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From the "Encyclopedia of Genealogy and Biography of Lake County, Indiana" from 1834-1904
Submitted by K. Torp and B. Ziegenmeyer
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The prosperity of any city or locality depends upon its commercial and industrial activity, and the early upbuilders of a town are they who successfully conduct business enterprises. A representative of this class is Albert C. Huber, who is now engaged in dealing in groceries, market supplies and coal in East Chicago. He is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Seneca county, that state, on the 14th of February, 1874. Little is known concerning the ancestral history of the family save that the Hubers are of German lineage. The paternal grandfather spent his entire life in Germany, and in that country Michael Huber, the father of Albert C, was born, the place of his nativity being Luxemburg. In early life he learned the wagon-builder's trade and about 1830 he came to America, locating in Berwick, Seneca county, Ohio, where he was engaged in wagon building. There he died in the year 1876. His wife survived him until January 13, 1903, and passed away at the ripe old age of seventy-four years. Both were communicants of the Catholic church. Mrs. Michael Huber, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Sachas, was also a native of Luxembourg, Germany, and was a daughter of Nicholas Sachas, who was born in Germany and came to the United States in 1830 with a small colony of people that established a settlement in Seneca county, Ohio. He was a carpenter and bridge builder, and in Seneca county spent his remaining days, departing this life at an advanced age. In his family were five children.
To Mr. and Mrs. Michael Huber were born ten children, five sons and five daughters, of whom five are yet living, namely: Elizabeth A., a resident of Pullman, Illinois; Mary, who is the wife of D. H. Chapman, of Kensington, Illinois; Michael W., who is living in Austin, a suburb of Chicago; Ida, the widow of Thornton Berry, and now of Pullman, Illinois; and Albert C, of this review.
Albert C. Huber resided in Seneca county, Ohio, until sixteen years of age and in his boyhood days attended the parochial and public schools there. When nineteen years of age he began learning the tinsmith's trade, which he followed continuously until 1899. He then turned his attention to the grocery business in East Chicago, forming a partnership with Thornton Berry under the firm style of Huber, Berry & Company. This relationship was maintained until 1902, when Mr. Berry died, and since that time the business has been conducted, under the firm style of A. C. Huber & Company, his sister Elizabeth becoming his partner. He has a well appointed grocery store, and in addition also conducts a meat market. The tasteful arrangement and neat appearance of the store secures a good patronage, and Mr. Huber is always able to retain his customers because of his honorable business methods. He is likewise connected with the Lake Coal Company as a partner. In 1903 he established the Empire restaurant in East Chicago, but later sold out to Leo McCormack.
On the 12th of February, 1901, Mr. Huber was united in marriage to Miss Caroline M. Reiland, a daughter of John S. and Henrietta (Meisenbach) Reiland. They have one daughter, Helen Ruth Huber. The parents hold membership in the Catholic church, and fraternally he is associated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the Royal League. Politically he is a Republican, having firm faith in the principles of the party as set forth in its platform. He is now serving as president of the board of education in East Chicago and is a citizen whose interest in the welfare of the town is deep and sincere and is manifested by active co-operation in many movements for the general good. He is yet a young man, but has already attained creditable success through honorable effort, untiring industry and capable management, while in private life he has gained that warm personal regard which arises from true nobility of character, deference for the opinion of others' kindness and geniality.
In the German element of her citizenship Lake county has found a factor of uplift and progress toward substantial ideals such as no other race has brought to the county, and this history would lack one of its most essential parts should the work and lives of the German-Americans be neglected. Dr. Gromann, whose professional career has made him so familiar to numerous families of the county, is a native of the little province of Lippe-Detmold, Germany, where he was born December 2, 1823. He is the younger of two children born to Philip and Dorothea (Witte) Gromann, and is the only survivor of the family. The father was born in the same province in 1794 and died in 1867. He was a brick-maker by trade, and was a successful man throughout his life. He and his wife were Lutherans.
Dr. Gromann was reared in his native land to the age of twenty-five years. He was formerly a druggist by occupation, having taken a practical course in a store under an experienced pharmacist. In 1849 he concluded to come to America. He sailed from Bremerhaven, being six weeks on the voyage to New York, and from the latter city he went to Chicago, thence to Dalton, Illinois, where he and his brother-in-law purchased land and remained until the spring of 1853. Then the Doctor came to Hanover township, Lake county, and purchased eighty acres of raw land. His first residence there was a log cabin which he himself built, and he has seen deer and wolves roaming about in this county. In fact, he one day killed two deer within a half an hour, shooting them with a shotgun, and also shot a bear from the window of his cabin. It was his intention to follow farming as his permanent occupation, but his health was poor and he took up the study of medicine. He went to Chicago and entered the office of Dr. Julius Ullrich, with whom he carried on his studies, and he later came to Hanover township and began the medical practice which he has continued in this county for half a century. He is a genial and cordial gentleman and well preserved for his years, and his career has been such as to win him esteem in all circles. Dr. Gromann has been married three times. His first wife was Miss Caroline Kluckhohm. They became affianced in Germany, but were married in Chicago. Eleven children, six sons and five daughters, were born of this union, and nine are living, as follows: Wilhelmina, the eldest; Henry, of Crown Point; August, a physician in Iowa; Sophia and Caroline, twins, both wives of ministers; Charles; Louise; Fred; Anna. The mother of this family died in 1869, and Dr. Gromann's second wife was Miss Sophia Ortmeyer. Five children, one son and four daughters, were born of this union, and the three living are: Paulina, a professional nurse; Julia, wife of George Piepho, a prosperous farmer in Hanover township; and Dora, the youngest. This second wife passed away on February 5, 1897. On March 20, 1901, Dr. Gromann married Mrs. Charlotte (Bernhardt) Sauer, who was born
near the city of Wiesbaden, Germany, November 1, 1837, being a daughter of Jacob and Philopena (Weltert) Bernhardt. There were nine children in the Bernhardt family, but only two are living, and Mrs. Gromann is the only one in America. She was educated in her native land, and is a Lutheran in religion. Her first marriage took place in Germany. In 1867 she came to America, and from Cincinnati later moved to Chicago. Mrs. Gromann is a genial and cordial lady, and with such a jovial companion as the jolly Doctor their home is truly a happy one. Their cosy, comfortable home is open to all their friends, and good cheer and congenial company are always to be found there.
Dr. Gromann is a stalwart Republican, and has supported the candidates of the G. O. P. since casting his first vote. Officially he was elected to the office of township trustee and served as such for nine years, during which period he erected the schoolhouse in Brunswick, and both before and since the cause of education has always found in him a true friend. He was formerly a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his good wife are members of the German Methodist church society, and they are well known and highly esteemed in their home town of Brunswick and also throughout the neighborhood.
The Germans form one of the most prosperous elements of state or nation, and are especially noteworthy for the part they have played in the substantial and enduring development of Lake county. Mr. Krudup was born in Hanover township, Lake county, April 19, 1870, and is the youngest of the seven children, four sons and three daughters, born to Herman H. and Anna Elizabeth (Wilke) Krudup. There are four of the children still living. The eldest, Johanna, is the widow of John H. Meyer and a resident of West Creek township. Herman, who is married, is a salesman in a wholesale grocery house of Chicago. William F., married, is a dealer in harness and hardware at Gibson City, Illinois. And John is the youngest.
Herman H. Krudup, the father, was a native of Germany, born in 1828. He was a farmer by occupation. He was married in Germany and about 1858 he came to America, arriving at New Orleans and making the trip up the Mississippi and the Ohio to Cincinnati, being two months and six days on the water. When he came to Indiana he began as a farmer. He purchased eighty acres of land, going in debt for part of it, and by diligence he not only paid for it, but added to his property until he had one hundred and sixty-seven acres, and fifteen acres of timber-land. This land is now the property of Mr. John Krudup. The father was a Republican in politics. The mother was a native of Prussia, Germany, born in 1832, and her death occurred in 1892.
Mr. Krudup was reared to the life of a farmer, and received his education in the common schools of the county, personal application being a principal factor in his success from the beginning of his career. At the age of twenty-one he began without capital, and at the age of twenty-seven he received his share of the estate. He has been careful and frugal, and has accumulated a good property and become well known for his effective business management. In March, 1904, he purchased the stock of merchandise of Hon. John Beckman, at Brunswick. This was a well established general merchandise business, the stock consisting of dry-goods, shoes, staple and fancy groceries, queensware and other general goods. Mr. Krudup is a young and progressive business man, affable and genial, and his integrity and character and reputation for honesty and fair dealing are well known throughout his native community, where the people have all confidence in him, and his business career begun under such favorable auspices is certain to lead to success.
March 17, 1898, Mr. Krudup married Miss Carrie Russell, and two daughters have been born to them, Emma M. and Edna J. Mrs. Krudup was born in Hanover township, this county, March 17, 1871, and was reared in the county and educated in the common schools. She is a daughter of Christopher and Johanna Russell, the former now deceased, and both her parents were born in Germany.
Mr. Krudup is a stalwart Republican, having cast his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison, and having supported each candidate since. He and his wife are church members and are young people who stand high in the estimation of all who know them.
The German-American has played a conspicuous part in the affairs of this nation, and Lake county has been especially benefited by their presence and activity in the important industries and social and public affairs. As a class these people have been noted for their pluck, industry and accumulative methods, and their love for home and community makes them citizens par excellence.
Mr. Beckman is a man who needs no introduction to the citizens of Lake county in mercantile and political circles. He is a native of Hanover township, Lake county, where he was born October 26, 1856. He is the eldest of nine children, three sons and six daughters, born to Herman C. and Elizabeth (Fink) Beckman, and eight of them are still living. Gesina M. is the wife of Dr. A. Groman, of Odebolt, Iowa, and their son, Herman C, is a graduate, with honors, in the class of 1904 from Yale University; Mrs. Groman was educated in the common schools and by individual study and application. Elizabeth K. is the wife of William H. Rohe, a banker and druggist of Crete, Illinois. Anna M. is the wife of H. H. Gansbergen, a music publisher, with Root and Company of Chicago. Hermina, a lady of charming and lovely character and disposition, is a bookkeeper with E. F. Root and Son of Chicago. Margaret J. is the wife of Charles J. Murphy, who is a farmer and stock dealer. Herman C, who is married and a resident of Chicago, is in the employ of the DeLaval Separator Company. B. Frederick, who is married and a resident of Red Oak, Iowa, is road master of the C, B. & O. Railroad.
Father Beckman was born in Hanover, Germany, June 3, 1822, and died July 5, 1894. He was reared to young manhood in his native land, and gained his education by personal application and by reading the newspapers. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and in the later years of his life he corresponded for some agricultural papers. He bade adieu to his native land and came to America to cast in his lot among a strange people and with not a great deal of cash on hand. It was about 1846 when he came to New York, and he remained there until 1856. He spent a short time in South Carolina, and in May, 1856, he arrived in Lake county. He began the mercantile business at Hanover Center, and also the breeding of high-grade cattle. Most of his life in Lake county was spent in merchandising. He was an ardent Republican, and prior to the formation of that party was a Whig, and was a warm admirer of Lincoln, Blaine and Garfield. Fraternally he was a member of the Masons and the Odd Fellows. His wife and
the mother of Mr. Beckman was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, August 14, 1835, and she died in July, 1879.
Mr. Beckman was reared and educated in his native county of Lake. He was educated in the common schools and at T. H. Ball's Institute and at Bryant and Stratton's Business College. His early life was spent on the farm. Mr. Beckman is one of the cordial gentlemen who are popular with both the masses and the classes, and by his courtesy and genial manner he has won the confidence of the people of Lake county, and has played a conspicuous part in the political arena.
