Mr. Stewart was born October 19, 1886, on a farm in Jefferson County, Indiana, and is a son of James J. and Mary (Nay) Stewart. The family originated in North Carolina and was brought to the Hoosier State early in 1820, by the great-grandfather of Berney R. Stewart, who took up his residence among the pioneer settlers of what is now Jefferson County, developed a farm, erected a home, and passed an industrious, useful and honorable life in the pursuits of the soil. John H. Stewart, the grandfather of Berney R. Stewart, was born in Jefferson County, and like his father, was an agriculturist all of his life and a man who was held in high esteem in his community. His son, James J. Stewart, followed the family vocation, and is still engaged in farming in Jefferson County, where both he and his worthy wife were born.
Berney R. Stewart attended the public schools of Jefferson County, following which he entered the Marion Normal College and was graduated therefrom as a member of the class of 1912. He completed his education at Indiana University, with the class of 1915, and immediately entered upon his career as an educator, teaching two years in the Marion High School, in Grant County, and then becoming principal at Sweetser, where he remained for three years. His next position was that of principal of the high school at Madison, where he remained six years, and in the fall of 1926 was called to Seymour to become principal of the high school, a position which he has since retained. Mr. Stewart has become widely and favorably known as an educator, and is a member of the Indiana State Teacher’s Association. During his incumbency he has introduced numerous improvements which have elevated the high school's standards, and has become popular with teachers, students and parents, at the same time gaining a firm place in the confidence of the general public. He has continued to be a scholar himself, and during the summer months makes it a practice to take special work at the University of Indiana. He is a member and secretary of the local Lions Club. During the World war period Mr. Stewart was active in all war drives, and did particularly valuable work through his connection with educational institutions.
Mr. Stewart married Miss Marie Ratz, of Nebraska, and they have had five children: Mildred, Vivian, Thelma, James and Ruth, of whom James is deceased.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
GEORGE KENNETH HUBBARD. Well established in the practice of law at Angola, Indiana, is G. Kenneth Hubbard, of the law firm of Hubbard & Hubbard. Although one of the younger members of his profession at Angola, his legal ability has been so generally recognized from the first that many of the most important cases of litigation in Steuben County during the past few years have been placed in his hands and have been satisfactorily disposed of. He is able to name among his clients many corporations and banks, together with personalities widely known in business circles in Indiana and Michigan, and, all in all, his career has had an auspicious start.
Mr. Hubbard was born June 28, 1902, at Stephenson, Menominee County, Michigan, and is a son of Edward R. and Alice (Sandall) Hubbard. Edward R. Hubbard was born at Newcastle, New Brunswick, Canada, where he received a public school education and in his youth learned the trade of carpenter. He eventually established a business of his own as a contractor and builder, which he followed for some years at Stephenson, Michigan, finally removing to South Bend, Indiana, where he had a large and profitable general contracting business, with offices at 311 Citizens Bank Building. He is now located at East Lansing, Michigan. He is one of the substantial citizens and successful business men of his community, and his prosperity is well merited because it has been self gained. On July 26, 1900, Mr. Hubbard married Miss Alice Sandall, who was born at Stephenson, Michigan, and to this union there have been born the following children: G. Kenneth, of this review; Harris W., born November 26, 1903, at Stephenson, Michigan, who graduated in law and is now a member of the firm of Hubbard & Hubbard, at Angola; C. Rogers, born December 6, 1904, who is engaged in the insurance business at Kenosha, Wisconsin; Byron J., born July 22, 1906, who is living at Chicago, Illinois, where he is connected with a publishing house; Edna B., born May 17, 1908, who married Charles Chisler, engaged in the automobile agency business at Lansing, Michigan; Carlton L., born September 11, 1912, at Stephenson, is connected with the Healthwin Hospital at South Bend, Indiana; Helen, born October 5, 1914, who is attending high school at East Lansing, Michigan; and Edward T., born September 30, 1915; Elton, born August 9, 1917; and Alice E., born in 1920, all of whom are attending public school at East Lansing, Michigan.
