Mr. McComb, who is conducting his business activities in his native county, was born on the parental farm in Perry Township, Allen County, July 12, 1886, and is a son of John and Amelia (Jackson) McComb, both of whom were born and reared in this county, where they still reside on the fine old farm in Perry Township. The former is a son of James McComb, who gained pioneer prestige in Allen county, as did also Phanuel W. Jackson, maternal grandfather of Mr. McComb. Previous Indiana histories accord specific recognition to both of these pioneer families. Hubert J. McComb was reared to the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the home farm and his youthful education was acquired in the public schools of his native county. He remained on the farm until 1909, when he established his residence in Fort Wayne. Here he was independently engaged in the retail grocery business six years, and thereafter he was for several years associated with the Ideal Automobile Company. In 1924 he established his own business, under the title of McComb Ignition Company, his original quarters having been at 522 Ewing Street. In 1925 he moved the business to 231 West Main Street, where the enterprise was continued until its removal to the present modern building on Barr Street, in May, 1928. The business is now one of the largest and most important of its kind in Northern Indiana, and Mr. McComb has incidentally made a record of successful achievement of cumulative order.
The political allegiance of Mr. McComb is given to the Democratic party, he is a loyal member of the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with Wayne Lodge No. 25 A. F. and A. M., Ben Hur Court No. 15, and has membership in the Fort Wayne Automobile Club and the Automotive Electric Association.
In the year 1907 Mr. McComb was united in marriage to Miss Addie G. Schorr, who likewise was born and reared in Allen County, she being a daughter of the late Andrew J. Schorr and her mother being now a resident of Fort Wayne. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. McComb the eldest is Fern G., who was born October 27, 1908, and was graduated from the school of journalism at Indiana University in June, 1930, and is now a reporter on the staff of the Hoosier Observer of Fort Wayne. John H. was born January 19, 1912, and was graduated from North Side High School in June, 1930. George Franklin was born August 29, 1913, and was graduated from Central High School in June, 1930. Robert Paul was born May 19, 1917; Kenneth Howard was born December 29, 1920; and Esther Jean was born December 24, 1924. The pleasant home of the family is at 1216 Orchard Street.
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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
ADAM L. SCHNEIDER, M. D. With the exception of a probationary period of nine months at the beginning of his professional career, Dr. Adam L. Schneider has passed his entire professional life at Fort Wayne, where he has been well known and greatly esteemed for a period of thirty years or more. Originally a general practitioner of medicine and surgery, of late years he has been giving more and more of his attention to obstetrical work, a field in which he has won wide reputation and great success. He has been variously honored in his calling, and on many subjects is considered an absolute authority.
Doctor Schneider was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, January 20, 1872, and is a son of John J. and Mary I. (Moore) Schneider. His father, who was born in Germany, March 3, 1836, was four years of age when brought to the United States by his parents, the family settling in Van Wert County, Ohio, where the youth received his education and grew to manhood on the home farm. When the war between the states broke out he enlisted for service in the Union army and was assigned to the One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment, Illinois Heavy Artillery, and during his service his ear drums were broken by the heavy concussion of the guns, rendering him totally deaf. At the close of the war he returned to Columbus, Ohio, where he was engaged as a tinner, then moving to Van Wert, where his death occurred September 18, 1898, when he was sixty-two years of age. He was a man of high character, who was held in esteem and confidence, and for many years was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mrs. Schneider, who was born at Washington, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1852, died at Fort Wayne, February 14, 1913.
Adam L. Schneider attended the public schools of Van Wert, and after graduating from high school entered the Fort Wayne Medical School, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine as a member of the class of 1898. For nine months he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Maples, Allen County, and then settled permanently at Fort Wayne, where he now occupies offices at 628 East Lewis Street. Although he still practices general medicine, he specializes to a large extent in obstetrics and has won well-merited recognition in this field. Doctor Schneider enjoys a large private practice, belongs to the staff of the Lutheran Hospital, and is a member of the board of managers of the Irene Byron Tuberculosis Sanitarium. During the World war he was medical examiner for the draft board and performed other services. He belongs to the Allen County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and fraternally is a thirty- second degree York Rite and Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine. His religious connection is with Plymouth Congregational Church, and as a citizen he has supported energetically all worthy civic movements.