November 3, 1880, he married Miss Mary A. Echterling, and twelve children have been born to them, six of whom are living. The eldest, John F., is at the present writing in the model dairy of the agricultural department of the World's Fair at St. Louis. He was educated in the common schools and at Crown Point, and took four years at Purdue University, graduating in the class of 1904. August C. is a civil engineer in northern Wisconsin in the employ of the C. & N. W. Railroad. He was also educated at Purdue University, graduating in 1904. Elenora M. is in the public schools, as are also Marie T. and Frederick Herman, and William Edgar is the youngest of the family.
Mrs. Beckman was born in the province of Westphalia, Germany, May 14, 1858, being a daughter of Frederick and Mary A. (Cloidt) Echterling. She was educated in the German and English languages, and is a member of the Roman Catholic church. Mr. Beckman has always espoused the principles of the Republican party, and cast his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield.
Mr. Beckman is a lover of his county, state and nation, and has always had the good of his county at heart. He received the nomination for the office of county auditor in 1892, but was defeated by the Democratic landslide of that year. In 1900 he was elected joint representative of Lake county, and each year since, including the present year, has been chosen to that important office. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters and also of the Knights of Pythias. He is now to a great extent retired from business. We are pleased to present this brief text of this worthy gentleman who has spent his entire life in Lake county, to form an enduring record in the Encyclopedia of Genealogy of Lake county.
Fred W. Buckley, formerly manager for the Wilbur Lumber Company of Lowell, was born in Cedar Creek township, Lake county, Indiana, March 2, 1878, his parents being William and Elizabeth (Darst) Buckley, who were early settlers of Lake county. The father is now living a retired life in Lowell.
Upon the home farm Fred W. Buckley spent the first sixteen years of his life, and during that period acquired his education in the public schools, which he attended during the winter months. He then began work for the Lowell Lumber Company, John E. Burns being the owner of the yards, and in that employ Mr. Buckley remained until May 5, 1898, when the yard was sold to the Wilbur Lumber Company, Mr. Buckley continuing there until February, 1901. He then resigned and joined his former employer, Mr. Burns, in Chicago, and continued with him for three months, at the end of which time he was offered the management of the Wilbur Lumber Company. He was then but twenty-two years of age, but he had demonstrated his superior ability, his thorough understanding of the lumber trade and his trustworthiness, and thus his strong qualities gained him a very desirable position, which he held for three years, at the end of which time he again resigned to accept a better position offered by the Sheridan Brick Works. Brazil, Indiana.
On the 19th of July. 1900, Mr. Buckley was united in marriage to Miss Lotus Metcalf, who died on the 15th of November, 1901. He is a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity at Lowell and is a man well known in Lake county, where he has a large circle of friends, among whom he is very popular, owing to his genial disposition, unfaltering courtesy and high personal worth.
Byron M. Cheney, who is engaged in the practice of law and occupies the position of justice of the peace in East Chicago, ranks among the representative residents of that place, where he has so directed his energies as to win substantial success in business and at the same time gain the respect and confidence of those with whom he has been associated. As a public official he has made a creditable record, his course being marked by the utmost fidelity to duty, while his decisions are characterized by strict impartiality and fairness.
Mr. Cheney is a native son of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Jerseyville, Jersey county, on the 2nd of September, 1840. He comes of a family of English lineage and his ancestors were among the passengers of the Mayflower, who made the first settlement in New England. The paternal grandfather, Prentiss Dana Cheney, was a native of Vermont and a physician by profession. He served his country in the war of 1812, participating in the battle of Lake Champlain, and aided largely in the care of the wounded. He was twice married, first wedding Miss Murray, by whom he had five children, while his second wife was a Miss Goodell. Dr. Cheney reached a very advanced age, dying full of years and honors.
Murray Cheney, son of Dr. Prentiss D. Cheney, was born in the Green Mountain state and became a member of the bar. Establishing his home in Illinois, he engaged in the practice of law in Jersey county and also held the office of sheriff there for two terms. It was in the year 1833 that he left his home in New England for the central west, taking up his abode at what was then called Hickory Grove, but is now the site of Jerseyville. He afterward entered some land in Sangamon county, Illinois, in 1852, and this is still in possession of his children. In 1857 he removed to that county, locating upon his farm (the Blue Mound) in Talkington township, near Springfield, where he carried on agricultural pursuits until the fall of 1861. He then removed to Virden, Illinois, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1885, when he was seventy-six years of age. In early manhood he wedded Miss Caroline Pickett, also a native of Vermont and a daughter of Gilead Pickett, who was born in the same state and was of English lineage. He was a blacksmith by trade, served his country in the war of 1812 and died when well advanced in years. In his family were seven children, including Mrs. Cheney, who survived her husband for a long period and passed away on the 6th of July, 1903. when more than ninety years of age. Both were members of the Missionary Baptist church and Mr. Cheney had served his country as a soldier in the Mexican war. They were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters, of whom five are now living: Gilead P., a resident of Jerseyville, Illinois; Byron M.; Martha C, the wife of Oliver S. Green, of Chicago, Illinois: John George, of Lyons, Colorado; and William, of Virden, Illinois.
Judge Byron M. Cheney spent the first fifteen years of his life in Jerseyville, Illinois, and from the age of six years attended the public schools. Later he worked upon a farm and afterward engaged in railroad contracting and levee work on the Illinois river. In 1888 he arrived in East Chicago and established a coal and lime yard. The following year he was elected justice of the peace and has continuously filled the position since that time, with the exception of one term. As a business man he has ever been found reliable and trustworthy, manifesting also the progressive spirit of the age. and in office he is known for his fearless performance of his duty and his promptness and fidelity in the discharge of every task which devolves upon him.
On the 22nd of February, 1865, occurred the marriage of Judge Cheney and Miss Sarah Beatty, a daughter of Francis and Jane Beatty, but in the following March the Judge was called upon to mourn the loss of his young wife. Several years later he married Miss Mary Van Zandt, a daughter of John and Anna (Barber) Van Zandt. Mrs. Cheney's grandfather. John Van Zandt, was in the war of the Revolution, having entered the ranks when only 12 years of age. She is a member of the Methodist church and an estimable lady who, like her husband, shares in the warm regard of her many friends. Judge Cheney belongs to the Masonic fraternity and has attained the Royal Arch degree. Politically he is a Republican, earnest in his advocacy of the principles of the party, and he served as school trustee in Sangamon county, Illinois, for a long period. He and his wife now reside at No. 4815 Olcott avenue in East Chicago, where he owns a good home, and in addition to this he has two other desirable lots in East Chicago, and a part of the old homestead farm in Sangamon county. Illinois. His life has been one of continuous activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of labor; and today he is numbered among the substantial citizens of the county. His interests are thoroughly identified with those of the middle west and at all times he is ready to lend his aid and co-operation to any movement calculated to benefit this section of the country or advance its wonderful development.
Among the good and worthy citizens of West Creek township is Mr. C. J. Holmes, who is held in high esteem by all who know him. His active career in northern Indiana has extended over a period of nearly thirty years, and has been one of absorbing industry and public-spirited citizenship, such as to eventuate in material prosperity and a position of honor among his fellow citizens. He hails from the little kingdom of Sweden, where he was born June 11, 1854, being the third in a family of eight children, two sons and six daughters, born to John and Anna (Swanson) Johnson. The reason that Mr. Holmes has a name so different from that of his parents is that, while he was serving as a soldier in the Swedish army, his number was 313, the corresponding name to which number was Charles J. Holmes, and by this name thus applied he has been known ever since. He has a sister and a brother yet living, his sister, Christine, older than himself, being the wife of Oscar Petersen, a carpenter and joiner residing in Sweden, and his brother Peter being on a ranch at Salina, Kansas. The father of this family passed his life in Sweden, and was a shoemaker by trade. He also served in the military of his country. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran church, and they are now both deceased.
Mr. Holmes was born in the province of Smolen, and received his education in the schools of his native land. He learned the trade of shoemaker from his father, and remained with his parents until he was twenty-one years old. At that age he concluded to come to America to better his fortune, and on April 28, 1875, he sailed from Gothenburg and landed in Philadelphia with just seven dollars in cash capital to support him while he gained a start in a foreign land. From Philadelphia he came to Chicago, and three weeks later went to an uncle of his in Porter county, Indiana, where a farmer procured his services at a wage of thirteen dollars a month. After three months he hired out to another farmer at seventy-five dollars a year, and worked for this employer for eighteen months. During the next eighteen months he received twenty-one dollars a month, and his prosperity was soon assured, for his diligence and intelligent management of all the interests intrusted to his charge soon won him the confidence of all with whom he had dealings, and he was before long on the independent road to success.
On October 5, 1881, he wedded an estimable lady, Miss Emma Ryden, and eight children were born of this marriage, seven of them being living, as follows: Oliver, who received his diploma from the public schools on February 19, 1898, and was later graduated from the business college at North Park, Chicago, and the academy at the same locality, is now engaged as a clerk in one of the banks of Mr. Murray Turner at Hammond; Emily, who received her diploma of graduation from the public schools on May 9, 1902,. at present has charge of her fathers home; Grace is now in the first year of the high school; Harry graduated from the common schools on May 12, 1904, when only thirteen years of age; George is in the eighth grade of school work; Bertha is in the sixth grade; and Esther is in the third grade.
Mrs. Holmes was born in Smolen, Sweden, March 27, 1863, being a daughter of Andrew and Lovisa (Johnson) Swanson, both of whom are now living in Porter county, Indiana, and one sister is also living. Her parents are both Lutherans, and her father had served in the Swedish army. She was eight years of age when she accompanied her parents to America, the home being established in Chesterton, Porter county. She was educated in both the Swedish and English languages. She was a woman of noble character and an able assistant to her husband in the rearing of her children and the caring for the home. Her disposition was all gentleness and kindliness toward all, and she made friends wherever she went. She was a member of the Lutheran church at Chesterton. This good woman passed away from the world and her sorrowing family on February 24, 1901, and her remains are interred in the Chesterton cemetery. She was a loving and affectionate wife and mother, and her admonitions and advice to her children have sunk deeply and permanently into their hearts and become part and parcel of their worthy characters. Mr. Holmes is now living in West Creek township with his children around him, and his noble daughter Emily assumes complete management of the home. Too much cannot be said of this good man and worthy citizen of West Creek township, and he has friends by the score. Ever since coming to this country and assuming the active duties of citizenship he has been a stanch upholder of Republican principles. He and the older children are members of the Lutheran church.
LeGrand T. Meyer, who has been a leading attorney at law in Hammond for over ten years, is a life-long resident of Lake county, and has worked out his successful career almost within call of his first home. He has been a member of the bar of the county for the past fifteen years, but did not at once engage in active practice, continuing his legal and literary studies until his graduation in 1892. He has for several years been prominent in the business as well as professional activity of the city, and is to be counted among the truly representative and public-spirited citizenship of Hammond.
Mr. Meyer was born in Crown Point, Indiana, November 22, 1867. His father, John H. Meyer, was born in Hanover, Germany, son of a lifelong resident of that province. He was reared in Germany, and in 1855 emigrated to America. He lived in Brunswick, Indiana, until his enlistment, in 1861, in Company B, Twentieth Indiana Infantry, with which he served three and a half years as a private. He was wounded at the second day of Gettysburg, and sent to the hospital, but afterward rejoined his regiment. He was also in the second battle of Bull Run, at Chancellorsville, and throughout the hard Wilderness campaign. After the war he conducted a general store at Crown Point for a number of years, and then retired to his farm at Cedar Lake. John H. Meyer, the father, died on September 20, 1904, after a few days' illness from pneumonia, and on September 23, 1904, was buried in the family lot in Crown Point by a large gathering of his old comrades and neighbors. In politics he was an uncompromising Democrat, and his wife is a member of the Methodist church. He married Margaret E. Dittmer, who was born in Savannah, Georgia, a daughter of William Henry and Sarah Elizabeth (Carr) Dittmer. Her father came from Germany and settled at Savannah before the Civil war. He owned considerable real estate there, was a prosperous merchant, and erected grist mills in various localities. In 1857 he came to Lake county, Indiana, and bought a farm at Cedar Lake, but afterward returned to Savannah, where he died at the age of sixty-six. Mr. and Mrs. John H. Meyer had three children: LeGrand T., Howard C. and Horace G.