G. Kenneth Hubbard attended the grade and high schools at Stephenson, Michigan, and Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for one year, following which he pursued a full course of four years at Valparaiso (Indiana) University, and was graduated from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, class of 1924. He at once commenced practice at Angola, with offices at 119 Maumee Street, and thereafter formed a partnership with his brother, Harris W. Hubbard, forming the law firm of Hubbard & Hubbard, as at present. This is one of the strong and formidable combinations of the city and has been engaged successfully in much important litigation. Mr. Hubbard is a member of the Steuben County Bar Association, the Indiana State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and in his profession is known as a man singularly qualified for his difficult and perplexing vocation. He is well grounded in all the departments of his calling and therefore has specialized in none, having been content to follow his calling as a general practitioner. He is a member of the Methodist Church and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and as a citizen has given his hearty support to all beneficial measures.
On March 23,1925, Mr. Hubbard was united in marriage with Miss Marian C. Potter, who was born September 3, 1904, at Angola, where she was educated in the public schools. Her father, Alfred S. Potter, was for many years a substantial business man of Angola, and is now living in retirement at 217 North Superior Street, and her mother, a native of Angola, bore the maiden name of Iris Kemp. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard have two children: Imogene Marian, born January 6, 1926; and George Kenneth Jr., born July 23, 1927. Mrs. Hubbard is active in church work at Angola, where she is popular in social circles.
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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
FRANK SELF, attorney, is the successor of his father, the late George W. Self, as editor and owner of the Corydon Republic . The Republican is one of the oldest newspapers in Indiana, having been established while Corydon still boasted the distinction of being the state capital of Indiana. For sixty years of the more than a hundred years of its existence it has been conducted by the Self family.
The late George W. Self was born in Hart County, Kentucky, and moved to New Albany, Indiana, about 1854. He also practiced law, and afterwards moved to Corydon and in 1869 took charge of the Corydon Republican . He served four years in the Indiana State Senate and for eight years was reporter for the Indiana Supreme Court. George W. Self married Addie Adams, a native of Harrison County and descended from the pioneer Heath family of that county.
Mr. Frank Self, one of the two children of his parents, was born at Corydon, April 6, 1875. He attended grade and high school there, the University of Indiana at Bloomington, and completed his law education at Georgetown University, Washington, D. C., graduating LL. B. in 1896. He was admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court in 1899. Mr. Self in 1897 returned to Corydon and was associated with his father in law practice until the latter's death. He also assumed an increasing share of responsibilities in the editorial management of the Republican and has continued his work as a newspaper man and lawyer.
Mr. Self is a former president of the Harrison County Bar Association. In 1919 he entered the Indiana Legislature, serving four years. He is a trustee of the Boy’s School at Plainfield, Indiana, and is a member of the Southeastern Indiana Historical Society. During the World war both personally and through his newspaper he was a leader in the Loan and Red Cross drives. He is affiliated with Pisgah Lodge No. 32, A. F. and A. M., and the Royal Arch Chapter of Masons. Mr. Self married Miss Lida Marshall, of Harrison County.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
THE CORYDON PUBLIC LIBRARY was established March 5, 1909. Several years later the sum of $7,500 was obtained from the Carnegie library fund for a building and in December, 1914, the building was completed at a cost of about $8,700. The total value of the real estate today is $10,500. The library contains approximately 4800 volumes. It is one of the valuable institutions of this historical old political and social center of Southern Indiana.
The librarian since 1911 has been Mrs. Georgia Stockslager Fisher, who was born in Corydon and finished her education in the University of Indiana. Her father was Hon. S. M. Stockslager, one of the distinguished public men of Harrison County. He was a Union soldier, captain in the Thirteenth Indiana Cavalry and afterwards represented this district in the Indiana State Senate, was a member of Congress and was commissioner of the General Land Office under President Cleveland. He was promoted to the rank of captain for gallantry under fire at the battle of Murfeesboro, and had his whiskers shot away and his sabre shot in two pieces. He died June 1, 1930, at the Naval Hospital at Washington, D. C., and was buried in Arlington Cemetery. Mrs. Fisher's mother was Kate Miller, a native of Harrison County.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
STANLEY PFLANZ is proprietor of the Stanley Pflanz Chevrolet Company at Corydon. Mr. Pflanz has been in the automobile business for many years and is a member of a pioneer family of Louisville, Kentucky, where he was born January 15, 1891. His father was the late John R. Pflanz. His mother was Ida (Wilkes) Pflanz, who was born at Louisville. Her father was a steamboat pilot, running from Pittsburgh to New Orleans.
Stanley Pflanz grew up a Louisville, attended school there and learned the automobile business in that city. He was for seven years a dealer in Ford cars. On January 1, 1929, he organized the Stanley Pflanz Chevrolet Company at Corydon.
