In one sense the bank carries on the splendid traditions of the Bank of the State of Indiana, one of the soundest of the state banks in early American finance. A branch of this bank was established at LaPorte in 1857. With the passage of the National Banking Act in 1863 banks of issue, that is, those whose bank notes were used as currency, soon went out of existence. The old LaPorte branch was succeeded by a private bank known as Hall, Weaver & Company. The active head of this bank for many years was Hart L. Weaver. Associated with him were his son, Louis B. Weaver, and Seth Eason, father of Mrs. R. R. Ingersoll.
In the meantime, in 1864, the year after the passage of the National Banking Act, the First National Bank of LaPorte was organized. The first president was Aurora Case, and the first cashier, Hiram P. Holbrook. Robert S. Morrison soon afterwards became cashier. Ezekiel Morrison became president in 1872, following the death of Aurora Case. He was succeeded by Sidney S. Sabin in 1884. Mrs. Sidney Sabin perpetuated the family name in the community by establishing the Ruth C. Sabin Home. In 1887 William Niles was elected president. Mr. Niles was succeeded by Herbert W. Fox as president in January, 1924. Other officials have included Henry Morrison and his son, F. H. Morrison, who served at various times as vice president and director; Frank J. Pitner, for many years cashier, now senior vice president, who has been with the bank continuously since 1884.
In February, 1913, the First National Bank and the Bank of the State of Indiana, the latter having been incorporated in 1905, as the successor of Hall, Weaver & Company, became affiliated, as a result of the sale of the Weaver interests in the latter institution to Herbert W. Fox, Edward F. Michael, William A. Martin and others. On February 18, 1926, the name of the Bank of the State of Indiana was changed to that of First Trust & Savings Bank. On October 9, 1914, a new banking house was opened to accommodate both institutions and on January 1, 1929, the two banks were completely merged under the name of the First National Bank & Trust Company of LaPorte. At that time there was formed the First LaPorte Securities Company, an investment subsidiary. At the time of affiliation, in 1913, the total deposits of the two banks amounted to approximately $1,840,000, and the combined assets approximately $2,190,000. The total resources on March 25, 1931, were over $5,430,000, the total deposits being approximately $4,520,000.
Under the leadership of Mr. Herbert W. Fox, the president, .the institution has not only grown but has exemplified the service in keeping with its historical traditions. It is not only the largest bank in LaPorte County, but one of the strongest in Northern Indiana.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
WALTER E. HECK, proprietor of the St. Charles Hotel in the fine little City of Boonville, county seat of Warrick County, and owner of one of the model farm estates of this section of Indiana, is able to revert to the old Buckeye State as the place of his nativity, his birth having occurred on his father's farm near Arcanum, Darke County, Ohio, October 15, 1884. He is a son of Elijah and Alice (Burnet) Heck, both of whom were born in Montgomery County, Ohio.
Elijah Heck devoted virtually his entire active life to productive farm industry, and was one of the sterling and venerable citizens of Darke County, Ohio, at the time of his death, in 1918, when he was seventy-two years of age. His father was born in Pennsylvania, a representative of one of the fine old German families there identified with the religious organization known as Dunkards, and was for many years superintendent of the Montgomery County Infirmary in Ohio, he having retained the Dunkard faith, as did also his father, who was known as Indian Heck, a native of Germany and who removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio in the pioneer period of the history of the latter state. He settled in Montgomery County, there reclaimed and developed a farm, and his real estate holdings there included the site of the present Phillips Hotel in the City of Dayton. Two of his grandsons, uncles of the subject of this review, now reside on his old home farm, seven miles west of Dayton. Elijah and Alice (Burnet) Heck became the parents of nine children, including a pair of twins and also triplets, one of the twins, all of the triplets and one other child having died in infancy. Burnette, eldest of the four surviving children, is general manager for the Studebaker Motor Company of South Bend, Indiana. He married Miss Louette Basil, who was born at New Bremen, Ohio, and they have three children: Kenneth, Elizabeth and Burnette, Jr. Clara is the wife of Matthias Shields, a farmer in Darke County, Ohio, and they have five children: Lloyd, Irene, Mary, Byron, Aubrey and Eugene. Fanny is the wife of Henry Everheart, a merchant at Greenville, Ohio, and they have three children: Howard, Roland and Charles. Walter E., of this sketch, is the youngest of the surviving children.
