Lake County, Indiana Biographies

    Francis P. Keilmann, of St. John, has the distinction of being the longest established merchant of Lake county. He began business in St. John nearly fifty-five years ago, and a continued record of success has been his lot to the present time, when, as the dean of Lake county business men, he enjoys along with his material prosperity the esteem and thorough confidence of all his old friends and associates. He and the family of which he is a member have been identified with Lake county and St. John township since pioneer times, for a period of sixty years, and their enterprise and personal influence have always been reckoned as important factors in the various affairs of the county.
    Mr. Keilmann was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. November 25. 1831. His father was Henry Keilmann, a native of the same place. He left the fatherland and brought his family to America in 1840, his first location being in Portage county, Ohio, but in 1844 he moved to Lake county, Indiana, and settled on a farm in St. John township. His life occupation was farming.   He lived to the advanced age of eighty-five years.   His wife was Mary Elizabeth Ofenloch, who was born in the same province of German}- as he, and died in Portage county, Ohio, when thirty-eight years old. They were parents of seven children, and all reached maturity.
    Mr. F. P. Keilmann, the fourth son and the fifth child of the family, was nine years old when he landed on American soil, and had already begun his education in his native land. He remained with the family in Portage county for two years, and then, at the age of eleven, went to Chicago with his older brother, Henry. He attended school in that city for some time, and then joined his father on the latter's removal to Lake county. Two years later, however, he returned to Chicago and clerked in a store for four years. He then came to St. John township and became a clerk in his brother Henry's store at St. John. The brothers soon formed a partnership, and the firm of Henry and F. P. Keilmann continued to do business in St. John until 1865, having the premier mercantile establishment of the village. In 1865, after fifteen years connection, Francis bought the interest of his brother, and then took George F. Gerlach, another well known merchant of St. John, into partnership, continuing thus until 1885. Since that time Mr. Keilmann has carried on his business alone, and no other man in the county has a record for such long connection with mercantile enterprises. He has a large store and a fine general stock valued at about ten thousand dollars. He owns Lake county real estate to the amount of over a thousand acres, and also has property in other places. He has always affiliated with the Democratic party, and from 1856 to 1885 was postmaster of St. John.
    In 1857 Mr. Keilmann married Margaret Schaefer, who was born in Germany and came to America in childhood with her parents. There are nine living children of this marriage: Susan, who is the wife of Joseph H. Gerlach, of Chicago: Francis B., of Chicago; John, of Crown Point; William F.. of St. John; Elizabeth, wife of Edward Schmal, of Chicago; Margaret, unmarried; George; Lena, wife of Frank Thiel, of St. John; and Peter. All these children were born in the same house and in St. John township, and they are now all capable and worthy men and women.

    John L. Keilman, general merchant and a director in the First National Bank at Dyer, is an influential and progressive young business man of Lake county, where he has had his life-long residence. He early marked out business pursuits as the object of his career, and he has been steadily advancing to greater success in his enterprises since he took up active life some fifteen years ago. He is well known throughout the county, not only for his connection with commercial and financial affairs but also as the bearer of a family name that will always be entitled to honor and esteem in Lake county, with whose growth and material development the first American Keilman became identified in the pioneer epoch, and the family influence and resources have been increasing to the present time.
    Mr. Keilman is the youngest son of Leonard and Lena (Austgen) Keilman, who have lived in Lake county for sixty years and whose history, together with other facts concerning this prominent family, will be found on other pages of this volume. John L. Keilman was born in St. John township, Lake county, August 21, 1867, and was reared in his native place. After receiving a common school training he spent two years at the Catholic seminary at St. Francis, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he took a business course. After his return home he engaged in the general mercantile business, in 1890, in partnership with his father. In 1892 he sold out his interest to his father, and spent the following nine months sight-seeing in California and the Pacific coast. He returned once more to engage in business with his father, under the name of L. Keilman & Son, and this firm is still doing business at the old stand which was established nearly fifty years ago. They have a large stock of general merchandise and do a large business with the surrounding district. Mr. Keilman was one of the men who organized the First National Bank in Dyer, in 1903, and is now one of its directors.
Mr. Keilman married, October 3, 1895, Miss Emma Schaefer, who was born October 3, 1871, and is also a native of Dyer, St. John township, a daughter of Jacob Schaefer.    They have no children.

