr. Scott was bom on the farm on a portion of which he now
lives, on the 31st of July, 1846, the old homestead lying seven miles
west of the court house, in the city of Fort Wayne. He is a son of
John and Nancy (Kite) Scott, the former of whom was born in Penn-
sylvania, and the latter in Virgina, while their marriage was solem-
nized near Newark, Ohio, whither the respective families removed
when Mr. and Mrs. Scott were children. The mother of John Scott
died when he was a child, and he and his sister were thereafter reared
in the home of a relative, on whose farm he continued to be em-
ployed until he had attained to the age of thirty-one years — this being
three years after his marriage. In 1839 he came with his wife from
O'hio to Allen county, Indiana, driving through to Logansport with
team and wagon and remaining there for a time before coming to
Allen county, in the same year. ^Here he continued his residence
nearly five years before buying land. He was accompanied to the
county by his brother-in-law. Archibald Kite, who was then a bache-
lor, and the last twenty-five years of Mr. Kite's life were passed in the
home of Mr. Scott, with whom he had been so closely associated in
the pioneer days. Mr. Kite lived to attain the patriarchal
age of ninety-three years, and was undoubtedly the oldest
196 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
man in Allen county at the time of his death, in May,
1903. Upon coming to this county Messrs. Scott and Kite
rented a little log cabin near the old canal, said struc-
ture having been erected as a horse stable, and having no floor, while
the door was screened only by a quilt, which was slight protection
against prowling Indians or wolves or other wild animals. Mr. Scott
secured employment cutting wood, while he also worked for the Rock-
hill brothers, on their farm, while he found a source of revenue in
hunting wild game, including deer, bear, turkeys, etc., Avhile he often
exchanged saddles of venison for needed groceries. Five years after
his arrival in the county Mr. Scott purchased eight}^ acres of canal
land, in Aboit township, the entire tract being covered with a heavy-
growth of native timber. He paid one dollar and a quarter an acre
for the land, and his was the first clearing made in the neighborhood,
save for that previously made by James M. Cartright, a bachelor,
who had made a small clearing and erected a little cabin on an adjoin-
ing piece of land. In 1844 Mr. Scott began the work of reclaiming
his farm to cultivation, and on the place he erected a substantial cabin
of hewed logs, the domicile having only one room and being twenty
by twenty-four feet in dimensions. The building was equipped with
a clapboard roof, a sawed ash floor and a brick chimney, and was
thus one of the best houses in the locality, its superiority being due to
the fact that Mr. Scott had no little facility in the use of tools and
could thus supplement the attractions of his necessarily primitive
home. Within the period of the Civil war he made an addition to the
house, and in 1871 another addition was made, making the residence
one of spacious order. In this old homestead he continued to reside
during the remainder of his life, and in the same his two maiden
daughters, Amelia and Nancy, now have their home. Mr. Scott was
prospered in his efforts and soon added an adjoining eighty acres to
his farm, while later he purchased the eighty acres now owned and
occupied by his son William, subject of this sketch, the consideration
being thirty-five hundred dollars. He continued to add to his landed
estate until he had four hundred and twent}'" acres, all in one body,
save for one tract of eighty acres. He cleared about eighty-five acres
and made a valuable farm, making improvements of substantial or-
der, including the erection of the present barns, about 1858. Mr.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 197
Kite, in the meanwhile, returned to Ohio, where he remained until
well advanced in years, when he came again to Allen county, where
he passed the remainder of his life, as has already been intimated.
Mr. Scott was successful in his farming- operations, and also devoted
no little attention to the raising of live stock. His integrity was a
dominating characteristic of his nature, and his word was as good as
any bond that was ever executed. He held the high esteem of all
who knew him, and was a prominent figure in local affairs, having
held various offices of trust, including that of township trustee. He
was a Democrat in his political proclivities. He died in September,
1894, in his eighty-fifth year, and his wife was of the same age at the
time of her death, two years previously, having been his senior by
two years. Of the nine children, eight attained years of maturity
and survived the parents, while since that time one son, George A.,
a bachelor, has passed away, being fifty-seven years of age at the time
of his death. Of the seven surviving children we record that Bar-
bara is the wife of William A. Hamilton, of Aboit township, who is
individually mentioned in this work ; Susanna is the wife of David
Grove, a farmer of the same township ; Sarah is the wife of Hamilton
MoflFatt, of the same township; Matilda is the wife of Harry Snyder,
of this township; William is the immediate subject of this sketch,
and Amelia and Nancy reside in the old homestead. The father con-
tinued to hold his property in his own name until death, when he
made a proper division by will.
William Scott was reared on the old home farm and received a
gX)od common-school education, while he continued to reside in the
parental home until the time of his marriage, on the 14th of Novem-
ber, 1872, to Miss Sarah E. Stouder, who was born in Fairfield
county, Ohio, in 1850, being a daughter of Simeon W. and Ann (Gil-
more) Stouder, who came to Allen county in 1854 and settled in
Aboit township, where Mr. Stouder secured one hundred and twenty
acres of canal land, which he reclaimed and otherwise improved. He
died in his seventy-first year, and his first wife died at the age of
forty-seven. He later married Matilda Todd, who survived him
by several years. Mr. Scott is a Democrat in politics.
198 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JONATHAN HART.
When it is stated in a preliminary way that the subject of this re-
view has been a resident of Allen county for more than half a century
amd that he came here with his parents when a lad of twelve years,
it becomes evident that we have to treat incidentally with a repre-
sentative of one of the pioneer families of this favored section of the
Hoosier state, while in an individual sense we may refer to Mr. Hart
as being one of the prominent farmers and influential citizens of Mon-
roe township, where he is the owner of one of the finest rural estates
in this section of the county.
Mr. Hart claims the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity.
having been bom in Ashland county, Ohio, on the 17th of April, 1837.
and being a son of George and Sarah Hart, both of whom were na-
tives of the state of Pennsylvania and of German lineage.
the respective families having been founded in the Key-
stone commonwealth in the colonial epoch of our national
history. The parents became pioneers of Ashland county, Ohio,
where they remained until 1849, i^ April of which year they arrived
in Allen county, Indiana, where they passed the remainder of their
lives. The father secured a considerable tract of heavily timbered land
in Monroe township, reclaiming much of the same to cultivation and
becoming one of the well known and highly honored citizens of this
part of the county, where he lived and labored to goodly ends until he
was summoned from the scene of life's endeavors. He was a stanch
Democrat in his political proclivities, and both he and his wife were
zealous and consistent members of the Lutheran church. They be-
came the parents of ten children, of whom five are living at the time
of this writing, in 1905.
Jonathan Hart, to whom this sketch is dedicated, retains a vivid
recollection of the conditions which were in evidence here in the pio-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 199
neer days, and he early began to contribute his quota to the reclaim-
ing and cultivating of the homestead farm, waxing strong in mind
and body under the sturdy discipline involved, while he attended the
common schools of the locality as opportunity afforded, his rudimen-
tary education having been secured in Ohio, where he was reared to
the age of twelve years, as previously intimated in this context. He
has never wavered in his allegiance to the noble art of husbandry, and
has been one of those whose efforts have demonstrated that agricul-
tural operations constitute a most desirable field of endeavor when
directed with energy and the same care and discrimination demanded
in other lines of business. He has been successful and has developed
one of the finest farm properties in Monroe township, having re-
claimed much of the land from the forest and having made the best
of permanent improvements. His fine estate is located in section 16
and comprises eighty acres, the greater portion being maintained
under a high state of cultivation, while the owner also devotes no
little attention to the raising of high grade live stock. In all the
relations of life he has ever been sincere, straightforward and hon-
orable, and the result in a concomitant way has been his retention
of the unequivocal confidence and esteem of his fellow men, while
he has not hedged himself in with his individual affairs, but has
been progressive and public spirited in his attitude as a citizen, talc-
ing deep interest in all that pertains to the progress and material
and civic prosperity of his home township and county, and being
one of the highly esteemed pioneer citizens of this section. In poli-
tics Mr. Hart has ever rendered a stalwart allegiance to the Demo-
cratic party, in whose cause he has been an active worker in a loyai
way, though never a seeker of official preferment. He was reared in
the faith of the Lutheran church, with whose doctrines his views are
in harmony, while in a fraternal way we find him identified with
the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
On the 2ist of February, 1861, Mr. Hart was united in mar-
riage to Miss Sarah W. Hines, whose parents, D. H. and
Sarah Hines, were born in Loudoun county, Virginia, while they
were numbered among the sterling pioneers of Adams county, Indi-
ana, where the closing years of their lives were passed. Concern-
ing the children of Jonathan and Sarah W. Hart, we record that
200 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Oliver T. was born January 20, 1862; Wayne M., March 28, 1864;
Jennety, November 15, 1866, and William C, May 15, 1870. All
are living except the last mentioned, who died on the 5th of Decem-
ber, 1870, aged about seven months. The devoted wife and mother
was summoned into eternal rest on the 8th of December, 1897, at
the age of sixty years, ten months and seven days. On the 7th of
March, 1901, the subject consummated a second marriage, being
then united to Mrs. Virginia E. Yerian, who was bom in Adams
county, Indiana, on the loth of August, 1844, being a sister of Mr.
Hart's first wife. The attractive family home is a center of gracious
hospitality, and the members of the family are prominent in the
social life of the community.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 201
MORRIS F. ROSE.
Allen country contributed to the federal armies many a brave
and valiant soldier during the war of the Rebellion, and among the
surviving veterans of that great conflict which determined the integ-
rity of the Union, stands the subject of this review, who was loyal
to his country in her hour of peril and extremity, and who has ever
since been her stanch supporter in the "piping times of peace." The
ranks of that noble organization are fast being decimated by the one
invincible foe, death, and it is fitting that in every publication of this
nature special tribute be paid to those men who served with all of
fidelity in defense of the Union during the greatest civil war known
in the annals of history. Mr. Rose was born in a far distant land,
but has resided in the United States from his childhood days, while
the family was established in Allen county more than a half cen-
tury ago, so that he may well be mentioned as a representative of
pioneer stock in this favored section of the old Hoosier state. He
was long numbered among the progressive farmers and influential
citizens of Jefferson township, where he has passed the major por-
tion of his life, and he is now living practically retired in the vil-
lage of Monroeville, where he has an attractive residence, and
where he is held in the highest confidence and esteem by all who
know him.
Morris F. Rose was born in one of the French-speaking prov-
inces of the fair little republic of Switzerland, on the 22d of March,
1842, and is a son of Morris and Anna (Lynn) Rose, both native
of the same section of Switzerland, and both of whom spoke the
French language as their vernacular. The father was engaged in
farming in his native land until 1850, when he sold his holdings
there and emigrated with his family to America. In that year he
made location in Stark county, Ohio, where many of French birth
202 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
or extraction had colonized, and there he purchased land and
engaged in farming, but in 1852 he sold his property and came to
Allen county, Indiana, where he passed the remainder of his long
and useful life. He became the owner of a good farm in Jefferson
township, reclaiming much of the land from the virgin forest, and
being one of the honored and substantial pioneers of this section at
the time of his death, which occurred on the 25th of August, 1888,
while his cherished and devoted wife soon joined him in the "land
of the leal," her death having occurred on the 25th of the follow-
ing November. They became the parents of five children, of whom
two are living at the time of this writing. The parents were zealous
and consistent members of the Catholic church, and in his political
proclivities the father was a stanch Republican, having identified him-
self with the "grand old party" at the time of its organization. He
was a man of broad mental ken and marked individuality, was loyal
and public spirited as a citizen and commanded unqualified confi-
dence and regard in the community which was so long his home and
the scene of his well directed endeavors.
Morris F. Rose, the immediate subject of this sketch, was a lad
.of about ten years at the time of the family's removal from Ohio to
Allen county, and in the years immediately following his portion
was one of much work and close application, in connection with the
development and cultivation of the home farm, while his educational
advantages were of limited order, owing to the exigencies of time
and place. He stated to the writer that he secured his early educa-
tional training in the Sunday school which he attended after coming
to Allen county, learning to read under the discipline there secured,
while he never attended the common schools to any appreciable
extent. He learned to write after entering the army, receiving
instructions from kind-hearted comrades, who thus aided him in
communicating with his home folk. His alert mentality has enabled
him to make good the handicap of his youth, and he has profited
fully by the valuable lessons gained in the school of experience, being
a man of wide information and one who has kept in touch with the
questions and issues of the day, while he soon developed that marked
business acumen which has conserved his success in connection with
the practical affairs of life.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDL4NA. 203
On the loth of August, 1862, at New Haven, this county, Mr.
Rose enlisted as a private in Company D, Eighty-eighth Indiana
Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front, his com-
mand being assigned to the First Brigade, First Division of the
Fourteenth Army Corps. He participated in a number of the
important engagements of the great internecine conflict, and was
ever found at the post of duty as a faithful and loyal soldier of the
republic whose unity he thus aided in preserving. Among the more
notable battles in which he took part may be mentioned the follow-
ing: Perryville, Kentucky; Stone River, Chickamauga, Lookout
Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Tennessee; Buzzard Roost, Georgia,
and the ever memorable Atlanta campaign, under General Sher-
man, and the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, following hard
upon the celebrated "march to the sea." At Tullahoma, Tennessee,
Mr. Rose was promoted to the office of sergeant of his company,
and he served as such until the close of the war. In December, 1863,
after the battle of Chickamauga, he received a furlough of ninety
days, which he passed at home, and he rejoined his command at
Chickamauga, on the 30th of January, 1864, and thereafter remained
in active service until victory had crowned the Union arms. He was
with Sherman's forces on the march through the Carolinas to Rich-
mond, and thence to the national capital, where he took part in the
Grand Review, and he received his honorable discharge in June,
1865, being twenty-three years of age at the time.
After the close of his military career Mr. Rose returned to Allen
county, where he has resided ever since, and where he has been
actively identified with agricultural pursuits during the major por-
tion of the intervening period. He became the owner of a fine
farm of eighty acres, in section 27, Jefferson township, making the
best of improvements on the place and conducting his operations with
distinctive energy and discrimination, so that he gained a position
among the substantial members of the farming community, and
wielded no little influence in public affairs of a local nature, while
to him has ever been accorded the implicit confidence and regard of
the people of the county in which he has made his home for more
than half a century. On the 25th of January, 1904, Mr. Rose pur-
chased a nice residence property in the attractive village of Monroe-
•204 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
ville, where he now resides essentially retired, though he still main-
tains a general supervision of his farming interests. In politics our
subject is found arrayed as an uncompromising advocate of the prin-
ciples and policies of the Republican party, having cast his first presi-
dential vote for the martyred Lincoln, and in a fraternal way he is
identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with Wil-
liam H. Link Post, No. 301, Grand Army of the Republic, in Mon-
roeville, being one of the popular comrades of his post, of which he
is commander at the time of this writing. His religious affiliation
is with the Methodist church.
Mr. Rose has been twice married. On the loth of August, 1865,
he wedded Miss Elizabeth Snyder, who was bom in Stark county,
Ohio, on the 15th of July, 1845, being a daughter of James and
Susan (Lynn) Snyder, who were of Pennsylvania German stock
and who were early settlers in Allen county, where they passed the
closing years of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Rose became the parents
of ten children, namely : Lucy, Ada, James, Sarah A., Susan M.,
William M., Maud A., Amy, Grace B. and Maggie. Mrs. Rose was
summoned into eternal rest on the 17th of November, 1900, at the
age of fifty-six years, four months and two days. She was a
devoted wife and mother, and her gracious womanhood gained to her
the affectionate regard of all with whom she came in contact. On
the i6th of June, 1902, Mr. Rose was united in marriage to Miss
Elizabeth Chapman, who was bom in Tippecanoe county, Indiana,
on the 27th of November, 1852, being a daughter of William and
Margaret (Broyles) Chapman, both of whom are now deceased.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 205
ERNST F. W. BRANNING.
