Mr. Jones was born at Fort Wayne, December 29, 1867, and is a son of John and Ada (Taylor) Jones, the former a native of Wales and the latter of Ohio. Mrs. Jones was a lineal descendant of Zachary Taylor, who was elected President of the United States in 1848 and died in 1850, about one year after his inauguration. John Jones was a lad of seven years when he came to Fort Wayne with his parents and he served an apprenticeship to the machinist's trade. For a long period he was employed in the shops of the Wabash Railroad and was a man of industry and ability, but his career was cut short by death when he was only a little more than forty years of age. His widow survived him a number of years. Of their children Oliver S., of this review, was the first born; Eva and Benjamin F. are still residents of Fort Wayne; Mary is the wife of Robert Fuelgraff, of Chicago, Illinois; John L. is a resident of Fort Wayne; Charles resides in Los Angeles, California; and Ada is the wife of Andrew Leeuw, of California.
Oliver S. Jones attended the public schools of Fort Wayne, but as his father died when he was still a youth he did not have advanced educational advantages. However, in the years that have passed he has made good use of his native ability to gather information and by this method and much reading and study has gained a sound and practical education. Realizing the necessity of assisting in the support of his mother and the younger members of the family, he served an apprenticeship to the painter's trade, and after mastering it worked as a journeyman for a number of years. Eventually he embarked in business on his own account, and this he has built up to large and substantial proportions as a general contractor in painting and frescoing. He now has a large paint shop and studio at 2813- 15 James Street, where he also carries a large stock of wallpaper. Among his large contracts for painting and frescoing at Fort Wayne have been the Masonic Temple, Trinity Lutheran Church, Plymouth Congregational Church, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the Catholic Community Building, the new telephone building, the Fort Wayne Public Library and the First National Bank Building. As noted he has also had large contracts in Ohio and Michigan. He has been a member of the International Society of Master Decorators for the past twenty years, and at present is a member of the Indiana Chapter's executive committee of that body. He and Mrs. Jones are consistent members and active supporters of the Plymouth Congregational Church. Mr. Jones is a thirty-second degree York and Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine, and also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. A man of public spirit and civic pride, he has always given his support to progressive civic movements, but has never sought honors in the political arena. He is an enthusiastic member of the local Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce. For twenty-seven years, or until he resigned his commission, he was an active member of the Indiana National Guard, and during the Spanish-American war enlisted for service with his command, he being second lieutenant of the Twenty-eighth Indiana Battery.
On March 8, 1909, Mr. Jones was united in marriage with Miss Birdie Gouty, who was born and reared at Fort Wayne, and died, January 4, 1914, being survived by no children. On April 25, 1916, Mr. Jones married Miss May Siems, a native of New York City, and to this union there has come one child: Ray, born in 1917, who is attending school.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
FRANK CARLETON NELSON has gained more than local fame as author and poet, and his poetic interpretations through the medium of the radio have gained to him a national reputation as Indiana's Radio Poet. He is a native, son of DeKalb County, a representative of one of the old and honored families of this section of the Hoosier State, and his exceptional literary talent found expression when he was a mere school boy, he, having written his first poem on slate, while he was a pupil in the Bear Creek district school near the old farm home in DeKalb County. Like James Whitcomb Riley, of beloved memory, he is a master of dialect poetry that portrays common life in Hoosierdom, and his warm and sympathetic voice and homely interpretations have become known to radio fans the world over, the while his verses are read far and wide and meet with both critical and. popular approval. He has written and published a number of books of poems and prose and is now one of the ,most popular of radio artists broadcasting through the medium of the Chicago Tribune's WGN and the Chicago station of the great mail-order concern of Sears, Roebuck & Company, this station being designated as WLS. Judge Dan Link, formerly of Auburn, judicial center of DeKalb County, has given the following estimate of Mr. Nelson and his talent, "He will grow on the public, as Riley did, until he will be the admiration and beloved entertainer, because of the common touch that makes the whole world kin."
Mr. Nelson was born on the parental home farm in Jackson Township, DeKalb County, Indiana, December 12, 1878, and is the second of the four sons of Lorenzo D. and Alvina (Keeran) Nelson, the former of whom was born in Ashland County, Ohio, and the latter in Butler Township, DeKalb County, Indiana. Lorenzo D. Nelson gave virtually his entire active life to farm industry, and his death occurred August 12, 1924, his widow having passed away on the 4th of July of the foIlowing year, and the remains of both being laid to rest in the cemetery at Auburn. Of the children the eldest is Arthur J., now a resident of Des Moines, Iowa; Frank C., of this review was next in order of birth; Raymond is engaged in the furniture business in the State of New York; and Stanley P. remains in his native county, his home being at Auburn, the county seat.