    For eighty-one years Jerry M. Kenney has traveled life's journey, and through a long period has been a resident of Lake county. He came here when this was a pioneer section, the work of progress and improvement having been scarcely begun, and through the intervening years he has watched with interest the advancement that has here been made and has given his co-operation to many movements for the public good. He is a native of the Pine Tree state, his birth having occurred in the town of Hollowell, Kennebec county, Maine, on the 10th of November, 1823.
    The family is of Scotch lineage and was founded in America in colonial days" Charles Kenney, the father of our subject, was a native of Maine and was there reared and married. By occupation he was a lumberman in early life. In 1807 he removed to Ohio, where he remained for three years, and then returned to Maine, where he continued to reside until 1837, when he came to Lake county, Indiana, establishing his home in Eagle Creek township. He cast in his lot with its early settlers and bore his full share in the work of reclaiming the wild land for the purposes of civilization. There he made his home throughout his remaining days, passing away at the age of sixty-six years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Deborah Rollins, was also a native of Maine and died in Lake county, Indiana, when more than seventy years of age. To this worthy couple were born four sons and a daughter, all of whom reached adult age, but Mr. Kenney, who was the fourth child, is now the only one living.
Jerry M. Kenney spent the first fourteen years of his life in the state of his nativity and then accompanied his parents on their removal to Lake county, Indiana. He had previously attended the public schools of Maine and after coming, to this state he assisted in opening up a new farm, the family being1 the first to settle on the prairie in Eagle Creek township. He performed much of the arduous tasks incident to the development of a new farm, and to his father gave the benefit of his services until twenty-one years of age. He then went to Door Prairie, where he worked for two years as a farm hand at ten dollars per month. On the expiration of that period he rented land of his father for two years, and then with the capital which he had acquired through his own energy, perseverance and economy he purchased eighty acres of land and began its improvement. He broke the sod, planted crops, set out an orchard and made other substantial improvements until his highly cultivated farm bore little resemblance to the wild tract which had come into his possession. He added to his land from time to time until he is now the owner of about five hundred acres, and he was successfully engaged in general farming until 1854, when he purchased a store at what is called Orchard Grove. There he carried on general merchandising for twenty-seven years in connection with agricultural pursuits. In 1900 he sold his store and retired from business, to enjoy a rest which he had truly earned and richly deserves.
    In 1848 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Kenney and Miss Phoebe Woodruff, a native of Ohio, who was brought to Lake county by her parents when a maiden of ten years, the family being early settlers of this portion of the state. They became the parents of six children, four sons and two daughters: George W., Lucinda, J. C, Joseph D., Schuyler C. and Erfie L. All were born in Lake county and are yet living, with the exception af Joseph D. Kenney.
    In early life Mr. Kenney was a stanch advocate of Whig, principles and at the dissolution of that party he became a stalwart Republican, and has since voted the ticket of that party organization, where state and national questions are involved. At local elections, however, he votes independently, supporting the candidate whom he thinks best qualified for office. He served for twenty-seven consecutive years as postmaster at Orchard Grove, and he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since twenty-five years of age, while his wife united with the same denomination at the age of sixteen.
    They have taken a very active and helpful part in church work, and Mr. Kenney has served as class leader and as Sunday-school superintendent. As one of the pioneers of the county he has witnessed its development from an early day and has borne his full share in the work of progress and improve-ment. At the same time he has carved out a fortune for himself. He started out in life empty-handed, but he possessed strong determination and by his unfaltering labor and honorable dealing he has gained a handsome property and is justly accounted one of the self-made men of Lake county.
    Mrs. Kenney was born June 26, 1830, and she was educated in the common schools. For fifty-six years or over a half century have Mr. and Mrs. Kenney traveled the journey of life, sharing alike the joys and sorrows. She is the only survivor of the Woodruff family. Mr. and Mrs. Kenney attended the pioneer school of the early day when the window was of greased paper, and the house was heated by the old-fashioned fireplace. The roof was of "shakes." He has swung the old-fashioned cradle in the harvest field many a day. Mr. Kenney's grandfathers were both in the Revolutionary war and figured in different battles, and Mr. Kenney's grandfather's wife was killed by the Indians when in a block house, through the port hole; this was in the war of 1812.
    Mr. and Mrs. Kenney have one of the old deeds which was executed April 10, 1843, and signed by President John Tyler, the eighth deed of the kind found in Lake county. They have three other of these documents dated June 25, 1841, and April 10, 1843, by President Tyler, and another dated April 10, 1848, and signed by President James K. Polk, four of these deeds in this one household. It was as late as 1848 when Mr. Kenney's father went to Wabash, Indiana, to get supplies, such as meat and flour, and took two four-horse teams. He has seen Chicago when most all of the business was done on Lake street and the ox teams were turned loose in the common.
    Mr. Kenney has always taken an active part in the old settlers' meeting, at Crown Point. When he first knew Lake county there was not a railroad in the entire county, where now fourteen or fifteen great trunk lines cross the county. The first railroad built in the county was the Michigan Central. Mr. and Mrs. Kenney have seen many of the Indians in their vicinity, and Mr. Kenney says he has played with the Indians, and at one time there were about five hundred camped near Shelby, in Cedar Creek township.

    Hon. Johannes Kopelke, of Crown Point, is a lawyer of established reputation for ability and legal learning in northwestern Indiana, is an ex-senator of the state and has taken a prominent part in local and state politics, and throughout his career in this city of nearly thirty years has been a leader of public opinion and progress and more than once has been the aggressive spirit in carrying out reforms and suppressing abuses and in promoting and supporting the highest interests of social and institutional life.
He was born at Buchwald, near Neustettin, Prussia, June 14, 1854. His father, Ferdinand Kopelke, was an Evangelical Lutheran minister. His mother was Sophia Erbguth, and her grandmother was a sister of the famous Prussian General York, who took the first step leading to the final overthrow of Napoleon in 1813, and was afterward made a count and field marshal by the king of Prussia.
    Mr. Kopelke gained his early education in the people's schools of Germany, and from these entered a gymnasium, wher he continued the education which in America is offered by the high schools and colleges. From 1865 to 1871 he had a thorough grounding in the literary branches, especially the languages, in this typical German educational institution, and in the latter year, when seventeen years old, he came to the United States. He obtained his professional training in the law at the University of Michigan, which he attended from 1874 to 1876, graduating in the spring of the latter year. He has been fond of study from his boyhood days to the present, and while in the gymnasium he gained many prizes for scholarship, and was also a member of the society called "Thought Chips," composed of the members of the first class or "Prima."
    In April, 1876, Mr. Kopelke came to Crown Point and entered upon the career which has since been productive of so much honor to himself and benefit to the community. His German scholarship attracted the attention of Hon. Thaddeus S. Fancher, a distinguished member of the bar at Crown Point, who offered young Kopelke a partnership in his large practice, which the latter accepted and continued until 1879, and since then he has managed his increasing legal interests alone. He has enjoyed a large private practice, and his connection with litigation of a public nature has won him no small degree of fame in this part of the state. One of his cases to attract the most attention was the one involving the constitutionality of the fee and salary law, in 1891. He was also, as the assistant of Attorney General Ketcham, connected with the famous fight made to suppress racing and gambling institutions at Robey. For a number of years he has had all the professional business he could well manage, and his time and energies have often been called to other matters. For a time he held the rank of major on the staff of Governor Gray.
    Mr. Kopelke allied himself with the Republican party when he first began casting his vote, but in 1882 he found his opinions to consist more harmoniously with those of the Democracy, and he has been a stanch advocate of that party ever since. In 1884 he was chosen presidential elector from the Tenth Indiana district, and thus cast one of the votes which placed Grover Cleveland in the presidential office. In 1891 he was elected to represent Lake and Porter counties in the state senate, and his career as a legislator was especially noteworthy in its results. He served on the judiciary and other important committees during both sessions of his term of office. He became prominent as the originator and promoter of measures for the welfare of the state, and he also carried through some remedial legislation regarding matters of practice and procedure. He was active in procuring the new charter for the city of Indianapolis, and his influence was strongly felt in behalf of the tax law which redeemed the state from bankruptcy. Senator Kopelke was the Democratic nominee for the office of appellate judge in 1898, but the state went strongly Republican that year.
    Mr. Kopelke is an Episcopalian in religious faith. He has never married. His long identification with Crown. Point makes him one of the most highly esteemed citizens, and his life has been praiseworthy and fruitful in good results from whatever standpoint it is regarded.

