GEORGE JOHN KOLLAR, city clerk of Whiting, is a World war veteran and one of the active younger group of citizens of this Lake County community, where he was born March 9, 1896.

Mr. Kollar's parents, John and Anna (Liba) Kollar, were born and reared in Czecho- Slovakia. They attended parochial schools, and about three years after their marriage came to America. John Kollar worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and from there came to Whiting, where he was an employee of the Pennsylvania Railway and then for a number of years with the Standard Oil Company. He left the service of others to go into the mercantile business. He had come to America alone, and his wife joined him at Whiting. They were active members of the Russian Catholic Church. John Kollar died in 1924 and his wife in 1908, and both are buried at Hessville. They had five children: John, who died at the age of eight years; Mary, who died when seven years old; George John; Miss Anna, of Whiting; and Helen, wife of Frank Benson, of East Chicago. After the death of the mother of these children John Kollar married his second wife in 1909. She lives at Whiting. Of their six children one died in infancy, and the others are: Katherine, Mrs. William Lawton; Miss Emma, of Whiting; Genevieve, Irene and Albert.

George John Kollar was educated in the Sacred Heart parochial schoo1, also attended grammar and high school at Whiting, and as a boy learned the trade of printer with the Whiting Call. The Whiting Call was then a weekly newspaper, later was merged with the Whiting Sun, under the name of the Whiting Call-Sun, and still later became the Whiting Call.

Mr. Kollar left newspaper work in 1917 to join the colors. He was in training at Jefferson Barracks, Saint Louis, then at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, for two months, and on August 7, 1917, landed at Saint Nazaire, France, with the First Division Supply Train, as a private. In 1918 he was promoted to sergeant of the first class and was made company clerk. While overseas he was at Saint Nazaire, Is-sur-Tille, Nevers, and then at Chaumont, Pershing's headquarters. On coming home he had charge of a squad of men whom he mustered out in Texas, and he received his own discharge at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1919.

On returning to Whiting Mr. Kollar spent one year with the Corn Products plant and then resumed his work with the Whiting Call. He left that to enter the service of the Standard Oil Company, and so continued until January 1, 1930, when he entered upon his duties as city clerk of Whiting. For four years before his election to this office he was an alderman.

Mr. Kollar is a Republican in politics. He is affiliated with the B. P. O. Elks, Loyal Order of Moose, Whiting Post No. 80 of the American Legion, the Russina Brotherhood of Falcons, the National Slovakian Society, Slovak Citizens Club, and St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church.

He married at Whiting, October 24, 1921, Miss Rose Wislay, daughter of Joseph and Anna Wislay. Her father for many years was an employee of the Inland Steel Company at Indiana Harbor. He died in 1923 and is buried in St. John's Cemetery at Hammond. Her mother lives at Indiana Harbor. Mrs. Kollar attended the grammar and high schools of Indiana Harbor. She is a member of the Catholic Church of East Chicago and the American Legion Auxiliary. Mr. Kollar is a very popular citizen of Whiting, and a man with many interests and at all times thoroughly public spirited. His favorite sports are basketball, baseball and fishing.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


JAMES H. PRICE, superintendent of roads in Clay County, is one of the public spirited and capable citizens, of that section of the state, where he has lived all his life. He has been a farmer, and in all his relations with the community has shown an industry and fidelity to duty that have won him the confidence of the best people of Clay County.

He was born September 1, 1891, son of James and Elizabeth (Douglass) Price, and grandson of James Price, who came from England, first locating with his family in Maryland and afterwards coming to Indiana. James Price, second of the name, was born in Maryland and was a child when brought to Indiana. He has been one of the prosperous farmers of Clay County, where he still resides. He and his wife had a family of six children: Minnie, who married Bert Hice; Ida, who married Fred Heiliger; Frankie, who married Joe Stott; May, wife of Sam Parr; James H.; and Fred C., who married Dora Rohrig.

James H. Price completed his public school education in Van Buren Township. He was trained as a farmer while still in school, and out of his industrious efforts has gained a place of his own, owning eighty acres in Clay County. He also learned the trade of barber, and followed that occupation at different times in Brazil and Harmony. Mr. Price's home is two miles north of Harmony.

He has had many years of experience in road making and road working, being employed under Arthur Groner for two years and under James L. Tucker four years, and was then himself made county superintendent of roads.