Walter E. Heck was reared on the home farm in Darke County, Ohio, and supplemented the discipline of the district school by a short period of high school study. Upon leaving the parental home he went to Dayton, Ohio, and entered the employ of the Ohio Rake Company, in the establishment of which he served a four years' apprenticeship to the trade of machinist. At the age of nineteen years he found employment with the Union Traction Company in the City of Indianapolis, Indiana, with which he served as a motor man six years. He then assumed the position of engineer in the T. B. Laycock bed manufactory in Indianapolis, with which concern he remained until 1922. After the death of his father he returned to the old home and assisted his widowed mother in adjusting the affairs of the estate, the mother being now with her youngest daughter in the latter's home at Greenville, Ohio. After remaining one year at the old home in Ohio Mr. Heck returned to Indiana and established his residence at Boonville. By his judicious investments he had in the meanwhile accumulated appreciable capital, and upon locating at Boonville he soon purchased a farm estate of 308 acres, eight miles east of the city. The entire area of this valuable land is available for cultivation, and in addition to carrying on well ordered operations in diversified agriculture Mr. Heck gives special attention to the raising of fine types of cattle and hogs. His farm is maintained at the best modern standard, and in its equipment he has expended about $10,800 for machinery and implements alone, he having paid $15,500 for the land, so that the farm estate represents large investment, even as it stands forth as the stage of most progressive methods in modern agricultural and live stock industry. In purchasing and equipping his farm Mr. Heck had sufficient funds to enable him to make the investments without assuming any indebtedness, and this fact stands in evidence of his exceptional business acumen. In addition to giving general supervision to the varied activities of his farm Mr. Heck is proprietor of the St. Charles Hotel at Boonville, which he opened April 8, 1929, and his conducting of which marks it as one of the modern and well ordered hotels in this section of the state. He makes daily visits to his farm and carefully directs the work of his various employes on the place.
Mr. Heck and his wife harmonize in their political allegiance, as in all other relations, and both are aligned with the Democratic party: His financial investments and his business and industrial enterprises in Warrick County mark Mr. Heck as one of the progressive and influential exponents of civic and material progress within its borders, and it is pleasing to note that his substantial success has been won by his own ability and efforts.
Mr. Heck purchased the St. Charles Hotel in the earlier part of 1928 and paid cash for the property. It was conducted the first six months thereafter by a lessee, Mr. Taylor, and was then closed for remodeling. In bringing the building and its equipment up to modern standard Mr. Heck expended more than $10,000, and since its reopening, April 8, 1929, he has continued in the active management of the hotel and made it one of the best communal assets of Boonville.
At New Albany, Indiana, on the 12th of November, 1904, Mr. Heck was united in marriage to Miss Pearl A. Wayman, who is a daughter of Edmond Jeremiah Wayman and Priscilla (Hurley) Wayman, the former of whom was born in Indiana and the latter in Livingston County, Kentucky. Edmond J. Wayman, whose death occurred in 1909, was a cabinetmaker by trade and became known also as an inventor, besides which he was long engaged in the wholesale grocery business. Of the three children Mrs. Heck is the youngest; Nannie is the widow of William Medcalf, and Eugene is engaged in the advertising business in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Heck have two children: Beatrice, born February 28, 1906, is the wife of William Hahn, who is in railway clerical service, and their one child, Mary; is three years old at the time of this writing, in the summer of 1929. Chester, younger of the two children, was born April 8, 1913, and is a member of the class of 1930 in the Boonville High School.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
EDWARD BUCHANAN is vice president of the Vincennes Auto Sales Company, which corporation functions as representative of the Chrysler automobiles and which maintains well equipped headquarters at 901 Main Street in the historic and vital city of Vincennes, the judicial center of Knox County. In this city the birth of Mr. Buchanan occurred in the year 1901, and here also were born his parents, Charles and Ella (Joyce) Buchanan, the latter a daughter of William Joyce, who was a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war. Charles Buchanan still resides in Vincennes, where he is an executive of the Inter-State Power Company, his father, William Buchanan, having been born in Kentucky and having thence come to Vincennes when he was a youth. Charles and Ella (Joyce) Buchanan have four children: Mary; Ellen, Edward and Mildred.