Mr. L. T. Meyer lived in Crown Point the first eleven years of his life, and received his first schooling there. He lived on the home farm at Cedar Lake for some years, and studied law and continued his literary training in his home county. He was admitted to the bar in 1889, and in 1892 graduated from the literary department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he had also taken a law course. He opened his office in Hammond in 1892, and has built up a very satisfactory practice in the intervening years. He is vice president and one of the directors of the Champion Potato Machinery Company, which manufactures potato planters and diggers. He gives his political allegiance to the Democratic party. His wife is a member of the Baptist church. He resides at 47 Doty street, where he built his home in 1896. Mr. Meyer was elected city attorney of Hammond, on June 21, 1904. He has always taken an active part in politics, having several times been chairman of the Democratic city central committee, and has invariably been successful. In 1893 Governor Claude Matthews appointed him chief of the engineer corps of the Indiana National Guard, with rank of colonel, and during the tempestuous time of Roby pugilism and railway riots he was in service as the confidential adviser of the governor. Previously to this Mr. Meyer had always been active in military affairs, having commanded a company of Sons of Veterans infantry, and had been an active Son of Veteran of the State, holding many state offices therein.
May 22, 1895, Mr. Meyer married Miss Sarah L. Jennings, the daughter of William and Adelaide (Miller) Jennings. They have three children, Helen Margaret, Laura M., and LeGrand T., Jr. Through the maternal side Mr. Meyer traces his direct ancestry to the William Carrs of South Carolina, who took an active part in the Revolutionary war of American Independence.
Prominent among the energetic, enterprising and successful business men of Crown Point, Indiana, is numbered Oliver G. Wheeler, who is conducting a dry-goods store in that city. His business career will bear the light of strong investigation, and throughout the community where he makes his home he is held in high regard because of his active, useful and upright life.
He was born in Florence, Erie county, Ohio, March 4, 1842, and in the paternal line comes of English ancestry, although the family was established in America at an early period in the development of this country. The paternal grandfather was a native of Connecticut, and it was in that state that Johnson Wheeler, the father, was born and reared. He removed to Ohio during the pioneer epoch in the history of that state, settling in Erie county, whence he came to Lake county, Indiana, in 1847, establishing his home in the southern part of the county. He was a civil engineer and surveyor by profession, and did work in that line throughout northwestern Indiana. For a long period he served as county surveyor, and he surveyed the larger part of Lake county. His activity, however, extended to other lines of business, and he carried on both fanning and merchandising interests, his efforts contributing to the business development and substantial commercial growth of his portion of the state. He died when seventy-two years of age, honored and respected by all for what he had accomplished and for what he did in behalf of his fellow men. He gave his political allegiance to the Whig party in early manhood, and upon the organization of the Republican party joined its ranks. He held membership in the Universalist church. He married Sallie Burr, a native of Connecticut, who died in Crown Point when fifty-four years of age. They were the parents of ten children, four sons and six daughters, seven of whom reached years of maturity, while four are now living, three daughters and one son.
Oliver G. Wheeler, the ninth child of the family, was only five years of age when he came to Indiana. His education was acquired in the district schools until he reached the age of fifteen years, when the family removed to Crown Point, and he then continued his studies there. He entered upon his business career as a clerk in his father's mercantile establishment, and he was thus employed until after the inauguration of the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company A, Seventy-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in August, 1862. He joined the army as a private, but was promoted to the rank of orderly sergeant and afterward to second lieutenant. He served for about three years or until the cessation of hostilities in 1865. His first battles were at Perryville and Stone River. The command, known as Colonel Straight's Provisional Brigade, then consisting of fifteen hundred men. passing through North Alabama on the way to Rome in Georgia, overtaken by Forrest's men at dusk in the passes of Sand mountain and fighting there for three hours, April 30, 1863, repulsing an attack of three thousand cavalry, surrendered on the 2d of May, at Blount's Farm in Alabama. This expedition is known as Straight's raid. Brewer, a historian of Alabama, says of the three hours of night battle, "The scene of this prolonged and desperate conflict on the barren mountain heights of north Alabama is remembered by participants as one of peculiar, weird grandeur, impossible to paint with words."
The men of the Seventy-third were exchanged at Richmond, and Mr. Wheeler went home on furlough. He soon returned, joined his regiment at Indianapolis, and went south, again, to Nashville and to Decatur in Alabama, taking part in the battles at Athens, at Decatur, and at Nashville. At the close of the war he received an honorable discharge at Indianapolis in July, 1865. He never faltered in the performance of any task assigned to him, but did his full duty as a soldier, his military career being a credit to the army.
Returning to Crown Paint, Mr. Wheeler has since been identified with business interests here. In 1867 he opened a hardware store which he conducted successfully and continuously until 1896. In that year he sold his stock of hardware and opened his present store, dealing in dry-goods, boots and shoes and clothing. His business methods are in keeping with the modern progressive spirit of the times, and his earnest desire to please his patrons, his honorable dealings and his reasonable prices have secured to him a trade that makes his enterprise a profitable one.
In 1870 Mr. Wheeler was united in marriage to Miss Alice Clark, a granddaughter of Judge William Clark. She was born in Crown Point and was educated in the public schools. Four children have been born of this union, three daughters and a son: Maud, a very promising, talented and truly handsome girl, who lived to be fifteen years of age and died at Ashville, North Carolina; Myra, at home: Ned J., who is a teacher in Purdue University, giving instruction in the mechanical engineering department; and Gretchen Hope.
Mr. Wheeler is a member of John Wheeler Post No. 149, G. A. R., in which he has filled a number of positions. This post was named in honor of Colonel John Wheeler, a brother of Mr. Wheeler, who was killed at Gettysburg. Mr. Wheeler is also identified with the Masonic fraternity at Crown Point, and he has been a life-long Republican. Almost his entire life has been passed here, and those who know him - and his acquaintance is wide- recognize in him a loyal citizen, a reliable business man and a faithful friend. His salient characteristics have ever been such as to commend him to the confidence and good will of all, and it is therefore with pleasure that we present the record of his career to our readers.
Of the "English ancestry" of Mr. Wheeler there are only uncertain traditions, as is the case with other old New England families, but it is certain that John Wheeler settled in Concord before 1640, and removed to Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1644; also that a son of this early resident of New England, another John Wheeler, joined a colony for the settlement of Woodbury on the east of the Housatonic river, of which colony he was a prominent member and had a large family. He died in 1704. His youngest son, a third John Wheeler, was born in 1684. He had a son, Samuel Wheeler, born in 1712. and a grandson, Johnson Wheeler, born in 1754. This grandson of the third John Wheeler had a son, Johnson Wheeler, born in 1797, who was the father of O. G. Wheeler of this sketch, so that between him and the unknown English ancestry are six generations, two ancestors bearing the name of Johnson, one the name of Samuel, and three having the noted English and also Bible name of John.
"The Wheelers of New England were a hardy, robust set of men." Members of the earlier and more aristocratic families often referred to their English family escutcheon. Evidently the Lake county Wheeler families came of a good English lineage.
Inheriting the benefits of such ancestry, descendants also through their gifted mother of the prominent Clark and Farwell families of pioneer days, Miss Myra Wheeler is justly prized for her excellent qualities in home life, in society and as assistant to her father in his business; and the now young school girl, Gretchen Hope, is a bright beam of life and joy within her father's home.
James Francis Rowins, who is prominently identified with the printing-business in Chicago, is a well known former resident of Lake county, where he has spent the greater part of the past thirty years.
Mr. Rowins was born in Easton, Talbot county, Maryland, August 7, 1850, being a son of John Rowins and Sarah Benson Rowins. His father was a manufacturing jeweler in Easton and owner of milling interests in that city, and also owned several large plantations in the neighboring counties. Mr. Rowins' genealogical tree runs back for seven or eight generations to Irish ancestry on the father's side and to English and Scotch stock on the mother's side. Near relatives were engaged on both sides during the late rebellion, the family interests being in close touch with both the north and the south.
Mr. Rowins was educated almost entirely in private schools, graduating from a Methodist classical institute near Annapolis, the capital of the state. In early manhood he began reading medicine, but never completed his preparation for that profession since he became interested in the printing business, which he has followed almost his entire life. Mr. Rowins first became identified with Crown Point as a resident and business man in 1873, and for the greater part of the subsequent period has called Lake county his home or been within close touch with this part of the state. For several years he was connected with the newspaper business in Crown Point, and is well remembered in that city and in other communities of the county, although his business interests have for some time been centered in the city of Chicago.
In religious views Mr. Rowins is liberal and is identified actively with no church. He is a worker in the Masonic vineyard, and has held the highest official positions in his blue lodge, chapter, council and commandery. At the present writing he is at the head of the oldest commandery of Knights Templar in the west, a body well and favorably known around the world. He is also a prominent officer in the largest Masonic body on the globe-the Oriental Consistory of Chicago.
May 7, 1873, Mr. Rowins was married at Crown Point to Miss Jennie S. Holton, a daughter of Janna S. Holton and a granddaughter of Solon Robinson, the pioneer of Crown Point and Lake county, whose prominence in early affairs has often been noted in other portions of this volume. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rowins: Howard Holton, born January 21, 1875; James Edward, born May 17, 1877, and died August 17, 1898; Josephine Sarah, born January 10, 1880, and died March 18, 1903; and Cora Belle, born June 10, 1883.
The business interests of Lowell find a worthy representative in F. E. Brownell, who is engaged in dealing in agricultural implements there and who in the careful management of his business affairs is winning creditable success. He was born in Schoharie county, New York, on the 24th of April, 1852, and comes of Scotch lineage. His paternal grandfather, a native of Scotland and the founder of the family in America, crossed the Atlantic when a young man and established his home in Pennsylvania. Dr. Alva Brownell, the father, was born in Schoharie county. New York. He removed to Lake county, Indiana, settling at Crown Point, where he engaged in the practice of medicine for two years. He then removed to what is now Plum Grove in Eagle Creek township, where he carried on agricultural pursuits in connection with his professional duties up to the time of his death, which occurred in May, 1871, when he was in his sixty-eighth year. He was a life-long Republican and took an active interest in public affairs, being particularly loyal to the Union cause at the time of the Civil war. He held a number of local positions, including those of trustee and justice of the peace. He was also active in church work and conducted a Sunday-school at Plum Grove for many years. His acquaintance in the county was wide and favorable, his fellow townsmen recognizing his sterling worth and giving him their warm personal regard and friendship. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Sturnburg, was a native of Pennsylvania, where she made her home until about twelve years of age, when she accompanied her parents on their removal to Schoharie county. New York. She was of German descent and parentage and could not speak a word of English until about the time of the removal to the Empire state. Her death occurred in Plum grove, Lake county, Indiana, in February, 1855. Dr. and Mrs. Brownell were the parents of eight children; five reached adult age. but only two are now living, the eldest and the youngest, the brother of F. E. being Ezra Brownell, who is a retired farmer living in Madison county, Iowa.