Hiram H. Meeker, the well known nurseryman and fruit grower of Crown Point, has been identified with this town for thirty-five years, comprising the latter half of a very busy and useful life, and his energies have been directed along several different lines of activity. He is one of the surviving veterans of the Civil war, in which he served until he was disabled, and it was only a few years after that conflict that he took up his residence in Crown Point, where mercantile interests, farming and tree culture and small fruit growing have at various times taken up his attention.
Mr. Meeker was born in Wyoming county, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1835. a son °f Joseph and Anna (Brcnson) Meeker, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Connecticut. He is the third child and second son of the family of six children, all of whom grew to adult years.
Mr. Meeker was reared on a farm in his native place and was educated in the common schools, remaining with his father until the outbreak of the Rebellion. In October, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania Infantry, as a private, and served until he was disabled during a forced march, near Poolville, Maryland. During the battle of Fredericks-burg he was acting steward in the hospital. He received his honorable discharge in the spring of 1863, having served for nearly two years. He returned home and remained in his native state for a few months and then came to Indiana and located in Carroll county. In 1869 he came to Crown Point and for two years was engaged in the mercantile business, after which for the same period he followed farming. He then bought the stock in the same store and continued merchandising for several years, when he sold out and has since then conducted a nursery which has become one of the important institutions of Crown Point and has maintained a reputation for the quality of its products. He makes a Specialty of growing small fruit for the market, most of it being consumed in town. He has about seven acres within the city limits., and also forty acres near by, and also owns one of the nice residences of Crown Point. Mr. Meeker is one of the best posted men in Indiana on the subjects of the growth of small fruits, shrubbery, shade trees and all nursery stock.
Mr. Meeker is a member of the John Wheeler Post No. 161, G. A. R., and a member of the Masonic fraternity. He has been a life-long Republican in politics. He was married January 7, 1864, to Miss Mary A. Bryant, who was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, September 3, 1837, being a daughter of John and Susan (Graves) Bryant, of the William Cullen Bryant branch. There were three daughters born of this union: Addie is the wife of Julius Rockwell, of Crown Point; Alta is the wife of William Thompson, of South Chicago; and Josephine is a popular teacher in the public schools of Crown Point. Mrs. Meeker and her daughter Josephine are leading members of the Presbyterian church.

    Hugh F. Meikle, dealer in coal, brick, wood, lime and cement, at Hammond, has been well known in the business circles of this city for the past seven or eight years, and for the past five years has been established in his present business, which he conducts with satisfactory success, and with such fair and square dealing and enterprise that he enjoys a good patronage. He is a man of proved ability, having- been a salesman and in business for himself for a number of years, and has long since found his proper sphere of usefulness in the world.
    He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, October 17, 1863, being now the only survivor of two sons and one daughter born to Thomas and Margaret (Fulton) Meikle, both natives of Scotland. Mr. Meikle's forefathers have resided for generations in Scotland. His great-grandparents were James and Elizabeth Meikle. His grandfather, also James Meikle, was a contractor of Scotland and was also mayor of Muir Kirk. He died in Scotland when about seventy-two years old, and his wife, Mary (Brown) Meikle, was also past seventy at the time of her death. They had a large family of children.
    Thomas Meikle was a blacksmith, learning the trade in his native country. He came to America about 1858, locating in Louisville, Kentucky, where he began the manufacture of agricultural implements. He died in Chicago while on a visit to his son Hugh F., in 1897, at the age of seventy. He and his wife were Presbyterians, and the latter still survives, making her home in Louisville. She was one of a large family of children born to Hugh and Agnes (Stuart) Fulton, both natives of Scotland, and the former a shoe merchant of Kilmarnock. Hugh Fulton was eighty-four years old when he died, and his wife lived to the patriarchal age of ninety-six, so it seems that all branches of the family have been very long-lived and endowed with Scotch hardhood and strength.
    Hugh F. Meikle was reared in Louisville. He had a good public school course, graduating from the high school in 1880. He then began work in his father's plow factory and afterward was advanced to the superintendency of the factory. He held this position until 1888, and from then until 1896 was on the road as a plow expert. He was called to Hammond in the latter year in order to install the machinery for what was known as the Chicago Ax Company's plant. After that was accomplished he was on the road for eighteen months longer, and in May, 1899, engaged in the wood and coal business in Hammond, which enterprise he has continued, with enlarged facilities, to the present time.
    July 22, 1885, Mr. Meikle married Miss Emma E. Korb, a daughter of Jacob and Caroline (Steinage) Korb. Two daughters have been born of this marriage, Agnes and Eunice. Mr. Meikle is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is also a Mason of high standing. He is master of Gar-field Lodge No. 569, F. & A. M., and a member of Hammond Chapter No. 117, R. A. M., and Hammond Commandery No 41, K. T. He also has fraternal membership with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he is a Republican. He is prominent and well known in the business and social circles of his city. He was elected president of the Hammond school board, February 26, 1904.