In his native city Edward Buchanan received the advantages of St. Francis Xavier parochial school, and at the age of fifteen years he found employment in a local bakery. His association with the automobile business was initiated in 1920, when he became an agent for the Ford cars, with headquarters at Mitchell, Lawrence County. Three years later he sold his interest in this agency and returned to Vincennes where he became associated with Harry Glynn in establishing the present Chrysler agency, the business being incorporated and being conducted under the title of Vincennes Auto Sales Company. This agency was established in 1924 and has developed a substantial and prosperous business that gives it much of priority in the automotive trade in Vincennes and Knox County. Mr. Glynn is president and Mr. Buchanan vice president of the company. The company's establishment utilizes a floor space of 5,500 square feet, and its sales, display and service departments are of the best modern equipment. The company retains a corps of eighteen employes and its service in all departments is maintained at high standard.
Mr. Buchanan is a Democrat in political allegiance and is affiliated with the local organizations of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
WILLIAM E. DAVISSON. An efficient, popular and trustworthy public official of Pike County, Indiana, is William E. Davisson, postmaster of the City of Petersburg, where he has been long active in business circles and civic affairs. For practically all his life he has resided at Petersburg, for he was born and educated here as was his father, the late William K. Davisson, his paternal grandfather having settled in Pike County in pioneer days. As the eldest son in his parents' large family Postmaster Davisson began almost in boyhood to make himself useful to his father, and later, on developing business capacity, entered a Petersburg mercantile house as a clerk. In those days but comparatively small salaries were paid, but then, as now, industry, efficiency and fidelity were noted and rewarded. When Mr. Davisson retired from the business some eighteen years later it was as general manager and purchasing agent, and drew one of the largest salaries paid by the company. For some years afterward he conducted a business of his own, but sold it when he was appointed postmaster, in February, 1927, and public duties have more or less claimed his time and attention ever since.
Postmaster Davisson was born at Petersburg, Indiana, June 14, 1886, a son of William K. and Louisa (Burton) Davisson. The father was a carpenter and contractor of Pike County, and he died in November, 1914. The mother, who was born in Dubois County, Indiana, died December, 1926. Of the eight children born to them, four died in infancy, and one, Edna, died in 1922, so that Postmaster Davisson has only two sisters living, they being: Anna, who married J. A. Lory, of Vincennes, Indiana, has two children; and Carrie, who married Lawrence Martin, of Petersburg, has six children.
Growing to manhood at Petersburg, Postmaster Davisson attended the common and high schools of his home town, and was a diligent student, but preferred business to professional life so did not take collegiate training. From his youth up it has been his policy to save a portion of his earnings whether his salary was large or small, and during his latter years in the general mercantile business, when he was drawing $4,000 annually, he was able to lay aside a considerable amount, and with his fund thus accumulated, in 1921, he established himself in the shoe business and conducted it profitably for six and one-half years, and then sold at a profit. His appointment as postmaster was made by President Coolidge, and under his businesslike conduct of the Government affairs under his charge the Petersburg office holds high rank in its class.
On April 17, 1923, Postmaster Davisson was married to Myrtle G. Lemmon. There are no children by this marriage, but two daughters of a former marriage were born to him, Doris and Vivian. Doris is the wife of J. Taff, and lives at Indianapolis, Indiana, no children. Before her marriage she was a public-school teacher, having prepared for that work in Hanover College and the University of Indiana. Vivian was graduated from the Petersburg High School, and is now a student of the University of Indiana.
Postmaster Davisson is a Republican, and a very active factor in the local party. The Presbyterian Church holds his membership, and he is one of the .leaders in all church work, being especially zealous with reference to that of the young people. He is also state corresponding secretary for the Young Men's Christian Association. His financial connections are those which he maintains with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In addition to his salary as postmaster Mr. Davisson has other resources, for he has invested his earnings in Petersburg real estate. He has been interested in every movement having for its object the advancing of the interests of Petersburg and Pike County, and by his activity, influence and investments, has done much to promote the industrial and commercial welfare of this region. His personal influence is devoted at all times to work calculated to elevate the people, and to maintain high standards of morality and right living. Above all he believes in Christian living, honest government, with a square deal and justice to all.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HARRY WARREN SUTTON. The Sutton family were early settlers in Eastern Indiana, several generations of the name living in Randolph County. One of the pioneers there was Samuel Sutton.
