Mayor Ross attended the common and high schools, and then took a course in Voorhees Business College, Indianapolis, Indiana. When he had completed it he went with the National Biscuit Company and was in the main office of the company for two years. His next occupation was traveling on the road for Green & Green, of Dayton, Ohio, but finally he returned to Winchester and took charge of his father's business of auctioneering, which he is still carrying on most successfully. Like his father he possesses those qualifications necessary for auctioneering, which is really as much a profession as a business. These qualifications for successful operation include being a good judge of values, the ability to give an intelligent and elaborate description of many different kind of articles. Good auctioneers are born, not made; a person can learn to be a doctor, lawyer or minister, but there never were such advantages where a person could go and learn to be an auctioneer without any leaning whatever toward the work. Then, furthermore, it is the only profession wherein a person can display whatever ability he may possess in different respects, and can intermingle comedy if he sees fit. There is not anything by which he may refer to for reference and every thought is extemporaneous, and he must guide himself accordingly. Because of these, and other reasons, there are very few very capable auctioneers, although there have been a number of men who have tried to break in, but only to fall by the roadside. Therefore, when a community does possess one, he is a decided asset, and the people are proud of him, and such is the case with Mayor Ross, as it was with his father before him.

In 1904 Mayor Ross was married to Miss Mabel Ashwill, who was born at Winchester, a daughter of James E. and Susan (Martin) Ashwill, natives of Ohio and Winchester, respectively. Mayor and Mrs. Ross have two children: Orin E., who resides at Columbus, Ohio, a traveling man; and Susan, who is at home.

The Presbyterian Church has long held the membership of Mayor Ross; he is now one of its deacons, and superintendent of its Sunday School. In addition to his auctioneering business he is manager of the East Indiana District of the Missouri State Life Insurance Company, and sells a large amount of insurance annually. In this way he has come to know many people, and as he is personally pleasing, and dependable, it was but natural that he should be asked to accept office, and in 1921, in 1925 and again in 1929 he was elected mayor of Winchester, and has made the city what it is today. He is a thirty- second degree Knight Templar and Shriner Mason; assisted in organizing the Kiwanis Club, which he served as president, and he is active along many other lines, for he is energetic, overflowing with pride in his community, and a willingness to do anything within his power to advance it in any possible way.

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

ALFRED V. RESCHAR, postmaster of the City of Anderson, is a man of broad business experience and qualifications for executive duties, and has taken a prominent part in public affairs of Anderson since locating in that city in 1912.

Mr. Reschar was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, son of John Louis Reschar and grandson of Peter J. Reschar. The Reschar family was originally French Huguenots and during the era of religious execution found refuge in South Germany, and later a branch of the family moved to Hesse Darmstadt. Peter J. Reschar came with his family to the United States in 1870 and located at Jeffersonville, Indiana, where he was in the provision business until his death. John Louis Reschar was born in Hesse Darmstadt and was eighteen years of age when he came to the United States with his parents. He had gone to school regularly during his youth and after coming to America was associated with his father in the provision business. He retired in 1893 and is now deceased. His wife was Mary Oetterer, who was born at Louisville, Kentucky.

Alfred V. Reschar was one of a family of eight children, the others being John Louis, Christian, August, Benjamin, Freda, Emma and Amelia. The public schools of Jeffersonville gave him the foundation of his education, after which he served an apprenticeship at the trade of cigar maker and followed that work for three years. On giving up the cigar business he was made manager of the shipping department of the Whiteside Baking Company of Louisville and later was sales manager of this organization.

Mr. Reschar on coming to Anderson in 1912 was made manager of the stock department of the Delco-Remy Electric Company, one of the city's major industries. From this he resigned in 1920 to go with the Mid-West Engine Company, and won a successful place among the city's business men and executives.

On September 23, 1924, President Coolidge appointed him postmaster, and he was reappointed for a second term at the close of the Coolidge administration in 1928. Mr. Reschar has been an enthusiastic Republican since early manhood. He cast his first presidential vote for Roosevelt. During the World war he was active in the sale of Government securities, and was chairman of the committee during the Victory Loan drive. He and his associates sold $150,000 worth of bonds in forty minutes.