The subject of this memoir was a worthy representative of that
valued type of men whom the German fatherland has given to Amer-
ica, and through whose efforts the march of progress has been dis-
tinctively accelerated. He was one of the pioneers of Wayne town-
ship, where he settled more than half a century ago, on the farm
now owned and occupied by his son Henry E. Industry and good
management were the outward exemplification of his energies, and
truth, honor, integrity and loyalty represented the intrinsic elements
of his character, so that he naturally filled a place of usefulness and
commanded unbounded esteem in the community in which he so long
made his home, and in which he accomplished so much in a temporal
way.
The fine farmstead which remains as a monument to the labors
of our subject was a tract of wild and heavily timbered land at the
time he came into possession of the property, whose purchase he
effected in April, 1850, for what seems now the almost impossible
consideration of five hundred dollars. Fertile fields, modern build-
ings, and all the marks of an advanced civilization now are found
patent on the land where he settled in the virgin forest in the years
long past, while to him has been due the greater portion of tlie
work of transformation.
Ernst Frederick William Branning was born in Buchholz
Kreis Minden, Prussia, on the 25th of June, 1820, and he was reared
and educated in his native land, whence he immigrated to America
in 1844, in company with several other families and individuals
from the same locality, all coming to Adams county, and virtually
founding a sturdy little colony. Our subject remained for a time in
that county, and then came to Allen county to aid in the support of
his widowed sister, Mrs. Minnie Kammeier, whose husband had
2o6 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN,
recently died, and who was at the time residing in Wayne township.
Mr. Branning was a carpenter by trade, and in the pioneer commu-
nity he found ample demand for his services in this line, having erected
many of the first houses and barns in this locality. In 1850 he pur-
chased his farm, as has been noted, and here he took up his residence
in a log cabin of the primitive type, and set himself vigorously to
the task of reclaiming his land to cultivation. This old cabin long
withstood the ravages of time, continuing in use until 1904, though
numerous improvements had been made on the same. It was then
razed to make way for the present attractive modern residence,
which was erected by the present owner of the farm. On this home-
stead Mr. Branning continued to be actively engaged in general
farming and stock growing during the remainder of his active career,
and he made the forty-acre farm one of the best in the township. He
was summoned into eternal rest on the 2d of May, 1901, in the
eighty-first year of his life, while his name is held in lasting honor
in the community where he lived and labored to such goodly ends.
He was a stanch Democrat in his political proclivities, and both he
and his wife were prominent and valued members of the Lutheran
church, having been members of the parish of old St. Paul's church,
in Fort Wayne, while he assisted materially in the building of all
three of the Lutheran edifices, while his funeral was the first to be
held from the beautiful Emmanuel church, on Broadway, interment
being made in Concordia cemetery.
In St. Paul's Lutheran church. Fort Wayne, on the 24th of De-
cember, 1850, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Branning to Miss
Fredericka Wilhelmina Buchmann, who was born in Prussia, on the
8th of November, 1830, and who accompanied her parents to Amer-
ica when a girl, the family locating in Allen county. Her death
occurred about two years before that of her husband. Concerning
the three children of this union we record that Wilhelmina, the wife
of William Dammeyer, died on the 21st of February, 1883, at the
age of thirty-one years; Sophia became the wife of Henry Miller,
and after his death wedded Richard Franke, and they reside in
Wayne township, and Henry E. remains on the old home place.
Henry E. Branning was bom in the old homestead, on his pres-
ent farm, on the 2d of September, 1863, and though the residence
i
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 207
had been rebuilt and modernized, the house in which he was born
still remains an integral portion of the same, so that this has prac-
tically been his home throughout his life thus far. He duly availed
himself of the advantages of the public schools of the county, and
in his youth learned the carpenter's trade, which he has followed to
a greater or less extent, in the city of Fort Wayne. Since his
father's death he has given his attention almost entirely to the home
farm, which adjoins the city limits on the south, and he has made
the enterprise a most successful one, since he has had ample experi-
ence, having been identified witli the operation of the farm from his
youth up, while he is known and honored as one of the representa-
tive citizens of his township. In politics he holds to the faith in
which he was reared, and gives a stanch allegiance to the Democracy.
In the fall of 1904 he was the candidate of his party for the office
of township trustee, but met defeat with the party ticket in general,
this being the great landslide in which President Roosevelt was victo-
rious by such phenomenal majorities. He and his wife are members
of the Lutheran church.
On the 20th of December, 1888, Henry E. Branning was united
in marriage to Miss Emma Bahde, daughter of Ernst and Augusta
Bahde, who were early settlers in Allen county, the father having
been a carpenter by trade, and having been employed in the rail-
road shops in Fort Wayne until 1870, when he removed with his
family to Fayette county, Illinois. Her mother died June 9, 1895,
and her father died January 31, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Branning have
ten children : Henry, Anna, Ernest, Clara, Martha, William, Alma.
]\Iartin, Emma and Luella.
2o8 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
HON. WILLIAM FLEMING.
Few men of Allen county were as widely and favorably known
as the late William Fleming. He was one of the strong- and in-
fluential citizens whose lives have become an essential part of the
history of this section of the state and for years his name was
synonymous for all that constituted honorable and upright manhood.
William Fleming was a native of county Wicklow, Ireland,
having been born not far south of the capital city of Dublin, on the
17th of June, 1828, and he was the son of Luke and Sarah (Holt)
Fleming. Until the age of fourteen years he attended the national
school in his native county, and was then sent to Dublin to continue
his studies. In 1846 the family set sail for America, arriving safely
at Quebec, Canada, but while lying in quarantine in that harbor, the
father and four of the children died. The bereaved mother, with
the three surviving children, all boys, then came to Fort Wayne, In-
diana, where she passed her remaining days.
The subject of this sketch, after his arrival in Fort Wayne, first
engaged in teaching school, being also employed at other lines of
work, including stonecutting. He possessed a warm, genial nature
and soon made friends of all his acquaintances. His first official
position was that of deputy sheriff under Sheriff' McMullen, and, at
the death of that officer, he succeeded to the office, and was later, as a
Democrat, twice elected to fill this responsible position. For eight
years following the expiration of his last term as sheriff he served
as city clerk, and in 1878 was elected state treasurer. In 1880 he
was again a candidate for this office, but, with the balance of the
ticket, was defeated. He was a prominent factor in the councils of
his party and during his active political life M^as invariably a delegate
to the Democratic national conventions.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 209
As a business man Mr. Fleming had few equals in Fort Wayne
and nd superiors, being industrious, enterprising, and successful in all
he undertook. He was one of the originators of the New York,
Chicago & St. Louis Railroad and was a director of that road until
it was sold to the Vanderbilt interests. He was for a long time
editor and proprietor of the Fort Wayne Sentinel, was treasurer of
the Indiana School Book Company, president of the Salimonie Min-
ing and Gas Company, vice-president and acting president of the
First National Bank of Fort Wayne, president of the Hartford City
Paper Company, and a stockholder and director in many other busi-
ness enterprises, being actively engaged in these matters until death,
on January 13, 1890, at which time he was one of the wealthy men
of the state. Mr. Fleming was twice married. In January, 1850, he
married Miss Ann McLaughlin, who passed away August 18, 1854,
leaving two children, Luke M. and Mary E., the latter becoming the
wife of Dr. L. J. Willien, of Terre Haute, Indiana. The second
marriage of Mr. Fleming took place on July 7, 1859, when he
wedded Miss Helen F. Mayer, a daughter of George and Catherine
(Hiller) Mayer, of Germany. To the latter union were born the
following children: Catherine S., wife of Dr. Dinnen; Helen G.,
wife of A. B. Trentman; Georgie F., wife of William McKinnie; M.
Celeste ; Stephen B. ; Sister Mary Helen, of St. Mary's of the
Woods ; William ; Sadie Marie. Mr. Fleming was a true and faithful
member of the Roman Catholic church and rendered that church not
only faithful service, but substantial financial support. He possessed
many estimable qualities of character and left his impress on the city
and county of his adoption.
14
THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WILLARD O. SMITH, M. D.
Among the younger members of the medical profession in Allen
county Dr. Smith holds a representative position, being a practitioner
of the eclectic school and being amply fortified for the responsible
and exacting work of his chosen vocation. He is engaged in prac-
tice in the village of Hoagland, where he is senior member of the
firm of Smith & Morris, his coadjutor, Dr. Elmer E. Morris, being
both a physician and a dental surgeon.
Dr. Smith is a scion of one of the well known and representative
families of this county, and he was born in Hoagland on the 20th
of December, 1878, being a son of Dr. J. L. and Allie Smith, the for-
mer being now auditor of Allen county, and having devoted the
major portion of his active and independent career to the practice
of medicine. Of the family of ten children, six are living, the Doc-
tor having been the second in order of birth. Dr. Smith secured his
preliminary educational discipline in the public schools of his native
town, where he completed a high-school course, being graduated as
a member of the class of 1892. He then entered the normal school
at Marion, this state, where he remained as a student until 1897,
having in the meanwhile been successfully engaged in teaching
school for several terms and having also made a choice of vocation,
deciding to prepare himself for the medical profession and taking
up a preliminary course of reading in a private way. In 1897 he was
matriculated in the Eclectic Medical College in the city of Cincin-
nati, where he completed the prescribed technical course, and was
graduated as a member of the class of 1901 with the degree of Doc-
tor of Medicine. During intervals while attending the college he
was engaged in teaching in the schools of his native county. Imme-
diately after his graduation Dr. Smith opened an office in his native
town, where he has met with gratifying success in his work, prov-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 211
ing the inapplicability of the aphorism that a "prophet is not without
honor save in his own country." He is a close student, and is
known as a physician and surgeon of high attainments and distinc-
tive practical ability. He has been associated with Dr. Morris since
1902, and they control a representative practice in Hoagland and its
vicinage.
In politics Dr. Smith gives his allegiance to the Democratic
party, and professionally he is a member of the Indiana Eclectic
Medical Association and the Alumnal Association of the Eclectic
Medical Institute.
Dr. Smith married, in November, 1902, Miss Leah K. Shuler,
of Fort Wayne.
212 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
GEORGE W. LOUTTIT.
The true western spirit of progress and enterprise is strikingly
exemplified in the lives of such men as Mr. Louttit, men whose ener-
getic nature and laudable ambition have enabled them to conquer
many adverse circumstances and advance steadily to leading positions
in professional and business life. The subject is a worthy repre-
sentative of this class, and is now a prominent figure in the legal
circles of Allen county, having been successfully engaged in the
practice of his profession in the city of Fort Wayne since 1890.
George W. Louttit is a native of the old Buckeye state, having
first seen the light of this world at Dayton, Ohio, on the 30th day
of June, 1868. He is the son of James J. and Katharine Louttit,
the former a native of South Ronaldshay, Orkney islands, and the
mother of Germany. Early in life the subject accompanied his par-
ents on their removal to Fort Wayne, and here was given the benefit
of attendance in the public schools. This training was supplemented
by attendance at the University of Michigan, where he took a course
in the law department. He was admitted to practice in the courts
of Allen county, and in 1890 commenced the active practice of his
profession in Fort Wayne, where he has since continued, having
from the first enjoyed a liberal share of the business in his line. His
abilities were soon recognized by his fellow citizens, who honored
him by election as judge of the municipal court of the city of Fort
Wayne, he being the first incumbent of this position, and filling the
position to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of this city. In 1889
and 1901 he represented this coiinty in the lower house of the state
legislature, and there performed much efficient and valuable service
in the interest of his constituents, gaining a well earned reputation
as a hard-working and conscientious legislator. Li matters political
he has always been found aligned with the Democratic party, and
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 213
has at all times taken a deep interest in the welfare of the party in
his home county. Every movement looking to the moral, social,
educational or material advancement of Fort Wayne and Allen
county receives his hearty endorsement and earnest support.
Although a busy man in his professional lines, Mr. Louttit has
found time to devote to literary pursuits, and has won a well founded
reputation as a writer. Among the productions of his pen in the
line of fiction may be mentioned "A Maid of the Wildwood," "The
Gentleman from Jay," "A Prince of the Church," and several other
volumes which have met with a pleasing reception on the part of
the public and favorable criticism from those best qualified to judge
in such matters.
On the 26th of December, 1888, George W. Louttit was united
in marriage with Miss Gertrude Leila Britton, who was born at
Marion, Ohio, on February 16, 1870, the daughter of Nealand B.
and Anna (Severance) Britton. This union has been a most happy
and felicitous one, and has been blessed in the birth of the following
children: James Evans, Beatrice L., Marian G. and Katharine.
Clearness of vision to see, alertness of action to seize and tenacity of
purpose to hold onto and make the most of opportunity, have been
the elements which have largely contributed to his success, and
among his professional colleagues the subject is held in high esteem
because of his many estimable personal qualities.
214 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
SAMUEL WOLF.
It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led
an eminently active and busy life, and who has attained a position
of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are
allied. But biography finds its most perfect justification, neverthe-
less, in the tracing and recording of such a life history. It is, then,
with a feeling of satisfaction that the writer essays the task of
touching briefly upon such a record as has been that of the honored
subject whose life now comes under this review, Mr. Samuel Wolf,
of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Samuel Wolf is a native of Allen county, Indiana, having been
bom in the city of Fort Wayne on the 25th day of January, 1868,
and is the son of A. and Helena Wolf, natives of Germany. The
subject was educated in the public schools of this city, and remained
under the parental roof tree until attaining his majority. Thereafter
he was variously employed, serving efficiently as deputy city clerk for
two years, stamp clerk at the postoffice one and a half years and with
the Louis Wolf & Company dry goods store ten and a half years.
In 1896 Mr. Wolf formed a business association with Myron E. Des-
sauer, and they opened a dry goods and notions store at Nos. 70-72
Calhoun street, an enterprise which speedily met with public favor
and approved the judgment of the projectors. The firm has from
the beginning occupied a splendid position among the commercial
enterprises of the city, and is considered one of the leading stores
of its kind in the community. Both partners in the enterprise are
men of sound judgment and wise discrimination in business mat-
ters, and being also possessors of those personal qualities which win
and retain friends, they have received a large share of the public
patronage, being successful to a very satisfactory degree.
On the 1 2th day of February, 1902, Mr. Wolf was united in
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 215
marriage with Miss Mayme Wertheimer, of Ligonier, Indiana, and
the daughter of N. Wertheimer. This union has been a most felici-
loiis one, and their home has been brightened by the advent of one
child, Dorothy. In rehgion Mr. and Mrs. Wolf are of the Jewish
faith, and they give their support to every moral and benevolent
movement which looks to the betterment of their community. In
his fraternal relations Mr. Wolf is affiliated with the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
Because of his courteous manners, genial disposition and genuine
worth, Mr. Wolf has won, and retains, the friendship and regard
of all who are acquainted with him.
2i6 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
EMMETT V. HARRIS.
The conscientious and painstaking lawyer is a blessing- to society
at large, artificially constituted as it now is. What plain men would
do when it becomes necessary for them to resort to litigation for the
adjustment of their different views as to their rights and wrongs
in personal matters, or where property tenures are concerned, when
the quips and quibbles of the pettifogger are introduced to hood-
wink judge, witness and jury, and to mystify legal proceedings, it
would be difficult to say were it not for the truly honest attorney who
steps in to care for the said plain man's legitimate rights. Of this
latter class of the legal profession the subject of this sketch is one
of the foremost at the Allen county bar.
Emmett V. Harris was born in Seneca county, Ohio, in i860,
May 8th having been his natal day. His parents were William L,
and Amanda Harris, the father a native of Ulster county. New
York, while the mother was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania.