F. E. Brownell, the youngest of the family and the only representative left in Lake county, was but four years of age when he came with his parents to Crown Point. His education was obtained in Plum Grove, Eagle Creek township, and he remained at home through the period of his boyhood and youth, and in early manhood took charge of the home farm, continuing its cultivation up to the time of his marriage. It was on the second of February, 1871, when he was joined in wedlock to Miss Frances Dinwiddie, a daughter of John and Mary (Perkins) Dinwiddie, who were early settlers of Lake county. Mrs. Brownell was born in this county May 9, 1853. She was taken as a bride to the old Brownell homestead, and her husband continued to engage in general farming there until 1900, when he put aside the active work of the fields and took up his abode in Lowell, where he established an agricultural implement business. He still owns the old homestead property, however, and it is operated under his direct supervision. It comprises two hundred and sixty acres of land in Eagle Creek township and is a valuable and productive property, which annually brings to him a good income. He now carries in Lowell a large and well-selected line of agricultural implements, and has built up a good patronage in his commercial venture. To Mr. and Mrs. Brownell have been born ten children: Carl, who is living on the old homestead; Alice, the wife of Howard Slocum, of Lowell; John, who is living in Brazil, Indiana; Claude, of Sandwich, Illinois; Kate, the wife of Harry Hill, of Joliet, Illinois; Guy and Edward, both of Lowell; Ruth, at home; Walter and Ralph, who are also under the parental roof. All of the children were born in Eagle Creek township. Mr. Brownell has ever been a stanch adherent of Republican principles and has taken an active part in promoting the welfare and growth of the Republican organization, yet has never sought or desired political preferment for himself. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity at Lowell and is well known throughout Lake county, where he has spent almost his entire life. He has been true to every trust reposed in him, has been found honorable and straightforward in his business dealings, and because of his straightforward purpose and unflagging energy he has attained a very desirable measure of prosperity.
Sebastian Einsele, who has done much by his progressive efforts for the development and industrial welfare of Lake county, and who is a well known resident of Hanover township, was born in Baden, Germany, March 16, 1838, being the fourth of the children born to Michael and Barbara (Ferrold) Einsele. His father was born November 25, 1805, and died in 1899, and was a wagon-maker by trade. In 1847 he came with his family to America, starting from Havre, France, in a sailing vessel, and it was forty-three days before they reached New York. Thence he came to Lake county, where he purchased eighty acres of partially improved land in Hanover township, and his first home there was a log cabin. He was a prosperous man, and accumulated about two hundred and twenty acres of land in Hanover township. Politically he was independent. He aided in the erection of St. Martins Catholic church at Hanover Center. His good wife was also born in the fatherland in 1805, and her death occurred in 1876.
Mr. Einsele was a boy of nine years when he became a resident of this county, and he has therefore passed most of his life in the county. He is a self-educated man, having gained most of his knowledge by personal application-. He remained with his parents until twenty-eight years old, and when he married and began life for himself he had only two teams, and he started to farm on rented land. He continued as a renter for twenty-four years in one part of the township, so that it is evident that he began at the bottom of the ladder and advanced to his present prosperity by degrees and persistent efforts.
November 16, 1866, he married Miss Katharine Drinen, and ten children were born to them, nine of whom are living. Mary resides with her father. Tena is in Chicago, but her home is still with her father. Joseph is at home, as also are Michael, Lizzie, Sebastian, Anna, Jacob, Ernil. Mrs. Einsele was born in Prussia in 1848, and when four years old came to America.
In 1899 Mr. Einsele began the erection of his excellent summer resort hotel at Cedar Lake, and since that time he has given his chief attention to its management. He has one of the most popular hotels and saloons in Cedar Lake, and each summer this resort with its efficient service is thrown open to the public, and he is a well known host to the many people who each year flock out to this delightful locality. The hotel is about sixty rods from the landing and from the Monon depot, so as to be most conveniently located for the reception of the crowds who, especially on Sunday, throng from the city to this pleasure and recreation spot. The Einsele Hotel is surrounded by a beautiful natural grove, and with all these charms of situation and equipments its popularity each season increases among the Chicago excursionists. And Mr. Einsele is of the jovial and cordial nature which attracts people to him, and his business increases accordingly. He has telephone connection with all the towns of Lake county and with Chicago, and everything is at hand to make his guests comfortable and pleased. His property there is worth about ten thousand dollars, and within a few years the value of the trade and of his permanent investments will rapidly increase, as Cedar Lake becomes known as it should among the vast numbers who seek such retired spots for rest and vacation.
Mr. Einsele is independent in political affairs., and supports whom he regards as the best man for the office. He and his family are members of St. Martins Catholic church at Hanover Center.
Henry Seehausen, a prosperous farmer and citizen of Hanover township, Lake county, is a native son of the same locality, and was born April 2, 1858, being the eldest of the six children, four sons and two daughters, of Henry and Wilhelmina (Glade) Seehausen. The son William is married and a farmer of Hanover township. Fred is married and a farmer of Hanover township. Louisa is the wife of William Wille, a farmer of Will county, Illinois. August, married, is a motorman on the Wentworth avenue electric car line in Chicago.
Father Seehausen was born in Hanover, Germany, April 7, 1829, and died about 1874. He was about twenty-six years of age when he came to America, and he had little capital to begin on. He came out to Indiana and started as a wage earner. He purchased one hundred and sixteen acres of partially improved land, and his first home was a little frame structure. He went in debt for most of the property, but by diligence lifted the incumbrance and added to his estate until at his death he was possessed of two hundred and fifty-four acres, all in Hanover township. He was a Republican, and he and his wife were members of the Lutheran church. His wife was born in Hanover township, July 27, 1839, and she is still living at the age of sixty-five years.
Mr. Seehausen was born and reared in Hanover township, and was educated in both the German and English languages. March 9. 1884, he married Miss Anna Seegers, and seven children have been born, six of whom are living. August F., who completed the seventh grade of school, is farming at home. Rosa, at home, finished the seventh grade in school and in a German school took musical instruction. Ella, who was in the sixth grade, is now in the German school. Albert is in the fourth grade. Edna is in the second, and William is the baby of the family. August and Rosa have both received their confirmations.
Mrs. Seehausen was born in Hanover township, March 20, 1866, being a daughter of Christopher and Dorothea (Koehling) Seegers. There were eight children in the family, three sons and five daughters, and of the three living Mrs. Seehausen is the oldest. Her sister Mary is the wife of Fred Seehausen, a farmer of Hanover township, and Sophia is the wife of Fred Hitzeman, a farmer of Hanover township. Father Seegers was born in Hanover province, Germany, in 1821, and died in 1880. He was reared, educated and married in Germany, and was a weaver by trade. He came to Lake county about 1847, and had about sixty acres of land in Hanover township. He and his wife were Lutherans, and he was a Republican. His wife was born in Hanover, Germany, about 1830, and is still living. Mrs. Seehausen was educated in both the English and German, and she has been a faithful wife and has aided her husband in the establishment of their pretty home.
Mr. and Mrs. Seehausen began their married life on the old homestead, he buying out the other heirs to the estates, and although he went in debt in the end he paid off all that he owed and now has one of the best farms and homesteads in Hanover township. He has one hundred acres of fine land, and it is well improved with buildings and all things necessary for its successful and profitable operation. He has a splendid lot of stock, and is particularly proud of his Poland China hogs, which he regards as the most profitable breed. He is a stockholder in the Inter-State Creamery, which is a prosperous enterprise.
Mr. Seehausen is a Republican, having cast his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield. He has not cared for office, and his full time has been devoted to his private business and domestic affairs. He and his good wife are members of the Lutheran church located in the northwestern part of the township, and their daughter is organist in the church, and all the children attend the Sunday school.
John Henry Meyer, who is one of the oldest and most prosperous farmers of Hanover township, was born in Hanover, Germany, September 21, 1833, being the oldest of four children, two sons and two daughters, born to John H. and Maggie (Beckman) Meyer. Only two survive, his brother John being a wealthy retired farmer of Crown Point.
The father of this family was born and reared in Hanover, Germany, being educated in the German schools and following the occupation of farmer. He married in Germany and all the children were born there. In 1851 he and his family sailed from Bremen, and forty-two days later arrived in New York. The parents and one of their children went to Savannah, Georgia, for the winter, but the other three remained in New York. In the spring of 1852 the parents started for the west with the intention of locating either at Fort Wayne, Indiana, or in Iowa, but on the death of a brother who had taken up land in Lake county they came to this county and purchased two hundred acres of land near the western corner of Cedar Lake. The father added to his possessions until at his death he owned three hundred acres of good land. The first home of the Meyers was a log cabin, and deer and wolves were still to be seen in the neighborhood. The father voted for Fremont, the first Republican nominee, and he and his wife, who was a native of the same locality in Germany as himself, were members of the Lutheran church.
Mr. Meyer was a young man when he became a resident of the United States, and during his first winter in this country he clerked in a store in New York. Coming to Lake county in the spring of 1852, he began on the farm and has remained a tiller of the soil all his life. He was educated in both the German and English languages.
He remained with his parents to the age of twenty-seven, when, on January 20, 1861, he was married to Miss Christena Doescher, by which union twelve children have been born, all of whom are living. Johanna is the wife of John E. Meyers, a merchant of Kinman, Jasper county, Indiana. Henry is married and is a contractor and builder at Mexico, Missouri. John is married and a resident of Kansas City, Kansas. August, married, is a dealer in and a manufacturer of harness at Mexico, Missouri. Emma is the wife of August Grabe, a professional horseshoer of Chicago. Lizzie is at home with her parents. Christena is in Chicago. Anna is in Chicago. Julius is a resident of Independence, Missouri. Edwin, a practical farmer and stockman in Hanover township, had a common school education and then took a business course at Valparaiso, where he graduated in 1896; he is a Republican and cast his first vote for McKinley. Adolph, who took the commercial and shorthand course at Valparaiso, graduating in 1900, is now in the wholesale house of Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company, at Chicago. Ernest, also a student at Valparaiso, is at home.
Mrs. Meyer was born in Hanover, Germany, November 8, 1841, a daughter of Herman and Johanna (Steffens) Doescher, who were the parents of eight children, two sons and six daughters, five of whom are living. Herman, the eldest, is married and is a farmer in Endor, Illinois. Johanna, of Endor, Illinois, is the widow of Christopher Batterman. Fredericka is the widow of Charles Horn, a resident of Crete, Illinois. Mrs. Meyer is next. Charles, who was a soldier in the Civil war, is married and a resident of Crete, Illinois.
When Mr. and Mrs. Meyer began life it was as renters on section 19 in Hanover township, and for six years they farmed on rented land. The first land he purchased was two hundred and twenty acres in section 31, and he went in debt for a large part of it, but in the end his diligence and good management paid off all the indebtedness, and he is now owner of three hundred and two acres in Hanover township and fourteen acres in Center town-ship, well improved with barns, granaries, and other buildings, and they have an excellent farm residence, without a dollar of mortgage standing against the property. He is also owner of three hundred and sixty-five acres in Audrain county, Missouri, situated only four miles from the thriving city of Mexico.
Mr. Meyer is a Republican, having cast his first presidents' vote for Fremont, since which time each party candidate has received his support. He and his wife had seen all the remarkable development of Lake county during the last half century, and they are therefore among the real old-timers, and held in the highest esteem for their many excellent qualities of mind and heart.
The clergy of the Roman Catholic church, as a rule, are gentlemen of ripe scholarship, and are important factors in the civilization of remote districts as well as founders of great and beneficent works. They are noted for their persistency, energy and ambition. Rev. Zumbuelte comes of that class of priests. He is a native of Westphalia, Germany, and was born February 19, 1839, being a son of Anthony and Elizabeth (OelHnghoff) Zumbuelte.