Mr. Reschar has always been an admirer and defender of stalwart Americanism and the sound political and economic principles on which the American Government is founded. During the past year he has delivered many formal and informal talks before Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions clubs allover the state in behalf of the National Defense program fostered by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr. Reschar has been very glad to cooperate with this great organization in the promotion of its policy to prevent the misrepresentation of facts concerning the founders and fathers of our nation, and also opposing any attempt from any source to break down the great principles on which our Government has been built.

Mr. Reschar for one term was a member of the Anderson City Council. He is a former president and has been a member of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce. For two years he was a director of the Anderson Y. M. C. A., for three years was president of the Central Avenue Parent-Teachers Association of Anderson and in 1927 was president of the Madison County Parent-Teachers Association. He has been president of the local council of the Boy Scouts of America, is chairman of the Madison County Chapter of the Red Cross and chairman of the Anderson Armory Board of the Indiana National Guard. Mr. Reschar has been secretary, treasurer and president of the Tri-State Postmasters Association. He is prominent in the Masonic fraternity, being both a York and Scottish Rite Mason. On September 16, 1930, at Boston, Massachusetts, the supreme honorary thirty- third degree of the Scottish Rite was conferred upon him. He has been president of the Masonic Temple Company of Anderson. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Reschar married in 1915 Miss Clara Maude Moore, daughter of Joseph and Nettie Moore. They have one son, Robert Louis.

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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

JAMES H. MANION, who is vice president and general sales manager for the Graham- Paige Company at Evansville, is a young business man who has shown exceptional ability in the field of sales promotion and has held a number of responsible connections with the manufacturing interests of the Evansville territory.

Mr. Manion was born across the Ohio River at Henderson, Kentucky, October 8, 1898. His parents, Charles T. and Martha (Snow) Manion, were both born in Kentucky. His father was a merchant, and died at Evansville in December, 1928. Of their four children one daughter, Eva Ruth, died at the age of eight months. Mr. James H. Manion has two sisters, Minnie Cecilia and Miss Mildred Rose. Minnie is the wife of Preston Weikel, a building contractor, and has a daughter, named Martha Jane.

James H. Manion attended school at Henderson, also at Denver, Colorado, and took a course in Lockyear's Business College at Evansville. His first work after leaving school was as an automobile salesman for the Dixie Motor Company of Evansville. He remained with that organization one year and was in business for himself at Henderson, Kentucky, a year.

He sold out his business interests in order to be free to render some service during the World war. Before he was nineteen years of age he enlisted and was accepted for service in the Motor Transport Corps. Later, when the second draft law was passed, including all men between the ages of eighteen and forty- five, he enlisted in September, 1918, and served until honorably discharged on November 19, following the armistice.

After the war he became a wholesale representative for the Bennighof Nolan Company of Evansville, who handled the distribution of the cars of the Willys Overland Company this territory. Mr. Manion in 1927 was for one year sales promotion manager for the Delker Brothers Manufacturing Company of Henderson, Kentucky, furniture manufacturers. He left there and in March, 1928, joined the Graham-Paige Company of Evansville as vice president and general sales manager.

Mr. Manion is a stockholder in the Graham-Paige Company of Evansville. He is a Democrat in politics, a member of the Catholic Church, and is a past deputy grand master of the Knights of Columbus.

He married at Evansville, November 25, 1925, Miss Mildred Hartig, daughter of Albert and Matilda (Hartman) Hartig. Her father is in the iron foundry business at Evansville. Mr. and Mrs. Manion have three children, Mary Louise, born June 10, 1927, James Hartig, born October 15; 1928, and Charles Albert,. born October 4,1930.