On November 27, 1897, Doctor Schneider was united in marriage with Miss Cora A. Bassett, who was born at Delphos, Ohio, December 14, 1875, a daughter of William O. and Katherine (Stickel) Bassett, and to this union there have been born three children: Dr. Lawrence B., a rising young physician and surgeon of Fort Wayne, a review of whose career follows in this work; Ruth, the wife of Lyall Mooril, of Bloomington, Indiana, and Esther Lucille, who died in infancy. Doctor Schneider resides at 1205 East Lewis Street. Mrs. Schneider died May 8, 1925.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
LAWRENCE B. SCHNEIDER, M. D. It not infrequently happens that the members of a family possess an inclination for the same kind of labor, generation following generation in a similar field of activity. This is particularly true in the medical profession, where it is often found that the son follows the father, partly because of heredity, more often through a general liking for the calling. A case in point is the career of Dr. Lawrence B. Schneider, of Fort Wayne, the son of an eminent physician and surgeon, and himself one of the rising young professional men in the field of internal medicine.
Lawrence Bo Schneider was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, December 18, 1898, and is a son of Dr. Adam L. and Cora A. (Bassett) Schneider. His father was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, January 20, 1872, a son of John J. and Mary I. (Moore) Schneider. John J. Schneider was born in Germany, and was about four years of age when brought to the United States by his parents, who settled in Van Wert County, Ohio. Brought up on the home farm, during the war between the states John J. Schneider served as a member of the One Hundred and Forty-third Illinois Heavy Artillery, and by reason of injuries was rendered deaf. He returned to Columbus, Ohio, where he lived until shortly before his death, which occurred at Van Wert, September 18, 1898, when he was sixty-two years of age. Mrs. Schneider, who was born at Washington, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1852, died at Fort Wayne, February 14, 1913.
After graduating from the Van Wert High School Adam L. Schneider entered the Fort Wayne Medical School, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1898. For nine months he practiced at Maples, Allen County, and then settled permanently at Fort Wayne, now occupying offices at 628 East Lewis Street, and practicing general medicine, although he specializes in obstetrics, a field in which he has well won-merited recognition. In addition to having a large private practice he is a member of the staff of the Lutheran Hospital and of the board of managers of the Irene Byron Tuberculosis Sanatorium. During the World war he was medical examiner for the draft board of Allen County. He is a member of the Allen County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Fraternally he is a thirty- second degree York Rite and Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner, and his religious connection is with Plymouth Congregational Church. On November 27, 1897, Doctor Schneider married Miss Cora A. Bassett, and to this union there have been born three children: Dr. Lawrence B., of this review; and Ruth, the wife of Lyall Mooril, of Bloomington, Indiana; and Esther Lucille, who died in infancy.
Lawrence B. Schneider attended the public schools of Fort Wayne, graduating from the high school in 1916, and then entered the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine as a member of the class of 1923. For five years he studied internal medicine under the preceptorship of the late Doctor Beall, of Fort Wayne, and since then has been engaged in the practice of that department of medical science, in which he is rapidly winning a reputation. During the World war he served in the Tank Corps at several training camps, and received his honorable discharge at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, being at present a member of the Reserve Officers Corps. He belongs to the American Medical, the Indiana State Medical Society and the Allen County Medical Society, is a Blue Lodge Mason, and holds membership in Plymouth Congregational Church.
On June 20, 1922,. Doctor Schneider married Miss Margaret C. Crittenden, who was born at Washington, D. C., a graduate of the University of Michigan, Bachelor of Arts, class of 1922, and is a daughter of Edgar V. Crittenden, of Lakoma Park, Maryland. Doctor and Mrs. Schneider have had four children, Barbara Dawn, Patricia Jean, Jacquline and Lawrence B. Jr., the latter of whom died in April, 1929.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JOHN M. EVANS, physician and surgeon, was graduated in medicine in 1893, the year of the great panic and also of the Chicago World's Fair. For nearly forty years he has been engaged in the routine of useful work of a doctor practicing in town and country. Doctor Evans is a resident of Russiaville, and is a native son of that community of Howard County.