    Marion F. Pierce, merchant and well-known business man of Merrillville, Ross township, is one of the oldest native sons of Lake county still engaged in the active pursuits of life. Three generations of the Pierce family have been identified with the industrial and commercial affairs of the county, covering a period of seventy years, and extending from the time when the alternate stretches of woodland and prairie in Lake county offered habitation to few white men, until now there is not a square foot anywhere not in private possession or devoted to public use. Myiel Pierce, the grandfather ; Marion Pierce, the father; and Floyd M. Pierce, the son, are the three men who have wrought out their success and advanced the welfare of the county during the years of their lives spent here, and to the second of the three is due the distinction of sixty-three years of residence in the township where his business interests are still located.
    Mr. M. F. Pierce was born in Ross township, Lake county, August i, 1841. His father, Myiel Pierce, was born about 1800 in Erie county, New York, and as a pioneer among the pioneers arrived in Lake county, Indiana,. June 25, 1835. He was a farmer and hotel-keeper and in September, 1842, erected the old and well-known Merrillville Hotel, which after sixty-two years of use still stands as a monument to its founder and builder. He sold this hotel property after running it two years, and then bought the farm on which he died in 1847. He was county assessor for a time, and was well known throughout the surrounding country. His wife was Marcia Ann Crawford, a native of Erie county, New York, and who died in January, 1897. in her seventy-eighth year. There were six children in their family: Corydon. Angelina, Sidney, Marion F., Myiel, and Myron, who died about 1848.
Marion F. Pierce was about six years old when his father died, and he never enjoyed many days of pleasant boyish recreation, nor yet had he his full complement of schooling. His mother was compelled to go into the hayfield and do a man's labor in order to maintain her family and home, and Marion was never behindhand in assisting her, and in each succeeding year did a larger share of the farm duties. He thus remained on the home farm until he was twenty-one, and on August 9, 1862, enlisted in Company A, Ninety-ninth Indiana Infantry, serving in the ranks for nearly three years, until his discharge after the close of the war, on June 16, 1865. He was in thirty battles altogether, taking part at Vicksburg, Jackson. Resaca, Lookout Mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Fort McAllister, was all through the campaign to the sea, and thence to Washington, where he participated in the grand review. He returned to Ross township and resumed farm work, remaining at home till his marriage, in 1867. In 1873 he engaged in the mercantile business at Merrillville, and has been in that for over twenty years, now ranking as the premier merchant and business man of the town.
    Mr. Pierce is one of the influential Democrats of the county, and has taken an active part in local affairs. He was trustee of Ross township for nine years, served as postmaster of Merrillville four years, and was in the internal revenue service five years under Cleveland's administration. He affiliates with the John Wheeler Post, G. A. R., at Crown Point, and in the Masonic Lodge No. 551, at Merrillville, has filled all the chairs but one, senior deacon.
    He was married, October 27, 1867, to Miss Maggie B. Randolph, daughter of Cyrus and Allie (Meade) Randolph. They are the parents of three children: Floyd M., Cora B. and Ralph M.

    In an analyzation of the character and life work of John S. Reiland we notice many of the salient traits which have marked the German nation for many centuries, the perseverance, reliability, energy and unconquerable determination to pursue a course that has been marked out, and it is these sterling qualities which have gained to Mr. Reiland success in life and made him one of the substantial and valued citizens of East Chicago. He is now living a retired life, for through his energy and capable management in former years he gained a comfortable competence that now enables him to put aside further business cares and to enjoy the fruits of his former toil.
    Mr. Reiland was born in Prussia, Germany, on the 17th of March, 1834. His paternal grandfather, Dominicus Reiland, was long in public life, holding office for twenty-four years in the city of Berlin and discharging his duties with a promptness and fidelity that won him the highest commendation and respect. His death occurred when he had attained an advanced age. His family numbered four children, including John Reiland, the father of our subject. He, too, was born in Germany, became a trader of that country and died in the fatherland at the age of seventy-three years. He had wedded Miss Mary Thomas, also a native of Germany and a daughter of Stephen Thomas, who was an active factor in industrial circles in the community in which he made his home, operating a distillery and twenty-four lime kilns. He died at the ripe old age of eighty-two years. In his family were four children, two sons and two daughters. Mr. and Mrs. John Reiland became the parents of five children, four sons and one daughter, but only two are now living, the sister of John S. being Annie, who is the widow of Mathias Jones and is living on the old Reiland homestead in Germany. The father died at the age of seventy-three years, while his wife passed away at the age of eighty-nine years.    Both were communicants in the Catholic church.
    John S. Reiland spent the days of his boyhood and youth in Germany, continuing a resident of that country until nineteen years of age, during which time he acquired a good practical education in the public schools. He also learned the carpenter's trade and was thus qualified to earn his living as an artisan. In the year 1854 he crossed the Atlantic to America, having heard very favorable reports concerning the new world and its business opportunities. He located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and there took out his naturalization papers, for he had made his way to this country to become a citizen of the United States. Believing that he might have still better business privileges and advantages in the middle west, he made his way to Illinois in 1861, settling in Peru, that state, in the month of October. There he lived for about five years or until 1866, since which time he has made his home in Lake county, Indiana. On removing to this locality he secured a tract of land and was engaged in farming until 1872, after which he became proprietor of a hotel in South Chicago, conducting the same until 1888. Since that time he has lived in East Chicago and is now enjoying a well merited rest from further business cares.
    On the 6th of August, 1856, Mr. Reiland was married, the lady of his choice being Miss Henrietta Meisenbach, a daughter of Jacob and Margaret Meisenbach. They became the parents of the following children: Jacob C, born September 8, 1857; John, born August 27, 1859; Mary, deceased, born January 17, 1862; Lena, born October 17, 1864; Antony, born February 17, 1866; Nicholas, born January 27, 1868; William, born November 1, 1869; Frank, born October 30, 1872; George, born August 18, 1876; Carrie, born August 6, 1881; Albert, born October 31, 1883. Of these Jacob is street commissioner and water inspector in East Chicago. He married Miss Mary Mahr, and they have three children, William, John and Mollie. John, who is a carpenter by trade, and is following his vocation in East Chicago, married Lena Smith and has one daughter, Pearlie. Mary died January 10, 1893, was the wife of John D. Williams and had one daughter. Pearl. Lena is the present wife of John D. Williams and they make their home in East Chicago. Antony, who is a bricklayer, is married and has three children, Grace, George and Henry. Nicholas follows the pursuit of boiler-making. William is serving as city judge of East Chicago. Frank is an electrical engineer of Cleveland, Ohio, and is married. George is an attorney of East Chicago. Carrie is the wife of A. C. Huber, and they have a daughter. Helen Ruth. Albert is now a student in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
    Mr. and Mrs. Reiland and their family are members of the Catholic church, and politically he is a Republican, deeply interested in the success of his party. He served as alderman for several years, and during that time exercised his official prerogatives in support of every measure that he believed would contribute to the general improvement and upbuilding. In 1903 he built a beautiful home in East Chicago at the corner of One Hundred and Forty-eighth street and Whiteoak avenue, where he is now living retired.
The hope that led him to leave his native land and seek a home in America has been more than realized. He found the opportunities he sought, which, by the way, are always open to the ambitious, energetic man, and making the best of these Mr. Reiland has steadily worked his way upward. He possessed the resolution, perseverance and reliability so characteristic of people of the fatherland, and his name is now enrolled among the best citizens of East Chicago.