He was from the first of a literary turn of mind, and the priesthood seemed to him to be his chosen work. His primary training was begun in the common schools of Germany, and later he received training under a tutor. At the age of seventeen he entered the gymnasium, which course regularly required nine years, but in five years he received his diploma, and then entered the seminary of the old city of Munster, where he put in three years at his work. The first year's work was in philosophy, and the last two in theology. When he had completed this course of study he received a cordial letter from Bishop Leuers, of the Northern Bishopric of Indiana, who was on a visit to Europe and at that particular time in the city of Munster. Bishop Leuers advised him to enter the American College of Theology of the famous University of Munster, which he did in 1864, and accordingly spent two years in that noted seat of learning. May 26, 1866, he received his ordination as priest from the hands of Cardinal E. Sterx. He was then fitted to enter the priesthood in America, and he set sail from Bremen and arrived at Fort Wayne, Indiana, in October, 1866, and was appointed assistant priest to Rev. Joseph B. Ferce at St. Vincent's parish at Logansport. He remained there until January 6, 1868. While there his duties were arduous, as he had a great deal of mission work to perform, and also visiting the poor, the sick, the distressed and dying, at all times of the day and night, and during any kind of weather. In this Father Zumbuelte showed himself to be a man of more than ordinary courage and industry as his work extended over a large area of country. The next work he took charge of was as assistant to Rev. D. Duehmig, at Avilla, Noble county, Indiana, and he was there six months. In July, 1868, he was sent to Leo, Allen county, Indiana, a small parish of nineteen families. The name of the parish was St. Mary. There was a small frame building used as church-no home for the priest, and Father Zumbuelte was forced to live with a farmer for two years. He remained there two years in all, and while there he erected a home for the priest. In 1870 he erected St. Michael's church at a cost of thirteen hundred dollars, and liquidated every dollar's indebtedness and paid an additional debt of seven hundred dollars. In 1871 Father Zumbuelte was sent to St. Vincent de Paul at Columbia City, Indiana, and while there kept up the property in excellent repair, the parochial school in session and other important parish work. In that locality he had two missions to attend to at Pierceton and Warsaw in Kosciusko county. There were about seventy-five families in the Columbia City parish. In September, 1875, he was called to St. Mary's parish at Crown Point, but remained there only seven months, or until April, 1876, when he concluded to visit his native land to see his parents and relatives. His father was an old soldier under the great Napoleon, and was present at the famous battles of Leipsic, Moscow and other memorable battles of that epoch. He was one of the cannoniers.
After spending three months in the land of his birth Father Zumbuelte returned to his field of labor in Indiana, and was then sent as chaplain of the college at Rensselaer, where he remained until 1888, and while there he erected a beautiful brick church costing six thousand dollars. In 1888 he again paid a visit to his home in Germany, and upon his return he was sent to Reynolds, Indiana, and besides this charge he had the missions of Medaryville and Francesville. He was there one year, and then, in October, 1889, he came to St. Martin's parish in Hanover township, where he has been in active charge to the present writing in 1904. There are about sixty-five families, a parochial school, a nice church building, and an elegant and modern residence erected for the priest in 1902. The value of the entire parish property is placed at eight thousand dollars, and not a dollar is standing against it.
On July 9, 1902, Father Zumbuelte met with a severe loss when fire destroyed his home and all its contents, including his fine library and all of his wearing apparel. But with indomitable will he set to work at once and erected a model residence of modern style of architecture, two stories, and finished in hardwood, and containing twelve rooms. It is a beautiful home and a credit to the township. The parochial school of St. Martin's parish comprises forty-three pupils.
The German citizen in America has been specially important as a factor in the development of farming interests, and to this worthy class of people belongs Mr. Henry Asche, one of the oldest German farmers in Hanover township as well as one of the most prosperous.
Mr. Asche was born in Hanover, Germany, April 21, 1830, a son of Frederick Asche. There were only three sons, and Henry is the only survivor. Father Asche was a man of industrious habits, of German education, and was a soldier in the European war of 1812 against the French, and saw the great Napoleon. He underwent many of the hardships of the war.
Mr. Asche was reared in his native land to the age of twenty-four, and learned the weaver's trade. May 1, 1854, he bade adieu to his native land and sailed from Bremen in a sailing vessel, and the voyage lasted forty-nine days before the arrival at New York. He landed in a strange land and among a strange people, and could not speak the English tongue, and all the money he had was thirty-five dollars. He remained in New York about ten months, and then came to Chicago, where he resided for ten years. He began as a wage-earner, at twenty-six dollars a month, the next year got thirty-four dollars a month, and the next year forty. In the fall of 1864 the crisis came when there was no work. During the years 1862-63-64 he received sixty-five dollars a month, and in 1865 he came to Hanover township and purchased seventy-five acres of partially improved land, going in debt for part of the purchase price. His first home was a little frame structure, and it still stands as a monument of the early days of his entry into this township. As the years have passed he and his good wife worked and toiled and added to their possessions until now they have two hundred and ten acres in Hanover and West Creek townships. Since that early day he has erected the most comfortable and desirable residence, barns and other buildings to be found in the township, and the premises around the home indicate the careful, industrious man which Mr. Asche is. He has prospered greatly in his affairs, and now in the evening of life he and his good wife live in peace and plenty. Mr. Asche is one of the stockholders in the Brunswick Creamery Company at Brunswick.
October 2, 1859, he was married in Will county, Illinois, to Miss Sophia M. Becker, and of the six children, four sons and two daughters, born to them, only one is now living, Hermann H. This son was born in Hanover township, March 13, 1874, was educated in the English language, and is a practical farmer, residing with his father and mother. He is a Republican in politics. Thus only one child is left to Mr. and Mrs. Asche in their declining years, and they too have had grief and sorrow in their journey through life.
Mrs. Asche was born in the province of Hesse, Germany, May 24, 1836, a daughter of H. H. and Elenora Becker. There were ten children in the family, and six are living, of whom Mrs. Asche is the eldest. John Becker is a resident of Chicago and is married. Ella is the wife of Henry Moeller, a resident of Minnesota. Henry is married and lives in Hanover township. H. Henry Becker is married and a farmer of Iowa. Conrad is married and resides in Iowa. Mrs. Asche was reared in Germany until she was eighteen years old, and she came to America with her brother John, sailing from Bremen and being forty-two days in crossing the ocean. She came to Chicago to her friends and resided there for four years.
For thirty-nine years have Mr. and Mrs. Asche resided in Hanover township, and they are among the best and most prosperous people of the township. Mr. Asche is a Republican and has always supported the ticket and candidates since his first vote. He has held no office., preferring to devote his time to his business interests. Mr. and Mrs. Asche's beautiful country seat is one of the most desirable locations in the township, and could well be called the "Pleasant View Farm." They are typical German-American citizens of sterling worth. Having come to this country poor people, by their industry and economy they have gained a competency which places them in easy circumstances.
It is a well attested maxim that the greatness of a state lies not in its machinery of government nor even in its institutions, but in the sterling qualities of its individual citizens, in their capacity for high and unselfish effort and their devotion to the public good. Regarded as a citizen, Frank N. Gavit belongs to that public spirited, useful and helpful type of man whose ambitions and desires are centered and directed in those channels through which flow the greatest and most permanent good to the greatest number, and it is, therefore, consistent with the purpose and plan of this work that his record be given among those of the representative men of the state. He is now an attorney of Whiting, and his ability classes him with the prominent representatives of the bar in northwestern Indiana. He has been connected with much important litigation as the representative of private interests, and he was also a defender of Whiting's interests in its contests with Hammond. In this way he has become widely known, and his efforts in behalf of the city of his residence were untiring, effective and beneficial.
Mr. Gavit was born in Walsingham, Ontario, Canada, on the 21st of October, 1864, and comes of a family of Irish lineage. Several generations ago representatives of the name left Ireland for the new world, becoming residents of the United States. The paternal grandfather, Albert M. Gavit, was born in New London, Connecticut, and was a farmer by occupation, following that pursuit throughout his entire life in order to provide for his family. His son, Albert A. Gavit, father of Mr. Gavit, was also a native of New London, Connecticut, and there spent his boyhood days. When a young man, however, he accompanied his parents on their removal to Canada. He had been reared to the occupation of farming and also made it his life work. Leaving the Dominion he went to Oakland county, Michigan, where he resided for five years, and then took up his abode in Saginaw county, Michigan, where he still makes his home. He was united in marriage to Miss Bridget Highland, who is a native of Ireland and was brought to America in early girlhood. Mr. and Mrs. Albert Gavit occupy a pleasant home in Michigan, and the father is now sixty-eight years of age, while the mother has reached the age of sixty-one years. They were the parents of ten children, eight sons and two daughters, and five of the number are now living.
Frank N. Gavit, the second child and second son of the family, was seven years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal from Canada to Michigan. He was educated in the common schools of that state and in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, where he was graduated. His literary course being completed, he then determined to make the practice of law his life work and entered the law department of the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, being but twenty-four years of age when he was graduated there. He located for practice in Saginaw, Michigan, where he remained for about two and a half years, and then came to Whiting in 1892. Here he has resided continuously since and has won some notable successes at the bar. He has enjoyed a large private practice and has also served as city attorney and as deputy prosecuting attorney. He is attorney for the two banks of Whiting and stands to-day as one of the strongest representatives of the Lake county bar, being a strong advocate before the jury and concise in his appeals before the court. He is notable among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with which he prepares his cases. In no instance has his reading been confined to the limitations of the question at issue, and his logical grasp of facts and principles and of the law applicable to them has been another potent element in his success, while his remarkable clearness of expression and adequate and precise diction enables him to make others understand not only the salient points of his argument but his every fine gradation in meaning.
In politics Mr. Gavit is a stanch and unfaltering Republican, and was nominated on that ticket for supreme judge in 1896, but lost by a fraction of a delegate vote and in 1900 by two delegate votes. At a meeting of the bar of Lake county he was endorsed by the bar for the position of circuit judge to succeed Judge Fulett. He was at one time candidate for mayor of Whiting and was defeated by only two votes. Mr. Gavit drew up the incorporation papers for the town of Whiting and afterward incorporated it as a city, and he has represented Whiting in all of the litigations between this place and Hammond.
In 1893 Mr. Gavit was married to Miss Minnie Tweedy, a daughter of David and Susan (Baxter) Tweedy. Mrs. Gavit was born, reared and educated in Saginaw, Michigan, and this marriage has been blessed with two children who are yet living, Albert and Ruth. Fraternally Mr. Gavit is a Mason and has attained the Knight Templar degree. As a lawyer and progressive citizen he is well known, and Whiting has profited by his efforts in her behalf.
Mathias M. Lauerman is so well known as a merchant and business man of Hanover township that he needs no introduction to the people of Lake county. He is a native of Hanover township, where he was born February 8, 1854, and is the fourth in a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters, born to Mathias and Marie (Heiser) Lauerman. There are seven children living. Mary is the wife of Bartel Hepp, a farmer at Florence, Montana. Angeline is the widow of Conrad Wagner, and is a landlady at Morris, Illinois. Mathias M., is the next. John is married and is a farmer at Hanover Center. Mike is married and is a United States mail carrier at Hammond. Katharine is the wife of Jacob Gard, a farmer of Hanover township. Elizabeth is the wife of John Stummel, who is a teacher and a resident of Turkey Creek, this county.
Mathias Lauerman, the father, was a native of Prussia, Germany, born February 8, 1824, and he was reared in the fatherland until he was nineteen years old, being educated in the German tongue. In 1843 he came with his parents to America, and the voyage across the ocean consumed sixty days, although it can now be accomplished in six days. Landing in a strange land and among a strange people and with but little money, he came to Lake county with his parents, who purchased one hundred and sixty acres of partially improved land, going in debt for it, but by diligence and thrift eventually freeing the incumbrance. Mathias Lauerman was a successful man, having accumulated one hundred and sixty acres of good land and a nice residence near Hanover Center, and he spent most of his life in Hanover township, where his death occurred. He was a Democrat in politics. He and his wife were devout Catholics, and he was one of the leading members in the erection of St. Martin's Catholic church, and he always aided those benevolences worthy of his consideration. His remains are interred at Hanover Center, where a beautiful stone marks his last resting place. Mother Lauerman was born in the same province, April 15, 1828, and she is still living at the age of seventy-six, with mental faculties well preserved in spite of the more than three-quarters of a century of her earthly pilgrimage.