He was born in Honey Creek Township, near Russiaville, September 23, 1872. The Evans family and the Moulder family have been in Indiana since pioneer times. His grandfather, John Evans, was a native of Delaware, came to Indiana at an early day and settled in Henry County, near the present town of Lewisville. There he met and married Violetta Stevens, who was born in Maryland. Later they moved to Prairie Township, Tipton County, near the Howard County line. Oliver Evans, father of Doctor Evans, was born in Indiana, and was a Union soldier in the Civil war. In after years he was a member and officer of the Grand Army of the Republic, in Henry C. Coulter Post at Russiaville. Oliver Evans died August 26, 1926. He married Eliza E. Moulder in 1869. Both were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Oliver Evans lives in Howard County. For years she has been a member of the Woman's Relief Corps. Her one other child, May, died at the age of fourteen years. Her father was John Moulder, a native of North Carolina, who came to Orange County, Indiana, with his parents when he was about twelve years of age. John Moulder married Eleanor Maris, also a native of North Carolina, who was brought to Indiana by her parents, who settled in Orange County. After their marriage in Orange County, John Moulder and wife lived in Parke County a short time and in 1846 settled in Howard County. John Moulder was one of the three commissioners appointed by the governor to locate the county seat, which was established at Kokomo.
Dr. John M. Evans was trained to the tasks and routine of an Indiana farm while attending the local schools, and completed his literary education in Earlham College at Richmond. He is a graduate of the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, taking his degree in 1893. For thirty years he practiced in Fountain County, but in 1923 returned to his native community of Russiaville, where his abilities have gained him a leading place among the professional men of Howard County. Doctor Evans has been very successful in his professional work and has also had other business interests. He is president of the Russiaville Telephone Company. He is also president of the Indiana Guernsey Cattle Breeders Association. For many years he has engaged in stock raising on his farm near Russiaville. This farm has been in the family since 1846, when it was deeded by the Government to Doctor Evans' grandfather Moulder. Doctor Evans is a Republican, very interested in the success of his party, but has never been a candidate for office. He is affiliated with Hillsboro Lodge No. 385, A. F. and A. M., and the Royal Arch Chapter of Masons at Covington. He and his wife have membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Russiaville. Mrs. Evans is a member of the Eastern Star, the Tourists Club and the Sunday School Class Association.
They were married at Russiaville February 27, 1895. Mrs. Evans' maiden name was Lola A. Hodson. She is a daughter of William R. Hodson and wife, of Honey Creek Township. Doctor and Mrs. Evans have two sons. Robert M., born December 20, 1896, followed the example of his father in the choice of a profession and is now practicing at St. Louis, Missouri. He married Irene Brubaker, of Russiaville. The younger son, Louis W., born in Fountain County, November 25, 1900, is a farmer and stock man and lives on his father's farm near Russiaville. He married Dorothy Gifford, of Kokomo, and has two children, Martha and Frederick.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
WILLIAM H. WINNIE began his career as a telegraph operator, and his duties took him to Saginaw, one of the greatest centers of the lumber industry. Circumstances and opportunities combined to give him an opening in the lumber business, and for upwards of forty years he has been a lumber dealer in Indiana. Mr. Winnie is president of the Russiaville Lumber & Coal Company, an organization representing a complete service in building material and fuels in this prosperous town of Howard County. His son, Harry D. Winnie, is vice president of the company, and the secretary and treasurer is M. L. Owings. This company in addition to lumber and coal carries a stock of hardware, paints, fencing and everything in the way of builders supplies.
Mr. Winnie was born at Jackson, Michigan, May 2, 1863. His parents, Peter and Mary Jane (Smith) Winnie, were born in New York State and settled at Jackson, Michigan, in 1850. William H. Winnie had one brother, George W., who was born in 1857 and died October 10, 1915.
Mr. Winnie was reared and educated at Jackson, learned telegraphy when a boy, and in 1883 was on the payroll of the Michigan Central Railway as a relief telegraph operator. He was soon transferred to Saginaw, Michigan, as railway agent. He resigned this office in 1885 to go with the rate department of the Saginaw Board of Trade. In 1887 he joined the J. H. Pearson Lumber Company of Saginaw. His working experience brought him a practical knowledge of everything from the manufacturing to the sales and distribution of lumber, and in 1893 he utilized this experience and his capital and credit by establishing a retail lumber business of his own at Lafayette, Indiana. Selling his interest there, he moved to South Bend in 1900, where he also had a retail business, and in 1904 came to Russiaville, Howard County. The business of which he is the head represents a steady growth through a period of over a quarter of a century. Mr. Winnie now makes his home in Frankfort, Indiana.