    Andrew A. Sauerman, whose interests are thoroughly identified with those of Lake county so that he is at all times ready to lend his aid and co-operation to any movement calculated to benefit this section of the state or advance its substantial development, is a native son of Crown Point, his birth having occurred on the 226. of February, 1858. The family comes of German lineage and was founded in America by Nichols Sauerman, the grandfather of our subject, who was born in Germany and crossed the Atlantic to America. He possessed strong purpose and laudable ambition, and as the years progressed won a fair measure of prosperity. His son, John C. Sauerman, was born in Bavaria, Germany, and when fourteen years of age crossed the Atlantic, locating in Chicago. There he learned the harness-makers trade, and in 1851 he removed to Crown Point, where he engaged in business as a manufacturer of harness, continuing in that line for about twenty-four years or until 1875, when he put aside private business interests in order to perform public service, having been elected county treasurer of Lake county. He filled the office for four years and then retired to private life, spending his remaining days in the enjoyment of a well-earned and richly merited rest. He died in the year 1886, at the age of fifty-four years, and his value as a citizen and friend made his death the cause of general sorrow in his community. He was a life-long Republican, ever active in the local circles of the party, and in religious faith was a Lutheran. His wife bore the maiden name of Pauline Stroehlein and was likewise a native of Bavaria. Germany, where she was reared. She came to America in early womanhood and for many years she traveled life's journey as the wife of John C. Sauerman. Her death occurred in 1900, when she was seventy-one years of age. This worthy couple were the parents of four children, one of whom died when only a year old, while Flora died in 1888. Margaret T. is the widow of Dr. Henry Pettibone, of Crown Point.
    Andrew A. Sauerman, the second in order of birth of this family, was reared at Crown Point, attended the public schools there and after acquiring his elementary education attended college at Valparaiso, Indiana, the institution being known as the Northern Indiana Normal School. He was graduated in the business department and after returning to his home he followed the harness-maker's trade, which he had previously learned, following that pursuit until 1876. In that year he entered the office of the county recorder as deputy, acting in that capacity for two years, and in 1878 he became assistant cashier of the First National Bank, which position he filled until January, 1896, when he was elected cashier of the bank. This has been his connection with the institution to the present time, and the success of the bank is attributable in no small degree to his efficiency and fidelity. He is a popular cashier, his obliging manner and unfaltering courtesy being greatly appreciated by the patrons of the institution, while at the same time he is most loyal to the interests of the corporation which he represents. Since 1884 Mr. Sauerman has been a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank.
    In 1880 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Sauerman and Miss Antoinette Aurich, of Hancock, Michigan, a daughter of Michael and Mag-dalena (Diem) Aurich. She was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and was reared in Hancock, Michigan, and she died on the 10th of March. 1903, leaving two children: Harvey A., who is engaged in the drug business at Valparaiso; and Pauline M., who is attending school at Crown Point. Mr. Sauerman is a member of the Lutheran church, of which he is serving as a trustee, and he is well known throughout the county as a stanch Republican, having considerable influence in local political circles. He is a representative of our best type of American manhood and chivalry. By perseverance, determination and honorable effort he lias overthrown the obstacles which barred his path to success and reached the goal of prosperity, while his genuine worth, broad mind and public-spirited interest have made him a director of public thought and action.