He married, October 20, 1914, Miss Myrtle Reed, daughter of Harry T. and Martha (Thomas) Reed. Her father was a locomotive engineer living at Brazil, and both parents are buried in that city. Mrs. Price had a sister, Nellie, and a brother, Harry. Her father was an Englishman by birth. Mr. Price is a member of the United Brethren Church, while Mrs. Price is a Methodist.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


FRED HECTOR AHLGRIM, postmaster of Michigan City is an architect by profession and the Ahlgrims as a family have been identified with building and construction work in Northern Indiana for many years.

Mr. Ahlgrim was born on a farm in LaPorte County, May 31, 1885, son of Charles and Katherine (McAllister) Ahlgrim. The founder of the Ahlgrim family in America was Christian Ahlgrim, who came from Germany and settled in LaPorte in 1856. He spent his active life as a farmer, and he and his wife are buried in the Greenwood Cemetery at Michigan City. Charles Ahlgrim was born in Germany and was about six months old when brought to America. He grew up and attended school in LaPorte County, followed farming, but after 1893 lived at Michigan City and took up the work of a building contractor. Before he retired from business his firm handled an important share of building construction in this vicinity, including many apartment houses and industrial buildings. His wife, Katherine McAllister, was born at Buffalo, New York, and grew up in the vicinity of New Buffalo, Michigan. She is an active member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. There were three children: Fred H.; Carl J., a contractor and builder at Michigan City; and Janet, wife of Raymond Timm, of Michigan City.

Fred H. Ahlgrim secured his early education in the public schools of Michigan City. After leaving high school he had two years of work in the University of Illinois, specializing in architecture. During the early years of his manhood he was associated with his father and brother in the building contracting work, but since 1913 has concentrated his attention upon his business as an architect.

Mr. Ahlgrim was appointed postmaster March 1,1931, under the Hoover administration. He has been prominent in the civic and political life of Michigan City for many years. He was a member of the Common Council from 1914 to 1918. In 1925 he was elected to the Board of School Trustees and in the following year was made president of the board, serving until 1931. He is a member of the Michigan City Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with Acme Lodge No. 83, A. F. and A. M., is a past patron of the Eastern Star Chapter, member of the B. P. O. Elks, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is a past president of the Lions Club, and is member of the Pottawattamie Country Club. He was city chairman of the Republican party from 1914 to 1916 and its secretary from 1916 to 1918. Mr. Ahlgrim is a trustee of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. His recreations are fishing and golf.

Mr. Ahlgrim married at Michigan City, February 22, 1913, Miss Flossie Lopp, daughter of Wesley A. and Priscilla (McDaniels) Lopp. Her father for many years followed the trade of carpenter in Michigan City. Her mother died in April, 1931, and is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery. Mrs. Ahlgrim was educated in the grammar and high schools at Michigan City. She was an active member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Eastern Star, the Woman's Study Club, and the League of Woman Voters. Mrs. Ahlgrim passed away September 29, 1930, and is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery. Three children were born of their marriage: Richard, who died at the age of eighteen months, Doris Jane and Marjorie Janet. Doris is one of the brilliant students in high school and Marjorie is in the grades.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


CHARLES JAMES BOXWELL is a popular South Bend business man. He is a pioneer in the radio business, and is proprietor of the South Side Radio Company, at 761 South Michigan Street.

Mr. Boxwell was born in Darke County, Ohio, August 4, 1897. His parents, J. J. and Nellie (Bowman) Boxwell, were natives of the same county. He was seven years of age when his mother died, and his father lives at South Bend. There were three sons: George, of Saint Mary's, Ohio; Charles J.; and Edward, proprietor of the Boxwell Radio Company of South Bend.

After the death of his mother Charles J. Boxwell was reared in the family of Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Stump, farmers near Dayton, Ohio. He attended district schools and the Dayton High School. After finishing his education he came to South Bend and for five years was an employee of the Studebaker Corporation.

It was in 1922, only a short time after the radio began its remarkable development as a popular means of communication, that Mr. Boxwell established a shop in South Bend. Since then he has developed one of the largest radio stores in Northwestern Indiana. He specializes in the handling of the Majestic radio, and in July, 1929, his corps of nineteen salesmen sold two carloads of these very popular receiving sets. Mr. Boxwell is treasurer of the Northern Indiana Radio Association, and is an active member of the South Side Business Men's Association. He is unmarried, and his hobby is golf and motoring.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


MRS. ELLA BAGOT KEHRER, founder of the Madison County Tuberculosis Hospital and originator of "Health Day," whose observance has since become national and international, is an Indiana woman who has turned her rare executive gifts and her personal efforts and means to the enrichment of the lives of those under-privileged and handicapped by disease and misfortune.