He is a Republican in politics, is a Knight Templar Mason, charter member of the B. P. O. Elks and a member of the Knights of Pythias. He and his family are Methodists.
He married, April 28, 1887, Miss Harriett Deming, who was born March 22, 1864, daughter of Charles O. and Matilda Deming. Mr. and Mrs. Winnie have two children, Harry D. and Mary Louise. Harry D. Winnie, who was born July 18, 1888, is a World war veteran. He attended the Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison at Indianapolis, was commissioned a lieutenant and went overseas with the Eighty-fourth Division. He was mustered out May 2, 1919. In addition to his interest in the Russiaville Lumber & Coal Company, he conducts a real estate business at Indianapolis. The daughter, Mary Louise, was born January 2, 1900, and is the wife of George Owings, local agent at Russiaville for the Nickel Plate Railway.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HARRY LEE KERLIN was a native son of Howard County, and in that county lived practically all his life. By accepting the opportunities nearest at hand, performing his duties faithfully, doing good, honest work and expressing the assets of a manly character, he lived a career that brought him more than an ordinary measure of honor and success. When death came to him at the age of fifty- seven, on May 25, 1929, he was serving for the second term the post of county treasurer. It was not alone to a public official but to a man that hundreds and thousands of his fellow citizens and friends paid their tributes of love and respect.
Harry Lee Kerlin was born at the old Kerlin homestead in the Shiloh Church neighborhood, five miles west of Kokomo, July 21, 1872. His father, James H. Kerlin, came to Howard County from Johnson County, Indiana. James H. Kerlin married Mary Garr, daughter of Dr. John Wesley Garr, a prominent pioneer physician of Howard County. Through his mother Harry Lee Kerlin was connected with several of the oldest and most substantial families in the county, and he had a host of relatives. The surviving members of his father's family are Charles C. Kerlin, J. Frank Kerlin, Mrs. Eva K. Graves and Mrs. Elsie Weldon. Lee Kerlin and his brother Charles lived very close to each other and their brotherly ties were frequently spoken of as one of the things to renew the old faith in the family as the foundation of all that makes life meaningful and sweet. Harry Lee Kerlin was an Indiana farm boy, had the education granted to the children of the country districts during the '70s and '80s, and his first occupation was farming. About 1899 he moved to Kokomo, and there made a place for himself in the commercial activities of the city, at first as a druggist and afterwards as a furniture salesman. Furniture was his line of business for a quarter of a century, and he left it only at the call of his fellow citizens to the office of county treasurer.
He was first elected to that office in 1926 and was reelected in 1928. Mr. Kerlin took his official duties with the fine seriousness that becomes one charged with administration of public affairs and gave them practically constant personal supervision. This conscientious attitude toward his responsibilities, coupled with his unfailing courteous treatment of all having dealings with his office, made him an especially popular official. His devotion to his work was shown only a few weeks before his death, when, suffering from the illness which eventually took him off, he went to his office practically every day during the busy tax-paying season. Mr. Kerlin was for many years a very active member of Good Intent Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
On September 21, 1904, Mr. Kerlin married Miss Nellie E. Weser, of Kokomo. Mrs. Kerlin grew up in Howard County and graduated from the Kokomo High School with the class of 1898. On May 27, 1929, the Howard County commissioners appointed Mrs. Kerlin to fill out her husband's unexpired term as county treasurer, and since taking over the responsibilities of that office she has shown a rare degree of tact, good judgment and efficiency in the work, upholding the fine standards of courteous service set by Mr. Kerlin. Mr. and Mrs. Kerlin had two daughters. Minnie Dione, the older, born January 25, 1910, is a student in Butler University at Indianapolis and a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. The younger daughter, Eva Bernice, was born February 10, 1914, and is a pupil in the Kokomo High School.
The place that the late Mr. Kerlin filled as a citizen and public official cannot be better described than by using the words of the editorial in the Kokomo Tribune at the time of his death.
"Throughout the community there will be genuine grief over the news that Lee Kerlin is no more. He was born and reared in Howard County and was representative of the sturdiest and best in citizenship that the community affords. He had served one term as county treasurer and was entering upon a second term when illness struck him down. He had been as conscientiously dutiful, courteous and efficient an official as the office of county treasurer has ever had, and his death brings a distinct loss to the public service.
