Allen County, Indiana - The whole text, 1905 (part 5 of 12)

Samuel Wolf is a native of Allen county, Indiana, having been born 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 rooftree 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. Dessauer, 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 matters, 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.

marriage with Miss Mayme Wertheimer, of Ligonier, Indiana, and the daughter of N. Wertheimer. This union has been a most felicitous one, and their home has been brightened by the advent of one child, Dorothy. In religion 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.

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 hoodwink 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 1860, 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 successfully engaged for several years, holding the principalship of the schools of Mooresville, Indiana, from 1887 to 1890. In the meantime 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 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 profession. In discussions of the principles of law he is noted for clearness of statement and candor; he seeks faithfully for firm ground, and having found it, nothing can drive him from his position. Because 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 following children: William L., Zama V., Howard E., Edith C., Stephen D., Robert B., Wendell O. and Emmett V., Jr., all of whom are living excepting Edith C., whose death occurred in 1897. Mr. Harris is not a member of any religious denomination, though he usually attends the Methodist Episcopal church, but his support and influence 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 consideration 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 private banking institutions and business concerns. Upon the expiration of his term he resumed the active practice of his profession, which he prefers to the life of a public official.

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 characteristics 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, Indiana, from which he received, in 1881, the degree of Bachelor of Science, and during the three years next ensuing practiced his profession 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 becoming 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- dent, besides being a leading and influential participant in their deliberations. 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, 1881, 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 Wilson's "Anatomy." The paper established by Dr. McCaskey is now called the Fort Wayne Medical Journal, and has an extensive circulation in Indiana and other states. Dr. McCaskey has been a voluminous writer on medical subjects, and among his contributions to professional literature, the following are deserving of especial mention: Geographical Pathology of Consumption; Disinfection During and After the Acute Infectious Diseases; Bio-Chemistry in its Relation to Nervous Diseases; The Diagnosis and Treatment of Cerebral Meningeal Hemorrhage; Case of Brain Traumatism with Focal Symptoms; Trephining and Death; Clinical Examinations 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 Determination of the Cardiac; The Neurasthenic Symptoms 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 Combined 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 Gastro-intestinal Musculature and Their Therapeutic Value; The Clinical

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; Hysteric 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.

Francis D. Lasselle

In the death of the honored subject of this memoir, F ebruary 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 prescience 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 recompense of indomitable industry, spotless integrity and persevering enterprise.

Francis D. Lasselle was the son of Francis and Agelique Lasselle, who were French by either nativity or descent. The subject was born in Monroe, Michigan, on the roth of July, 1807, and when about eighteen years of age came to Fort Wayne, Allen county, Indiana, which 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 engaged in trading with the Indians. Young Lasselle readily acquired the Indian language, which, together with his knowledge of the French and English lauguages, 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- eling paymaster among the red men of the forest. There is but slight 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 exhibited 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 hundred 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 member 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 courage, 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 sympathy. He was, in the fullest and broadest sense of the word, a selfmade 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.

een years, who was an accomplished young lady, of great personal beauty, and who, throughout her life, exhibited an amiable disposition 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, Lasselle, 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.

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 eminently entitled to particular mention in a volume of this character. In his death there was 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 presence 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 quickened 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, 1800, and in 1815, at the age of six years, he accompanied his father and brothers to Delaware, Ohio. The journey, which was made in wagons, 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, integrity 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 welfare of his adopted city and took a prominent part m all measures looking to its advancement. In 1840 he served efficiently as a member 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 Mr. Sweetser, in company with a number of other Fort Wayne gentlemen, went to that state, but remained there but a short time, and, returning to Fort Wayne, made this city his subsequent home. Having been prospered in his business 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 funeral services were held at the family residence, No. 88 West Main street, at ten o'clock on the morning of F ebruary 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 consistent member. The pall bearers were Hon. I. D. G. Nelson, W. S. Ed-

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 was the president at the time of his death:

"Mr. Sweetser was a man in many respects without a peer in our city. One of the small and rapidly diminishing band. of pioneers still among us, who came here when the country was still an unbroken wilderness, during his long and active career in our midst he had made hosts of friends and few, if any, enemies. Of a splendid physique and robust constitution, he retained to the end all the fire and vigor of early manhood, and goes to the grave with all his faculties unimpaired, his intellect clear and vigorous and his memory alert and active; and even now his erect, manly figure, his broad, intellectual forehead, his undimmed eye, his cheerful voice, seem to be with us, as so often in times that are past. * * * *

"Mr. Sweetser was a man of far more than ordinary ability, 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 wonderfully retentive memory had retained a fund of valuable information on a wide range of topics possessed by few. Especially was he strong in the political history of the country, for the study of which he exhibited a rare taste. Notwithstanding his active business life, he acquired a fair knowledge of general literature. * * ETE

"During his long and varied career he had enjoyed the acquaintance of many celebrated men, had traveled extensively, passing through numerous adventures, and gaining thereby a knowledge of and insight into human nature, which, coupled with his remarkable memory and exceptionally brilliant conversational powers, made him the most agreeable and delightful of companions and the life of every social circle. His fund of anecdote seemed inexhaustible and his supply of wit and humor never failing. In manners, he was a model of courtly dignity, polish and good breeding; in short, a fine representative of a gentleman of the olden school.

"But although the qualities 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 endeared him to his associates that all now feel a deep sense of personal bereavement, such as the death of few men occasions beyond the limits of their immediate families.

"Resolved, that in the death of our late president, 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 devotion to his family was one of the most beautiful traits of his character.

"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 Lindenwood 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 sincere 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 born, of whom two are living, Mrs. Mary C. Ewing, widow of the late George W. Ewing, of Fort Wayne, and Fannie C., who resides in Fort Wayne.

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 successful 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 integrity 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 12th 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 vocation and controlled a prosperous 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 sterling 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 husband, Mrs. Thomas became the wife of William J. Gallaways, of Glasgow, Scotland, and of this union were born two children: Agnes Sophia and Sophia Marian, both of whom reside in Scotland,

The subject of this review received limited educational advantages 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 prosecuted his studies. It was his to early assume the practical responsibilities 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 headmasters, 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, unaccompanied by any relative or friend, and making the voyage on a sailing 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 1860 he came to Dekalb county, Indiana, and in October of the following year, in response to President Lincoln'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 Shiloh, 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 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 medical 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 lavished 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 honorable 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 upholstery business on Columbia street, Fort Wayne, continued in this line of enterprise 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, while 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-operation of his devoted wife, 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 locality, the attractive modern residence having been erected in 1887, and being finished in hard wood throughout, Mr. Thomas himself having personally done this finishing 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 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 Methodist 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 solemnized 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 born 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 distinction 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 went to Alabama, where he purchased more than one thousand acres of land, and there he died in 1879. His 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, 1902, 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 became 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; Mary Imogene first married Hazard Rogers, and after his demise became the wife of Silas St. John, and they reside in Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have three children, Charles Nellis, 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.

Professional success results from merit. Frequently in commercial life one may come into possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift, but in what are known as the learned professions advancement is gained only through painstaking and longcontinued effort. 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 born at Huntertown, Allen county, on the roth 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 membership in the American Medical Association, the Ophthalmological and Otological Society of Chicago, Academy American Ophthalmoli-Laryngological Society, Northern Tri-State Medical Society,

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 ophthalmology 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 Henderson, a native of Cedarville, Indiana, and the daughter of G. W. and Magdalena (Tarney) 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., born November 10, 1881; Gera Catherine, born April 10, 1884, married Thomas G. Dilworth, of Waco, Texas; Ruth, born June 29, 1891. Long since Dr. Wheelock left the ranks of the many to stand among the successful few, his ability and devotion to his profession gaining him this relative precedence. He has studied and read broadly, carrying his investigation into every field of thought bearing upon his profession and having readily adopted those methods 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 unequivocal order.

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 blows." In noting the position this honored 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. Higgins - '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 true. 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 universal sorrow. Such was the case when the death of Mr. Higgins became generally known. He had been a sufferer from Bright's disease 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.