She was born in Ripley County, Indiana, daughter of William and Catherine (Phelan) Bagot. Bagot is an old and honored English name. William Bagot, her father, was a contractor. At Cincinnati he built a courthouse and was also the contractor for the famous Burnet House. Mrs. Kehrer was one of a large family of children. Her brother, the late Thomas Bagot, was a leading lawyer of Anderson, and another brother is Judge Charles K. Bagot, of Anderson. The other children were: William F., Walter, James, Phelan, Katherine, who married Doctor Hess, and Mary, wife of Charles Reedy, a Cincinnati elevator manufacturer.

Mrs. Kehrer completed her early education in Moores Hill College in Dearborn County, Indiana. She also attended the Marion Normal School, was a teacher for three years, following which she took up insurance work with the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati. For several years she had charge of the company's state office at .Indianapolis. At one time she lived at Redkey, Indiana, and while there she was appointed postmaster, without solicitation. While with the insurance company at Indianapolis she had worked with Doctor Potter, an expert on tuberculosis, and at that time she came to realize the great number of children who were facing the world handicapped because of the insidious ravages of this disease. At that time Mrs. Kehrer received the inspiration which has directed her into a lifelong campaign against disease, want and other human privations.

Mrs. Kehrer became a resident of Anderson in 1907. Shortly afterward she responded to the request that she become superintendent of the Anderson Industrial School, a local institution founded by a small group of pubic spirited women for welfare work among boys and girls. Classes were held every Saturday and instruction given in sewing, cooking, carpentering and other vocations. Health work was emphasized, and the first organized gymnasium instruction in Anderson was afforded at these classes.

In 1909 Mrs. Kehrer was drafted for service in the anti-tuberculosis campaign under the auspices of the National Red Cross. Being one of the five persons named on the Anderson committee for the sale of Red Cross seals. At that time Mrs. Kehrer devised a portable tuberculosis sleeping room, referred to as "Kehrer Shacks," a number of which were built and used, so that out-of-door sleeping became popular. A free clinic was also opened at the Industrial School. The following summer a "Fresh Air" School was instituted, the pupils being some twenty-five tuberculous children.

Through these various agencies much effective work was done, but Mrs. Kehrer was not satisfied with the progress, and finally she resolved upon a great educational campaign. She started that campaign with the inauguration of the "First Health Day Parade in the World," a spectacular parade held on April 6, 1914. During that day Anderson was one of the new centers of America. Twenty mayors, health officers, physicians, students and newspaper reporters from New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis and from Indiana attended and witnessed and reported the parade. A motion picture was made of the parade, and has been shown repeatedly ever since. It was the beginning of an almost national custom of health day parades, and the celebration of Health Day has extended to foreign countries. All of this was a great stimulus to general health work throughout the county. Another impulse was given in 1917, when the medical examinations conducted for recruits before the draft board disclosed many otherwise promising young men who were rejected because of various stages of tubercular affliction. In May, 1918, a camp was established to receive boys who were invalided home from military service.

Her duties in the anti-tuberculosis campaign and among children constituted only part of Mrs. Kehrer's varied activities during war times. She was one of the prominent figures of the Red Cross, delivered a great many talks and lectures on health, and also participated in the drives for bond sales and the raising of funds for war purposes. She personally went to rural chapters of the Red Cross to instruct in knitting and sewing. Upon her devolved much of the responsibility of providing facilities for the care of the victims of the influenza epidemic. Besides the expansion of local hospital facilities for influenza patients, an even more important service was instituted to take medical supplies, food and other provisions to the homes of stricken people, many of them entirely dependent upon outside aid.

With the return to normal peacetime conditions Mrs. Kehrer renewed her efforts to realize the plans for a tuberculosis hospital. Cooperating with and in fact leading the Madison County Commissioners, the Anderson Chamber of Commerce and other organizations, refusing to be discouraged by various obstacles put in her path. Mrs. Kehrer kept public and official attention directed to the cause until on June 29, 1924, the tuberculosis hospital was dedicated by the American Legion, with 500 interested persons from all over the county present. A committee, made up of members of the various organizations interested in the project, agreed unanimously that the name of the hospital should be the Ella B. Kehrer Hospital, and Mrs. Kehrer was appointed by the board of directors as its first superintendent. The first hospital was a summer camp. Later the county authorities appropriated money to put the former "pest house" into condition to serve as the winter quarters, and this permanent building was opened for use January 26, 1927.