Mr. Pflanz married Nellis Housefield, of Campbellsburg, Washington County, Indiana. They have two children, Alice Josephine, born October 9, 1929, and Grace Artise, born December 1, 1930. Mr. Pflanz is a member of the American Legion. During the war he was in Company F of the Sixty-seventh Infantry Ninth Division, and was located at Camp Thomas and at Camp Sheridan in Alabama, with the rank of sergeant.
The Stanley Pflanz Chevrolet Company owns the sales franchise for the Chevrolet car, and has a contract for placing 125 cars annually. His business is a modern new brick building with 9,000 square feet of floor space, affording ample facilities for shop and sales room. The shop is equipped with all the machinery required for special handling of the Chevrolet car. Mr. Pflanz employs seven people in the business at Corydon.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
LEWIS EVERETT HANGER is an attorney at law, but during the greater part of his professional career has had his chief routine of duties as cashier of the Sellersburg State Bank.
Mr. Hanger was born in Clark County, December 12, 1881. His grandfather, David Hanger, was a native of Germany, who carne to Harrison County, Indiana, about 1836 and settled on a farm. Mr. Hanger's parents were Jesse D. and Sarah Jane (Bottorff) Hanger. His father was born in Harrison County and spent his active life as a quarryman.
Lewis E. Hanger was one of a family of six children. He grew up on a farm, attended public schools and was graduated LL. B. from the University of Louisville in 1913. For three years he carried on a general law practice at Sellersburg, and he still handles cases of law in the courts of Clark County. In addition to his office as cashier of the Sellersburg State Bank he also conducts a general insurance agency and is one of the busy men in that community.
Mr. Hanger for four years was a member and president of the Sellersburg Town Board. He is a past president of the Sellersburg Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Indiana State and American Bankers Associations, and is admitted to practice in the Indiana Supreme Court. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and Knights of Pythias.
He married Miss Hazel Hause Hinton, of Clark County. They have two children, Alice Jane and Nettabell.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
SIMA SHAPINSKY, department store owner, is one of the oldest of the local business men of Scottsburg in point of continuous service, having been a factor in the supplying of necessities and luxuries to this community for a third of a century.
Mr. Shapinsky was born at Louisville, Kentucky, in February, 1875, a son of Aaron and Sarah Shapinsky. His parents had first settled in Scott County in 1865, shortly after the Civil War. His father was also a merchant, but his chief business was in contracting for and supplying oak staves and headings for cooperage manufacturers.
Sima Shapinsky was one of a family of nine children. He grew up and received his early education in Scott County, and when seventeen years of age became a clerk for his uncle, who was a general merchant and farmer. These years of working for his uncle he utilized to excellent purpose and in 1896, when he was twenty-one, started business for himself. For the past thirty-three years Scottsburg has known and patronized the establishment of S. Shapinsky, which in that time has grown to a general department store. He started it as a clothing and shoe business, and he now has a store with over 10,000 square feet of floor space, employing eight people and carrying a large general stock of shoes, clothing, dry goods, women's ready-to-wear garments and millinery.
Mr. Shapinsky is also interested in country life and is owner of two dairy farms, comprising 200 acres, stocked with forty Jersey cows and with three men employed in handling this branch of his business.
Mr. Shapinsky married Miss Mattie Wells, a native of Greensburg, Kentucky. Both of their children, Robert and William, are attending school. Mr. Shapinsky is a member of the Scottsburg Commercial Club and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Improved Order of Red Men.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
REV. MONROE GOEBEL SCHUSTER. The people who are designated as the Disciples of Christ constitute a communion of more than 1,000,000 members. This body, which has its greatest strength in the Middle West, is found in nearly all parts of the United States, in addition to which there are churches in Canada, England and Australia and a vigorous missionary program is being carried out in numerous foreign countries. The Disciples have various agencies for the promotion of missions, benevolences and education. Although they have not accepted a formulated creed, there are elements of faith which are generally believed that distinguish them from other communions. The fact that the Disciples have prevented their faith from becoming formulated in a written creed has made it easy for them to develop in their interpretation of religion. The fact that they have no written constitution, outlining the policy of the church, has made the development in organization inevitable. Because they have no written creed and constitution there are widely divergent elements in the church, but all feel that they are true Disciples.