"Mr. Higgins was born in Kalida, Putnam county, Ohio, on January 21, 1847, but early in life removed with his parents to Delphos, 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 dispatcher, and in 1879 he was 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 sympathy 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 Republican, 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 campaign 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 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 Accepted Scottish Rite; and Indiana Consistory, Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, representing his ultimate affiliation as a thirtysecond-degree Mason. He was for four years secretary of the Fort Wayne Lodge of Perfection, and was 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 Presbyterian 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.

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 eventually began the reading of law in that city. In 1843, while still in his minority, he came 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 appointed him circuit judge, to fill a vacancy for an unexpired term. In 1856, having previously resumed the active duties of his profession, he was unexpectedly nominated for congress on the Democratic 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 1860 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 1861-2, while still retaining residence and practice in Indiana, he had a law office in the city of Chicago. In 1864 he was nominated and elected to the bench of the circuit court composed of the counties of Elkhart, Lagrange, Steu- ben, Dekalb, Noble, Kosciusko, Whitley, Allen, Adams and Wells. In 1866, and again in 1868 he was nominated for congress in districts heavily Republican, so that his defeat was compassed by general 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 former 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 organized 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 opposition. 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 interesting 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 resumed the active practice of law in Fort Wayne, extending his practice throughout the district and being an exemplar of the activity and industry which ought to characterize the earnest and conscientious lawyer, and holding rank as one of the most distinguished members and veterans of the Indiana bar. He continued in active service 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.

Louis Raster

In the death of the honored subject of this memoir, on the oth 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 interests of Fort Wayne and Allen county. Greater fortunes have been accumulated here by others, but few lives furnish so striking an example of sound business principles and safe conservatism as does his. The story of his success is not long nor does it contain many exciting 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 born in Baden, Germany, on the TESOL 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, unaccompanied by any relatives and without so much as even a friend in the new land. He was fortified against hunger and want only because of his energy and pluck, as he had but fifty cents in his pocket when he landed in New York. However, he had well learned the machinist's trade in his native land and could command a good position if opportunity but favored him. After many trials and tribulations 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, 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, 18509, to visit his parents. Returning to this country in June, 1860, 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 tower 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 community.

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 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 Wall, Nelson and Garden streets. Here a full line of buggy bows and bent carriage wood work, also bicycle wood 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, 1860, Mr. Rastetter was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Hauenstein, who was born in Fort Wayne March 27, 1841, the daughter of John and Mary Hauenstein, natives of Switzerland. To Mr. and Mrs. Rastetter were born seven children, of whom four are living, namely: William C., Helen, Charles and Mary. Fraternally, Mr. Rastetter was a member of the Independent 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 controlled by correct moral principles, can accomplish in overcoming unfavorable 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.

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 representatives 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, and is a son of William and Jane (Driver) Reynolds, both of whom were born in the state of Ohio. Jane Driver, whose father, an Indian trader, was killed in the war of 1812, was born 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 early day and here developed a good 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 members 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 living 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 come from Scotland to this country in the colonial epoch of our national history.

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 afforded 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 homestead 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 the place are of superior order, including a commodious and attractive residence. Mr. Reynolds has never failed to show a loyal interest in 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 informed as to the questions and issues of the hour. He is one of the sterling citizens and substantial farmers of the 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 remains 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.

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 township 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 oth 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 Christian 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 employment in connection with the construction of the old Wabash & Erie canal, while he had also secured a tract of wild land, in company 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 operation of the canal, receiving five dollars a month and board in recompense for his services during the first year, while his wages were 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 wages during the time of enforced idleness, while the Captain later raised his salary to ten dollars a month, appreciating his careful attention to duty in all details. After being thus employed 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 season. 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 vear before retiring from the canal enterprise.

On the 16th of December, 1853, Mr. Wiese was united in marriage to Miss Anna Elizabeth Weisheit, who was born in Erksdorf, Kurhessen, Prussia, on the 18th 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 adjoining tract of thirty acres, while 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 buildings are in harmony therewith. In addition to carrying on a general farming enterprise Mr. Wiese has given no little attention to horticulture, 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 1891 Mr. Wiese married a second time, being then united to Mrs. Elnora (Moeller) Boester, widow of Henry Boester. She was born in Prussia and came to Indiana with her parents when a child. No children have been born of this union.