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

EDWARD G. RAGON. While his earthly career has been terminated by death, what Edward G. Ragon accomplished in life lives on at Evansville and in Vanderburg County, and the world is the better for his passage through it, for he set an example of high living, industrious endeavor and excellent business management. He was born at Russellville, Kentucky, in 1838, a son of a carriage manufacturer and prominent citizen. After he had completed his schooldays Edward G. Ragon became a clerk at Russellville, and later went into general merchandising with the late F. H. Ragon, father of Dan S. Ragon, the firm establishing its business at Cadiz, Kentucky. These two remained together at Cadiz for many years, and were very successful, but finally sold out and came to Evansville and established the wholesale grocery house of Ragon Brothers. The business was first located at Water and Vine streets, but with the continued expansion of business it was found necessary to secure larger quarters, and M. T. Bray, Junior, erected for the firm of Ragon Brothers, of which Edward G. Ragon was the surviving member, on the site now occupied by the Braum Store and later moved again to still larger quarters in a building erected by George L. Mesker especially for Ragon Brothers, located at Water and Ingle streets, where there was ample space for all the operations carried on.

Edward G. Ragon was a man whose interests were centered in his business and his home. He was the first on hand at the office in the morning, and the last to leave at night, his hours of work averaging sixteen a day. Nothing was too small for his consideration, or too large for his comprehension and effective action. Honest, upright and reliable, he held the respect of the entire business community, was especially beloved and respected by his employees, and ranked among the leaders in community betterment. Not only did he accomplish much for Evansville as the head of a great business house, but also personally through his support of all worthwhile measures. He was a director in the Old National Bank of Evansville. When he died the city lost a first-class citizen, one who had been faithful to every trust reposed in him.

Mr. Ragon was married in November, 1862, to Miss Sally McKinney, at Cadiz, Kentucky, and seven children were born to this union, four of whom died in infancy, the other three being: Irma, Ada May and Chester. Irma is the wife of Dr. Edmond Vince, of Battle Creek, Michigan, and has no children. Ada May is unmarried and lives in the old family home at Evansville. Chester had the active management of Ragon Brothers, as president, after the death of his father until his death, September 18, 1915.

When the firm of Ragon Brothers completed its fifty-ninth year in business the large organization was purchased by the Hulman Company, of Terre Haute, Indiana, the transaction involving $1,000,000, its standing and value having been secured through the untiring efforts of Edward G. Ragon.

Mr. Ragon's career was typical of the best citizenship during the period that saw Evansville develop from a village to a city, and here he gave his native qualities of character and practical ability to its upbuilding. The industry, foresight and civic spirit of such a man as he made possible a progress that is remarkable, and upon his accomplishments and his strong faith in its future do the people of Evansville build today.

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

CHARLES HENRY BUSICK is a veteran Indiana newspaper man, publisher of the Progress Examiner at Orleans. He has given practically all the years of his life since he was fourteen to the printing and newspaper business.

He was born at Orleans, August 17, 1864. After a public school education he went to work as a printer's apprentice. Later, after having mastered the printer's art and having had an all-round experience in newspaper work, he and Fred Kimbley started the Orleans Progress. They were partners until 1908. In 1899 they also acquired the Examiner and Mr. Busick managed both papers until their consolidation. The Progress Examiner is one of the strongest weekly newspapers published in this section of Indiana.

Mr. Busick is a Republican in politics, is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, is a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Weekly Press Association.

He married, August 4, 1894, Miss Ida Magill. They have four children. William, associated with his father in the newspaper business, married Mary Pickings and they have a son. Merrill married Virginia Tuly and has a daughter. Vern, first assistant in the Orleans postoffice, married Fern Lindley and they are the parents of one daughter. The youngest child, Roy, is unmarried and is attending college.

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

HON. CHARLES B. SALYER, attorney, former judge of the City Court of Anderson, has been distinguished both in his routine professional work and in public office by his positive strength of character, his efficiency, his devotion to honest purposes in the interpretation and application of the law.

Judge Salyer is a very interesting figure both as a man and lawyer. He was born on a farm in Scott County, Virginia, and his father was one of the mountaineer class, a Republican, who in the early days fought and struggled to protect himself in his rights as a voter. Judge Salyer has described the environment and the circumstances of his early life in an interesting autobiography which tells a great deal more than any formal statement of facts and events. He says:

"In a one-room log cabin, in the wilderness of Clinch Mountain, Virginia, November 1, 1893, I first saw the light of day, being the second son of a mountain farmer and one of fourteen children. I was reared in an atmosphere of the pioneer, constantly being trained in honesty, character and citizenship; learning early in life what it meant to be an American citizen in this great land of ours. My parents were sturdy Virginia farmers and were very religious, therefore I attended church and Sunday School regularly. I will never forget those boyhood days in the mountains and the beautiful lessons I learned. Life was hard, and my parents were stern, but they did what they thought was best for me. I am glad that I was born of parents of small wealth, for I appreciate life and its opportunities better. I believe it enables me to understand the problems of people more fully.