"As a private citizen Lee Kerlin was as admirable as he was as a public servant . Possessed of good natural ability, coming of stock that has been distinguished through several Howard County generations for its adherence to the code of old fashioned honesty, wholly unaffected, kindly, sociable and likeable, yet having rugged strength of character, he was the kind of man to whom the community could entrust administration of its exchequer with complete confidence. He had the finest devotion to his home and family, unfaltering loyalty to his friends and steadfast adherence to the traditions of good citizenship. In such a record there is solace even for those most deeply bowed by this bereavement."
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
DR. CHARLES JACOB COSTNER is specially skilled in the science and technic of the benignant system of Chiropractic, and in the City of Fort Wayne he is a leading exponent of this drugless system of practice as applied to the alleviation of the varied physical ills to which humanity is heir. He has been influential also. in the educational work of his profession, his practice is of representative order, and his finely equipped offices are established at 2814 Fairfield Avenue.
Doctor Costner was born at Gastonia, Gaston County, North Carolina, November 22, 1895, and in that state his parents, Franklin A. and Mary (Wendell) Costner, passed their entire lives, the Doctor being the youngest in their family of seven children, and his brother, Frank Costner, M. D., having died, from an attack of influenza, while serving in the Medical Corps of the United States army in the World war.
In the public schools of his native town Dr. Charles T. Costner continued his studies until he was graduated in the high school, and thereafter he was a student in the fine old college at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His studies were interrupted when he responded to the call of patriotism and enlisted for service in the World war. He received commission as a first lieutenant of infantry in the United States army, went with his command to France, was there transferred to the Tank Corps, and he was in active service at the front with the Twenty-sixth Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. After returning to his native land and receiving his honorable discharge he was retained in the Officers Reserve Corps until 1921, when he resigned.
Soon after the termination of his World war service Doctor Costner came to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and entered the Ross College of Chiropractic. In this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1923, and after this receiving his degree of Doctor of Chiropractic and his practice license from the State of Indiana his special proficiency led to his being retained as instructor in pathology and Chiropractic technique in the college in which he had been graduated, he having continued a member of the faculty of this institution five years, or until 1928, since which time he has given his undivided attention to the private practice of his profession. He has taken post-graduate work in the National College of Chiropractic, Chicago, and simultaneously served the college clinic as instructor in special training in connection with the treatment of nervous disorders. He has been established in practice in Fort Wayne since 1924, and his suite of offices is equipped with the most modern and approved appliances and accessories pertaining to Chiropractic science and practice.
Doctor Costner holds to the political faith represented by the Democratic party, and he signalizes his continued interest in his World war comrades by maintaining active affiliation with the American Legion.
The year 1925 marked the marriage of Doctor Costner to Miss Catherine Costello, who was born and reared in Fort Wayne, a daughter of T. J. Costello. Doctor and Mrs. Costner have a fine son, Frank Wendell, and a daughter, Rosemary, and the family home is maintained at 2814 Fairfield Avenue.
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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
FRANK L. MOBLEY was born in Tipton County, May 29, 1889, and for over twenty years has been numbered among the active business men of the City of Tipton, where he is proprietor of the French Steam Dye Works.
He was the third in a family of five children born to Joseph and Mary (Wymer) Mobley. is father was for many years in the plumbing business. Frank L. Mobley attended the common schools and when fifteen years of age began his business career as a clerk in a store. In 1913 he engaged in business for himself, and has built up a plant and service for dry cleaning which does business all over Tipton County. Mr. Mobley is also a stockholder in the Oakes Manufacturing Company at Tipton.
During the World war he enlisted for service in the navy and was at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. He is a Phi Delta Kappa and a Mason and a member of the Methodist Church. Mr. Mobley married Grace Thompson, of Kokomo. They have a son, Carl Dewese, attending school at Tipton.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
ALEXANDER FRANK SIEVERS is one of the representative younger members of the bar in his native City of Elkhart, metropolis of the county of the same name, where he maintains office headquarters at 409 l/2 South Main Street and where he amplified his professional activities by his service in the office of justice of the peace.
Mr. Sievers was born in Elkhart on the 18th of July, 1904, and is the only child of Alexander C. and Emma (Weiler) Sievers. Alexander C. Sievers was born in the City of Chicago, Illinois, where he was reared and educated.