Wilson Clark

Animated by the strictest principles of honesty and integrity, a man of strong intellectual force and one who has worked 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, 18309, 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 subject, 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 Wayne 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 former, 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 Ailen Hamilton. He was twice married, and the mother of our subject was the second wife. She survived her honored husband by a number of years, being called to the life eternal in 1877 and having passed her declining years in the home of her son Benjamin, in Aboit township. Of the children four lived to attain maturity, namely: Wilson, to whom this sketch is dedicated; 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 industry 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 common 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 township, 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 continued 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 remained 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 preparing 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 township, while he has shown much discrimination in effecting permanent 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 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 sufficient 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. Concerning 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 government fish and fisheries commission in the city of Washington; Gertrude is the wife of A. W. Hanson, assistant secretary of the Indiana 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 teaching in the public schools for four years and is now with her parents, as are also Elizabeth and Florence. The family enjoys marked popularity in the community, and a gracious hospitality is ever in evdence in the home.

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 boy, and his position today indicates what is possible of accomplishment upon the part of the man who will apply his energies and abilities 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 township, 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, and is a son of David and Emily (Hotchkiss) Downing, both of whom were natives of the state of Connecticut and representative 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 continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1857. His widow long survived him, her death occurring in 1882, at a venerable age. The subject of this sketch secured 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.

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 was employed on contracts 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 twentytwo 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 cultivation, 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. Fle 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 having 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 marriage to Miss Cynthia L. Sexton, of Erie county, Ohio, and she died in 1873, leaving one son, Myron Sexton Downing, who is now manager 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 born and reared in Portland, Maine, and who was formerly a successful teacher of music, being a woman of marked talent and gracious refinement. They have one daughter, Rose, who is a pupil in the city schools at the time of this writing.

George W. Wilbur

A progressive and influential farmer 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 born 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 born 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 improvements, and here he continued to reside until he was summoned to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns," 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- 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 afterward remained a stanchi advocate. His first wife, the mother of our subject, died in 1858, and he later married Miss Arvilla Harwood, 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 seventythree 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 Infantry 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 practically 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.

After the close of his faithful service as a loyal son of the Republic Mr. Wilbur returned home and soon afterward assumed charge of the old homestead farm, where he has ever since maintained 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 purchased 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 Evangelical 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 Accepted 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 Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Association of Allen county and for some time has been the heaviest individual 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, who was born 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 born October 15, 1890.

Hon. Henry Cooper

But few men in the United States had less claim to recent European 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 progenitors, who were English Protestants, arrived in Maryland at a later period. He had a maternal uncle who served under the unfortunate Admiral Byng at Minorca, and in the English West India fleet during the French war. His maternal grandfather was an ensign 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 born 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 1810, 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 bearings 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.

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 considerable portion of it to foreign vessels. Under this conviction, he abandoned the sea and came to the west. When he visited Baltimore 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 commentaries of Chancellor Kent and many other eminent writers on American 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.and 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.

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 supreme court of the United States. He strenuously opposed all tinkering 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 al vs. Ewing, certified from the circuit court for this district, a case in which the judges of the United States court were divided in opinion on a motion for a new trial, several points were made in arguments, 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. 111, 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 concurred with him, "that an Indian treaty is a contract to be construed 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 assessment 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 interested in the young lawyer, and always took the greatest pains to ex- 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, dignified 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 it was his misfortune to lose his wife, a charming woman of many social 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 following morning passed quietly away. On Sunday, March 27th, the funeral services were held at the First Presbyterian church, where an eloquent and impressive sermon was preached by the Rev. Reiheldaffer. His remains were followed to the grave by a great number of citizens, preceded by the members of the bar. Thus passed away a good citizen, a profound lawyer and an honest man.

Charles F. Pfeiffer

The present age is essentially utilitarian and the energetic business 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 interests, simple justice is done a biographical fact recognized throughout the community by those at all familiar with his history and cognizant of the important part he has acted in the 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 childhood 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. Meantime 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 assisting 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 efficiency as a manufacturer of flour but high standing in the industrial and commercial circles of the community.