The subject received his preliminary education in the public schools,
supplementing this by attendance at the Ohio Normal University, at
Ada. He then engaged in teaching school, in which he was suc-
cessfully engaged for several years, holding the principalship of the
schools of Mooresville, Indiana, from 1887 to 1890. In the mean-
time he had occupied his leisure hours in earnest study of the law,
with the intention of eventually making that his life work. He was
formally admitted to the bar in 1889, and in 1891 he commenced
the active practice of his profession. His preparation for this work
had been conscientious and complete, so that he was at once able
to successfully handle all cases that came to him, and he has from
the beginning enjoyed a representative clientage, being connected
with some of the most important cases that have been tried in the
local courts. His years of conscientious work have brought with
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 217
them not only increase of practice and reputation, but also that
growth of legal knowledge and that wide and accurate judgment
the possession of which constitutes marked excellence in the pro-
fession. In discussions of the principles of law he is noted for clear-
ness of statement and candor; he seeks faithfully for firm ground,
and having found it, nothing can drive him from his position. Be-
cause of his ability and many fine personal qualities he has gained a
large circle of warm and admiring friends.
In August, 1887, Mr. Harris was united in marriage with Miss
Laura B. Chalfant, a native of Perry county, Ohio, and the daughter
of Samuel and Mary Chalfant. To them have been born the follow-
ing children : William L., Zama V., Howard E., Edith C, Stephen
D., Robert B., Wendell O. and Emmett V., Jr., all of whom are liv-
ing excepting Edith C, whose death occurred in 1897. Mr. Har-
ris is not a member of any religious denomination, though he usually
attends the Methodist Episcopal church, but his support and influ-
ence are always found on the right side of every movement looking
to the moral, social or educational advancement of the community.
In politics he is a stanch Republican in national affairs, but in matters
local he believes that politics should yield to the more important con-
sideration of the public welfare. In 1896 Mr. Harris received the
Republican nomination for prosecuting attorney of Allen county, but,
together with the rest of the ticket, was defeated. In 1902 he was
appointed a referee in bankruptcy, for a term of two years, during
which time he had charge of the administration of several large pri-
vate banking institutions and business concerns. Upon the expira-
tion of his term he resumed the active practice of his profession,
which he prefers to the life of a public official.
2i8 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
GEORGE WASHINGTON McCASKEY, M. D.
Dr. McCaskey, professor of clinical medicine in the Fort Wayne
College of Medicine, is the son of John S. and Catherine Davis Mc-
Caskey, and was born November 9, 1853, in Delta, Ohio. He is
descended from Scotch-Irish ancestors, and has inherited to a
marked degree many of the sterling virtues and sturdy character-
istics for which his antecedents have long been distinguished. The
Doctor obtained his preliminary education in the public schools of
Wausean, Ohio, and in 1875 entered the Jefferson Medical College
of Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated two years
later, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Subsequently he
took a non-resident course at De Pauw University, Greencastle, In-
diana, from which he received, in 1881, the degree of Bachelor of
Science, and during the three years next ensuing practiced his pro-
fession at Cecil, Ohio, where in due time he built up a lucrative
business and took high rank among the leading medical men of the
place. Closing his office at the expiration of the period noted, the
Doctor went abroad and devoted one year to professional study in
the city of London, after which he returned to the United States and
settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where for fifteen years he was
engaged in the general practice of his profession. At the end of
that time he became a consultant rather than a general practitioner,
and such has since continued, his reputation in the meanwhile becom-
ing widely extended throughout Indiana and other states.
Dr. McCaskey holds the professorship of clinical medicine in
the Fort Wayne College of Medicine, and is also connected with the
hospitals of the state and city. He belongs to the Upper Maumee
Valley Medical Association, the Northern Tri-State Association, the
Indiana State Medical Society and the Fort Wayne Medical Society,
having served each of these organizations in the capacity of presi-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 219
dent, besides being a leading and influential participant in their de-
liberations. In addition to the above he holds membership with the
American Medical Association, the American Gastro-Enterological
Society, and the American Academy of Medicine and fraternally
belongs to the order of Free and Accepted Masons.
To Dr. McCaskey belongs the credit of giving to Fort Wayne
its first medical journal, which was founded in July, 188 1, under
the name of the Fort Wayne Journal of the Medical Sciences. In
the publication of this paper he was associated with Dr. W. H.
Gobrecht, an eminent anatomist and editor of Sir E. Rasmus Wil-
son's "Anatomy." The paper established by Dr. McCaskey is now
called the Fort Wayne Medical Journal, and has an extensive cir-
culation in Indiana and other states. Dr. McCaskey has been a
voluminous writer on medical subjects, and among his contribu-
tions to professional literature, the following are deserving of espe-
cial mention: Geographical Pathology of Consumption; Disinfec-
tion During and After the Acute Infectious Diseases; Bio-Chem-
istry in its Relation to Nervous Diseases ; The Diagnosis and Treat-
ment of Cerebral Meningeal Hemorrhage; Case of Brain Trauma-
tism with Focal Symptoms; Trephining and Death; Clinical Exam-
inations of Blood; The Diagnosis of Stomach Diseases; Physical
Therapeutics; Electricity; Hydrotherapeutics ; Massage; Schott
Treatment of Heart Disease ; Neurasthenia : Some Points in Its
Pathology and Treatment; A New Method for the Clinical Deter-
mination of the Cardiac; The Neurasthenic S5niiptoms of Gastro-
intestinal Disease ; Simple and Ethereal Sulphates : A Simple and
Rapid Method for Their Separate Determination; Thirty Minutes'
Report of a Case of Tumor of the Cerebellum with Drainage of
Fluid Through the Nose; Hysterical Dissociation of Temperature
Senses With Reversal of Sensibility to Cold; Physiology the Basis
of Clinical Medicine, a Plea for Scientific Methods ; A Case of Com-
bined Gastric and Aural Vertigo, with a Discussion of the Pathology
of Such Cases; The Clinical Laboratory as an Aid to Diagnosis;
A Case of Leukemia Preceded by Mucosanguinolent Colitis and
Physiological Leucocytes; Anemias Secondary to Gastro-intestinal
Disease, with Report of Two Cases ; Electrical Reactions of the Gas-
tro-intestinal Musculature and Their Therapeutic Value ; The Clinical
220 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Association of Cancer and Tuberculosis, with Report of a Case;
Alexia from Cyst Caused by Bullet Wound, Operation, Death ; Brain
Abscess and Tumor; Localization in Heart Disease; Tuberculosis of
Bronchial Glands; Heart Weakness; Toxaemic Factor in Diabetes
Mellitus; Toxic Origin of Certain Neuroses and Psychoses; Hys-
teric Lethargy, with Report of a Case; Six Hundred Cases of
Chronic Gastritis.
Dr. McCaskey married Louise, daughter of Dr. Charles E.
Sturgis, one of the pioneer physicians of Indiana, and they have one
son, George Edward. Dr. McCaskey's home is at 407 West Main
street. Fort Wayne.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 221
FRANCIS D. LASSELLE.
In the death of the honored subject of this memoir, February 4,
1864, at his home in Fort Wayne, there passed away another member
of that group of early pioneers and representative citizens who laid
the foundations upon which has been builded the industrial and
commercial prosperity of the present day so characteristic of Allen
county, Indiana. His name is familiar, not alone to the residents
of the city to whose development he contributed so conspicuously,
but to all who have been informed in regard to the history of this
section of Indiana. He was identified with the growth of Allen
county for several decades. He early had the sagacity and pre-
science to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this
great and growing section of the commonwealth, and, acting in
accordance with the dictates of faith and judgment, he reaped, in the
fulness of time, the generous benefits wihch are the just recom-
pense of indomitable industry, spotless integrity and persevering en-
terprise.
Francis D. Lasselle was the son of Francis and Agelique Las-
selle, who were French by either nativity or descent. The subject
was bom in Monroe, Michigan, on the loth of July, 1807, and when
about eighteen years of age came to Fort Wayne, Allen county, Indi-
ana, w^hich at that time gave little indication or promise of the future
wonderful growth and prosperity to which it has attained. His first
employment was as a clerk for Ewing Brothers, who extensively en-
gaged in trading with the Indians. Young Lasselle readily acquired
the Indian language, which, together with his knowledge of the
French and English languages, gave him many advantages and made
him of great value to his employers. He was energetic in business
and very shrewd in dealings, and his employers soon placed unlimited
confidence in him, so that he rose to the position of cashier and trav-
222 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
eling paymaster among the red men of the forest. There is but
sHght knowledge of many events of Mr. Lasselle's early career, but,
from old memorandum books, it is learned that about 1836 he went
into business for himself, engaging in the grocery and provision
trade, in which venture his fortune seems to have varied. For some
years he was in business in the far west, but returned to Fort Wayne
and settled on a farm adjoining the city. He acquired considerable
real estate, and so wise was he in the selection of these tracts that
the investments have subsequently proved exceedingly valuable to
his heirs.
In politics Mr. Lasselle was a firm and uncompromising Democrat
and took much interest in public events. The only local office he ever
held was that of township trustee, in which he is said to have exhib-
ited rare qualities of good management and sound principle. In 1849
he was selected, along with James T. Miller, George Washington
Ewing and Rev. J. Benoit, to accompany the Miami Indians to their
new reservation in Kansas, the tribe numbering about eight hun-
dred and being under the leadership of Chief La Fontain. The trip
was made overland, and was a long and very tedious one, but was
successfully accomplished. In 1853 Mr. Lasselle was elected a mem-
ber of the Indiana legislature, and also held other public offices of
trust and responsibility, in all of which he acquitted himself with
great credit and to the eminent satisfaction of his constituents. He
was a man of very pronounced views, dauntless in his personal cour-
age, of a very firm and decided character and shrewd and far-sighted
in his business dealings, his features being very expressive of his
character. In his dress he was neat and tasty, and in his manner
he was true to the French code of a respectful and graceful attitude
toward others. Mr. Lasselle was known as a charitable man to the
poor and needy, for whom he always had a kind and substantial sym-
pathy. He was, in the fullest and broadest sense of the word, a self-
made man, and, his opportunities considered, was a very well
informed man on general topics. His death occurred, as before
stated, on the 4th of February, 1864, in Fort Wayne, at the age of
fifty-six years and six months.
In 1833, at the age of twenty-six years, Francis D. Lasselle was
united in marriage to Miss Hannah Hubbard Henderson, aged eight-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 223
een years, who was an accomplished young lady, of great personal
beauty, and who, throughout her life, exhibited an amiable disposi-
tion and great firmness of character. She was a native of Ohio, while
her parents were born in Massachusetts. Two children were born
to this union, of whom but one survives, Mrs. George DeWald, now
a resident of Fort Wayne, and who is the mother of the following
children: Mrs. John Mohr, Jr., Robert, Mary E., Caroline, Las-
selle, Elizabeth and George. Her husband, George DeWald, and
two sons, Robert and George, are proprietors of a large dry goods
store in Fort Wayne, controlling an extensive wholesale trade
throughout northern Indiana. Mrs. Lasselle died on January 5,
1845, and Mr. Lasselle subsequently married again, a daughter of
this later union now residing near LaPorte, this state.
224 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
MADISON SWEETSER.
In the death of Madison Sweetser, which took place at his home
in Fort Wayne, on February 22, 1875, the community lost one of its
Honorable and conspicuous citizens. He had held a prominent
place in both public and private life for many years, and probably
the community has never been called upon to mourn a more respected
or highly esteemed citizen. A devoted husband, a loving father, a
patriotic citizen and keen and sagacious business man, he is emi-
nently entitled to particular mention in a volume of this character.
In his death there vi^as removed from life a man who had in a large
measure honored his race. Strong, true men are always benefactors.
Their usefulness in the immediate and specific labors they perform
can be in a certain degree defined. The good they do through the
forces they put in motion, and through the inspiration of their pres-
ence and example, is immeasurable by any finite gauge or standard
of value. The death of such a man is a public calamity, because
by it the country loses not only his active energy, but the stimulus
of his personal presence and influence. There is, however, some
compensation for this loss in the memory of his service, the effect of
his example and the continued fruitfulness of the activities he quick-
ened into life. The late Madison Sweetser was such a man. To
epitomize his life and character within the limits which this work
allows is impossible. The force and power of his living presence
are realized by the void his death has made. Great as he was in all
things else, he was also great in generosity. If every one for whom
he did a kindness were to throw a blossom on his grave he would
sleep beneath a pyramid of flowers.
Briefly, Mr. Sweetser's life history is as follows : He was born
in Windham county, Vermont, on the 2d day of November, 1809,
and in 18 15, at the age of six years, he accompanied his father and
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 225
brothers to Delaware, Ohio. The journey, which was made in wag-
ons, was a long and tedious one and was filled with striking and
novel incidents and adventures, the memory of which was indelibly
impressed upon his memory. He received his education in the public
schools of Delaware and remained there until 1831, when he located
in a small village near Anderson, Indiana, where for several years
he was engaged successfully in mercantile pursuits. From there he
went to the northern part of Indiana, where for some time he was
engaged as a contractor in the construction of the Wabash and Erie
canal. In 1838 he located permanently in Fort Wayne and went
into the mercantile business on Columbia street, where he was so
engaged for several years, establishing a reputation for honesty, in-
tegrity and business ability of a high order. Soon after making this
location he was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Bearss, and
immediately erected a brick residence, the first brick building on
Main street. Mr. Sweetser early evinced a deep interest in the wel-
fare of his adopted city and took a prominent part m all measures
looking to its advancement. In 1840 he served efficiently as a mem-
ber of the first common council that ever sat in this city. Retiring
from active mercantile pursuits in this city, he was for a number of
years extensively engaged in real-estate operations in the western
states, during which time he was at home very little. During the
California gold excitement of 1849 ^^^- Sweetser, in company with
a number of other Fort Wayne gentlemen, went to that state, but re-
mained there but a short time, and, returning to Fort Wayne, made
this city his subsequent home. Having been prospf^red in his busi-
ness ventures, he was enabled during the years immediately preceding
his death to live at ease, enjoying that rest which he had so richly
earned.
Mr. Sweetser's death was quite sudden, being due to a stroke
of apoplexy, and was a distinct shock to the community, as he had
been apparently in his usual health the evening previous. The fu-
neral services were held at the family residence, No. 88 West Main
street, at ten o'clock on the morning of February 25, 1875, and were
conducted by Rev. Colin C. Tate, rector of Trinity Episcopal
church, of which the deceased had long been an honored and consist-
ent member. The pall bearers were Hon. I. D. G. Nelson, W. S. Ed-
15
226 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
sail, Hon. O. Bird, Hon. A. P. Edgerton, Judge John Morris,
George L. Little and S. B. Bond.
As showing the regard in which Mr. Sweetser was held in the
community, we here quote in part the resolutions adopted by the
Square Table Club, of which he vras the president at the time of
his death :
''Mr. Sweetser ^^'as a man in many respects without a peer in
our city. One of the small and rapidly diminishing band of pio-J
neers still among us, who came here when the counti-y was still anj
unbroken wilderness, during his long and active career in our midst
he had made hosts of friends and few, if any, enemies. Of a splen-
did physique and robust constitution, he retained to the end all the
fire and vigor of early manhood, and goes to the grave with all hisj
faculties unimpaired, his intellect clear and vigorous and his mem-
ory alert and active; and even now his erect, manly figure, his broad,
intellectual forehead, his undimmed eye, his cheerful voice, seem toj
be with us, as so often in times that are past. * * * *
"Mr. Sweetser was a man of far more than ordinary abiUty,]
and, considering the many disadvantages under which he labored,!
of a remarkable degree of culture. Although his life was largely]
passed on the frontier, far removed from the refining influences of]
civilization and wealth, he had acquired and by the aid of a wonder-
fully retentive memory had retained a fund of valuable informatior
on a wide range of topics possessed by few. Especially was hej
strong in the political history of the country, for the study of which]
he exhibited a rare taste. Notwithstanding his active business life, f
he acquired a fair knowledge of general literature. * * *
"During his long and varied career he had enjoyed the acquaint-
ance of many celebrated men, had traveled extensively, passing
through numerous adventures, and gaining thereby a knowledge ofl
and insight into human nature, which, coupled with his remarkablej
memory and exceptionally brilliant conversational powers, made him]
the most agreeable and delightful of companions and the life ofj
every social circle. His fund of anecdote seemed inexhaustible andj
his supply of wit and humor never failing. In manners, he was aj
model of courtly dignity, polish and good breeding; in short, a fine]
representative of a gentleman of the olden school.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 227
"But although the quahties mentioned were generally recognized
and admired, it was his uniform kindness and generosity of heart,
and his strict adherence and fidelity to his friends, which so en-
deared him to his associates that all now feel a deep sense of per-
sonal bereavement, such as the death of few men occasions beyond
the limits of their immediate families.