He is now president of the Auto Specialties Company, one of the substantial business corporations of the City of Elkhart. His wife was here born and reared and is a representative of one of the sterling families long established in Elkhart County.
In the public schools of Elkhart, Alexander F. Sievers continued his studies until he was graduated in the high school, in 1922. In preparation for his chosen profession he completed the prescribed course in the law department of fine old Notre Dame University at South Bend, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1927, his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws having been promptly followed by his admission to the bar of his native state, in June of that year, and by his initiation of the active practice of his profession in Elkhart. Here he has proved his resourcefulness as a trial lawyer and well fortified counselor, and here he held the office of justice of the peace from April, 1929, to December, 1930. He is a Republican in political alignment, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, has been identified with the Boy Scouts since 1916 and is now serving as assistant master of a local troop, and he is a communicant of St. John's Church, Protestant Episcopal. His name is still enrolled on, the roster of eligible young bachelors in his native city.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JOHN P. KEMP, member of one of the old and honored families of Tipton County, has practiced law in the City of Tipton for half a century.
He was born in Jefferson Township of Tipton County, December 17, 1854, son of David and Mary (Price) Kemp. His father came to Tipton County in 1839 and spent his life as a farmer and stock raiser.
John P. Kemp was the fourth in a family of six children. He grew up on a farm, attended country schools, the Tipton High School and the Frankfort High School, and continued his education in DePauw University and Valparaiso University. After graduating in 1879 he taught at the old town of Kempton and in 1880 was admitted to the bar and began his career as a practicing attorney, in which there has been no important interruption down to the present time. Along with a successful law practice he has assisted in the forward progress of business, and has been director of the Citizens National Bank of Tipton since its organization and a director of the Oakes Manufacturing Company.
Mr. Kemp is a Democrat in his political affiliation. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and B. P. O. Elks. On April 11, 1882, he married Miss Belle Cox. For forty-eight years they have lived on one lot at Tipton. Their three sons are Charles, Walter and Ralph, all of whom were liberally educated, attending Indiana University or the University of Wisconsin.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
GEORGE H. GIFFORD, of Tipton, is a veteran Indiana attorney, one of the few men still in active practice who entered upon their professional careers in the early 1870s.
Mr. Gifford was born in Fayette County, Indiana, January 10, 1850, son of Solomon Wardele and Melinda (Gillim) Gifford. The Gifford family has been in Indiana since 1817. Mr. Gifford's father was a farmer. George H. Gifford was one of a large family of twelve children, being the youngest of this large household, and his early life was spent on a farm. After attending the common schools of Fayette County he was a student in the academy at Milroy and the Fairview Academy, and then entered Indiana University. In 1872 he was graduated from Butler College and in 1873 was admitted to the bar. Since that year he has been practicing law at Tipton, and in his law practice he has had interesting contact with business, politics and civic conditions through the changing conditions of more than half a century. Mr. Gifford represented his district in the State Senate in 1893-94. He has been a member of the local school board, township trustee, and at all times has endeavored to discharge his civic responsibilities, at the same time being devoted to the work of his profession. Mr. Gifford while in college became a Phi Delta Theta. Four of his sons became members of that fraternity, and a grandson who graduated from Indiana University in 1930 is also a Phi Delta. Mr. Gifford is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and B. P. O. Elks.
He married Anna R. Smiley, a native of Indiana. Their five children were born and received their early educational advantages at Tipton, Allan William, born in 1873, is now practicing medicine at Springfield, Missouri. Frank H. is an attorney at Tipton and is a former mayor of the city. Glen Jeff is judge of the Tipton Circuit Court. Manley Robert is practicing dentistry in Tipton. Hanson S., the youngest, is a physician and surgeon at Tipton. Mr. George H. Gifford made many speeches and was a member of different committees in handling the war program. His sons Doctor Allan and Doctor Hanson were both commissioned captains in the Medical Corps, while Glen volunteered and attended a training camp.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
GLEN RAYMOND HILLIS is a Kokomo lawyer, very successful in his business and relationships with the local bar, a young man of high purpose, fine intellectual abilities, and with the attitude and outlook of young men who have come to their mature powers since the close of the World war. He was a soldier in the Rainbow Division overseas.