His son, Isaac C. Sutton, was born in Randolph County and when only sixteen years of age enlisted in the Union army and served for about a year and a half, when he was discharged on account of disability. After the war he took up railroading and was conductor of the first train run over the Panhandle Railway through Indiana. Isaac C. Sutton in 1869 moved to Missouri and from there went to Todd County, Minnesota, filing on a homestead which was well out on the frontier. In 1871 he became a merchant in Todd County, and continued active in business there until 1889, when he sold his interests and moved to Salem, Oregon. For twenty years he was connected with the Oregon State Hospital at Salem and then retired. He died at Salem in 1915.
Isaac C. Sutton married Levina Whipple. She represented a Colonial and Revolutionary family. Her great-grandfather, John Whipple, was a captain in Washington's army. Mrs. Sutton died at Salem, Oregon, in 1908. The four children of Isaac C. Sutton and wife were: Frank A., Harry Warren, Daisy E. and Jason O. Frank, whose home is at Portland, Oregon, married Daisy Lafountaine and has two children. Daisy Sutton married Will Rogers and has five children. Jason O. Sutton made his home for many years in California and died in February, 1929.
Harry Warren Sutton is also a native of Indiana, and was born at Deerfield, Randolph County, January 18, 1869. He was just an infant when his family moved to Minnesota, and he grew up in Todd County of that state. He received his public school education there and as an employee of his father was given a thorough fundamental training in all the branches of general merchandising, including groceries; clothing and hardware. He went with his parents to Salem, Oregon, and was salesman in a hardware business there until 1903.
Mr. Sutton since 1904 has been a traveling representative of the Zion Institutions and Industries at Zion City, Illinois. He is a special representative of the office supply and printing department of this industrial organization. He has been in the service of the Zion Institution for a quarter of a century and for six years of that time acted as commissioner of public works at Zion. He is a member of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and a Republican in politics.
Mr. Sutton married, December 22, 1888, Miss Minerva Sutton, daughter of. Edward J. and Sarah (Smith) Sutton. Four children were born to their marriage, the daughter Mary dying at the age of eighteen months. Irving, who is a merchant and manufacturer, married Cornelia White and has five children. Elmer J., a machinist, lives at Corpus Christi, Texas, married Alice Libbie Reah and has a son and two daughters. Andrew, city desk sergeant at Zion, Illinois, married Ethel Woodward and has a son.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
COL. RICHARD LIEBER, director of conservation, with the Department of Conservation of the State of Indiana, was born at St. Johann-Saarbruecken, Germany, September 5, 1869, son of Otto and Maria (Richter) Lieber. He was educated in the Municipal Lyceum and Royal Lyceum at Dusseldorf, Germany, and came to the United States in 1891, when twenty-two years' of age, and ten years later acquired American citizenship.
During his early years in America, Colonel Lieber was associated with the Indianapolis Journal and the Indianapolis Tribune, and subsequently; with the importing and jobbing house of James R. Ross & Company.
He has been director of conservation since 1917. He was chairman of the Indiana State Park Commission from 1915 to 1919 and secretary of the Indiana State Board of Forestry in 1917-19. In 1912 he was chairman of the Board of Governors of the Fourth National Conservation Congress and has served as director of the National State Park Conference. He is an honorary member of the Association of Park Departments and the Indiana Nature Study Club.
Colonel Lieber was military secretary, with the rank of colonel, to Governor Goodrich during, 1917-21. He was chairman of the Indianapolis Civil Service Commission in 1909- 10 and president of the Indianapolis Trade Association in 1910-12, and is also former president of the Merchants and Manufacturers Insurance Bureau.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
REUBEN WADE ELLIS, Tippecanoe farmer, who has successfully specialized in live stock and in seed corn, represents one of the oldest families of Lauramie Township. He was born on the farm where he now resides, in 1867.
The Ellis family has been in America since Colonial times. His great-grandparents were Rawland and Frances (Breadwater) Ellis. Rawland Ellis was born in Virginia and served as a soldier in the American Revolution. For his military service he was granted a tract of land at Guilford Court House, North Carolina, but sold it without occupying it. He lived out his life in old Virginia. His son, Thomas Ellis, was born near Moorefield in Hardy County, in what is now West Virginia. As a young man he moved west to Cincinnati about the beginning of the nineteenth century and acquired 160 acres of land, part of which is now incorporated within the city limits of Cincinnati. From Cincinnati he moved to Dayton, Ohio. He served as a soldier in the War of 1812. During the administration of President Andrew Jackson he came to Indiana and entered an eighty acre farm in Lauramie Township, Tippecanoe County. He also entered eighty acres of prairie land. Thomas Ellis married Elizabeth Stoner and they had a family of twelve children, named John, Mahalia, Joseph, Hannah, Mary, Frances, Sarah, James, Barbara, Eliza, Ann and Elizabeth.