"Sometimes it was necessary for me to travel over the frosty mountains barefooted, as my parents were not as fortunate as some. I aided my parents in clearing the forest, that we might have land for farming purposes, and was hired out at meagre wages. At fourteen I left home, seeking better opportunities, and worked as a coal miner, section hand, salesman, street railway and interurban conductor, advancing to a train dispatcher, claims attorney, investigator and adjuster, lawyer and judge. During all of this time I was attending night schools and taking Indiana University Extension courses. I took courses in law, public speaking and psychology, and for seven years read law. I have taken other courses which were necessary in qualifying me for the law profession. The training and experience as an investigator, adjuster and claims attorney, lasting over a period of nearly ten years, enabled me to gain a wonderful knowledge of law.

"I attribute my success, so far in life, to hard work and my willingness to cooperate with my fellowmen, by giving them a lift whenever possible; making an honest effort to do the job a little better than the other fellow; fighting for what I thought was right and just, not for intolerance, hatred or prejudice, but for one Flag, one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."

Judge Salyer has been one of the successful attorneys of the Anderson bar for a number of years. In November, 1925, he was elected judge of the Anderson City Court, and in that office proved his independence, his fearlessness and efficiency. His work was especially notable in law enforcement, and in a little more than two years over 150 convictions were obtained in his court against bootleggers. Withal, during the four years he served as city judge he tempered justice with mercy. Those in close touch with the social situation know that upwards of five hundred boys and girls and a thousand men and women have been permanently helped and benefited through the sympathy, disinterested kindliness and friendship of Judge Salyer. He was the means of reestablishing many broken homes, and in the cases of youth he was firm but trustful, and turned many young people from dissolute ways into the sturdy habits of industry and business, where many of them have shown worthiness for life's responsibilities.

Judge Salyer is a Republican in politics. He came to Indiana about the time he reached his majority and his first presidential vote was given to Charles E. Hughes. Judge Salyer is a member of the Central Christian Church of Anderson and has been an active civic worker. He is a member of the Boy Scout Council, for three years was president of the Shadeland Parent-Teachers Association, for two years a director of the West Oak Service Center, and is now in his third year as president of the Northwest Brotherhood. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Fraternal Order of Eagles, B. P. O. Elks, Red Men, Junior Order United American Mechanics, Loyal Order of Moose, and is a member of the American Bar Association and Indiana Bar Association.

Judge Salyer is married and has three children, named Marigrace, Paul and Robert.

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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

WILLIAM IRVIN has lived practically all his life in the City of Greencastle. He has become well known therein business circles, and is still active, head of a prosperous business as a painting contractor.

Mr. Irvin was born at Greencastle July 7, 1867. His paternal grandfather came from Maryland to Indiana. Mr. Irvin's father, John Irvin, was born in Hendricks County, Indiana, and became a merchant tailor at Greencastle. He also owned considerable farm land in Putnam County. John Irvin married Elizabeth Hammond, whose father, John Hammond, came to Putnam County from Virginia. Mrs. Elizabeth Irvin died in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1921. She was the mother of two children, Mary and William. Mary married William Paisley, member of an old Colonial family of Rhode Island.

William Irvin attended public schools at Greencastle and was a student in DePauw University while it was still conducted under the original name of Asbury. After completing his education he was clerk in the local postoffice for six years and then took up the trade and business he has followed for many years, painting. He became foreman in the painting department of the Pennsylvania Railway and was in that branch of the service until 1915, when he resigned to go into business for himself as a painting contractor and interior decorator. His business is probably the largest in its line in Putnam County. Mr. Irvin has been a staunch supporter of the Republican party, though never a candidate for office. For ten years he was in the Indiana National Guard.