"We recommend the adoption of the following resolutions :
''Resolved, that in the death of our late pre<^ident, Madison
Sweetser, the Square Table Club has lost a most kind and genial
presiding officer, and each member a warm and true friend whose
place can not be filled.
"Resolved, that words can but feebly express that deep sorrow
which has filled our hearts, for his kindness to all, and his frank,
magnanimous disposition we can never forget.
"Resolved, that we tender our profound sympathies to the family
of the deceased, for while we have lost a noble and sincere friend,
they have lost an affectionate husband and loving father, whose de-
votion to his family was one of the most beautiful traits of his char-
acter.
"Resolved, that we will ever cherish his memory, and often
dwell upon the numerous pleasant qualities of mind and heart which
he possessed, and that as a last tribute of respect we will attend his
funeral."
The death of Mrs. Caroline Sweetser occurred on November 17,
1877, and on November 21st her remains were laid beside those of
her lamented husband, in the family burial lot in beautiful Linden-
wood cemetery. She was a woman of most estimable qualities, who
through all the years of her residence here had maintained a warm
place in the hearts and affections of all who knew her and the sin-
cere respect and esteem of the entire community. All along the
pathway of her life she had scattered the smiles and sunshine that
go so far to brighten the lives of others and in her death all felt
they had suffered a personal loss. To Mr. and Mrs. Sweetser four
daughters were bom, of whom two are living, Mrs. Mary C. Ew-
ing, widow of the late George W. Ewing, of Fort Wayne, and
Fannie C, who resides in Fort Wayne.
228 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
CHARLES M. THOMAS.
There is much of interest attaching to the career of this well
known and honored citizen of Wayne township, where he is a suc-
cessful and progressive farmer, A native of the world's greatest
metropolis, Mr. Thomas came to America as a youth of seventeen
years, dependent entirely upon his own resources, and not only has
he attained to a position of independence and definite prosperity and
become a valued citizen of his adopted state, but he has also proved
his loyalty to the republic by serving in its defense when the integ-
rity of the Union was menaced by armed rebellion. His life record
is a straightforward and worthy one, and well merits a place in
this compilation.
Charles M. Thomas was born in the city of London, England,
on the I2th of February, 1840, and is a son of James and Sophia M.
(Morris) Thomas, the former a native of Wales and the latter of
England. The father of the subject came of sturdy Welsh stock,
and while he was a mere infant his parents removed from their
native land to London, where he was reared to manhood, and where
his marriage was solemnized. He was a tailor by trade and voca-
tion and controlled a prosperoi-.s business, traveling about in
London and its environs and securing orders from many members
of the aristocracy. He passed practically his entire life in London,
where he died in 1856, in the prime of life. He was a man of ster-
ling character, and both he and his wife were communicants of the
Church of England. Of the two children born to them the subject
of this review is the younger, while his sister, Louisa, died January
29, 1905, at Hobert, Tasmania. After the death of her first hus-
band, Mrs. Thomas became the wife of William J. Gallaways, of
Glasgow, Scotland, and of this union were bom two children:
Agnes Sophia and Sophia Marian, both of whom reside in Scotland,
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 229
where their parents died, the mother having been summoned into
eternal rest in the year 1876.
The subject of this review received Hmited educational advan-
tages in his youth, his parents having paid the expenses of his tuition
in a private school in London during the few years in which he pros-
ecuted his studies. It was his to early assume the practical respon-
sibilities of life, and while developing marked independence and
self-reliance he did not fail to also gain the valuable lessons which
are to be gained only under the direction of that wisest of headmas-
ters, experience. He continued to reside at home until he had
attained the age of seventeen years, when, in 1857, he valiantly set
forth in search of fortune's favors, coming to America, unaccom-
panied by any relative or friend, and making the voyage on a sail-
ing vessel, the "Devonshire," which dropped anchor in the port of
New York city after having been on the waters of the Atlantic for
a period of forty-three days, while our subject recalls that en route
the boat encountered a number of whales and porpoises, as well as
several icebergs. After remaining for a short time in the national
metropolis Mr. Thomas proceeded to the city of Detroit, Michigan,
remaining in that city and vicinity for a period of two years, during
which he was employed at farm work, manufacturing brooms and
also upholstering. In i860 he came to Dekalb county, Indiana,
and in October of the following year, in response to President Lin-
coln's first call for volunteers to aid in suppressing the rebellion, Mr.
Thomas enlisted as a private in Company K, Forty-fourth Indiana
Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel Hugh B. Reid. Enlisting
at Auburn, Indiana, the subject proceeded with his command to the
front, and with the same took part in the memorable battle of Shi-
loh, on April 6 and 7, 1862. In the second day's battle Mr. Thomas
received a gunshot wound in the breast, the ball penetrating near the
center of the body, and having never been extracted. Mr. Thomas
was left on the battlefield for two days, the supposition being that
he was numbered among the dead, while five days elapsed ere he
received the much needed treatment for his severe injury. He was
thrown into an ambulance after being wounded, and was taken to the
"dead row," where he was left among the corpses of unfortunate
companions, being unconscious at the time and considered eligible
230 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
only for the companionship of those who lay dead about him. In
the night rain began to fall, and through its gentle ministration Mr.
Thomas was revived, and the guard on duty at the time chanced to
notice his eyes as he lay in his gruesome surroundings, and thus
discovered that he was alive. He was taken up and placed in a tent,
where he remained practically unattended for the ensuing five days,
at the expiration of which he was taken by boat up the Mississippi
river to Cairo, Illinois, where he finally received the long needed med-
ical attention. He remained in the City Hospital for two months,
and was then granted a furlough, which he decided to spend in the
city of Fort Wayne, whither he came broken and enfeebled from
his injuries and the hardships he had endured. He was the first
soldier to return to the city from the front, and upon him were lav-
ished the most kindly and considerate attentions and ministrations by
the Ladies' Aid Society of Fort Wayne, who cared for him until
he had regained his health in a large measure. He received his hon-
orable discharge in August, 1862, his injuries having been such as
to incapacitate him for further service in the field.
After recuperating his energies Mr. Thomas engaged in the up-
holstery business on Columbia street. Fort Wayne, continued in this
line of entenprise for four years, within which his place was twice
burned out, entailing considerable financial loss. At the expiration
of the period noted, in 1866, he purchased ten acres of timbered land,
where he now resides, vrhile from this nucleus he has evolved his
present valuable and well improved farm of seventy-two acres. In
all his work and aspirations he has had the loving and helpful co-op-
eration of his devoted wi'fe, and though they have encountered many
vicissitudes, and had their full quota of discouragements, they have
not been denied a goodly reward in temporal affairs, and have been
blessed with prosperity, peace and happiness. They have one of the
finest rural homes in this localit}^ the attractive modern residence
having been erected in 1887, and being finished in hard wood
throughout, Mr. Thomas himself having personally done this finish-
ing work, which testifies to his taste and mechanical ability. The
family is prominent in the social life of the community, and the
circle of friends is coincident with that of acquaintances, while Mr.
Thomas is recognized as a loyal and public spirited citizen, well
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 231
worthy of the high esteem in which he is held in the community. In
politics Mr. Thomas accords a stalwart support to the Republican
party, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church. In a fraternal way he is identified with Sion
Bass Post, No. 40, Grand Army of the Republic, in Fort Wayne,
thus manifesting his abiding interest in his old comrades in arms.
On the 27th of November, 1864, in Vermilion, Ohio, was sol-
emnized the marriage of Mr. Thomas to Miss Caroline L. Hyde,
of that place, where she was born and reared, being a daughter of
Garry and Caroline (Wooster) Hyde, both of whom were bom in
Oxford, New Haven county, Connecticut, being descended from
stanch Puritan ancestry. Mr. Hyde was engaged in the mercantile
business in Connecticut until 1833, when he came to the west, being
numbered among the pioneers of Erie county, Ohio. He had the dis-
tinction of setting out the first vineyard in northern Ohio, now one
of the greatest grape-producing sections of the country, and the
celebrated Kelly island grapes represent the direct outcome of the
efforts of this honorable pioneer, who settled in the wilderness
of Erie county, and there literally hewed out a home, becoming one
of the prominent and influential citizens of that section. In 1876
Mr. Hyde Avent to Alabama, where he purchased more than one thou-
sand acres of land, and there he died in 1879. H^s widow passed
the remainder of her life with her children, having been for some
time in Arizona and later in Waco, Texas, where she died on the
14th of August, igo2, at an advanced age. Of the eight children
of this union we enter the following brief record : Henry W., who
was a successful teacher for a number of years, and who later
l^ecame prominently identified with the milling industry, died in
Chester, Nassau county, Florida, in 1893 ; Daniel, who was a teacher
and a cultivated musician, finally became a salesman in one of the
leading mercantile houses in Chicago, Illinois, where he died in 1892.
Henrietta first married Cornelius Harding, and after his death
became the wife of William McFall, ex-treasurer of Erie county,
Ohio, and they still reside in the beautiful city of Cleveland, that
state; Caroline L. is the wife of the subject of this sketch; Isabella
E. is the wife of Peter Laidlaw, a prominent architect of Houston,
Texas; Maiy Imogene first married Hazard Rogers, and after his
232 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
demise became the wife of Silas St. John, and they reside in Phoenix,
Arizona. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have three children, Charles Nel-
lis, who remains at home, and assists in the management of the farm ;
Viola Belle is the wife of Ovis V. Murray, of Wayne township, and
they have three children, Winnie Aurelia, Viola Henrietta and
Lavilla Belle, and Arthur I. remains on the home farm, where he
conducts a prosperous dairy business, selling his products in the city
of Fort Wayne, from which the homestead is three miles distant,
being located in section 5, Wayne township.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 233
KENT K. WHEELOCK, M. D.
Professional success results from merit. Frequently in commer-
cial life one may come into possession of a lucrative business through
inheritance or gift, but in what are known as the learned profes-
sions advancement is gained only through painstaking and long-
continued ejffort. Good intellectual training, thorough professional
knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and
attributes essential to success have made the subject of this review
eminent in his chosen calling, and he now stands today among the
scholarly and enterprising physicians in a city noted for the high
order of its medical talent.
Kent K. Wheelock is a native son of the Hoosier state, having
been bom at Huntertown, Allen county, on the loth of June, 1857,
and is the son of Eldridge Gerry and Hannah (Moody) Wheelock.
He received his preliminary education in the public schools, and
then, determining to make the practice of medicine his life work, he
matriculated in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York
city, in 1880. In 1883 he entered the New York Eye and Ear
Infirmary, gaining through these several courses a thorough and
practical knowledge of diseases and their treatment. He began the
practice in Huntertown, Allen county, Indiana, but in October, 1884,
he came to Fort Wayne, and has since continued in the active practice
here with a gratifying degree of success. He keeps thoroughly in
touch with the latest advances in the science of medicine, and in 1904
he went to Europe and took a course of study in the eye, ear, nose
and throat departments of the General Hospital of Vienna. He
keeps in touch with his brethren of the profession through his mem-
bership in the American Medical Association, the Ophthalmological
and Otological Society of Chicago, Academy American Ophthal-
moli-Laryngological Society, Northern Tri-State Medical Society,
234 . THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
Indiana State Medical Society, of which he has served as secretary,
the Allen County Medical Society, of which he has served as president.
From 1884 to 1900 Dr. Wheelock held the professorship of ophthal-
mology and otology in the Fort Wayne College of Medicine, and
since the latter date he has been clinical professor of opthalmology
and otology in the same institution. He was the first coroner of
Allen county, having been appointed to this position in 1881, and
being elected the following year, holding the office four years.
Dr. Wheelock was united in marriage with Miss Matilda Hen-
derson, a native of Cedarville, Indiana, and the daughter of G. W.
and Magdalena (Tamey) Henderson. Her parents removed to
Cedar Creek township, this county, from Dekalb county, this
state, in 1852, having come originally from Stark county, Ohio.
Mrs. Wheelock is a highly cultured lady, being a graduate of the
Fort Wayne high school, and by her many admirable personal
qualities has won and retains many warm friends. To Dr. and
Mrs. Wheelock have been born the following children : George H.,
bom November 10, 1881 ; Gera Catherine, bom April 10, 1884, mar-
ried Thomas G. Dilworth, of Waco, Texas; Ruth, bom June 29,
189 1. Long- since Dr. Wheelock left the ranks of the many to
stand among the successful few, his abilit}^ and devotion to his pro-
fession gaining him this relative precedence. He has studied and
read broadly, carrying his investigation into eveiy field of thought
bearing upon his profession and having readily adopted those meth-
ods and improvements which wide experience and sound judgment
indicated to him a definite valuation in connection with his work,
his ability being attested by the representative support he receives
in the community where he has so long lived and labored, and where
his popularity is of the most unequivooil order.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 235
CECILIUS R. HIGGINS.
Probably no man who ever lived in the city of Fort Wayne had
a warmer place in the hearts and affections of the citizens, or whose
memory is held in deeper regard than the late Cecilius R. Higgins,
who was summoned into eternal rest on the 17th of July, 1904. The
spirit of a noble and earnest life breathed in his mortal tenement, and
his gracious influence was felt in both social and business circles,
for he was one of those symmetrical characters who stand "four
square to every wind that blov/s." In noting the position this hon-
ored citizen held in the community we can not do better than to
republish an appreciative estimate which appeared in the Fort
Wayne News at the time of his death, excerpts from the article
being as follows :
"There were few better known men in the city than Mr. Hig-
gins — 'Ceil' Higgins, as he was generally called by his friends- —
and everybody who knew him was his friend. He had the elements
of sociability that attracted. He was warm-hearted, generous, noble
and ti"ue. He spread sunshine in every circle in which he mingled.
He was companionable. With these elements, which tended to make
him popular with all, he combined a business energy and integrity
that made him a splendid type of manhood. Everybody loved
'Ceil' Higgins. When death comes to such men there is univer-
sal sorrow. Such was the case when the death of Mr. Higgins be-
came generally known. He had been a sufferer from Bright's dis-
ease for several years, and about two years ago had an attack of
apoplexy from which he did not entirely recover. He was in an
enfeebled condition, and gradually sank to the portals of the grave,
his death being immediately superinduced by uraemic poison, while
he was, as a last resort, taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he
breathed his last.
236 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
"Mr. Higgins was born in Kalida, Putnam county, Ohio, on
January 21, 1847, but early in life removed with his parents to Del-
phos, Allen county, that state, where he received his educational
discipline in the public schools and where he initiated his career in
connection with railroading, by securing a position as messenger boy,
while eventually he became a telegraph operator. In 1867 he was
appointed ticket and freight agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company at Delphos and Ada, Ohio, and on January ist
of the following year he came to Fort Wayne as chief train dis-
patcher, and in 1879 he Avas appointed chief clerk to Superintendent
C. D. Law. This position he retained until June 18, 1889, when he
was appointed postmaster of Fort Wayne, by President Harrison.