Mr. Lauerman was reared to the age of twenty-three in his home township and was brought up as a farmer. He was educated in the common schools and by dint of personal application. February 12, 1879, he married Miss Mary Scholl, and seven children, six sons and one daughter, have blessed the union. Joseph, the eldest, was educated in the Metropolitan Business College of Chicago and is now in the wholesale rubber business in Portland, Oregon. Edward is associated with his father in the large and lucrative mercantile business at Armour and Cedar Lake, and he will personally conduct the new store at Cedar Lake. He was educated in the common schools, and through the School of Correspondence passed the examination for mail clerk, but he is devoting his life to the mercantile business. He has the affability and geniality which is the best stock in trade for a young man. The son Arthur, after a common school education, learned the barber trade at a Chicago barber college, and is now at home. Emil is a salesman in his father's large store at Armour. He too took his business course at the Metropolitan Business College of Chicago. Jerome received his diploma from the common schools in the class of 1903, and is now at home with his parents. Martha is in the sixth grade and has also taken piano instruction. Victor, the youngest, is in school. All the children but Martha and Victor have been confirmed in the faith of the Catholic church, the confirmation ceremony for all having been administered by Bishop Rademacher, now deceased.
Mrs. Lauerman was born in Schererville, Lake county, March 15, 1856, and she was reared, educated and confirmed in this county. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Lauerman located in Sheridan county, Missouri, where he purchased forty acres of partially improved land, later added to this land until he owned one hundred and twenty acres, and continued to reside there for six years. Then on account of sickness he returned to Lake county and began work on the Monon Railroad as a wage earner, continuing at that for two years. He then began merchandising at Armour in partnership with Mat. Thiel, with a capital of about eight hundred dollars, and after this partnership had continued about four weeks Mr. Thiel took sick and died, after which Mr. Lauerman continued his business career on his own account. From these small beginnings the business has increased to the extensive establishment which we find in 1904, comprising a large double store, which is known as a department store, and carrying a heavy line of fancy and staple dry goods, boots, shoes, family and staple groceries, queensware, clothing, and in fact all commodities which go to make up a first-class mercantile house. The annual trade runs up to a very high figure. In the fall of 1904 he erected at Cedar Lake a new store in which he placed a full stock of fresh goods, and this is the store which is to be managed by his son Edward. This is an excellent business record which Mr. Lauerman has made, and in twenty years', time he has progressed from a position of very modest circumstances to a foremost place among the substantial business men of Lake county - which is a career that any man might be proud of. He and his sons are cordial and genial gentlemen, and by fair and courteous treatment they have found ample patronage in whatever direction they have extended their trade.
Mr. Lauerman is a Republican, but he has never cared for any office, and gives all his time to his business. But in 1886 he was appointed post master at Armour. He and his family are members of St. Martin's Catholic church at Hanover Center, and throughout the entire community this family meet the respect and esteem which are always given to people of true personal worth and whose lives have accomplished something praiseworthy in the world.
The country of Germany has aided most materially in the founding of the great nation of the United States, and its citizens have been especially prominent factors in the agricultural development which has been the basis of all other prosperity. The German-American is noted for his pluck, energy, economy and frugality, and exhibits the best and most productive estates to be found anywhere. Mr. Herman A. Batterman comes of one of the old German families of west Lake county, and is a true and typical specimen of the prosperous agriculturist.
His early life was spent in Will county, Illinois. Born July 26, 1853, he was the oldest of eight children, six sons and two daughters, born to Christopher and Johanna (Doescher) Batterman. The son Henry is represented elsewhere in this volume. Edward is also one of the honorable men whose lives are sketched in this work. Charles is married and engaged in cultivating the old home place in Will county, Illinois. Henrietta is the wife of Charles Borger, of Hobart, also sketched in this volume. Matilda is the wife of Joseph Echterling, of Will county.
The father of the family was born in Hanover province. Germany, was reared to young manhood in his native land, and in 1842 he came by himself to America, landing in New York with only eighteen cents in his pocket, so that he began life at the bottom of the ladder and among strange people and in a foreign land. He came to Chicago in 1842, when that now great city was small and insignificant, and out in the neighborhood of the Des Plaines river he got work at twelve dollars a month, continuing this work for three years and three months. He then took his earnings and entered two hundred and twenty acres of land in Will county, Illinois, an unimproved tract. Then for a while he did teaming in Chicago, but finally returned to his land and erected a little shack of a shelter, and, aided by his brother Fred from Germany, he developed a farm. For a time he was also interested in a sawmill enterprise, but then returned to the farm. He was a successful man, and ac-cumulated almost five hundred acres of land in Illinois and Indiana. He was a stanch Republican and before the formation of that party he was a Whig. He had good reason to remember the famous wildcat money before the Civil war, as on one occasion he had one hundred and thirty dollars of this currency, but thirty dollars was all he could realize on the entire amount. Both he and his wife were Lutherans. His wife was also born in Hanover, and she is still living, at the age of sixty-nine years.
Mr. Batterman was reared to the pursuit of a farmer and stockman, and was educated in the common schools and by personal application. At the age of twenty-one he began life on a capital of one thousand dollars, starting on the farm where he now resides. He purchased three hundred acres and paid the one thousand dollars on it, and by his economy and industry in time he lifted all incumbrances and the beautiful and high-class buildings and other improvements on the estate he has made himself.
August 1, 1875, Mr. Batterman married Miss Anna Borger, and twelve children, six sons and six daughters, have been born to them, seven of whom are living. Johanna is the wife of Albert Keun, who is connected with a publishing house in Chicago; Mrs. Keun was educated in the common schools and the Hobart high school. Julius, educated in the common schools and at the Valparaiso normal, is married and a farmer at Palmer, Indiana. Maggie, educated in the common schools and at Hobart, is the wife of Michael Schmal, a farmer of St. John. Edwin is a resident of Hanover township. Herman is in the ninth grade of the Brunswick schools. Alvin is in the seventh grade, and Elsa is also in school. Mrs. Batterman comes from the well known Lake county family of Borgers whose sketch will be found elsewhere.
Mr. Batterman is a lover of high-grade stock, and takes especial interest in the Percheron horses and the Red Poll cattle, and his cattle of this breed are registered, and he also raises fine grades of Chester White hogs. During his career he has suffered setbacks and misfortunes, but is a man of such determination and energy that he has on each occasion risen phoenix-like out of the ashes of ill-chance, and is now one of the financially substantial men of Hanover township. Besides his beautiful and well improved estate in Hanover township, he owns nine hundred and fifty acres in Hinds county, Mississippi, five miles northeast of Jackson, the state capital, about six hundred acres of this land being arable. The land on the whole is level, the location eligible, and as Mr. Batterman thinks the climate there far excels that of the northern latitude of Indiana he anticipates locating in that vicinity for his future home, - which will mean the loss of a valuable and prominent citizen from the ranks of Lake county. Mr. Batterman is a Republican on national issues, but in local affairs gives his voting support to the man best fitted for the office. He cast his first presidential vote for R. B. Hayes, and has supported each candidate since. He is a man who stands high in the estimation of all his fellow citizens, and has been selected to represent his township in the county conventions of his party. In 1898 he was appointed a member of the county council, and his services have been ably and efficiently performed, and he is accordingly tendered the thanks of the citizens of the whole county.
The American nation owes much to the thrifty and hardy virtues of the German race, for this class of citizens has been important factors in advancing every industrial enterprise. It is to this class that Mr. Frederick W. Mandernach belongs, and he has long since proved himself to be one of the most prosperous, progressive and public-spirited citizens of Lake county and Hanover township in particular.
Mr. Mandernach was born in the house where he still resides, on October 15, 1864, and is the youngest of eight children, four sons and four daughters, born to John and Tena (Saak) Mandernach. All the children are living. John is married and is living as a retired farmer at Odebolt, Iowa. Caroline is the wife of Herman Raasch, a farmer of Odebolt, Iowa. Henry is a resident of the same locality in Iowa, and is married. Flora is the wife of Gottlieb Nitsche. also in this Iowa community. Louisa is the wife of Charles Sauter, a ranchman of Big Springs, Nebraska. Henrietta is the wife of Simon Sunderman, horticulturist at Cullman, Alabama. William, of Odebolt, Iowa, is married and is a farmer. And Frederick is the last.
Father Mandernach is a native of Prussia, where he was born November 17, 1817, and is still living at Odebolt, Iowa, retaining the use of his mental and physical faculties although at the great age of eighty-seven years. He was about twenty-six years old when he bade adieu to the fatherland and came to America, and the voyage was of six months' duration. He came to America empty-handed, not having ten dollars to his name when he arrived. In a strange land, among a strange people, whose language he could not speak, he had to subsist on the little earnings he could get by daily work. He came to Lake county and in Hanover township began as a wage earner, and worked for the Rev. T. H. Ball's father at the munificent wage of eight dollars per month. He was one of the most energetic and industrious of men. The first land he purchased was forty acres, and he traded a pair of oxen for it. The first habitation the Mandernachs lived in was a log cabin. The father was one of the earliest settlers in western Lake county, and has seen deer and wild turkeys on his place. During his early years in the county he worked on the first railroad being built to Chicago. He has seen Chicago when it was a village in size compared to its present immensity. He was a successful man in his active career, and had accumulated seven hundred acres of fine land in Sac county, Iowa, and in Hanover township of this county. The home residence occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Frederick .Mandernach was erected by his father, and the lumber for its construction was brought from Chicago by ox teams. The father was a true Republican. He and his wife were members of the German Methodist church two miles south of Hanover Center, and he aided very materially in its erection. Even the stove in the church was purchased by him. Mother Mandernach, a native of Lippe, Germany, was born January 13, 1827, and is still living.
Mr. Mandernach was reared and educated in Hanover township, his early mental training being acquired in the common schools. He has continued a farmer and stockman during his active career. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-one years old, and he and his brother William then began as renters on his father's farm. He continued five years as a renter, and he then purchased the old homestead in Hanover township, consisting of one hundred and eighty acres.
August 6, 1889, he married Miss Matilda E. Piepho, and five children, two sons and three daughters, have been born to them, four of whom are living. Elenora A. is in the seventh grade, being a bright student, and has also taken piano instruction. Elmer W., in the fifth grade, is well along in his studies and takes piano music. Nelson R. and Blanche D. are the youngest in the household.
Mrs. Mandernach was born in Kankakee county, Illinois, May 29, 1867, a daughter of August and Wilhelmina (Breuscher) Piepho. There were ten children in the family, and eight are living. Mary, the eldest, is the wife of David Dippon, a farmer at Dwight, Illinois. John is married and lives on the old homestead in Kankakee county. Emma is the wife of Herman Meyer, a farmer of Scotia, Nebraska. Mrs. Mandernach is the next. Minnie is the wife of Herman Nichols, a painter at Blue Island, Illinois. Louise is the wife of Charles Sauerman, a farmer of Kankakee county. George is a prosperous farmer in Hanover township. Annie, the youngest, is the wife of Ruda Jors, a carpenter at Blue Island. Father Piepho was a native of Hanover province, Germany, and was born January 21, 1833, and died January 13, 1900. He came to America when a boy of sixteen or seventeen. He was a shoemaker by trade and at an early day had a log-cabin store in Chicago. He went to the Pacific coast and California in 1849, and dug gold for five years, at which he was very successful, bringing back three thousand dollars' worth of the precious metal. He went out to the Eldorado country by way of the Isthmus of Panama. The first land he purchased in Kankakee county was two hundred and twenty acres, and he bought and sold several times, and at his death he owned three hundred acres in that county and two hundred and eighty in Lake county, so that he was evidently a very successful man. He was a Republican in politics, and he and his wife were members of the German Methodist church. His remains are interred in the cemetery below Hanover Center. The mother of Mrs. Mandernach was born in Little Hanover, Germany, December 16, 1842, and is now living with her son George in Hanover township. Mrs. Mandernach was a girl of ten years when she became a resident of Lake county, and her education was acquired in the common schools. She and her husband are very cordial, genial people, and have hosts of friends.