    Orlando V. Servis, a prominent and well-known farmer of Section 25, Eagle Creek township, has made Lake county the scene of his quiet and successful endeavors ever since beginning his active career, and the township where he now resides is also his birthplace, so that sixty odd years of residence has made Lake county the most particular and dearest spot of the inhabited globe to him. The most strenuous part of Mr. Servis's life, however, was passed away from the peaceful limits of Lake county, in the daily marches and battles of the great Rebellion, in which he was one of the faithful soldiers of the Union and gave over four years' of conscientious service for its integrity.
    This veteran soldier and successful farmer was born in Eagle Creek township, Lake county, September 12, 1843, being the sixth of the eight children, four sons and four daughters, born to Orlando V. and Eliza (Flint) Servis, both natives of New York state. His father came to Lake county in the thirties, and located on a tract of land near Southeast Grove in Eagle Creek township, where he improved and developed a fine farm. He died at Hebron, in Porter county, when about seventy-five years old. He was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, for some years being the most influential supporter of his church. He was a Whig and Republican in politics, and held various local offices, such as township trustee, etc. His wife also died at Hebron at the age of seventy-five. Four of their children died when young.
    Mr. Servis was reared in his native township, receiving his schooling at Southeast Grove. In 1861 he enlisted in Company Er Ninth Indiana Infantry, and served two years as private and was then made first duty sergeant of his company. At the end of his first term of three years' enlistment he re-enlisted in the same company and served till the end of the war. He participated at the siege of Corinth, at Pittsburg Landing, Stone River and Chickamauga, and A\as with Sherman until wounded at Pine Mountain, Georgia, a gunshot wound keeping him in Hospital No. 1 at Nashville for three months, after which he was sent home for thirty days, and rejoined his regiment at Pulaski, Tennessee. He was under Thomas at the battles of Nashville and Franklin. He had also been wounded at the battle of Resaca, a cannon ball passing between his knees and inflicting a severe injury to his left knee. In all he served four years and two months, and received his honorable discharge at Camp Stanley, Texas, and was mustered out at Indianapolis, Indiana.
    On his return from the army he bought the farm of one hundred and sixty acres where he now resides, and where he carries on general farming, being one of the most progressive and successful men of his class in the vicinity. He affiliates with Burnham Post, G. A. R., at Lowell, and is a stanch Republican, although he never allows his name to be presented for office. He married, in 1870, Miss Nancy A. Pearce. a daughter of Michael and Mary J. Pearce, extended mention of which worthy couple Avill be found in the biography of their son, John Pearce. Mr. and Mrs. Servis have one child, Mabel, at home, who has completed the eighth grade of the public schools and has taken instruction in music.

    George B. Sheerer, a prominent attorney-at-law of Hammond, Indiana, has gained a successful position in the legal profession by his own merits. He is of the type of self-made men of whom this country is so proud. It is certainly no mean achievement for a boy to start to earning his own way at the age of eleven, afterwards as a result of his labor attend school and make up in an educational way what he had been retarded in getting when a boy, take a law course and gain admission to the bar, and then rise to a place of prominence among his fellow-practitioners in the great profession of law. Mr. Sheerer has been engaged in practice in Hammond since 1892, and is held in high esteem in the city and surrounding country.
Mr. Sheerer was born in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, December 24, 1866, a son of Benjamin F. and Elizabeth (Fritz) Sheerer. His paternal grandfather, John M. Sheerer, was the original Sheerer who came from southern Scotland to America, locating in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, where he spent most of his life. He was a canal and railroad contractor, and was a very wealthy man, at one time owning all the land on which the present city of Scranton stands. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He died at the age of eighty-eight years, having been a man of remarkable constitution and manly vigor. He was never sick a day in his life, never took a dose of medicine. When he was eighty-four years old he was physically very active. He died from the result of an injury, his back having been wrenched while he was mowing. His wife lived still longer, passing away at the age of ninety-two years. Her maiden name was Susan Stitely. They had a large family.
    Benjamin F. Sheerer, the father of George B. Sheerer, was a Baptist minister, and has made home missionary work the principal object of his endeavors all his life. He came out west to Illinois in an early day, and bought one hundred and fifty acres of land where the Chicago business center now is, but he afterwards sold out and went back east. He is now living at Waterton, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, being in his eighty-eighth year. His wife, Elizabeth (Fritz) Sheerer, is in her seventy-ninth year. Her father, Lucius Fritz, came from Germany when a young man and located in Pennsylvania, where he was a farmer. He had been a soldier in a German war, and was also in the war of 1812. He married Miss Mary Gorman, and they had eleven children. He died at the age of sixty-seven, and she when about seventy-three.
    Eight children were born to Benjamin F. and Elizabeth Sheerer, and the six now living are: Friend B., of Town Hill, Pennsylvania; Alfred N., of Burwick, Pennsylvania; Marion M., of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; George B., of Hammond; Matilda, the wife of R. Gregory, of Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania; and Millard, of Miners Mills, Pennsylvania. The two deceased children were Layton L., who was president of the Colfax Seminary, at Colfax, Washington; and Celinda, the wife of Rev. James R. Wilson, of Svracuse, New York.
George B. Sheerer lived at home in Waterton, Pennsylvania, until eleven years of age, and received his first schooling there. He then started out to make his own way, working during the summer at three dollars a month and board, and going to school during the winter. He taught school in the east for some time, beginning when he was seventeen years old. In 1884 he came west to Indiana and entered the normal school at Valparaiso, where he was graduated in the law department in 1889. In the same year he was admitted to the bar of the state. After his graduation he at once set to work to pay up his debts contracted in his efforts to school himself. In the fall of 1892 he opened his office for practice in Hammond, and has enjoyed an increasing patronage to the present time.
    November 16, 1892, Mr. Sheerer married Miss May E. Wertman, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Wertman. They have two children, Gertrude and Mildred. Mrs. Sheerer is a member of the Baptist church. They reside at 50 Warren avenue, where he built a good home in 1900. Mr. Sheerer affiliates with the Calumet Lodge No. 601, I. O. O. F., and with Hammond Lodge No. 210, K. of P. He is independent in voting, but his general political cleavage is Democratic. He is treasurer of the board of education, and has been a member of the board for the past six years.