Among the leaders of this great religious body in Indiana, one who has been untiring in his zeal and unfaltering in his piety is Rev. Monroe Goebel Schuster, pastor of the Central Christian Church of Gary. Reverend Schuster was born at Louisville, Kentucky, February 10,1900, and is a son of Frank J. and Josephine (Unz) Schuster. His paternal grandparents, George Adam and Elizabeth (Korb) Schuster, were born and reared in Germany, and after their marriage immigrated to the United States, being among the early settlers of Louisville, Kentucky, where they located prior to the war between the states. They became well known and highly respected residents of their community and are buried in Cave Hill Cemetery there.
Frank J. Schuster was born at Louisville, where he acquired a public school education, and as a youth became identified with mercantile affairs. As the years passed he grew to be a leading wholesale grocery merchant and carried on a thriving and successful business for more than three decades, but is now retired from business affairs and is serving in the capacity of associate county clerk of Jefferson County, Kentucky. At the age of sixty-four years he is still active in mind and body and takes a great deal of interest in the work of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of Saint John's Evangelical Church. Mrs. Schuster, also a native of Louisville and a product of its public schools, is sixty-three years old and is likewise much interested in church work. Her father, John Unz, was one of the early hardware merchants of Louisville, and his son, Louis Unz, still carries on this business, which is one of the old and reliable concerns of the city. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Schuster: Carlisle, who is engaged in the insurance business at Louisville; Evelyn, now the wife of Ernest Speckman, also of that city; and Monroe G., of this review.
Monroe Goebel Schuster attended the public schools of Louisville and graduated from Louisville High School as a member of the class of 1917. In that year he obtained a position as clerk in the general storekeeper's office of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, a capacity in which he served for about two years, subsequently becoming associate secretary of the Railroad Young Men's Christian Association at Louisville. Two years later he entered Transylvania College, Lexington, Kentucky, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts as a member of the class of 1925, and in 1926 graduated from the College of the Bible there with the degree of Master of Arts. He went then to Yale University and in 1928 received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. In the meantime, in 1925, at Lexington, he had been ordained a minister of the Disciples of Christ Church, although he had been preaching for a number of years previous to that time. In 1921 he began his ministry at Ruddles Mills, Kentucky, where he spent five years, and while there was also pastor of the East Union Christian Church at East Union, Kentucky. After his first year at Yale he was pastor of the Main Street Baptist Church at Meriden, Connecticut, where he remained one and one-half years, and in 1928 came to Gary as pastor of the Central Christian Church, which ministry he still fills. Reverend Schuster has carried forward a great and good work. Connected with the church is the church school, which includes religious education, young people's department, intermediate department, junior department, primary department, beginners department and cradle roll department. There is also the Men's Brotherhood Class, King's Daughter's Class, Service Class, Young Married People's Class, Truth Seekers Class, Faholo Class, Christian Endeavor, Girl's Circle, Triangle Girls and Boy Scouts.
Reverend Schuster is a Master Mason and belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose, the Kiwanis Club, Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, Aleph Theta Ze honorary ministerial fraternity, the Cressmore Country Club and the Lincoln Hills Country Club. Politically he is a Republican and takes an active and constructive part in all movements promulgated and fostered for the benefit of the community.
On June 4, 1931, he was united in marriage with Miss Lucille Russell Ingram, of Dayton, Ohio.
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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HENRY H. KASPERLAIN. The manufacture of furniture now covers such a broad and varied field that many of the men engaged in this line of business have limited their activities to specialization in some particular department, feeling that thus they can produce a better product and concentrate on bringing forth a more finished and acceptable article. An illustration is found in the Seymour Chair Manufacturing Company, at Seymour, which manufactures chairs exclusively and which is now a leading enterprise of the city. The growth of this factory is a testimonial to the business ability and aggressive industry of Henry H. Kasperlain, the present owner. It is not a product of a bonus or subscriptions, but represents only the capital and work of the man who owns it. It has a thoroughly substantial basis, growing from a small enterprise and expanding as the demands of an increasing business have justified.