He served as such for eight years, and on his retirement became
proprietor of the Fort Wayne Artificial Ice Company's plant and
business, the title of the concern being later changed to the Higgins
Artificial Ice Company. With this important enterprise he continued
to be identified until his death."
The foregoing quotations give, indeed, but the merest outline of
a career of signal activity and usefulness, but "between the lines"
may be read the lesson and incentive which this noble life had to
give. Fairness, loyalty, self-reliance and helpfulness — they are strong
words, but they denoted most truly this man, this honored citizen
and good friend, while it is not for this writer to attempt to lift the
curtain which veils the sacred precincts of the home life, where his
character stood forth in most gracious relief, and where mutual love
and S5nmpathy found apotheosis. The life of our subject had naught
of pretentiousness, but it was one which counted for good in its
every relation, — and such lives and such characters need no eulogistic
words, for they are their own surety and memorial.
In his political allegiance Mr. Higgins was a stalwart Re-
publican, and he was ever a zealous and loyal worker in the party
ranks, taking a lively and appreciative interest in the questions and
issues of the hour. In 1886 he received the party nomination for
the office of auditor of Allen county, making a most vigorous cam-
paign and running twenty-seven hundred votes ahead of his ticket, —
a fact which indicates the hold he had upon popular confidence and
regard. Mr. Higgins was a most studious and loyal member of the
ALLEN COUNTY, INDL4NA. 237
time-honored fraternity of Freemasonry, in which he attained to
the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, while in each of the
bodies of the order he was found appreciative and enthusiastic. His
Masonic affiliations were as follows : Sol. D. Bayless Lodge, No.
359, Free and Accepted Masons ; Fort Wayne Commandery,
Knights Templar; Fort Wayne Lodge of Perfection, Ancient Ac-
cepted Scottish Rite; and Indiana Consistory, Sublime Princes of
the Royal Secret, representing his ultimate affiliation as a thirty-
second-degree Mason. He was for four years secretary of the Fort
Wayne Lodge of Perfection, and Avas at one time recorder of his
commandery. His funeral was held under the auspices of the
various Masonic bodies. That such a man should be one to place
a proper estimate on the deeper spiritual verities and to make them
count in his daily life was a foregone conclusion, and Mr. Higgins
exemplified his religious faith in his membership in the First Presby-
terian church, of which Mrs. Higgins likewise is a devoted member.
On the 6th of May, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Higgins to Miss Ella S. Hale, of West Virginia, and she survives
her husband, as do also two of their children, Mrs. A. B. White, of
Fort Wayne, and Miss Adah, who remains with her mother in the
attractive home.
238 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
HON. ROBERT LOWRY.
Judge Lowry left a definite and worthy impress upon the legal,
judicial, political and civic life of Allen county and the city of Fort
Wayne, while his services were such as to cause his influence to far
transcend these purely local limitations.
Judge Lowry was born in county Down, Ireland, and was a
scion of stanch Scotch-Irish stock. His boyhood days were passed
in Rochester, New York, where he secured his elementary education
in private schools, while he took also a practical academic course,
but his education was mainly self-acquired. As a youth he became
librarian of the Rochester Athenaeum and Young Men's Association,
in which capacity he found many advantages for study, while he event-
ually began the reading of law in that city. In 1843, while still
in his minority, he carrie to Fort Wayne, and was soon afterward
elected city recorder, declining a re-election at the expiration of his
first term. He was soon afterward admitted to the bar of the state,
and initiated the active practice of his profession by locating in
Goshen, in 1846. Within the ensuing six years he had advanced to
a foremost position among the lawyers of northern Indiana, and at
the expiration of that time, in 1852, the governor of Indiana ap-
jxjinted him circuit judge, to fill a vacancy for an unexpired term.
In 1856, having previously resumed the active duties of his pro-
fession, he was unexpectedly nominated for congress on the Demo-
cratic ticket, in a district where the opposition was distinctly in the
ascendancy. So great was his personal strength and popularity that
his defeat was compassed by only a very small majority. In i860
Judge Lowry was president of the Democratic state convention of
Indiana, and was one of the four delegates at large to the national
convention of the party. In 186 1-2, while still retaining
residence and practice in Indiana, he had a law office in the city of
Chicago. In 1864 he was nominated and e/ected to the bench of the
circuit court composed of the counties of Elkhart, Lagrange, Steu-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 239
ben, Dekalb, Noble, Kosciusko, Whitley, Allen, Adams and Wells.
In 1866, and again in 1868 he was nominated for congress in dis-
tricts heavily Republican, so that his defeat was compassed by gen-
eral political exigencies, but by greatly reduced majorities. In 1867
Judge Lowry resumed his residence in Fort Wayne, and the circuit
in which he had been residing being shortly thereafter divided by
legislative enactment, he was, in 1870, on the expiration of his for-
mer term, re-elected circuit judge, without opposition, in the circuit
composed of the counties in the southern half of his former circuit.
In 1872 he was one of the four delegates at large from Indiana to
the Democratic national convention, held in Baltimore, and was
active and influential in the councils of that body. In January, 1875,
Judge Lowry resigned his position on the circuit bench, and organ-
ized the law firm of Lowry, Robertson & O'Rourke, but he was not
long permitted to remain in private life. In 1877, on the unanimous
recommendation of the bar, he was appointed by the governor as
judge of the recently established superior court of Allen county, and
he was afterward elected to the office for a full term, without oppo-
sition. In July, 1879, upon the organization of the Indiana State
Bar Association, Judge Lowry was elected its first president. In 1882
he was elected to congress, from the twelfth district, and was chosen
as his own successor in 1884, as a Democrat. While zealously inter-
esting himself in the proceedings of the house at all times, he was
ever watchful of the best interests of his immediate constituents, and
it was almost entirely due to his earnest efforts that the increased
appropriations were secured which rendered possible the erection of
the present fine federal court house and postoffice building in Fort
Wayne, the same being one of the finest to be found in any city of
comparative population in the entire Union.
Upon the close of his second term in congress Judge Lowry re-
sumed the active practice of law in Fort Wayne, extending his prac-
tice throughout the district and being an exemplar of the activity
and industry which ought to characterize the earnest and conscien-
tious lawyer, and holding rank as one of the most distinguished mem-
bers and veterans of the Indiana bar. He continued in active serv-
ice as a practitioner until he was summoned from the field of his
mortal endeavors, secure in the high esteem of all who knew him
personally or by reputation.
240 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
LOUIS RASTETTER.
In the death of the honored subject of this memoir, on the 9th
of February, 1898, there passed away another member of that group
of distinctively representative business men who were the leaders
in inaugurating and building up the industrial and commercial in-
terests of Fort Wayne and Allen county. Greater fortunes have been
accumulated here by others, but few lives furnish so striking an ex-
ample of sound business principles and safe conservatism as does his.
The story of his success is not long nor does it contain many excit-
ing chapters, but in it lies one of the most valuable secrets of the
prosperity which it records ; his business and private life are replete
with interest and incentive, no matter how lacking in dramatic action.
It is the record of a noble life, consistent with itself and its possibilities
in every direction.
Louis Rastetter was bom in Baden, Germany, on the 31st of
May, 1834, and was the son of Andrew and Anna Mary (Sutter)
Rastetter. He was educated for a teacher by his parents, but his
inclinations led him to learn the machinist's trade. At the age of
twenty years he came to America and landed in New York, unac-
companied by any relatives and without so much as even a friend in
the new land. He was fortified against hunger and want only be-
cause of his energy and pluck, as he had but fifty cents in his pocket
when he landed in New York. However, he had wdl learned the
machinist's trade in his native land and could command a good posi-
tion if opportunity but favored him. After marly trials and tribula-
tions such as a raw country lad, unable to speak the native tongue,
is bound to have in a strange country, with neither relatives nor
friends to guide him, he finally arrived at Rochester, New York,
having worked his way as a coal shoveler on an Erie Canal barge.
His ability as a machinist was promptly recognized at Rochester,
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 241
where he remained two years, going from there to Buffalo, where
he worked one year, from whence he came to Fort Wayne. Here
he found employment at the old Wabash shops and, by working
diligently and practicing rigid economy, accumulated sufficient means
to enable him to take a trip to Germany in November, 1859, to visit
his parents. Returning to this country in June, i860, he resumed
his position in the Wabash shops. However, being of a self-reliant
nature and possessed of an honest faith in his own ability to succeed,
he started in business for himself and set up a small machine shop
on West Jefferson street, near the corner of Harrison street. It was
in this shop that he constructed the clock which graced the toAver
of the court house which was demolished in 1900. For forty odd
years that clock ticked the seconds into minutes and tolled the hours
into days. His son, W. C. Rastetter, who purchased the clock at
the time the court house was demolished, says the clock is in good
condition and will run for forty odd years more. Many of the older
inhabitants of Fort Wayne will remember when, many years ago, the
first steam fire engine was added to the volunteer fire department.
The first man to operate this engine was Mr. Rastetter, who was
chosen because of his thorough mechanical ability, and his services
afterwards proved very valuable to the communit)^
Mr. Rastetter conducted his small machine shop on Jefferson
street until 1870, at which time he accepted the position of master
mechanic in the wheel works then conducted by N. G. Olds. Here
he remained until the fall of 1876, when, with two associates, he went
to Lima, Ohio, and established the Lima Wheel Works, engaging in
the manufacture of hubs, spokes and buggy bows. At the end of
four years and a half Mr. Rastetter sold his interests to his partners
and returned to Fort Wayne, establishing himself in business in 1881
at the corner of Jefferson and Calhoun streets. The business grew
rapidly and, to secure more room, the factory was, in 1886, removed
to a larger building at the corner of Broadway and the Pittsburg,
Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway. Nine years later these quarters
also had been outgrown and the business was removed to its present
location in the two-story brick buildings on grounds covering about
two acres located on AVall, Nelson and Garden streets. Here a full
line of buggy bows and bent carriage wood work, also bicycle wood
16
242 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
rims, steering wheels for automobiles and other special bent wood
work is being manufactured. This is one of the most important
manufactories in Fort Wayne and the product is sold not only in
this country, but throughout the civilized world.
On the 4th of August, i860, Mr. Rastetter was united in mar-
riage to Miss Elizabeth Hauenstein, who was bom in Fort Wayne
March 2y, 1841, the daughter of John and Mary Hauenstein, natives
of Switzerland. To Mr. and Mrs. Rastetter were bom seven chil-
dren, of whom four are living, namely: William C, Helen, Charles
and Mary. Fraternally, Mr. Rastetter was a member of the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, and took a deep interest in the
success of that beneficent order. The career of this honored citizen
affords an impressive example of what energy, directed and con-
trolled by correct moral principles, can accomphsh in overcoming un-
favorable environment and lifting its possessor from a comparatively
humble origin to a position of usefulness and affluence. Eminently a
self-made man, having carved his own way in the world, he ranked
with the most enterprising and successful of his compeers and won a
name and reputation which placed him among the representative
citizens of his city.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 243
WILLIAM E. REYNOLDS, Jr.
It can not be other than gratifying, in view of the nomadic
spirit which is growing to animate all classes of American citizens,
to find a locality in which are to be found citizens of worth and
prominence who have passed their entire lives in the communities
in which they were born and who command the confidence and
respect of those who have been familiar with their entire careers.
In the older settled sections of the east we find instances where
property has been held from generation to generation by one family
and where the old homesteads signify something more than mere
names, but in the middle and western states this condition has not
been so pronounced. In Allen county, Indiana, however, as the
pages of this publication clearly prove, are found many representa-
tives of families who here initiated the work of reclaiming the
virgin wilderness and who here made for themselves homes which
their descendants are glad to retain in their possession. One of the
scions of pioneer stock in Monroe township is the subject of this
review, who is one of the substantial citizens and representative
farmers of that section of the county and who has ever commanded
the unqualified regard of the people of the community in which he
has lived from the time of his birth to the present.
William E. Reynolds was born on the old homestead farm in
Adams township, Allen county, Indiana, on the 31st of October,
.1849, ^rid is a son of William and Jane (Driver) Reynolds, both
of whom were bom in the state of Ohio. Jane Driver, whose father,
an Indian trader, was killed in the war of 1812, was bom in a
cave near Defiance, Ohio, and was brought to Fort Wayne when
but a few days old, being the youngest occupant of the fort at the
time of the historic fight between General Wayne's forces and the
Indians. William Reynolds came to Allen county, Indiana, in an
244 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
early day and here developed a g-ood farm in the midst of the forest,
becoming the owner of a valuable place in Adams township, where
he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until his
death, while to him was accorded the confidence and popular esteem
which are the diametrical result of subjective worth of character.
His devoted wife continued to reside on the old homestead until she
too was summoned to the land of the leal. Both were devoted mem-
bers of the Dunkard church, and in politics the father was originally
an old-line Whig and later a Republican. In the family were seven
children, of whom six are hving at the time of this writing, in
1905. It may be said that the Reynolds family has been identified
with the annals of American history for several generations, the
original ancestors having com.e from Scotland to this country in
the colonial epoch of our national histoiy.
The subject of this review was reared to the sturdy discipline
of the home farm, in whose work he early began to assist in a
material way, while he duly availed himself of the advantages af-
forded in the common schools of the locality and period, thus laying
the foundation for that adequate and practical knowledge which,
enhanced by personal application and experience, has served him so
well throughout the course of his busy and successful career as one
of the progressive and energetic farmers and stock growers of his
native county. He continued to be associated in the work and
management of the home farm until he had attained the age of
thirty-five years, and he has been possessed of his present fine home-
stead since 1890. His farm is located in Monroe township, about
three miles distant from the thriving town of Monroeville, and it
comprises one hundred and twenty acres of most arable land, while
the improvements of tlie place are of superior order, including a
commodious and attractive residence. Mr. Reynolds has never
failed to show a loyal interest v.' the welfare of his native county
and has been ready to lend his aid and co-operation in the supporting
of measures for the general good of the same. While never
ambitious for public office he has been found stanchly arrayed as an
advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, while
he keeps well infonned as to the questions and issues of the hour.
He is one of the sterling citizens and substantial farmers of the
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 245
county and is well entitled to the recognition accorded him in this
publication. Both he and his wife are valued members of the
Lutheran church, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the
Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
In the month of February, 1879, was solemnized the marriage
of Mr. Reynolds to Miss Mary Fry, who was born and reared in
Madison township, being a daughter of Conrad and Mary Fry, who
were numbered among the honored pioneers of this section of the
county, whither they came from Germany, their native land. They
continued to reside on their homestead until called upon to answer
the inexorable summons of death, and their names merit a place of
honor upon the roll of the worthy pioneers of Allen county. Mr.
and Mrs. Reynolds have two children, Frank A. and Lulu M., the
former being a prominent and popular farmer of Monroe township,
where he has lived from the time of his birth, while the latter re-
mains with her parents on the homestead farm. On the 17th of
April, 1900, Frank A. Reynolds was united in marriage to Miss
Amy Rose, and they have two children, Harry C. and Carl. Frank
A. follows in the footsteps of his father in the matter of politics and
is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, while his
religious faith is that of the Lutheran church, under whose tenets
he was reared.
246 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
CHRISTIAN WIESE.
Allen county has a due quota of the sterling German-American
citizens, whose value in any community is never problematical, and
prominent among the representatives of this class in Adams town-
ship is numbered Mr. Wiese, who is a successful and influential
farmer of this attractive section of the country. Mr. Wiese was
born in Wiedersheim Reojioungbezirk, Minden, Prussia, on the 9th
of March, 1829, and was there reared and educated, having been a
youth of fifteen years at the time of the family immigration to
America, The father of the subject likewise bore the name of Chris-
tian and he was a farmer in Prussia, while he served seven years
during the bitter warfare between Prussia and Austria. He died
when his son and namesake was a lad of about eight years of age.