    Varied and extensive business interests have claimed the attention, energy and business foresight of Fred J. Smith, who is now the senior member of the firm of Smith & Bader, real estate and land agents of Whiting. He is also identified with other financial and commercial interests here, and his labors have contributed in no small degree to the upbuilding of the town, for the advancement of any community is dependent in large measure upon its business men. Mr. Smith is a native son of Indiana, his birth having occurred in LaPorte county on the 25th of March, 1862.
    His father, Louis Smith, was born in Europe, and when a young man crossed the Atlantic to the new world. He married Miss Sophia Hider, who was also of European birth, but was brought to the new world when but two years old. Mr.'and Mrs. Louis Smith became residents of LaPorte county, Indiana, at an early period in the development of that portion of the state, and the subject of this review is their eldest son and second child. He was reared under the parental roof and is indebted to the public schools of LaPorte, Indiana, for the educational privileges he enjoyed. After putting aside his text books he learned the baker's trade and subsequently, in 1890, he cai*ie to Whiting, where he became a member of the firm of Smith & Bader as proprietors of a bakery and restaurant. While in that business they began purchasing real estate and laid out several additions to the town, the fiist being what is known as the Smith & Bader Addition. They afterward laid out the Sheridan Park addition, and in this way have contributed much to the improvement and substantial upbuilding of the place. They organized the Whiting Land Company, formed under the state laws of Indiana, Mr. Smith becoming its president. This company now owns and controls much of the best residence property of Whiting in the western part of the city. This has been greatly improved, involving the investment of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The first addition has all been sold. Sheridan Park has also been improved, some of the best streets of the city have been laid there and many of the finest residences have been there built. The lots are forty feet front, and some of the houses have been erected at a cost of forty-five hundred dollars. Mr. Smith has perhaps been more closely identified with the upbuilding and improvement of Whiting than any other man, and while conducting his private business affairs he has also contributed in full measure to the general welfare. He is one of the directors of the First National Bank and is now treasurer of the Petrolene, Paint & Roofing Company of Whiting. He is continually studying so as to introduce improved methods for the benefit of the town, and is now president of the Business Men's Association.
    In 1888 Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Helen Maas, and to them have been born three sons, Russell, Walter and Lawrence. In his political views Mr. Smith is a Democrat and was one of the first aldermen of Whiting and one of the first trustees of the town after its organization. He has also been president of the board of education, and he is a trustee of the Lutheran church, in which he holds membership. He belongs to the little group of distinctively representative business men who have been the pioneers in inaugurating and building up the chief industries of this section of the country. He early had the sagacity and prescience to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this great and growing city, and, acting in accordance with the dictates of his faith and judgment, he has garnered in the fullness of time the generous harvest which is the just recompense of indomitable industry, spotless integrity and marvelous enterprise. He is now connected with many extensive and important business interests.

    For thirty-three years Dr. Henry P. Swartz was engaged in the practice of medicine and the conduct of a drug store at Crown Point, and is now closely and actively identified with business interests as president of the Commercial Bank. Thus, for many years he has been one of the forceful and honored factors in professional and financial circles, and his influence has not been a minor element in public affairs in northwestern Indiana. He has attained to prominence through the inherent force of his character, the exercise of his native talent and the utilization of surrounding opportunities, and he has become a capitalist whose business career has excited the admiration and won the respect of his contemporaries.
Dr. Swartz was born at Spring Mills, Center county, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1841. The family is of German lineage and was founded in America by the grandfather of Dr. Swartz, who settled in the Keystone state. There the father, Jacob Swartz, was born and reared, and by occupation he became a stonemason. He also followed farming and on leaving the east he removed to DeKalb county, Illinois, where he worked at farming. He also became the owner of a tract of land and carried on general agricultural pursuits. Politically he was a Democrat, and was a member of the Lutheran church. His death occurred when he was sixty-three years of age.    His wife, who bore the maiden name of Catherine Mosser, was also a native of Pennsylvania and died in Freeport, Illinois, in January, 1903, in her eighty-eighth year. They were the parents of ten children, three daughters and seven sons, all of whom reached adult age, and with the exception of the eldest, who died at the age of sixty-six years, all are yet living.
    Dr. Swartz is the third child and third son of the family, and was reared in the place of his nativity until thirteen years of age, during which time he attended the public schools of Pennsylvania. On going to Illinois he became a student in the public schools of that state and assisted his father in farm work until twenty years of age. August 4, 1861, he enlisted as a member of Company A, Fifty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, becoming a private in the ranks of the Union army, with which he served until the close of the war. In the meantime he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment in 1863, and thus as an honored veteran he continued with the boys in blue. He was promoted to the position of commissary sergeant of his regiment, and after his re-enlistment he was made quartermaster, but this position was conferred upon him so near the close of the war that he was mustered out as commissary sergeant. He participated in all of the battles with Sherman's forces and also made the celebrated march to the sea. His regiment brought the prisoners from Ft. Donelson to Chicago and returned by way of Paducah, Kentucky, and Shiloh. Mr. Swartz was with the regiment at the grand review in Washington, D. C, the most celebrated military pageant ever seen on the western hemisphere, and in July, 1865, he received an honorable discharge. At the battle of Shiloh Dr. Swartz was severely wounded, being shot through the body by a minie ball. This occurred in April, 1862, and October had arrived ere he was able to rejoin his regiment at Corinth. The succeeding morning he entered the battle at that place and was slightly wounded on the right side, which caused him to remain for four weeks longer in the hospital.
    When the country no longer needed his services Dr. Swartz took up his residence in Freeport, Illinois, and pursued a two years' course of study in Rush Medical College of Chicago. He then engaged in the drug business as a clerk for his brother in Freeport, Illinois, where he remained until 1871, when in the month of December of that year he located in Crown Point, Indiana. Here he established a drug store, which he conducted in connection with the practice of medicine.    He has here been engaged in practice for more than thirty-two years and has always maintained a position in the foremost ranks of the representatives of the medical fraternity in this portion of the state. Reading, experience and observation have continually broadened his knowledge and kept him in touch with the progress of the times. Dr. Swartz is also president of the Commercial Bank of Crown Point, and as chief executive .officer of the institution his sound judgment and business ability are frequently called into use and have contributed in large measure to the successful conduct of the institution.
In 1868 Dr. Swartz was united in marriage to Miss Mary Frances Bell, a daughter of William and Mary (Atkins) Bell. She was born in Elmira, New York, and during her infancy her mother died so that she was reared by an aunt, Mrs. Kimball, of Freeport, Illinois. She was a graduate of the high school there and pursued a literary course at Aurora, Illinois. She was afterward employed in the postoffice department at Freeport, Illinois, by her uncle, General S. T. Atkins. To Mr. and Mrs. Swartz have been born four children: Carrie Belle, at home; Harry D., who is assisting his father in the drug store; Mamie G., the wife of Walter I. Coble, of Chicago: and Catherine C, the wife of Alonzo D. Shoup, of Chicago.
Dr. Swartz is a charter member of Lake Lodge No. 152. F. & A. M., and has been a life-long Republican. He served as township trustee for n. number of years, was president of the Commercial Club for two years and has taken an active interest in all public matters social, political and educational. He is a man of distinct and forceful individuality, of broad mentality and most mature judgment, and has left and is ieaving his impress upon professional and financial interests in northwestern Indiana. He has contributed to the advancement of the general welfare and prosperity of the city in which he makes his home, and at the same time has so conducted his private business interests as to win gratifying success.