The earlier education of Frank Carleton Nelson was acquired in the rural school of the home district in DeKalb County, and later he profited by the advantages of the Auburn High School. Thereafter he gave three years of effective service as a teacher in the public schools of his native county, and he then became a traveling commercial salesman, a vocation that has continued to represent his service during the major part of his business career since that time. He has not failed to develop fully his exceptional literary talent, through which he has been able to make definite contribution to the world's entertainment and happiness. Among his most recent publications is the book entitled Along Life's Road, this work having been. issued from the press in December, 1927.
Mr. Nelson maintains his home at Auburn, the judicial center of his native county, and alike in business, literary and social relations his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, and in his home community he has membership in the Commercial Club and the Country Club.
October 5, 1904, recorded the marriage of Mr. Nelson to Miss Marie Lois Weamer, whose early educational advantages included those of the high school at Auburn. She is a daughter of George W. and Sally (Gregg) Weamer, whose marriage was solemnized at Urbana, Ohio, October 4, 1877. Mr. Weamer was born at Napoleon, Ohio, August 17, 1858, made a record of success in the newspaper field, and his death occurred September 3, 1892, his widow being now a resident of Auburn. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have one child, Josephine, who was born February 9, 1907, and who is now the wife of Arthur L. George, their marriage having occurred August 30, 1928.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
EDWIN HOLTON FORD was born at Wabash, Indiana, January 12, 1861,. and has had a business career of over fifty years. He is the founder and president of the Ford Meter Box Company, Incorporated, a successful manufacturing plant at Wabash.
He is a son of Dr. James Ford, an eminent army surgeon and one of the pioneer physicians of Wabash County. Doctor Ford was born in Ohio, January 19, 1812, of an old Virginia family, son of James Ford. Dr. James Ford was educated in Ohio, having entered Kenyon College in 1828. His teacher of Latin was Salmon P. Chase. In 1831 he turned his attention to medicine. Doctor Ford graduated from Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia and also from Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois. He had begun practice under a license in 1835. He completed his training at Rush Medical College in 1854. Doctor Ford settled at Wabash, Indiana, in February, 1841. He was the second man in the county to enlist in the Union army, in April, 1861, and for three months was regimental surgeon in the Eighth Indiana Regiment and afterwards joined the three years' service, being appointed brigade surgeon and medical director in the field. He resigned on account of ill health in June, 1863, returning to Wabash, and in 1871 was appointed examining surgeon for pensions. He married America Holton, a native of Kentucky, and had a family of six children.
Edwin H. Ford attended school in his native city, had one year in Butler College and after leaving college acted as overseer for his father's land holdings in Blackford County. During the early 1880s, with the opening of gas and oil fields in Indiana, he became field representative of the Fort Wayne Gas Company and for several years had charge of the pipe lines of the Hartford City Land Company. In 1894 he supervised the installation of the city water works plant at Hartford City and was superintendent of the same for several years. In 1911 he returned to Wabash and organized the Ford Meter Box Company, Incorporated, of which he is president. This is a successful industry, manufacturing meter settings and water works supplies for water systems both municipally and privately owned. The business was started, in 1911, in a small building, and the plant now utilizes ten thousand square feet of floor space. The company manufactures a line of patented devices, which are shipped and sold allover the United States.
Mr. Ford is a member of Hannah Lodge of Masons, of which his father was a charter member, and belongs to the Royal Arch Chapter. All his sons are Masons. He is a Republican in politics.
Mr. Ford married Elizabeth Neff, a native of Wabash, where her father, John Neff, was a pioneer. They have four sons: Holton N., who served with the One Hundred and Thirty- fourth Field Artillery in the World war; Wilbur E., John L. and Richard Van Dyke, all in training camps at that time. The three younger sons are all active in their father's business. The oldest son, Holton, is in business in Hamilton, Ohio.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
CHESTER C. NEGLEY gave loyal and effective service as trustee of Lawrence Township, Marion County, and this evidence of his hold upon community confidence and esteem is the more interesting to contemplate by reason of the fact that he was born and reared in this township and that he resides upon and still has active supervision of the old homestead farm that was the place of his nativity and also that of his honored father. He is thus a representative of a sterling family that gained no small measure of pioneer precedence in the Indiana county that has within its borders the fine capital city of the Hoosier State.
The old home farm that is the present place of residence of Chester C. Negley comprises 127 acres and is situated on the Millersville Road, about nine miles northeast of the Soldiers Monument Circle in the City of Indianapolis. On this farm the birth of Mr. Negley occurred September 25, 1895, and he is a son of John W. and Clara (Wright) Negley. He was the fourth in the family of seven children, and concerning the others the following brief data are offered: George is deceased; Arthur still resides in Marion County and the maiden name of his wife was Alma Hoover; Helen is the wife of Frederick Griffey, of this county; and Sanford, Pearley and Clara are. deceased.
The late John W. Negley was, as previously stated, born on the farm now occupied by his son Chester C., and here he continued his residence seventy-eight years, he having been one of the venerable and honored native sons of Marion County at the time of his death, and his mortal remains having been interred in the cemetery of Union Chapel, in Washington Township. His widow still survives him and now maintains her residence in the City of Indianapolis, she being one of the venerable and revered women whose memory harks back to the pioneer days of Indiana.