In the same year Mrs. Kehrer realized her dream of a companion institution, known as the Chjldren's Preventorium, which was opened in June, 1927, with seventy-five sick children enrolled. Among its various institutions Madison County probably takes more pride in this sanatorium for children than any other.

This is a very brief account of the practical realization of some of Mrs. Kehrer's great ambitions for personal service to humanity. Her work has not been without recognition, not only in Madison County, whose citizens think of her in the highest terms, but also throughout the state. Mrs. Kehrer has been chairman of the legislative committee of the Indiana Federation of Women's Clubs; vice president of the State Parent-Teachers Association; director of the League of Women Voters of Indiana; president of the Child welfare Association of Indiana; member of the State Commission of the Juvenile Probation Committee; director of the Health Council of Indiana; treasurer of the Social Hygiene Association of the State; secretary of the State Tuberculosis Association, and, of course, has been chairman of the Madison County Tuberculosis Association since it was founded. Mrs. Kehrer is serving her third term as president of the Madison County Council of Social Agencies. These and other positions have not been mere honors, but have in every case represented a service such as only a woman of Mrs. Kehrer's abounding energy, enthusiasm and high purpose could render. Above all else, her greatest service may be considered as a home maker.

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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


MICHAEL HAZINSKI has been long and successfully established in the manufacturing of high-grade cigars in the City of South Bend, where he has developed an enterprise whose scope and importance mark him as one of the leaders in this line of industry in this section of Indiana. Mr. Hazinski, who is now one of the veteran and representative business men of South Bend, was born at Kcinia, Poland, September 15, 1858, a son of Velentine and Michalina (Pierszchalski) Hazinski, both of whom passed their entire lives in their native land.

Michael Hazinski gained his early education in the schools of his native land and as a youth he served two years in the German army, the district of Poland in which he was born and reared having then been under German rule. He received his discharge from the army in 1879, about the time of attaining to his legal majority, and shortly afterward he came to the United States. After he had established residence in South Bend he here attended school six months, to advance his knowledge of the language of his adopted land and also his familiarity with business customs and systems. In his native land he had served an apprenticeship to the trade of blacksmith and machinist, and his initial service as an apprentice to the trade of cigar maker was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1881 he came to South Bend, where he continued his apprenticeship to this trade and his apprenticeship was completed at Coldwater, Michigan, which city was then a center of large operations in the cigar manufacturing industry. In 1883 he finished his apprenticeship and became a member of the Cigarmakers Union. As a journeyman he followed his trade at various places, but in 1883 he established his permanent home in South Bend, where the intervening period of more than forty-five years has tallied for him large and worthy achievement and for gaining of status as one of the substantial business men and honored citizens of the community. After returning to South Bend Mr. Hazinski here worked at his trade four years, and for a time he was here foreman in a cigar factory. In 1889 he purchased the business of his employer, the late Anthony Grisvoi, and thus he has been for forty years owner and operator of what is now one of the leading cigar factories in the vital city that is the metropolis and judicial center of Saint Joseph County. Careful and honorable policies and effective service have been the basis of the unequivocal success that Mr. Hazinski has here achieved in his field of manufacturing, and he retains in his employ at the present time an average of fifty workmen, busy seasons having necessitated the retaining at intervals of fully eighty-five employes. The excellence of the products of the Hazinski cigar factory have gained to it a substantial and appreciative trade throughout the territory tributary to South Bend as a distributing center, and his leading brands of cigars are "Royal Trophy" and "M. H.," that latter being so termed from the initials of his name.

While he was serving as foreman of a local cigar factory Mr. Hazinski had much of leadership in effecting the organization of Local No. 221 of the Cigarmakers Union of America, of which he thus became a charter member. He has assisted also in the organizing of various local societies of civic and social order, and of certain of these he has served as president. He has active membership in the Saint Michael Society and the Saint Valentine Society, is a director of the Polish National Alliance, ,his political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and he and his wife are zealous communicants of Saint Hedwig's Catholic Church in their home city.