In 1844 his widow, in company with her children, came to America
to join her son Charles, who had come here four years previously
and located in Allen county, Indiana, where he had secured em-
ployment in connection with the construction of the old Wabash &
Erie canal, while he had also secured a tract of wild land, in com-
pany with his maternal uncle, Henry Moeller, who had accompanied
him to the United States. This eighty acres of land was in Adams
township, and on the same the Martin Evangelical Lutheran church
was later erected. Charles continued to reside on this farm until
his death, when about fifty years of age, while his mother here passed
the remainder of her life, while the subject of this sketch continued
to be associated with his brother Charles in the work of the farm
until he married and established a home for himself. At the age
of sixteen years, a few months after his arrival in this county, Mr.
Wiese secured work in driving horses in connection with the oper-
ation of the canal, receiving five dollars a month and board in recom-
pense for his services during the first year, while his wages were
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 247
raised by two dollars the second year. So faithful had been his
service, however, that after three months of the second year had
elapsed, his employer, Captain Jacob Steger, paid him nine dollars
a month, with credit for three months at the same rate, while he
also paid his physician's bill during an interval of illness, without
deducting from his Avages during the time of enforced idleness, while
the Captain later raised his salary to ten dollars a month, appreciat-
ing his careful attention to duty in all details. After being thus em-
ployed as driver on the canal for a period of four years Mr. Wiese
became associated with Captain Lempke and two other men in the
purchase of a boat and horses, and thereafter they utilized the boat
for two years in transporting freight to Toledo, the subject acting
as steersman on the boat, the receipts from the operation of the boat
being barely sufficient to enable the interested principles to meet
payments on their investment. In the winter seasons Mr. Wiese
devoted his attention to cutting and hauling wood, while a portion
of this time he received only his board in payment for his arduous
labor. After the first two years each of the owners of the boat
cleared fifty dollars a month from its operation during the open sea-
son. Upon the completion of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago
Railroad the canal service fell into practical disuse, and after nine
years of identification therewith Mr. Wiese disposed of his interest
in the boat, the amount received, with his savings, aggregating about
seven hundred dollars. He had purchased eighty acres of land, in
Adams township, for a consideration of twelve hundred dollars,
and on the place had put up a log house, the year before retiring from
the canal enterprise.
On the i6th of December, 1853, Mr. Wiese was united in mar-
riage to Miss Anna Elizabeth Weisheit, who was born in Erksdorf,
Kurhessen, Prussia, on the i8th of December, 1832, and he and
his wife located on the farm, which has ever since been their home
and which has been developed into one of the valuable places of the
county, its area having been augmented by the purchase of an adjoin-
ing tract of thirty acres, Avhile the best of improvements have been
made, including the erection of the present residence, in 1870, the
same being commodious and substantial, while the other farm build-
ings are in harmony therewith. In addition to carrying on a general
248 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
farming enterprise Mr. Wiese has given no little attention to horti-
culture, and he usually disposes of his products in the line in the
Fort Wayne market. He has a fine orchard of twelve acres, and he
secures large yields of fruit of excellent varieties. He early began
the institution- of an effective drainage system on his farm, utilizing
tile, and in this one branch of improvement he has expended more
than two thousand dollars, while he has shown an equally progressive
spirit in the management and regulation of all departments of his
farm work.
In politics Mr. Wiese is a stanch advocate of the principles of
the Democratic party, and he and his wife are prominent and valued
members of the Evangelical Lutheran church, as was also his first
wife, both having been early identified with the church in Fort
Wayne and having later been numbered among the organizers and
original members of the Martin church, in Adams township, while
he is at the present time the only survivor of these original members.
The first church was erected in 1854 and was constructed of logs.
He assisted in the building of this little edifice, which stood on the
Martin Bohne farm, and a few years later this was abandoned and
a new log church was erected on land donated by Charles Wiese
and Henry Moeller. This building was utilized by the congregation
until the erection of the present attractive edifice, in 1870. Mrs.
Wiese was summoned to the life eternal in June, 1880, and of the
ten children the three eldest all died within a few weeks of each
other. Those living are Carl H. G., who resides on his farm in
Jefferson township, Allen county, is associated in the management
of the home farm ; Martha Anna Louisa, who is the wife of William
Prange; Sophia Louise, who is the wife of Frederich Bradtmueler;
Anna Katherine Elizabeth, who remains at the paternal home, being
a trained nurse; Maria Eleanora, who is the wife of Paul Zink;
Heinrich Frederich Ferdinand, who remains on the home farm and
who married Miss Amelia Roemer, and Sophia Maria, who is the
wife of William Wissmann, of Saint Paul, Fayette county, Illinois,
all the other children remaining residents of Indiana.
In 1 89 1 Mr. Wiese married a second time, being then united to
Mrs. Elnora (Moeller) Boester, widow of Henry Boester. She
was bom in Prussia and came to Indiana with her parents when a
child. No children have been bom of this union.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 249
WILSON CLARK.
Animated by the strictest principles of honesty and integrity, a
man of strong intellectual force and one who has ^Yorked his way
to independence, is this well known citizen and substantial farmer,
of Aboit township, where he has resided for many years, while still
further interest attaches to his career by reason of the fact that he
is a native of Allen county, and representative of one of its honored
pioneer families.
Mr. Clark was born on a farm in Wayne township, near the
Rudisill mill, on the St. Joseph river, on the 24th of April, 1839,
and when we note the fact that the old mill is still standing it may
well be understood that the same is one of the landmarks of the
county. Of John and Mary (McLean) Clark, parents of our sub-
ject, we record that the former was born in Kentucky and the latter
in Dayton, Ohio, in which latter place their marriage was solemnized.
The father was a tanner by trade and followed this vocation in early
life. About the year 1837 he came to Allen county, Indiana, having
previously been engaged in farming near Dayton, Ohio. Prior
to coming to Fort Wa3nie he engaged in contracting on the Miami
canal, but the result was such a financial loss to him as to place him
in somewhat straitened circumstances for a time. He died in 1855,
in the sixty-third year of his life. In 1841 he removed from Wayne
township to Aboit township, but he eventually returned to the for-
mer, where he passed the closing years of his life. While residing
in Aboit township he was engaged in agricultural pursuits, having
rented a farm of Allen Hamilton. He was twice married, and the
mother of our subject was the second wife. She survived her hon-
ored husband by a number of years, being called to the life eternal
in 1877 ^^d having passed her declining years in the home of her
son Benjamin, in Aboit township. Of the children four lived to
250 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
attain maturity, namely: Wilson, to whom this sketch is dedi-
cated; Mary, who has never married and who has been for the past
thirteen years matron of the Home for Emergencies in the city
of Fort Wayne; John, who was identified with the sawmilling in-
dustry in this county for a number of years, died in 1877, and
Benjamin, who was a successful farmer in Aboit township, died
at the age of thirty-one years.
Wilson Clark secured his early educational training in the com-
mon schools of Allen county, and that he made good use of his
opportunities^ in the line is evident when we advert to the fact that
in his youth he taught successfully for several terms, in Wayne and
Aboit townships. His first pedagogic endeavors were made
in what is now known as No. 6 school in Aboit town-
ship, the same having been originally designated as the
Bullard school. As a boy he had attended school here, in a little
log cabin of the primitive sort, but on the same site had been erected
the first frame school house in the township at the time he was
called upon there to serve as instructor. Our subject was not yet
sixteen years of age at the time of his father's death, and he con-
tinued to reside with his mother until his marriage, in the meanwhile
providing for the maintenance of the family. He was married at
the age of twenty-eight years, and for several years thereafter he
was engaged in farming on rented land, in Wayne township, having
leased the same farm on which his father had resided and there re-
mained for several years. In 1881 Mr. Clark purchased his present
farm, in section 14, Aboit township, paying sixteen hundred dollars
for eighty acres. There were no buildings on the place and all the
marketable timber had been cut off, leaving the land covered with
underbrush and second-growth timber. The task which confronted
Mr. Clark was a rather formidable one, and while engaged in pre-
paring his own land for cultivation he was compelled to rent other
land to utilize for farming purposes. He finally reclaimed his land,
which he has made one of the attractive and valuable farms of the
to\vnship, while he has shown much discrimination in effecting per-
manent improvements of good order. He erected a house on the
farm soon after coming into possession of the property, and this
building is still standing, being a part of the present residence, which
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 251
is a comfortable and commodious dwelling, remodeled and enlarged
from the old structure. Mr. Clark devotes his attention to general
farming and to the growing of live stock of good grade and in suf-
ficient numbers to make proper use of the products of the farm. He
is known as a progressive and public spirited citizen, but has never
sought or held office or been called upon to serve as juryman. In
his political proclivities he is a supporter of the Democratic party
in so far as national issues are involved, while in a local way he
maintains an independent attitude.
In the year 1867 Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss
Jane Partner, who was born in the state of Pennsylvania, being a
daughter of Henry Partner, who came to Allen county, Indiana, when
she was a child of eight years. Of the nine children of this union
all are living except Henry, who died at the age of ten years. Con-
cerning the others we record that William E. is a representative
farmer of Lafayette township; John A. is a successful farmer of
Aboit township, and for a period of about sixteen years he was a
popular teacher in the public schools of Allen county; H. Walton
was also a successful teacher and is now identified with the govern-
ment fish and fisheries commission in the city of Washington; Ger-
trude is the wife of A. W. Hanson, assistant secretary of the In-
diana Young Men's Christian Association, with headquarters in the
city of Indianapolis; Wilson, Jr., married Miss Elma Jackson and
still resides at the parental home, being associated with his father in
the work and management of the farm ; Anna was engaged in teach-
ing in the public schools for four years and is now with her parents,
as are also Elizabeth and Florence. The family enjoys marked pop-
ularity in the community, and a gracious hospitality is ever in ev-
dence in the home.
252 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JEREMIAH B. DOWNING.
This well known citizen of Allen county, where he has resided
for two score of years, initiated his independent career when a mere
toy, and his position today indicates what is possible of accomplish-
ment upon the part of the man who will apply his energies and abili-
ties in a legitimate avenue of enterprise, for he has attained to a
success of no indefinite order and has accumulated a competency.
He has a pleasant home at 525 Wildwood avenue, in the city of
Fort Wayne, and was formerly engaged in farming in Wayne town-
ship, where he improved and owned a valuable place, while he now
devotes considerable attention to contracting as a mason and builder,
utilizing the practical knowledge gained during his earlier years of
work at the trade implied.
Mr. Downing was born in Batavia, New York, on the 31st of
May, 1837, ^"d is a son of David and Emily (Hotchkiss) Downing,
both of whom were natives of the state of Connecticut and repre-
sentative of stanch old families of New England. They resided in
the state of New York until 1845, when they removed to Ohio and
located in Oxford township, Erie county, where the father con-
tinued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which
occurred in 1857. His widow long survived him, her death occur-
ring in 1882, at a venerable age. The subject of this sketch se-
cured his rudimentary educational training in the common schools of
his native state, and was about eighty years of age at the time of
the family removal to Ohio. At the age of ten years he ran away
from home and returned to the state of New York, taking up his
residence in the city of Rochester, where he apprenticed himself to
learn the trade of brick and stone mason, his apprenticeship covering
a period of six years, during which period he remained continuously
in the employ of one man, Samuel Bullard, a general contractor.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 253
For his first year of service he received one hundred dollars and his
board; the second year his stipend was seventy-five cents a day,
and the third year one dollar, while he paid his own board. Within
the time of his apprenticeship Mr. Downing Avas employed on con-
tracts in Rochester, Buffalo, and other points in the state, and he
became a thoroughly skilled artisan in his line. Within the six
years he had saved from his earnings the sum of five hundred dollars,
and at the expiration of his apprenticeship he returned to Erie county,
Ohio, and engaged in contracting on his own responsibility, thus
continuing to be engaged until he had attained the age of twenty-
two years, while he met with good success in his work. In 1865
Mr. Downing came to Fort Wayne, where he entered the employ
of James Wilding, with whom he was engaged as a journeyman
mason for five years, receiving a salary of twenty-one dollars a
week. Within the first year of his residence here he purchased
eighty acres of land, in Wayne township, two miles south of Fort
Wayne, on the Piqua road, paying thirty-five dollars an acre for
the property. He operated the farm by the employing of hired
hands until about 1870, when he took up his residence on the place
and turned his personal attention to its improvement and cultiva-
tion, while he purchased an adjoining eighty acres, making a good
farm of one hundred and sixty acres. While on the farm he did
more or less contract work at his trade, principally for his neighbors.
He cleared forty-five acres of his land from the native timber, and
he made the place one of the best in the vicinity of the city of Fort
Wayne. Prior to leaving the farm he sold forty acres, now the
home of his brother-in-law, Benjamin F. Ogden, while in 1903 he
disposed of the remainder of the place at a good figure, the land hav-
ing greatly appreciated in value during the intervening years, as
may readily be understood.
In 1893 Mr. Downing removed to the city of Fort Wayne,
and here built up a profitable enterprise as a dealer in horses, in which
business he continued about three years. In 1899 he purchased ten
acres of land on Fairfield avenue, platting the same into city lots and
laying out the property as an addition to Fort Wayne. Later on
he disposed of the property at a good profit, while it is now being
made into one of the attractive residence sections of the city. He
254 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
has made other judicious investments in local real estate, and his own
residence property is a most attractive and desirable one, the house
being modern in design and appointments and most eligibly located.
He now gives considerable attention to mason contracting, in which
he is meeting with the success which is the natural concomitant of
ability and honorable methods. In politics Mr. Downing is a stanch
adherent to the Republican party, and both he and his wife are valued
members of the Congregational church.
On the 4th of March, 1858, Mr. Downing was united in mar-
riage to Miss Cynthia L. Sexton, of Erie county, Ohio, and she died
in 1873, leaving one son, Myron Sexton Downing, who is now man-
ager of the Fort Wayne branch of the National Biscuit Company.
On the 25th of October, 1891, the subject consummated a second
marriage, being then united to Miss Annie Martin, who was bom
and reared in Portland, Maine, and who was formerly a successful
teacher of music, being a woman of marked talent and gracious re-
finement. They have one daughter, Rose, who is a pupil in the city
schools at the time of this writing.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 255
GEORGE W. WILBUR.
A progressive and influential fanner of Milan township is George
W. Wilbur, while further interest attaches to the consideration of
his career as a loyal citizen by reason of the fact that he served
right valiantly as a Union soldier during the Civil war. Mr. Wilbur
is a native of the Hoosier state, having been bom in Dekalb county,
Indiana, on the 23d of August, 1840, and being a son of Charles
and Catherine (Waters) Wilbur. The genealogy in the paternal
line traces back to stanch old New England stock of the colonial
era, and the father of our subject was bom in the state of Vermont,
while his marriage was solemnized in the state of New York, where
he and his wife continued to reside until 1835, when they came as
pioneers to Indiana and settled in Concord township, on the St.
Joseph river. They were among the first to locate in that section
and the father took up a tract of wild land, whose reclamation from
the forest he forthwith instituted. The family continued to reside
on this pioneer farm until 1851, when they came to Allen county
and located on the farm now owned and occupied by George W.
Here Charles Wilbur secured one hundred and seventy acres of
land, the major portion of which he reclaimed to cultivation. The
original residence was a small frame structure, on what is known as
the Ridge road, now known as the Fort Wayne & Hicksville pike,
and traversing the ridge between the St. Joseph and Maumee rivers.
This was the first state road to be surveyed through this section.