Mr. Hillis was born in Miami County, Indiana, December 9, 1891, son of Harrison N. and Sarah (Stevenson) Hillis. Both parents were born in Jefferson County, Indiana, his father August 18, 1849, and his mother August 18, 1856. Harrison N. Hillis devoted his active lifetime to his farm. There were three other sons, Harry O., Joseph E. and Robert C. Hillis, and one daughter, Helen O. Trotter.
Glen R. Hillis grew up in Howard County, attended district schools near his father's farm, and he knows the life of a farmer from the standpoint of several years of practical experience. In 1917 he was mustered in as a buck private in the One Hundred and Fiftieth Field Artillery, Forty-second or Rainbow Division. Mr. Hillis had eighteen months of actual service overseas during the World war and shares in the glorious record made by his division. He was with the Army of Occupation after the armistice, and when he was mustered out, on April 5, 1919, he held the rank of lieutenant.
After the war Mr. Hillis took up the study of law, preparing himself by private study and also in the Law School of Indiana University, from which he was graduated LL. B. in 1925. He had been admitted to the bar and in 1924 began practice at Kokomo in the firm of Hillis & Coffel. On January 1, 1929, the young lawyers accepted as a senior partner Judge John Marshall, and since then the firm has been Marshall, Hillis & Coffel, with offices in the Citizens National Bank Building. On the qualifications of its individual members the firm ranks as one of the best in the Howard County bar.
Mr. Hillis in 1928 was elected for a two- year term as prosecuting attorney of Howard County. He is a Republican, is a member of the Baptist Church, a Knight Templar and member of Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Indianapolis, and: also belongs to the B. P. O. Elks, Fraternal Order of Eagles, L. O. O. M. and American Legion.
Mr. Hillis married, November 11, 1921, Miss Bernice Haynes They live in a spacious home near Kokomo. Mrs. Hillis is a daughter of the late Elwood Haynes, Kokomo's foremost inventor, manufacturer and citizen. Mr. and Mrs. Hillis have three children, Margaret E., born October 1, 1922, Elwood E., born March 6, 1926, and Robert E., born June 29, 1928.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JACOB MICHAEL KOEHL is a native of Fort Wayne, and during the greater part of his life since leaving school has been identified with a business and a trade which has been a family vocation for several generations.
Mr. Koehl was born at Fort Wayne April 5, 1884. His father, Jacob Koehl, was born in Hessen Darmstadt, Germany, and while in the old country he learned under the direction of his father the trade of marble and stone cutter. He was a skilled worker when he arrived in America, in 1880, and during the following year he found steady and well remunerated employment at Fort Wayne in the marble and monument shop of William Moellering, grandfather of a present Fort Wayne citizen, Walter Moellering. Then for sixteen years he was with Keller and Braun and William Geake. In 1897 Jacob Koehl established a business of his own, the firm being Brunner & Koehl, located at 436 West Main Street. In 1912 he took his two sons, Jacob M. and Louis M., into partnership, as Jacob Koehl & Sons, and the business was continued at 114-116 East William Street. Jacob Koehl was a man of industry, showed good business judgment and was very liberal and charitable. He was a member of the Athletic Club and a very devout Catholic and head of several Catholic societies. He died October 27, 1928, and is buried in the Catholic Cemetery at Fort Wayne. He married Gertrude Kummerant, who was born in Hessen Darmstadt, Germany, and died at Fort Wayne August 24, 1900. They were the parents of six children: Jacob M.; Mrs. Gertrude Sallot, living in California; Louis M., who died November 14, 1929; Andrew G.; Frank A.; and George, who died in infancy. All four sons are now connected with the business known as Jacob Koehl & Sons, monument works. All the children were educated in St. Peter's School at Fort Wayne.
Jacob M. Koehl graduated from the commercial department of St. Peter's School in 1901. For two years he did office work, then learned the trade of marble and granite cutter, and took an increasing part in the business established by his father and is the senior member of the Koehl Monument Company today. His home is at 2906 South Barr Street in Fort Wayne.
Mr. Koehl married, June 23, 1909, at Fort Wayne, Miss Theresa M. Rathgeber, who was born in Huntington, Indiana, May 3, 1886, and died May 1, 1925. Her father, Jacob Rathgeber, was born in New York State and died and is buried in California. Her mother, Mary Jane (Werling) Rathgeber, was born in Huntington, Indiana, and resides at Fort Wayne. Mr. Koehl is a Democrat in politics and is active in Catholic societies.
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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