Mr. Hazinski ,was a 1eader in the organizing of the Chapin State Bank of South Bend, was soon elected its president, and of this executive office he has since continued the efficient incumbent, he being likewise a stockholder in other banking institutions of his home city, where he is the owner of much valuable real estate, as is he also in the City of Gary, this state. He is a loyal and valued member of the South Bend Chamber of Commerce and the West Side Business Men's Association, is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Polish Falcons, and his is deep interest in all that concerns the welfare of the fair little city in which he has long maintained his home.

On the 27th of October, 1883, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hazinski to Miss Veronica Latosinski, who likewise was born in Poland but who was an infant at the time of the family immigration to the United States, where her father, Anthony Latosinski, established the home in Coldwater, Branch County, Michigan, she having there been reared and educated. Jennie, eldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hazinski, is the wife of Leo S. Kowalski, who is engaged in the retail furniture business in South Bend; Alexander S., who was a druggist by vocation, died in 1926, at the age of thirty-nine years; Casimir J. is sales manager for his father's cigar business; Lott S. is assistant cashier of the Chapin State Bank, and in the World war period he served fourteen months with the American Expeditionary Forces in France; Michael R, is a foreman in his father's cigar factory, and in the World war period he served in the United States Navy, with assignment to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, near Chicago.

Mr. Hazinski takes pride not only in his children but also in the fact that he has twelve grandchildren.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


CLEON HENRY FOUST, president of the Provident Trust Bank, of Columbia City, the judicial center of Whitley County, was born in Delaware County, Ohio, November 21, 1881, and is a representative of one of the old and influential families of that county, his father, Alfred Lorain Foust, having there been born in the year 1843 and having there been reared on the old home farm of his parents, the while he profited duly by the advantages of the local schools of the period. Alfred L. Foust continued his residence in Delaware County until 1886, when he came to Columbia City, Indiana, to assume charge of the large real estate holding here acquired by one of his brothers, Franklin Henry Foust, and in this city he passed the remainder of his life, his death having occurred in 1899. His father was born in Pennsylvania and became a pioneer farmer in Delaware County, Ohio, where he also served as a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Franklin Henry Foust, uncle of the subject of this review, came to Indiana as a pioneer of the year 1848, and at Mexico, Miami County, he engaged in the manufacturing of fanning mills. In 1850 he engaged in the general merchandise business at Columbia City, and to this enterprise he gave his attention until 1862, when he here established the Columbia City Bank, a private institution of which he continued the executive head until his death, in 1912.

Cleon Henry Foust was about five years of age when the family home was established at Columbia City, in 1886, and here he received the advantages of the public schools. He eventually assumed a clerical position in the Columbia City Bank, which had been founded by his uncle, as previously noted, and when the institution was chartered as a national bank, in 1901, he became its assistant cashier. In 1904 he was advanced to the office of cashier, and this position he retained until 1916, when he disposed of his stock in the institution, by reason of his impaired health, and retired from his executive office. During the ensuing four years he acted as agent for his uncle's real estate holdings, and he then resumed his alliance with local banking affairs, by becoming vice president and a director of the Provident Trust Company Bank, of which he was elected president in 1926. His progressive executive policies have been potent in gaining to the institution its present high standing as one of the strong and well ordered banks of this section of the state. Mr. Foust is valued as one of the representative business men and loyal and liberal citizens of the fine little city that has represented his home from his boyhood, and his political allegiance is given to the Republican party.

September 12, 1900, marked the marriage of Mr. Foust to Miss Lela G. Steman, who was born at Elida, Allen County, Ohio, June 30, 1881, and whose early education was acquired mainly in the public schools of Columbia City, Indiana, including the high school. Of the four children of this union the first born was Zoe, who was born in September, 1901, and whose death occurred in 1903. Franklin H., who was born February 22, 1906, supplemented his high-school course by attending Culver Military Academy one year, and he now holds a position in the bank of which his father is president. In April, 1927, he married Miss Helen Cordill, who is a graduate of the South Whitley High School and of the Fort Wayne Business College. Cleon Henry, Jr., who was born November 9, 1908, was graduated in the Columbia City High School, and in 1928 he was graduated in Wabash College, where he majored in oratory, and he is now retained as teacher of public speaking and debating in the high school at Rockford, Illinois. Steman A., youngest of the children, was born November 12, 1911, and is a member of the class of 1930 in the Columbia City High School.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


Deb Murray