Charles Wilbur developed a good farm, placing the major portion
of his land under effective cultivation and making substantial im-
provements, and here he continued to reside until he was summoned
to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler re-
turns," his death occurring in the year 1878, at which time he was
eighty-six years of age. He was a Democrat in his political ad-
256 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
herency up to the time of the war of the Rebellion, when he espoused
the cause of the Republican party, of whose principles he ever after-
ward remained a stanch advocate. His first wife, the mother of
our subject, died in 1858, and he later married Miss Arvilla Har-
wood, who survived him by a number of years. Of the children of
the first union five attained to maturity, namely : Elizabeth, who
became the wife of Henry Saylor, son of one of the pioneers of
Allen county, died at the age of seventy-six years ; Mary became the
wife of John Reaser, and died in California at the age of seventy-
three years; Aaron, who served as a member of the Twenty-third
Indiana Battery of Light Artillery during the Civil war, located
thereafter in Iowa and later in Kansas, in which latter state he died,
at the age of sixty-three years; Charles, Jr., was a member of the
Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer Infanti-y and sacrificed his life in the
memorable battle of Chickamauga, being twenty-five years of age
at the time of his death, and George W. is the immediate subject
of this review.
•George W. Wilbur was reared to the sturdy discipline of the
pioneer farm and was about eleven years of age at the time of the
family removal to Allen county, while his educational advantages
were such as were afforded in the common and subscription schools
of the locality and period. He continued to be associated in the
work and management of the homestead farm until the time of
the war of the Rebellion, when he signalized his patriotism by
tendering his service in defense of the Union. In 1861 he enlisted
as a private in Company D, Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry,
his brother Charles enlisting at the same time. The regiment was
originally commanded by Colonel S. S. Bass and later by Colonel
J. B. Dodge. Mr. Wilbur continued in active service for somewhat
more than three years, during which the history of his regiment
stands as the record of his military career, for he took part in prac-
tically all of the engagements in which his regiment participated,
and these included some of the most notable battles of the war.
He was never captured or wounded, and was ever found at the
post of duty. He continued in the service until October, 1864,
when he received his honorable discharge, having been mustered
out at Indianapolis, Indiana.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 257
After the close of his faithful service as a loyal son of the Re-
public Mr. Wilbur returned home and soon afterward assumed
charge of the old homestead farm, where he has ever since main-
tained his residence, while he has been the owner of the property
for the past forty years, the area of the farm being practically the
same as the original claim secured by his father. He has also pur-
chased and sold other farm properties in the county. He devotes
his attention to general farming and stock growing and has one of
the valuable and attractive places of the county. The buildings are
of substantial order and were all erected by him, while the other
permanent improvements are of the best type.
In his political allegiance Mr. Wilbur is a stalwart Republican,
taking a deep interest in the cause of the party and being prominent
in its local ranks. He has frequently served as delegate to the county,
congressional and state conventions of his party, and while he has
shown a lively interest in local affairs of a public nature he has
never been ambitious for office. He is a notary public, having
served in this capacity for a number of years past and having been
called upon to serve as guardian and administrator of a number of
estates — facts which indicate the high confidence and esteem in
which he is held in the community which has figured as his home since
his boyhood days. His religious faith is that of the English Evangel-
ical Lutheran church, and he has been a member of the board of
trustees of the Barnett chapel, located near his home, practically ever
since its establishment, while he is also an elder in the church. Mr.
Wilbur is a member of Harlan Lodge, No. 296, Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, at Harlan, Indiana, and of the Grand Army of the
Republic. At the present time he is serving as jury commissioner
of Allen county. For a number of years he has served as a director
and the treasurer of the Fanners' Mutual Fire Insurance Associa-
tion of Allen county and for some time has been the heaviest indi-
vidual tax-payer in the township.
On March 25, 1869, Mr. Wilbur wedded Miss Mary, the
daughter of James and Rebecca Vandolah, who was born in Perry
township, Allen county, Indiana, in 1840. To this union was born
one child, Catharine R., who died in infancy. Mrs. Mary Wilbur
died in 1880, and in 1882 Mr. Wilbur married Miss Ella Richards,
17
258 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
who was bom in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1852, the daughter of
Solomon and Matilda Richards, of Milan township, this county,
whither they came from Wayne county, Ohio, in 1863. To Mr. and
Mrs. Wilbur have been born three children, Mary M. and Goldie M.,
both deceased, and Georgia Winnie, who was bom October 15, 1890.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 259
HON. HENRY COOPER.
But few men in the United States had less claim to recent Euro-
pean blood than Mr. Cooper. His maternal ancestors were Irish
Protestants, and were among the first followers of Lord Baltimore
to Maryland, where they settled near Cambry. His paternal pro-
genitors, who were English Protestants, arrived in Maryland at
a later period. He had a maternal uncle who served under the un-
fortunate Admiral Byng at Minorca, and in the English West India
fleet during the French war. His maternal grandfather was an en-
sign in the Maryland Volunteers during the Revolutionary war.
One of his paternal uncles was taken prisoner by the Hessians in
New Jersey, and was detained a long time on board of one of the
prison ships at New York.
Henry Cooper, son of James and Leah Cooper, was bom at
Havre de Grace, Maryland, June 8, 1793, and was left fatherless
in his tenth year ; but at that early age he had learned from his father
the rules of morals and mathematics, both of which were of great
service to him in his subsequent journey through life. Influenced by
the slender state of his resources, he commenced a seafaring life
in 18 10, but finding there was no chance of preferment without a
knowledge of navigation, he entered himself as a student of that
science under the tuition of Mr. Ackworth in Baltimore. While
attending this course, mathematics, in theory and practice, engrossed
his entire attention, and while engaged in taking the altitude of
church steeples and other elevated objects within the city, the bear-
ings and distance of Fort McHenry and places of similar notoriety
without, he became such an enthusiastic disciple of Euclid that he
has been heard to say that he thought that was the most interesting
portion of his education.
Determining to follow the sea, he did so until 18 18, and by per-
26o THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
severance and good conduct rose to the command of a vessel. About
this time his natural sagacity led him to perceive that the treaty
made in that year with the European powers would have a tendency
to materially lessen the American carrying trade and give a consid-
erable portion of it to foreign vessels. Under this conviction, he
abandoned the sea and came to the west. When he visited Balti-
more in 1822, 1835 and 1836, the number of foreign flags floating
to the breeze in the harbor where formerly the stars and stripes alone
were seen convinced him that his previous opinion on the subject was
correct. After coming to the west, the small amount he had saved
of his hard earnings on the ocean was sunk in the Mississippi river
during a storm. Finding his designs again thwarted, he made a
fresh effort in a new profession, and in 1822 commenced the study
of law under the late Mr. Wing, of Cincinnati, Ohio. The commen-
taries of Chancellor Kent and many other eminent writers on Amer-
ican law had not been published when Mr. Cooper commenced the
study of law; but, knowing that he would have to compete with
learning and talent, backed with wealth and influence, he deter-
mined to read diligently and methodically the most useful books on
legal science procurable. After a diligent study of Blackstone's
Commentaries, he devoted much attention to the feudal law. For
this purpose he read Sullivan's "Lectures on Feudal Law," Hume's
"History of England," Robertson's "Charles V,"and Montesquieu's
"Spirit of the Law," rightly judging that the fullest understanding
of modern authors was based on the intimate acquaintance of those
authors who had preceded them. Blackstone's Commentaries was
his chief favorite and so often a-id so thoroughly had he analyzed
them that it might be said he had their contents indelibly impressed
on his memory.
After three years of unremitting study Mr. Cooper removed to
Fort Wayne and in June, 1825, at the second term of the circuit
court, held at the residence of Alexander Ewing, he was admitted
to the practice of law, he being the second lawyer of Fort Wayne
to receive that distinction, William G. Ewing having been admitted
at the first term. In May, 1829, he was admitted to practice at the
supreme court of the state, and in January, 1833, was licensed in the
supreme court of the United States.
. ALLEN COUNTY, INDL4NA. 261
In his time no lawyer in the state had a more extensive practice
in the circuit and supreme courts of Indiana and Ohio and the su-
preme court of the United States. He strenuously opposed all tink-
ering with the constitution and fundamental laws of the land, and
zealously advocated the independence of juries. A few of the many
interesting cases in which he was engaged have been reported by
Judges McLean, Blackford and Smith. In one of his cases before
the supreme court of the United States, the Lessees of Grantly et
dl vs. Ewing, certified from the circuit court for this district, a case
in which the judges of the United States court were divided in opin-
ion on a motion for a new trial, several points were made in argu-
ments, both in the circuit and supreme courts, on one of which the
supreme court of the United States decided in favor of Mr. Cooper,
but gave no opinion on the other. This case is reported in Howard's
S. C. Reports, Vol. iii, page 707.
In the important case of Harris vs. Doe (4th Blackford, page
396), Mr. Cooper prosecuted and obtained a verdict and judgment
in the Allen circuit court. On an appeal the supreme court con-
curred with him, "that an Indian treaty is a contract to be con-
strued like other contracts and that the admission of possession in
the consent rule stopped the defendant from denying possession in
him at the time of the commencement of the suit." In the case of
Rubottom vs. McClure, the question for the first time came before
the supreme court: "Does the law as then constituted authorize
the taking of private property for public benefit, and leave the as-
sessment of damages to commissioners without a jury having first
valued the same?" Mr. Cooper appeared for the plaintiff in error
and the supreme court sustained his construction of the law.
As a speaker Mr. Cooper made no effort at flowery declamation,
but in a methodical and logical argument brought his case before
the court, and in his address to the jury analyzed the testimony and
concentrated it on the point at issue. He was an untiring student
and never came into court without the most careful preparation.
His memory was wonderful, a decision once read became indelibly
impressed on his mind, and he could repeat not only the substance,
but give page and volume with astonishing accuracy. He was inter-
ested in the young lawyer, and always took the greatest pains to ex-
262 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
plain or apply a point of law for their assistance. He was literary
in his tastes and a great lover of the classics, and was gentle, digni-
fied and courtly in his manners, a fine example of the "gentleman
of the old school," and was noted for his brilliancy in repartee
and profound learning.
Mr. Cooper was never a candidate for any political office. In
1824 and 1828 he supported Mr. Adams for the Presidency; in 1832
and 1844 Henry Clay and in 1836 and 1840 his old personal friend,
General Harrison. During the latter campaign he was chairman of
the committee which organized such a successful campaign in Allen
county.
In February, 1833, Mr. Cooper married Miss Mary Silvers, of
Cleves, Ohio, who bore him seven children, five of whom died in
infancy, Edward B. and James Henry surviving him. In 1845 't
was his misfortune to lose his wife, a charming woman of many so-
cial graces. In July, 1850, he married Mrs. Eleanor Munson, of
Fort Wayne, widow of James P. Munson, and a woman of keen
intellect, who bore him one son, William P. Cooper, the well-known
insurance man. Mr. Cooper died very suddenly, on Friday, March
25, 1853. He was seized with a congestive chill, and on the follow-
ing morning passed quietly away. On Sunday, March 27th, the fu-
neral services were held at the First Presbyterian church, where an
eloquent and impressive sermon was preached by the Rev. Reihel-
daffer. His remains were followed to the grave by a great num-
ber of citizens, preceded by the members of the bar. Thus passed
away a good citizen, a profound lawyer and an honest man.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 263
CHARLES F. PFEIFFER.
The present age is essentially utilitarian and the energetic busi-
ness man is everywhere in evidence. In placing the subject of this
review before the reader as one standing in the front rank of Fort
Wayne's enterprising men of affairs, whose influence has ever tended
to the upbuilding of the city and the advancement of its various in-
terests, simple justice is done a biographical fact recognized through-
out the community by those at all familiar with his history and
cognizant of the important part he has acted in tlie business circles
with which he is identified.
Charles F. Pfeiffer, son of John C. and Margaret Pfeiffer, of
Germany, was born in Allen county, Indiana, June 22, 1852. He
first saw the light of day on his father's farm and spent his child-
hood and youth pretty much after the manner of the majority of
country lads, entering as soon as old enough the district schools, the
training thus received being afterwards supplemented by a course
of higher study in the Methodist College of Fort Wayne. Mean-
time he became familiar with more practical affairs on the farm,
where, amid the free outdoor exercise in close touch with nature,
he acquired those habits of industry and concentration of purpose
which had such a marked influence in forming his character and
shaping his career. After remaining on the home place and assist-
ing in its cultivation until his nineteenth year, he began life for
himself as a partner in the Bloomingdale Flouring Mill of Fort
Wayne, which line of business he continued for a period of ten years,
the meanwhile acquiring not only efliciency as a manufacturer of
flour but high standing in the industrial and commercial circles of
the community.
After the destruction of the mill by fire at the expiration of the
time noted Mr. Pfeiffer entered into partnership with Charles Pape
264 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
and William Fleming in the Fleming Manufacturing Company, man-
ufacturers of road-making machinery, and in due time rose to the
pQsition of manager of the concern, which relation he sustained for
ten years. At the end of that time he severed his connection with
the firm and turned his attention to the real-estate and loan business,
which he has since conducted and in which his success has been
signally encouraging, as is attested by the large and lucrative pat-
ronage which he now commands, not only in the city but through-
out Allen county. In addition to the handling of real estate, he
subsequently added stocks and bonds, in which he also does an ex-
tensive business, besides being identified with various public enter-
prises which have exercised a potent influence on the financial ad-
vancement and general prosperity of Fort Wayne. For several years
past he has been a director of the Citizens' Trust Company, the inter-
ests of which he has done much to promote, and also holds the posi-
tion of vice-president and director of the German-American National
Bank of Fort Wayne, the continued growth and popularity of which
institution is largely attributable to his business tact and executive
ability. Mr. Pfeiffer was one of the original promoters and leading
spirits in the organization of the South Bend Home Telephone Com-
pany, from the inception of which enterprise to the present time he
has been a member of its board of directors, besides contributing to
its success in other than official capacities.
In his political affiliation Mr. Pfeiffer is a firm and uncompro-
mising Republican, and as such has done much to promote the
strength and success of the party in Fort Wayne and Allen county
in a number of local and general campaigns. While earnest and
unyielding in defense of his principles, he is nevertheless popular
with the people irrespective of party ties and numbers many of his
warmest personal friends among those who hold opinions directly
the opposite of his own. While not a partisan in the sense the term
is usually understood, he has ever been ready to work for the party
and subordinate many of his interests to its welfare, being a judi-
cious adviser in its councils and, when necessary, an active worker
in the rank and file. In recognition of his services, as well as by
reason of his peculiar fitness for the place, the people of his ward in
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 265
1873 elected him to represent tliem in the city council and to him
belongs the unique distinction of being the youngest man ever
chosen a member of that body. During his incumbency of two years
he took an active and influential part in the deliberations of the coun-
cil, introduced a number of ordinances and succeeded in bringing
about much important municipal legislation. Always untiring in
his efforts to promote the interests of his constituency and of the
people of the city in general, he won the esteem of the public and
when he retired from tlie council it was with the reputation of an
able, discreet and exceedingly popular public servant.
Religiously, Mr. Pfeiffer subscribes to the English Lutheran
creed and with his family belongs to Trinity church in the city of
Fort Wayne. He manifests an abiding interest in the welfare of
this church, contributes liberally to its material support, and for a
period of eight years has been treasurer of the organization and for
two years a member of its board of trustees.
On November 19, 1902, Mr. Pfeiffer was united in the bonds of
wedlock with Miss Henrietta Eckert, of Fort Wayne, daughter of
Fred and Elizabeth Eckert, the union being blessed with one child,
a daughter by the name of Marguerite Elizabeth.