Mr. Mandernach is a Republican, and cast his first vote for Benjamin Harrison. Several times he has been selected as a delegate to represent his township at county conventions. In 1904 he was elected a trustee of the Hanover township, and thus broke a record of some twenty-two years during which no Republican had held that office. The people of the township recognize in him ?. safe and progressive man of affairs, and his election means that the business and educational administration of the township will be in good hands during the following term. He is a member of Council No. 23 of the Independent Order of Foresters at Brunswick, and- he and his wife are members of the German Methodist church, of which he is a trustee.
German-American citizenship has been an important factor in the advance and progress of the state and nation, and one of this worthy class, Mr. John H. Borger, is a prosperous resident of Hanover township and a true type of the German-American of the twentieth century. Mr. Borger was born in West Creek township, Lake county, February 15, 1853, and is the eldest of nine children, five sons and four daughters, born to John and Metie (Meyer) Borger. There are eight of the family living at the present writing, John H. being the first. Herman is a farmer of Jewell county, Kansas. Anna is the wife of Herman Batterman, a prosperous farmer of Hanover township. Charles is represented elsewhere in this volume. Edward is a farmer of Porter county, Indiana. Johanna is the wife of Henry Thineman, a farmer of Porter county. Metie is the wife of James Campbell, a resident of LaPorte, Indiana, and a carpenter and joiner by trade. Maggie, the youngest, lives in Chicago.
Father Borger was a native of Hanover province, Germany, and was born July 22, 1816, and died March 3, 1873. He was reared in his native land till manhood, and was educated in the German language. He was about thirty years of age when he bade adieu to his native land and sailed from Bremen to New York, and the voyage was of several weeks' duration. He landed in a strange land, among strange people, and with little money. He came at once to Lake county, and began as a wage earner by the day or month. The first land he purchased was a small tract in West Creek township, and he sold this and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Hanover township, in Sections 30 and 31, and he moved a little log house onto the land and this was his first habitation. He was one of the early settlers of Lake county, and there were then no roads, and Chicago, the now great city of two million, was but a town in size, and he could have purchased land around Chicago at a dollar and a half an acre. There was only one railroad across the county at that time. He was a prosperous man, and added forty acres more to his real estate in the township. He was a farmer of high order and a lover of high grades of stock. He was a stanch Republican and always stood firmly on his principles. Mother Borger was a native of Lippe province, Prussia, and was born December 18, 1835, and died February 20, 1888. Both parents are interred in the Brunswick cemetery, where beautiful stones mark their last resting places.
Mr. Borger has been reared and spent all his life in this county, having given his attention to fanning and stock-raising. He was educated in the English language. He remained with his parents until of age, and he conducted the estate for his mother until his marriage. February 14, 1882. he married Miss Susan Hoffmann, and eleven children, four sons and seven daughters, were born, ten of them being alive at this writing. Tillie M., the oldest, was educated in the common schools, graduating with the class of 1898 from the Brunswick schools. She does very artistic work in silk embroidering. Metie S. has completed the seventh grade of common schools. John W., who has passed the seventh grade, is a practical farmer boy. Lizzie T. graduated from the Brunswick public schools with the class of 1904. Otto H. is in the sixth year work of the schools, Henry E. is in the fifth grade, Edward M. is in the fifth grade, Margaret H. is in the third year, Luella A. is in the first year, and Clara E. is the baby of the family.
Mrs. Borger was born in Hanover township, September 15, 1859, a daughter of Mike and Susanna (Huppentahl) Hoffmann. There were eight children, five sons and three daughters, in the family, and four of these are living, as follows: John, who is a carpenter and resides with his mother in Hanover township; Mrs. Borger; Theresa, wife of Anton Hein, a merchant of Hanover township; and Anton, of Hanover township. Father Hoffmann was born in Germany in 1824 and died in 1896. He came to America when a young man, having been educated in the German tongue. He was a Republican, and a Catholic. His wife was also born in Germany, and she is still living at the age of sixty-seven in Hanover township. Mrs. Borger was reared in Hanover township and was educated in the common schools.
Mr. and Mrs. Borger began life on the present homestead where they now reside, purchasing the shares of the other heirs. All the excellent improvements of the farm have been effected through their efforts, and their comfortable farm residence is a credit to the township. Mr. Borger is one of the prosperous agriculturists of the township, and is a stockholder in the Brunswick Creamery Company, which was established in 1892. He likes good stock, and is endeavoring to raise the standard of his own cattle and hogs and horses, his favorite breeds of these animals being the Holsteins, the Chester Whites and the Normans as a heavy draft horse for farming. His wife is a fancier of Brown Leghorn chickens. Their estate comprises two hundred acres of land in Hanover township, and best of all there is not a dollar's indebtedness on the property. Mr. Borger is a stalwart Republican, and cast his first vote for R. B. Hayes, having supported each candidate since. Mr. and Mrs. Borger and their excellent family are among the leading German-American families of Hanover township, and we are pleased to give this full history of their lives. It may be added that the German spelling of the name Borger is B¨orger.
The German citizens are the important personages who have made the wilderness to flower and blossom like the rose in the central Mississippi valley. They are noted for their diligence, industry and economy. Mr. Herlitz was born in Hanover township, Lake county, in the homestead where he now resides. He was born January 22, 1841, and is the third in a family of six children, three sons and three daughters, born to Louis E. and Gesche (Berger) Herlitz. There are five living. Fred, the eldest, is a resident of West Creek township and is a farmer. Margaret, widow of Dr. E. W. Vilmer, resides in Crown Point. Mr. Herlitz is next. Mena, widow of Fred Weber, resides in Chicago. Oscar G. is a resident of Ross township.
Father Herlitz was born in the village of Hemann, province of Lippe, about the year 1804, and died in 1869. He was reared in his native land until early manhood, when he came to America. He was nine weeks making the voyage across the Atlantic, and came to New York, thence to a place near Detroit, Michigan, where he remained four years, and where he married. He was an agriculturist, and was one of the earliest settlers of Lake county, coming here about 1839, when there were a number of Indians here. He purchased eighty acres of wild land, and the first home was a log cabin. He was quite successful in life. He was a Republican. Mother Herlitz was a native of Hanover province, Germany, born not far from Bremen about 1807, and died in 1875.
Mr. Herlitz is one of the oldest citizens now living who were born in Hanover township. He was educated in the English language and by his own application. He has been reared as a tiller of the soil. He married Miss Anna Meyer April 5, 1877, and eight children have blessed the union, three sons and five daughters, seven of whom are living. Mary, the eldest, is one of the successful teachers of the county. She was educated in the common schools, and was a graduate in the class of 1900 at Crown Point, and was a student in Valparaiso normal and has also taken music. Anna M. was educated in the common schools and at Crown Point high school. She has taken instruction in music and is now at home. Julius is at home. He has completed the common school course and has also been a student at Valparaiso normal. Laura W. and William D. are twins. Laura has graduated from the common schools, and is in her second year at the Crown Point high school, and she has taken instruction in music. William graduated in the common schools and is a student at the Crown Point high school. Louis F. is in the eighth grade of school. Gesche, in the seventh grade, is a bright little girl.
Mrs. Herlitz was born in Hanover province, Germany, February 14, 1853, and is a daughter of D. H. and Anna (Beckman) Meyer. There were five children, two sons and three daughters, in the family. Mrs. Herlitz and her brother Herman, living in Nebraska, are the only survivors. Mrs. Herlitz was educated in her native land, as she was sixteen years of age when she came to America, and most of her life has been spent in Lake county.
Mr. and Mrs. Herlitz began their married life on the homestead where they now reside, and for twenty-seven years, over a quarter of a century, they have lived in Hanover township, and are citizens of the highest social standing. They own two hundred and five acres of choice land in Hanover township, and their beautiful sylvan homestead is a haven of rest for their friends as also for strangers. Mr. Herlitz is a Republican. He cast his first presidential vote for Lincoln and for each candidate of the party since.
He was one of the boys who wore the blue, and was a member of Company D, Eighty-third Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and his regiment was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee under General Sherman. He enlisted in October, 1862, and was ten months in service, being in the battles of Vicksburg, Arkansas Post and Jackson, Mississippi. He was honorably discharged August 2, 1863, at Camp Sherman, Mississippi. Mr. and Mrs. Herlitz and their excellent family of intelligent children are citizens who are among the better class of people of Lake county, and we are pleased to present this sketch of this worthy gentleman.
Alfred Schmal is one of the leading and successful farmers and stockmen of Hanover township, and is a gentleman so well known in this part of the county as to need no introduction to the readers of this volume. In his veins is the blood of the hardy Teutonic race whose sturdy character and intelligent industry have been the most important factors in the upbuilding of this country, and Lake county has been especially happy to have among her inhabitants so many of German birth or parentage.
Mr. Schmal was born in Hanover township, on the estate where he now resides, on September 24, 1863, being the next to the youngest of fourteen children, eight sons and six daughters, born to Joseph and Barbara (Keefer) Schmal. Nine of these children are yet living, as follows: Katharine, wife of Wilhelm Ahles, a carpenter in Hanover township; Mary, widow of Fred Gerbing, of Cedar Lake, Indiana; Joseph, married, a blacksmith of St. John; Jacob, married, a farmer of St. John; Barbara, wife of Henry Ebert, a farmer of Cedar Creek township; Louie, who is married and is a merchant in Chicago; Frank, married and a resident of West Creek township; Aurelia, wife of Fred Ebert, a prosperous farmer of Cedar Creek township; and Alfred.
Joseph Schmal, the father, was born in 1819, in Rhenish Prussia, Germany, and died in January, 1894. He was a young man when he came with his parents to America, and he became one of the early settlers of Lake county, even when Indians formed a part of the population. He attained more than ordinary success in life, and was noted for his industry and economy and good sense. He accumulated a landed estate of some one hundred and thirty-two acres in Lake county. He was a stanch Republican and supported the party's doctrines and principles from the time of its organization. Both he and his good wife were Catholics. For some twenty or twenty-five years during the early history of the county he was United States mail carrier between Crown Point and Brunswick. Mother Schmal is still living, although she has reached the advanced age of eighty-five years, and she resides with Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Schmal, who care for her during her declining years.
Mr. Schmal has been reared as a tiller of the soil and as a stockman, and his early education was received in his native township and in the Brunswick public schools. On February 12, 1889, he married Miss Caroline Herrmann, by whom he has had eight children, three sons and five daughters, seven of whom are living. Joseph is in the eighth grade of school and very-bright in his studies. Barbara is in the seventh grade, Josephine in the fifth grade, Elenora in the third grade, and Susan, Agnes and Albert are the three youngest.
Mrs. Schmal was born in St. John township, November 8, 1865, being a daughter of Jacob and Katharine (Palm) Herrmann. There were fifteen children in her parents family, nine sons and six daughters, and of the nine living six are residents of Lake county, and the other three are as follows: John, a resident of Cissna Park, Illinois, is married and is a blacksmith by trade; Katie, wife of William Baunte, a painter in Chicago; and Albert, who is married and lives in Chicago Heights. Jacob Herrmann, the father of Mrs. Schmal, was born in Prussia in 1822 and died in 1895. He was a blacksmith, learning his trade in Germany, and he has a farm in St. John township of this county. He and his wife were Catholics and he was a Democrat. His wife is still living in St. John, being seventy-seven years old and hale and active for one who has passed so many milestones of life. Mrs. Schmal was reared in St. John township, was educated in the common schools, and was confirmed by Bishop Dwrnger at the age of twelve.
Mr. and Mrs. Schmal began life on the old homestead, and for sixteen years they have been prominent German-American citizens of Hanover township. All the excellent improvements in the shape of outbuildings and of other kinds have been placed on the farm by Mr. Schmal, assisted, of course, by his estimable wife. He is a lover of excellent stock, constantly endeavoring to improve the quality of his animals, and takes especial pride in his Chester White hogs. Mrs. Schmal, on her part, is a fancier of thoroughbred poultry, and her silverlaced Wyandottes are her particular care, and of this fine breed, she has sold a goodly number for breeding purposes.