The parents of Reuben Wade Ellis were John and Harriet (Lambkin) Ellis. Harriet Lambkin was born in Kent, England. John Ellis was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, but spent most of his life in Tippecanoe County, where he died in 1894 and is buried in the Conroe Cemetery. He was a teacher, a farmer and stock man, served as a justice of the peace, and was a real and trusted leader of his community. He and his wife had six children: Mary A., who married Ennis Coe; Martha K.; Reuben W.; William J.; one that died in infancy; and Florence M.
Reuben Wade Ellis acquired his education in the local schools. When he was only thirteen years of age he began to take most of the responsibility of running the farm. His mother had died and his father was in poor health. Later he spent about a year in California, working in the lumber business, and for a time was in the real estate business in Chicago. Otherwise his active: years have been devoted to his Tippecanoe County farm.
Mr. Ellis married in November, 1895, Rose Nalley, daughter of Simon and Helen (McLean) Nalley. Her father was from Pennsylvania and her mother was born in Indiana of Maine parents. Mr. and Mrs. Ellis have six children: Harriett, wife of Reed Paddock and mother of two children, named Mary R. and Phillip J.; Miss Helen F.; Miss Florence; Mary, wife of Willis Lovless; Martha, wife of Lawrence Rice; and John R.
Mr. Ellis has served on the township advisory board. For many years he has handled pure bred live stock, and in recent years has specialized in the production of seed corn. His farm products have been exhibited at fairs and have won ten gold medals. Mr. Ellis has also been a commercial salesman.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JAMES WALTER EHRINGER. During an active and successful career that has covered a period of three decades, James Walter Ehringer, of Lawrenceburg, has been identified with several concerns of national reputation, to the prosperity of each of which he has contributed by his energy and ability. Possessed of both mechanical and executive ability, he has so combined these qualities as to make his services valuable to any modern manufacturing company, and at present he occupies the important position of manager of the Ohlen Bishop Company, whose large saw works are located at Lawrenceburg.
James Walter Ehringer was born at Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1877, and is a son of George and Martha (McCune) Ehringer, and a grandson of George Ehringer, Sr., an early settler of Indiana and a member of an honorable pioneer family. George Ehringer, the younger, was educated for the vocation of marine engineer, which he followed with success throughout his life, and was a man of high character, who was esteemed and respected in each of the communities in which he made his home. He and his worthy wife, who was also a native of Indiana, were the parents of eight children.
James Walter Ehringer attended the public schools of Jeffersonville, and after his graduation from high school enrolled as a student at Purdue University, from which institution he was duly graduated as a member of the class of 1900, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He entered upon his independent career as an employe of the Lunkenheimer Company, manufacturers of engineering specialties, and then for a period tried his hand at journalism, being identified with a New York newspaper for eight months. Giving up newspaper work, he entered the office of W. C. Groeniger, a consulting engineer of New York City, with whom he continued for two years, and at the end of that period severed his connection to accept an offer with the Ohlen Bishop Company, manufacturers of saws and edged tools, as inspector of standardization. Later he became manager of the installation and production systems, and in 1917 went out on the road as a salesman. In February, 1928, he was recalled and made manager of the plant at Lawrenceburg, a position which he has retained to the present. The Ohlen Bishop Company was founded in 1852, at Columbus, Ohio, where headquarters are still maintained, while the Lawrenceburg plant started operation in 1894. Since then it has been repeatedly enlarged and renovated, and at the peak of its production gives employment to 225 skilled mechanics. The plant, covering three acres of land, is modern in every particular, and its product is nationally known, finding a ready market in every state in the Union, as well as having a large export business to foreign countries. Having worked his way up from a humble position, Mr. Ehringer is thoroughly cognizant with every detail of the business and in addition is an able executive who has the confidence of his superiors and the respect and cooperation of the men under his superintendence. He is widely known in business circles, where he is respected for his knowledge of his particular line of work, and gives the greater part of his time to business affairs, having never cared for public matters except in the way of exercising his right of franchise as a voter for men and measures of which he approves. Fraternally Mr. Ehringer belongs to the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was a member of the Student Officers Training Corps while attending Purdue University. He is unmarried and makes his home at 51 Oakey Street.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931