The career of Mr. Pfeiffer presents a notable example of the
exercise of those qualities of mind and heart which overcome ob-
stacles and win success and his example is eminently worthy of
imitation by those dissatisfied with present attainments and who
would aspire to higher positions of honor and trust. A business man
in all the term implies, his integrity has ever been above reproach,
while his methods will bear the test of the severest criticism and
among his fellow citizens his name has ever been synonomous with
fair and honorable dealing. While subordinating every other con-
sideration to his business affairs, he has not been unmindful of his
obligations as a citizen, as is attested by the interest he manifests
in the public welfare, nor is he negligent of those social ties which
every well ordered community requires of those who constitute its
mainstay and support. Among his marked characteristics are his
energy, optimism and self-reliance and, with an abiding faith in his
own abilities, he addresses himself manfully to every undertaking
266 THE MAVMEE RIVER BASIN.
which engages his attention and seldom if ever fails to achieve
the end he seeks. In private life, as already indicated, he is an ac-
complished and genial gentleman, popular with all classes and condi-
tions of his fellow citizens, and few men in the city of Fort Wayne
are held in higher esteem by the people as a whole.
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 267
PROF. JOHN HENRY UNGUMACH.
The subject of this review not only takes high rank among the
leading educators of Fort Wayne, but has achieved much more than
local distinction in the particular line of work to which his energies
and talents have been so long and so faithfully devoted. He has
also made his presence felt as a citizen and in every walk of life
his influence has made for the advancement of the community and
the good of his fellow men. His name with eminent fitness occupies
a conspicuous place in the profession which he adorns, and his career
presents a series of successes such as few school men attain.
Prof. John Henry Ungumach is a native of Zanesville, Ohio, and
dates his birth from February 26, 1843, being the son of John and
Magdalen Ungumach, both parents born in Germany, the father At
Rosenthal, near Cassel, the mother not far from the town of Gieben.
Mr. and Mrs. Ungumach resided at Zanesville, Ohio, until their son
John Henry had attained to the age of ten years, during five of
which he attended the parochial schools of that city, taught by the
minister of the Lutheran church, of which communion the parents
were earnest and consistent memibers. At the expiration of the period
noted the family moved to a farm near Zanesville, where, during the
five ensuing years, young Ungumach became familiar with the rug-
ged duties of country life, laboring in the fields of summers and in
the winter seasons attending the district schools of the neighborhood,
in which he made commendable progress. Actuated by a laudible
deSire to add to his scholastic attainments, the subject, in December,
1857, entered the Lutheran Seminary at Fort Wayne, Indiana,
where he pursued his studies for some time under the direction of
Profs. Creamer and Fleischman, the meanwhile laying broad and
deep a substantial foundation for his future career of usefulness.
While prosecuting his studies in the seminary, his father earnestly
268 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
besought him to enter the ministry and devote his Hfe to the church,
but this Hne of work not appeaHng very strongly to the young man,
he decided to fit himself for a calling more in harmony with his
taste and desires; accordingly, he yielded to an inclination of long
standing by preparing himself for the profession of teaching.
Prof. Ungximach's first work in his chosen vocation was in the
parochial schools of Boston, Massachusetts, where he went in 1861
as assistant teacher, which position he filled with credit to himself
and to the satisfaction of all concerned for a period of fourteen
months, returning to Fort Wayne in September of the following
year, for the purpose of further prosecuting his studies to the end
that he might the more thoroughly be prepared for his life's work.
After spending a couple of months in Fort Wayne, Prof.
Ungumach, in December, 1862, was recalled to Boston to take
charge of a recently established parochial school, and remained in
that city until 1873, achieving the meanwhile an enviable reputation
an an able teacher, successful disciplinarian and accomplished mu-
sician, having in connection with his regular scholastic duties filled
the position of organist in the church which he attended. In the
year 1873 Prof. Ungumach severed his connection with the school
of Boston and, returning to Fort Wayne, took charge of the school
of the St. Paul's Lutheran congregation, which place he has since
filled, being in point of continuous service one of the oldest as well
as one of the most successful educators, not only in the city, but in
church circles throughout the northern part of the state. The mar-
riage of Prof. Ungumach was solemnized on June 6, 1870.
In closing this brief review of the long and eminently useful
career of Prof. Ungumach, it is needless to state that he has fully
met the high expectations of his friends and the public, and that he
enjoys the esteem and confidence of all with whom he comes in con-
tact. That his professional labors have been signally successful is
attested by the continued growth and prosperity of the institution
under his charge as well as by the honorable positions to which many
of his erstwhile students have been called. Ever mindful of moral
growth as well as intellectual advancement, he has been untiring in
his efforts to produce symmetrically developed manhood to the end
that those whom he leads into the field of knowledge may under-
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 269
stand and appreciate the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, a
work which only the consecrated teacher of noble aims and high
ideals knows fully how to prosecute with the assurance of abundant
results. Prof. Ungumach is still in the prime of his physical and
mental power and professionally bids fair to continue for many years
in the noble work so auspiciously begun and so successfully car-
ried on.
270 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JOHN C. PFEIFFER.
This retired farmer, and for many years one of the substantial
and representative citizens of Allen county, is a native of Witten-
berg, Germany, where his birth occurred on July 27, 182 1. His
childhood was spent in the fatherland until 1832, when, at the age
of eleven years, he accompanied his parents, Christofer and Catherine
Pfeiffer, to the United States, locating at Buffalo, New York, where
he remained during the eight years following. In 1840 he came
with the family to Fort Wayne, by way of Lake Erie and the Mau-
mee river, the portion of the trip from Maumee, Ohio, to his desti-
nation requiring nine days' time, the boat being propelled by poles.
Shortly after his arrival in Fort Wayne, Mr. Pfeiffer purchased
a farm north of what is now the city limits, near the Orphans' Home,
where he lived until January 18, 1849. In the latter year he mar-
ried Margaret Bosler, and immediately thereafter bought another
farm three miles north of the city, on what was then known as the
Huntington road, building a small log house and several other
structures of the same material whidi answered well the purposes
for which it was intended until replaced by more substantial im-
provements a few years later. After residing on this farm and bring-
ing it to a successful state of cultivation, he sold out and moved to
a farm on the Leo road which he also purchased and which, under
his industry and able management, soon became one of the best im-
proved as well as one of the most valuable places of its area in the
vicinity of Fort Wayne.
It was while living on this farm that the death of his wife
occurred, on January 7, 1876. She was born in Germany, was a
lady of beautiful character and sterling worth and her memory is
fondly cherished, not only by her husband and children, but by all
who enjoyed the privilege of her acquaintance. She presented her
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 271
husband with five offspring-, whose names are as follows: Charles
F., of Fort Wayne ; Carrie M., wife of Dr. Edward F. Sites, of the
same city; Sophia S. ; Edward L., who operates the home farm, and
Abbie E. Mr. Pfeiffer devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits
and stock raising until 1890, at which time, having accumulated an
ample competence, he turned his farm over to other hands and re-
moved to Fort Wayne, where he has since lived in honorable retire-
ment, enjoying the fruits of his many years of toil and successful
management. He has always been a public spirited citizen and in
addition to his private interests was for a number of years engaged
in the building of plank roads and other highways throughout the
county. All laudable public enterprises received his countenance and
support and to him more perhaps than to any other man is due the
progress of the community in which he so long resided. Politically
he is a Republican, but has never aspired to official positions, having
always been content with the life of a business man and satisfied
with the simple title of citizen. For a number of years he was a
director in the First National Bank of Fort Wayne, a position he
resigned some time since, although he is still identified with that
institution as a stockholder. He was also a partner for some years
in the Bloomingdale Flouring Mills, but since retiring from active
life has severed his connection with that and other enterprises so
as to spend the evening of his day in the quiet and content which
one of his activity knows so well how to appreciate and enjoy.
272 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
GEORGE DeWALD.
The days of the honored subject of this memoir were part and
portion of that indissoluble chain which linked the annals of the
pioneer epoch in Allen counts^ with those of latter-day progress and
prosperity, and the history of the city of Fort Wayne can not be told
without intimate reference to this prominent and influential business
man and loyal and progressiA^e citizen, who did much to promote
civic and material groMi:h and development. He stood "four square
to every wind that blows" and his strength was as the number of his
days. H'e Avas a distinct man and made his life count for good in all
its relations, while he was in a significant sense the architect of
his own fortunes. He rose to prominence and affluence as one of the
leading merchants of Fort Wayne, and it is most fitting that his name
is retained in connection with the extensive concern of which he was
virtually the founder, the George DeWald Company being at the
present time one of the representative business houses of the city.
An outline of Mr. DeWald's career is succinctly given in the fol-
lowing paragraphs, which were published in one of the Fort Wayne
newspapers at the time of his death : "He was bom in Darmstadt,
Germany, on the 14th of May, 183 1. When but a lad he often ex-
pressed a wish to come to the new world, and when but eighteen
years of age he immigrated to America, severing the home ties and
giving exemplification of his courage and self-reliant spirit. Later
he came to Fort Wayne, and after being here but a short time he went
into the employ of a small dry-goods firm that was stationed at the
same location now occupied by the large establishment of the
George DeWald Company. Mr. DeWald worked hard in his youth.
He was apt at learning and possessed a good business head, ready to
grasp the examples of business set by his superiors. Starting in at the
lowliest position in the little store, he gradually worked his way up the
-'i^^ ^^c^a^T^^^^^
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 273
ladder. His own diligence and aptitude, combined with honesty and
integrity in all his dealings, placed him in the confidence of his em-
ployers. As the business of the little stoUe increased Mr. DeWald
was promoted until he was finally taken into the firm, which then
became known as Townley, DeWald & Bond. Within a few years
Mr. DeWald was practically at the head of the firm, and it was
largely due to his efforts and business ability that the house thrived
and became one of the leading dry-goods firms in northern Indiana.
In a few years R. W. Townley, the senior member of the firm, de-
cided to retire, and he was succeeded by Mr. DeWald. It was not
long thereafter when Mr. DeWald became the sole manager and
proprietor of the business. The company was merely nominal.
"Mr. DeWald had an extensive acquaintance not only in this city
but also throughout Allen county and northeastern Indiana. In his
business and also in his private life he was a man of but few words,
but always congenial. About the store he was friendly with the
employees, and he always had a cheering word for a beginner in the
business. He was benevolent, and gave freely in a quiet way to
charity. He shunned notoriety in all of his charitable acts, but it was
well known that a person in need would never be refused help by Mr.
DeWald."
From the Fort Wayne Journal of Thursday, June 28, 1899, ^^'^
make extract of the following appreciative estimate: "Few events
of recent years have caused deeper or more widespread regret than
the death of George DeWald. He had been so long identified with
the city's commercial growth, so long regarded as a pillar of strength
in the business world, and so honorable and upright in his life that
his unawaited demise was felt almost as a public calamity.
"Mr. DeWald's life story is one of those, numerous in our western
history, that serve as object lessons to those who would mount the
ladder of success. His beginning was humble, and he owed his rise
to tio train of fortunate incidents or fortuitous circumstances. It
was the reward of application of mental qualifications of a high order
to the affairs of business; the combining of keen perceptions with
mental activity that enabled him to grasp the opportunities that pre-
sented themselves. This he did with success and, what is more
important, with honor. His integrity was unassailable, his honor
18
274 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
unimpeachable. The shrewd business man will be missed in business
circles, but it is as the gentle-mannered, kindly gentleman that his
friends will love most to remember him. Fort Wayne has lost a
sterling citizen whose place will be hard to fill. Innumerable poor
who have known his beneficence will call his memory blessed." Still
another paper spoke of the subject of this memoir in the following
words : "George DeWald was loved and respected not only in Fort
Wayne but in all the country round. His friends were legion, and
none knew him who did not thoroughly trust and esteem him. He
made honor the comer-stone and cap-stone of his success. He will
be greatly missed frim business circles of Fort Wayne, and thou-
sands of his acquaintances will feel a sense of personal loss."
It was in the year 1871 that Mr. DeWald became head of the busi-
ness which he built up to so great proportions under the firm name of
George DeWald & Company, which was retained until the time of
his death. Six months to the day after his demise the establishment of
the firm was destroyed by fire, on the 27th of December, 1899, and in
the following month was effected the organization of the George
DeWald Company, under which title the business has since been
continued in its wholesale and jobbing lines, the retail department
having been abandoned. Apropos of the fire the Fort Wayne Journal-
Gazette spoke as follows : "A pile of blackened, smoldering ruins is
all that remains of the great dry-goods house of George DeWald &
Company. This pioneer mercantile estabhshment, one of the oldest
in the northwest, was wiped out by fire before dawn yesterday morn-
ing (Wednesday, December 27, 1899). With the DeWald build-
ing went the old crockery store of M. F. Kaag, adjoining on the
east. Both are a total loss, with all their contents, and the losses
are variously estimated, but will not fall below two hundred thou-
sand dollars. The house of George DeWald & Company was estab-
lished in the early pioneer days, and the original building, three
stories in height, was erected in 1846. It was owned by Hartman
& Jones, general merchants. In 1849 Hartman & Jones sold out
to the Townley Brothers, who continued the business until 1854,
when the firm became Townley. DeWald & Company. In 1870 the
firm of George DeWald & Company succeeded to the business. The
death of Mr. DeWald, last spring, caused a change, and in January
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 275
the firm name was to have been changed to the George DeWald Com-
pany. The firm was one of the most progressive and most widely
known in the northwest. Since 188 1 a general wholesale business
had been carried on, in addition to the original retail trade. The
firm owned the building on the comer of Calhoun street and the
building on the east, which was connected with the store and occupied
as salesrooms, was owned by the Hugh McCulloch estate until about
five months ago, when Mrs. DeWald purchased the property, for a
consideration of fourteen thousand dollars."
It may be noted that the business was continued without in-
terruption by this disaster, but the concern dropped the retail trade
and has since conducted an exclusive wholesale business, its volume
of trade being veiy large and its territory being wide. The prestige
of the concern is admirable and the name remains as a memorial to
him whose energ}^ and ability made possible the building up of the
great enterprise, while its indirect benefit to the city of Fort Wayne
can not be estimated in mfetes or bounds. A fine new building has
been erected on the same site, and is one of the many modem business
structures which give Fort Wayne so metropolitan an appearance.
The company was organized in January, 1900, and the official corps
is as follows : Robert W. T. DeWald, president ; George L. DeWald,
vice-president; and William P. Beck, secretary and treasurer.
The honored subject of this memoir was summoned to the life
eternal on the 27th of June. 1899. For two years prior to his demise
his vitality had been somewhat impaired, but he had continued to
give his attention to business and been active up to the day of his
death, which came without warning, being the result of pulmonary
hemorrhage. His life was one of completeness and of worthy accom-
plishment, and while his death caused a wave of sorrow to sweep
over the city in which he had so long made his home and in which
he was so highly honored, none could fail to realize that in the
measure of his accomplishments and in the fulness of his good works
his days found fitting end and bore to those left behind the grateful
compensation which is that of tme nobility and worthiness.
In his political adherency Mr. DeWald was a stanch Democrat,
and while he took a loyal and public-spirited interest in local affairs he
never sought official preferment, being intrinsically and essentially
276 THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
a business man. He was a communicant and zealous and earnest
member of St. Patrick's Catholic church, to whose direct support he
contributed Jiberally, as did he also to the collateral benevolences and
charities of the parish and the diocese. In this church his funeral
was held, and the edifice was filled with citizens of all classes, who
assembled to pay a last tribute of respect. Solemn high mass was
celebrated by Rev. Father Delaney and his assistants, and the
celebrant in his words of appreciation pointed to Mr. DeWald as one
whose life had been passed in obedience to the divine mandate. His
earthly existence had not been fruitless, for he had lived in anticipation
of the end and had shaped his life accordingly. The highest tribute
that could be paid him as a man, said Father Delaney, was that those
who knew him best loved him best.
On the nth of February, 1861, was solemnized the marriage
of Mr. DeWald to Mrs. Sophia A. (Lasselle) Nettlehorst, w