At the present writing Mr. Schmal is manager of the Brunswick Creamery Company, an enterprise which has been very successful during the last ten years of its existence. In politics he is a stanch Republican, having cast his first vote for Benjamin Harrison. He served as assessor of Hanover township for two years, filling that office most acceptably; at the last election of 1904 and at the three prior elections he was inspector of elections. From all of which it may be seen that he stands high as a worthy and honorable citizen of Hanover township, and is also one of the financially solid men of the township. Mr. and Mrs. Schmal are members of St. Anthony's Catholic church at Klaasville, and they are well known and highly esteemed in west Lake county, where they have been reared and passed their days since childhood.
Thomas J. Wood, man of affairs at Crown Point, a leader in the Democratic party, and one of the most prominent lawyers in northwestern Indiana, has a career of unusual interest from whatever point of view it is beheld. In his early years be made his own way and paid from his own earnings for his educational advantages. When he entered the political field it was as a man of principles and definite convictions, and it is universally true that the man who stands for something is certain to have many loyal adherents and sincere admirers. For a number of years Mr. Wood has wielded a large influence in public and party affairs, as many offices of honor and trust held by him would indicate, and his work has assumed national importance since Indiana has become one of the "doubtful" states in national elections. Mr. Wood is a man of the highest integrity, and prosecutes both private and public affairs with an eye to the highest welfare of the community and state.
Mr. Wood was born in Athens county. Ohio. September 30, 1844, being a son of Darius C. and Diana S. (Carter) Wood. His mother was a descendant of the great Carter family of Massachusetts. His father was a school teacher and farmer. This branch of the Wood family settled in America before the Revolutionary war, being of English and Welsh extraction. Their first home was at Litchfield, Connecticut, and later descendants of the family moved to Rochester, New York, and to the state of Michigan and to Ohio. Governor Wood of Ohio was of the family, as also was President Millard Fillmore. Many of Mr. Wood's relatives were soldiers and officers in the war for American independence, and some of his direct ancestors fell in the battles of Bunker Hill and Yorktown.
When Thomas J. Wood was seven years old his father brought the family out to Indiana and settled on a farm near Terre Haute. The son lived at this place until he was twenty-two years old, spending much of his time in working on the farm. For two winters he attended the high school in Terre Haute, having gained his elementary education in the common schools of Vigo county. After his high school course he taught school for two years, and then took up the study of law in the office of Judge William Mack at Terre Haute. He later went to the Ann Arbor Law School, from which he graduated at the head of his class in 1868. For this literary and professional education he paid by his own efforts, either at manual labor or in teaching school. In his youth he formed excellent habits of industry and personal morality, and these staying principles have remained with him ever since.
After he graduated at Ann Arbor he settled at Lowell in this county and began active practice of the law. He remained there only a short time, and in 1870 moved to Crown Point, where he has since carried on his extensive legal business, practicing in all the county, state and federal courts. He has been retained in many important cases, and in the course of his professional career he has handled nearly four thousand court causes. He is considered a safe and reliable counselor, and is one of the strongest advocates in this part of the state, being especially successful in jury trials.
Mr. Wood's career in public life began soon after he entered upon the active work of his profession. He was elected to the offices of clerk and treasurer of Crown Point; was elected and held the office of state's attorney for two terms of two years each, from 1872 to 1876, and made a fine record in convicting criminals of all classes, from misdemeanors to murder. In 1876 he was elected state senator for Lake and Porter counties, and during his four years in that office was identified with much important legislation, and he stood among the pre-eminent debaters on the floor of the senate and was a leader on the Democratic side. His alertness to the true interests of both the country and his party is illustrated by an incident during his senatorial career. At a time when many of the Democratic senators were absent from the hall the Republicans took advantage of the occasion to call up some purely partisan legislation, hoping to get it through by whirlwind work before their opponents could rally their forces. Mr. Wood at once leaped into the breach by taking the floor and launching into a long-winded speech with a vehement arraignment of the Republican side, which he continued until the messengers could bring from various parts of the city the absentee Democratic members, thus restoring the normal equilibrium and saving the day for the party. While in the senate Mr. Wood pushed through much legislation affecting land titles all over the state. In 1882 he was elected to the forty-eighth Congress, representing for two years the old Colfax district. In this strong Republican district he was defeated for re-election, but by less than three hundred votes. It is said that he was defeated by Democratic votes in Valparaiso and Chesterton, one thousand dollars having been the price paid to withdraw enough venal Democrats from his support in order to accomplish his defeat. Previous to the last Democratic national convention Mr. Wood was a much talked of favorite for the presidential candidacy. He had friends at St. Louis from fifteen states, and had the Alton B. Parker movement failed on the first ballot Mr. Wood's name would have been placed before the convention and he would have received thirty-nine votes on the next ballot.
Mr. Wood has been a prominent Mason for thirty years, being a Master and a Royal Arch Mason. He has been an Odd Fellow for twenty-five years. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Crown Point for sixteen years, and is a trustee and a member of the official board and active in church work, having filled the pulpit many times.
May 11, 1871, Mr. Wood married Miss Mary E. Pelton, of Crown Point. Her mother, Eliza Pettibone, is the widow of the late Dr. Harvey Pettibone. Her father, Hiram S. Pelton, was a prominent business man in Lake county, a successful merchant, and a fine man and much beloved by the people, having been one of the first county commissioners. For his time he left quite a large estate. Mary E. Pelton was a relative of John W. Pelton, a nephew of Hon. Samuel J. Tilden, who was elected president of the United States by the people. Mr. and Mrs. Wood had seven children, but through the ravages of diphtheria lost five of them within six weeks. Mrs. Wood is a woman of splendid character and capabilities, motherly and kind-hearted, and one of the women who make great wives.
Mr. Wood is personally a genial gentleman, wholly without deceit, straightforward, honest and earnest in all social relations. He is forceful in character, hates shams and puts truth and honesty above all other virtues, and is highly respected by all people of his community and acquaintance. He is himself above the low level of light amusements, many of which he holds as tending to the moral degeneracy of the race, but at the same time he is broad-minded and liberal in his outlook on life, is optimistic of the future, has no jealousy of others and is not willing to cast others aside in his own race for the best of the world's possessions, and, withal, looks constantly on the sunny side of life and wants to see men made better and happier. But most prominent of all his characteristics is his firm and unflinching devotion to .what he sincerely believes to be right, and when the moral right and wrong are arrayed there is no doubt what side he will take. His own career has wrought out in him a sturdy independence and he feels thoroughly able to take care of himself on any proposition, and from this ability of self-control and direction of his energies into the channels which he chooses he is also able to give intelligent and valuable aid to causes and principles lying outside his own personal relations. He has pride in good moral society, believes in the beneficence of church influences for the betterment of the world, and his life has worked out for the general good and advancement of his fellow citizens.
Henry A. Klaas, of Hanover township, belongs to a class of citizens noted for industry, thrift and native intelligence, derived largely from his German race and lineage, to which nationality Lake county is indebted for much of her permanent development and prosperity.
Mr. Klaas was born in Hanover township, this county, June 15, 1857, being the eldest of eleven children, four sons and seven daughters, born to Christian and Wilhelmina (Brenker) Klaas. Six of these children beside Mr. Klaas are living, namely: Louisa, wife of F. Berg, a farmer of Parnell, Missouri; Anna, wife of Fred Echterling, also a farmer at Parnell; August H., who is married and farming in Hanover township; Mary, wife of Joe Schenker, of Conception, Missouri; Christian F., who is married and a farmer of West Creek township; Emma, wife of John Kretz, a harness dealer at Crown Point.
Christian Klaas, the father, was born in Lippe-Detmold, Germany, in 1828.. and is still living at the age of seventy-six years. Being reared in Germany to the age of nineteen, he then took ship at Bremen and after a voyage of seven weeks reached New York, whence he came directly to Lake county, arriving with little money but with plenty of youthful energy and ambition. He purchased land from the government, and during a successful career he came into possession of about three hundred and eighty acres of land in Indiana and Illinois. He was a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Catholic church. The village of Klaasville was named after his father, Henry, who also aided in the erection of the St. Anthony Catholic church in that place. Mother Klaas was also born in Germany, in the year 1832, and she is still living.
Mr. Klaas was reared in Hanover township, and was educated in both the English and German languages. At the age of fourteen he was confirmed by Bishop Durnger. He was reared to the life of a farmer and stockman. November 28, 1882, he married Miss Mary Moenix, and all their twelve children are still living, as follows: Rosa E. was confirmed at the age of fourteen by Bishop Rademacher, was educated in the common schools through the eighth grade, and is now at home. Henry C, who was in the eighth grade of school, is a farmer and living at home. Mary A. was confirmed at the age of fourteen by Bishop Rademacher and has taken the seventh grade of school work and also studied music. Veronica, confirmed at the age of twelve, is in the seventh grade. Edward, confirmed by Bishop Alerding, is in the sixth grade. Agnes is in the sixth grade of school, Alma is in the fifth, Emma in the fourth, Anton B. in the third, and the three youngest children are Andrew C, John F. and Stella.
Mrs. Klaas was born in Lake county, December 5, 1861, being a daughter of Christopher and Anna Marie (Berg) Moenix, her parents natives of Germany and both now deceased. There were ten children in the Moenix family, six sons and four daughters, and of the four still living two are residents of Lake county, and Anna is in Illinois and Louie is in Canada. Mrs. Klaas was educated in the common schools, and was confirmed at the age of thirteen by Bishop Durnger.
Mr. and Mrs. Klaas began life at his birthplace in Hanover township on land which his father gave him. For twenty-two years, or almost a quarter of a century, they have resided in Hanover township, and they are citizens of the highest standing in every relation of life. They have reared a large and excellent family, and they are known among their friends and associates as people of industry and honesty and high worth. Mr. Klaas is a Democrat, having cast his first vote for W. S. Hancock, and has supported each candidate since. He is a friend of education and does all in his power to support the public school system. He and his wife and the older children are members of the Catholic church, St. Anthony's, at Klaasville, and Mrs. Klaas is a member of the Rosary Sodality and the girls of the St. Mary's Sodality. He and his wife own one hundred and thirteen acres of good land in Hanover township, and he is one of the prosperous German citizens who stand high in the estimation of the people.
Frank H. Lyons, in the real estate and insurance business at Hammond, has for a number of years been identified with the industrial, public and business affairs of this city, where he has practically spent the years of his life. He is a young man of much ability, alert and eager, and gifted with an energy and an enterprise which make him influential in his circle of business acquaintances.
Mr. Lyons was born in Sandusky, Ohio, September 18, 1873, a son of John M. and Winifred (Conlon) Lyons, both natives of Ireland, and the latter one of a large family born to Michael Conlon, who was an Irish farmer and died in Ireland at the advanced age of eighty-five years. The father of John M. Lyons was also a life-long Ireland farmer, and was about ninety years old when he died. There were twelve children in his family. John M. Lyons was a general contractor, and after his migration to America located on Kelly's Island, in Lake Erie. About 1874 he came to Indiana, and a year later located at Hammond, where he has since lived. He and his wife are members of the Roman Catholic church. They had nine children, four sons and five daughters, and the five now living are Peter J., Frank H., John and Matthew, all of Hammond, and Miss Winifred, of Chicago.
Mr. Frank H. Lyons was reared in Hammond, receiving his education in the public schools. He afterward took up the trade of tinner and sheet metal worker, and followed it for twelve years. He was foreman of the sheet metal department of the G. H. Hammond Packing Company for five years. From 1898 until 1902 he held the office of city clerk, and during the same period was deputy clerk of the superior court. Since leaving this office he has been engaged in the insurance and real estate business, and has already built up a creditable amount of business.
June 26, 1900, Mr. Lyons married Miss Mollie B. Hastings, a daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Clark) Hastings. They have one son, named Robert F. Mr. and Mrs. Lyons are members of the Catholic church. Their residence is at 142 Russell street, at which location they also own another good house. He affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Maccabees, and in politics is a Democrat.
Michael Ko