He married in 1884 Miss Gertrude Hibbem, of Greencastle. She became the mother of three children, William, Adeline and Frank. William, who now lives at Indianapolis, married Maria Schultz. Adeline is married and has a son, Robert. Frank Irvin is married and is a lieutenant in the United States Aviation Corps, stationed at San Antonio, Texas.

After the death of his first wife Mr. Irvin married Elizabeth Dowling, a step-daughter of Riley McKeen, president of the Vandalia Railway Company.

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

MRS. BETTY M. MILLER, who holds the office of postmistress at West Baden, has proved a most capable servant of the Federal Government and has discharged her duties in a way to win the approval of all the patrons of the office, and her administration has been more than once commended by the higher postal officials.

She is a native of Indiana, born at Celina, Perry County, July 15, 1879, daughter of John J. and Sarah E. Carmickle. Educated at first in the public schools of Celina, she later attended school at Bristow and Tobinsport, Indiana, and as a young girl was given a teacher's license and had the experience of teaching five years in rural districts.

On April 3, 1902, she was married to Dr. H. L. Miller. For six years they made their home at Leopold, Indiana, and in July, 1909, moved to West Baden. Mrs. Miller was appointed postmistress of West Baden by President Coolidge, January 3, 1924, and her present commission, dated January, 1928, also came from President Coolidge.

Mrs. Miller's father spent his active life as a farmer and died in 1905. Her mother is now seventy years of age. Mrs. Miller was well qualified for the duties of postmistress at West Baden because of her four years' service in the same office at Leopold. She is a Republican in politics. Mrs. Miller has two children, Earl H. and E. Maria. Earl is a student of electrical engineering in college at Evansville, and Maria is a student in Franklin College. Mrs. Miller has two sisters: Anna, wife of Ed Leonard, of Louisville, Kentucky, and Margaret, wife of Henry James, of Louisville.

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

MARTIE H. HASSENMILLER, M. D. Although now practically retired from the practice of medicine, Dr. Martie H. Hassenmiller, of West Baden, Indiana, is a nationally known man, having had under his care for a quarter of a century, while serving as house physician for the West Baden Springs Hotel, many famous people from all parts of this country, and even from European countries, and by his former patients he is gratefully and affectionately remembered as the sympathetic friend, as well as skilled man of medicine.

Doctor Hassenmiller was born at New Albany, Indiana, November 11, 1869, a son of Nicholas Hassenmiller, a native of Wurttemberg, Germany. Having learned the cabinetmaking trade in Germany, Nicholas Hassenmiller worked at it after coming to the United States in young manhood, and it provided him with a means of livelihood until his death, in 1880. He married Sophie Zeller, who was born in Baden, Germany, and she died in December, 1874. They had six children, namely: Charles, who resides at New Albany, married Elizabeth Hoag, and they have three children; Sophie, who married Thomas Hasselback, of Louisville, Kentucky, died, leaving no children; Michael, who resides at Seattle, Washington, married Martha Sole, and they have three children; Michael, who is deceased; Josephine, who resides at Ansonia, Connecticut, is the wife of Charles Mullenox, general manager of a steel mill, and they have three children; and Doctor Hassenmiller.

His early education obtained in the common and high schools of New Albany, Doctor Hassenmiller entered the Louisville School of Pharmacy, and was graduated therefrom in 1885, and for some years thereafter he made practical use of his knowledge of that profession. In 1896 he entered the Louisville Medical College and was graduated therefrom in 1900, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and took his interneship and post-graduate work at Vienna, Austria. Upon his return to the United States he entered upon the practice of his profession at West Baden, and formed connections which led to his acting as house physician for the famous West Baden Springs Hotel, which had been visited by more notables than probably any other hostelry in the country. From 1900 to 1925 he held that position, and then retired, but still cares for a few of his patients who are not willing to f relinquish his services. His financial interests also demand a considerable portion of his time. He is vice president and a director of the West Baden Bank, which institution he assisted in organizing, and with which he has been associated throughout its history.

In February, 1908, Doctor Hassenmiller was married to Miss Maude Elley, a daughter of Frank Elley, of San Pierre, Indiana. Politically Doctor Hassenmiller is a Democrat. He has no church affiliations, but he belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Orange County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

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