    D. H. Thompson, of section 26, Center township, has been a prominent Lake county farmer for the past twenty-five years, has done his share in the work of progress and development of the county's material, social, intellectual and moral affairs, and in all the relations of a very busy and successful life has been found true to his best ideals and has retained the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.
    Mr. Thompson was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, August 4, 1846. His father, Anthony Thompson, was a native of Ireland, but his grandparents were born in Scotland. He came over to America when seventeen years old and followed the occupation of farming in Pennsylvania during the rest of his life. He was married in the same state to Rebecca McClure, whose father was one of the first school teachers in western Pennsylvania. She died at the age of sixty-seven, having been the mother of twelve children, of whom D. H. is the youngest, and his oldest brother is still living in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, past the age of eighty.
    Mr. D. H. Thompson was reared in his native county, and obtained his early literary training in the country schools, completing his education in the Iron City School at Pittsburg. In 1863. when seventeen years old, he enlisted in Company D, Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania Militia, and served as a private for sixty days during the invasion of the southern forces into the state. He then returned home and for a number of years followed the occupations of farming, carpentering and bridge-building in Pennsylvania. In March, 1879, he came out to Lake county, Indiana, and entered upon his career as farmer in Center township. He has a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and its well improved and highly cultivated acres are valuable in themselves and return large profits from their skilful culture under the direction of Mr. Thompson.
He is a firm adherent of the Republican party in matters of national importance, but pays little attention to the party tag affixed to the candidate for local office. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church and is serving as treasurer of the same.
    March 25, 1879, Mr. Thompson married Miss Margaret A. McKnight, who was born December 11, 1847, in Porter county, Indiana, near the Lake county line, and was reared for the most part in Lake county. She had four brothers in the war of the Rebellion, one of whom was killed at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain and another died in the hospital. Mr. Thompson also had a brother John, who served in the Seventh Kansas Regiment during the war. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have three children living: Samuel A., James W. and William R. Samuel resides with his parents and is an agriculturist. James W., at Charlottsville, Indiana, and a telegrapher on the Pan Handle Railroad, was educated in the normal college at Valparaiso. William R., the youngest, is at home.
    Mrs. Thompson's parents are both deceased; her father died aged eighty-three, and mother about seventy-five. They were members of the Reformed Presbyterian church. Mrs. Thompson is a member of the United Presbyterian church.   Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are citizens who are held in high esteem.

    George W. Young, a prominent farmer on section 32, Ross township, has lived in Lake county most of his life. He is almost a native son of the county since he was born very close to the line between this and Porter county. Outside of eleven years spent in business in Chicago., he has devoted most of his active years to farming, with such success that he is numbered among the representative men of that class in this section of Lake county. He is a man of ability in whatever enterprise he undertakes, and has more than once been influential in community affairs, having a public-spirited desire to further the material and social welfare of the county which has so long been his home.
He was born just across the line in Porter county, Indiana, February 25, 1852, a son of D. L. and Lovina (Guernsey) Young, the former ?. native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Canada, whence she came to Lake county in young womanhood. His father came to Lake county about 1850, and died here in his sixty-second year. He followed the. occupations of farming, carrying the mail and keeping hotel in Hobart. He was a well known old citizen, both of Lake arid Porter counties, owning land in both counties. He carried the mail between Lake station and Crown Point. He was a life-long Republican. His ancestors were German. His first wife died at the age of thirty, having been the mother of two daughters and four sons, of whom four died young. George W., the only living son, has a sister, Emma L.. wife of Henry Cunningham. Mr. D. L. Young, by his second marriage, had three children, and the two living are D. L. and Malida. the latter the wife of Charles Miller.
    Mr. Young was reared and educated in Lake and Porter counties, and for several years after taking up active work remained at home assisting his father on the farm. In 1876, after his marriage, he went to Chicago, where for eleven years he was engaged in the ice business, being located on Twelfth street near Union. He sold out in 1887 and returned to Lake county, where he has since followed farming. He has a well-improved farm of two hundred and fifty acres, and he raises general products, stock, and does dairying, making it all a very profitable enterprise.
    Mr. Young has been a life-long Republican and cast his vote for Hayes, and at one time held the office of supervisor of the township. He is a member, at Hobart, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 333, and the Independent Order of Foresters, No. 141, at Hobart.
    He married, in 1876, Miss Susan S. Cunningham, who died October 3, 1890, having been the mother of six children: Carrie L.; George A.; Del-bert E.; Harry L.; Louie L.; and Joseph W., deceased. The three eldest were born in Chicago, and the others in Lake county. Mr. Young was married in Lake county, Indiana, in 1892, to Mrs. O. M. Young, and one son was born, Isaac Lane, aged eleven, in the fourth grade. Mrs. Yonng is a native of Ohio, born in 1855 and was reared in Ohio and Indiana and educated in the latter state