Henry H. Kasperlain was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, December 21, 1859, and is a son of George and Magdelain (Wigle) Kasperlain. He attended the graded schools of that city and commenced work on a farm, leaving the parental roof at the age of twenty-three years to engage in farming on his own account. Not caring for an agricultural career, he secured employment in a furniture and cabinet factory, and at the age of twenty-eight years embarked in the manufacture of furniture, under the style of the Linwood Furniture Company, but in 1893 came to Seymour and became one of the organizers of the Home Furniture Company, being mill foreman and part owner. After two years this business was closed, and in 1896 Mr. Kasperlain engaged in the chair manufacturing business in a small building on Second Street, where he had 450 feet of floor space. Two years later he built an addition, twenty by eighty feet. In 1897 the present plant, corner Ninth Street and Shields Avenue, was acquired, this having been an old bicycle shop, which he rebuilt. This new plant was started about 1897. In 1906 Frank Patrick bought an interest in the business and with new additions to their factory the output by 1911 was 100 dozen chairs a week. A two-story addition, fifty by eighty feet in dimensions, was built at the south end of the factory, and, like the remainder of the large building of which it became a part, was constructed of brick. Preparations at the same time were made for the erection of another addition, on the west side, sixteen by forty feet. From that time to the present the plant has been constantly enlarged and improved, and now covers 30,000 square feet of floor space, being a brick building, two stories throughout. Seventy-five people are given employment in the manufacture of chairs, with a side line of made-to-order furniture, and the product finds a ready market throughout Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and also is shipped to Texas, New York and other states. Mr. Kasperlain is one of the best known and most highly esteemed business citizens of Seymour, and has always been ready to contribute materially to movements for the betterment of the community. He has been primarily a business man all of his life and has not sought public office. Fraternally he is identified with Jackson Lodge, No. 146, A. F. and A. M.
Mr. Kasperlain married Miss Edith Amann, and to this union there have been born three children: Anna, Will and Maggie.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JAMES M. HAMER. Among the sound and substantial business citizens of Seymour whose activities have served to contribute to the city’s progress and prosperity, none has a better right to the esteem and respect of his fellow-men than James M. Hamer, owner of the builders’ supplies business conducted under the name of J. M. Hamer Company. For a period of thirty-eight years this business has been carried on under the same direction and management, and during this long time its policies have been so straightforward as to have gained and held the full confidence of the community.
James M. Hamer was born near Mitchell, in Lawrence County, Indiana, October 26, 1854, and is a son of Joseph and Martha (Mattox) Hamer. His paternal grandfather was born in England, Hugh Hamer, and was brought as an infant to the shores of America, where later he participated as a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Joseph Hamer, the father of James M., was born in New York State, whence he came to Indiana in 1829, joining his uncle, Hugh Hamer, in the operation of a flour mill, near Mitchell, which the elder man had founded some two years before. This business was carried on for more than forty years, but in his declining years Joseph Hamer retired. He married Martha Mattox, who was born south of Bloomington, Indiana, and they became the parents of five children. Several of these were sons who fought in the Union army during the war between the states, one, Hugh Hamer, losing his life on the bloody battlefield of Missonary Ridge. Hugh Hamer had served as state senator and for a number of years was prominent in public life.
James M. Hamer attended the public schools of Lawrence County and remained under the parental roof until he was eighteen years of age, at which time he was attracted by the romance of the railroad, and became a water boy on a work train. For twenty-one years he was identified with the transportation department of the O. & M., B. and O. S. W. railroads, but in 1892 embarked in the building supplies and coal business at Seymour, founding the J. M. Hamer Company, of which he has been the head for thirty-eight years, and which under his wise and careful management, industry and honorable business methods has grown to be one of the leading enterprises of the city, with a large modern plant and yards at the conjunction of the Baltimore & Ohio and Pennsylvania Railways. Mr. Hamer is a member of Jackson Lodge No.. 146, A. F. and A. M., the Chapter, Council and Commandery, the Scottish Rite at Indianapolis, Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine and of the Methodist Episcopal Church. During the World war period he was very active and contributed liberally to all drives and movements for the success of American arms.
Mr. Hamer married for his first wife Miss Mary Dunkle, of Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana, who died leaving four children: James E., associated with his father, and a part owner of the J. M. Hamer Company, a veteran of the Spanish-American war, in which he served in Company F, Eighteenth United States Infantry, married Aline Brown; Laura Maude, the wife of Ferdinando W. Wesner, an attorney of Seymour; William E., a veteran of the Spanish-American war, who is interested in his father's business and also identified with the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, married Ora E. Russell; and Harry J., who is deceased. In 1897 James M. Hamer married Miss Emma G. Johnson, a native of Ohio, and to this union there was born one son: Harry L., deceased. The family residence is at 404 North Chestnut Street.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