John W. Negley was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm, his parents having been very early settlers in Lawrence Township. Here he continued his association with farm enterprise until there came the call of higher duty, when the Civil war was precipitated on the nation. As one of the ardent young patriots in Marion County he enlisted as a member of the One Hundred Twenty- fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and in the varied campaigns and battles of which he participated loyally and efficiently. He continued in active service until the close of the war, and after his return to Marion County he gave several years of successful administration as a teacher in the public schools of the rural districts. The remainder of his active career was marked by his close association with productive farm industry, and he staged his activities on the old home farm that had been the place of his birth. Mr. Negley played a worthy part in all phases of communal life and ever held the high regard of the people of his native county. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party and he was long and actively affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, through the medium of which he vitalized his interest in and association with his old comrades of the Civil war.
Chester C. Negley found the period of his childhood and early youth compassed by environment and benignant influences of the old home farm on which he now resides, and in the meanwhile he gained his full quota of practical experience in the various details of farm operation. After attending the local district school he continued his studies in the high school until he was graduated therein, and he has found it both expedient and satisfactory to continue his allegiance to the great fundamental industries of agriculture and stock-growing, of which he is a progressive and successful representative in his native county at the present time.
Mr. Negley is found loyally aligned in the local ranks of the Republican party, and on its ticket he was elected to the important community office of township trustee, in which he served from 1927 to 1931. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in their home locality and he is serving as a trustee thereof. His mother likewise is a zealous member of the Methodist Church, as was also his father. Mr. Negley is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
November 26, 1915, recorded the marriage of Mr. Negley to Miss Lottie Roberts, daughter of A. M. and Cora (Brunson) Roberts. The two children of this union are Mary E. and Howard.
Rev. George W. Negley, grandfather of the subject of this review, became not only one of the honored pioneer farmers of Marion County but also gave earnest and devoted service as a pioneer clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a son of Peter Negley, who was born and reared in Switzerland and who became the first representative of the family in Marion County, Indiana, he having here obtained Government land at the time when James Monroe was president of the United States. Long and notably worthy has been the association of the family name with the civic and industrial history of the fine old Hoosier State.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
CHARLES HENRY WHEELER. While Charles H. Wheeler has been for more than twenty years a resident of Gary, and among her most enterprising and substantial citizens, his business connections have been so extensive and widespread as to entitle him to claim identity with the entire State of Indiana. Beginning life as a civil engineer, he has been connected with a number of large enterprises which have benefited immeasurably by such a connection, and since 1923 has been industrial commissioner of the Midland United Company.
Mr. Wheeler was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1874, and is a son of William Henry and Margaret Ann (Cassidy) Wheeler. The Wheeler family is one of the oldest and most honored in America and traces its ancestry back to four brothers of the name who immigrated from England to the American colonies long before the Revolutionary war. This family has furnished many illustrious men to various professions and vocations, including Benjamjn Ide Wheeler, the educator; William Adolphus Wheeler, the lexicographer, and the immortal Gen. Joseph (Fighting Joe) Wheeler, of military fame.
William H. Wheeler was born at Sudbury (now a part of Boston) Massachusetts, and was there reared and attended public school. Subsequently he attended Harvard University, from which he was graduated in civil engineering, and during the war between the states served as an engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1870 he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he followed his profession for many years, later moving to Buffalo, New York, where his death occurred in 1912, burial being made in Calvary Cemetery. He was a man who stood high in his calling and belonged to various engineering societies, also taking an active and helpful part in civic affairs in the communities in which he resided. Mr. Wheeler married Margaret Ann Cassidy, who was also born at Sudbury, and educated in the public schools, the Cassidy homestead being located directly adjoining the historical old "Wayside Inn." Mrs. Wheeler's brother married a sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe, authoress, who wrote the immortal Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mrs. Wheeler was always active in the work of the Catholic Church and at her death in 1914 was buried by the side of her husband at Buffalo. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were the parents of two children: Miss Rose Ellen, who resides at Buffalo; and Charles H., of this review.
Charles H. Wheeler attended the public schools of Pittsburgh, following which he entered Cornell University and was graduated therefrom in 1895. Subsequently he took a special course in engineering at the Massachusetts School of Technology, and for three years thereafter was associated with his father in civil engineering. At the end of that period he entered the engineering department of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where, at the time of his resignation, in 1890, he was assistant civil engineer. Subsequently he was civil engineer with the Carnegie Steel Company until 1900, in which year he became chief engineer of the International Railway Company, at Buffalo, New York. Mr. Wheeler's next connection was with the Belfont Iron Works Company, at Ironton, Ohio, where he served as superintendent, then becoming vice president and general manager of the Jackson Iron & Steel Company at Jackson, Ohio, where he remained two years. In 1910 Mr. Wheeler came to Gary as superintendent of the blast furnaces of the Illinois Steel Company, a capacity in which he remained until 1923, in that year accepting the position of industrial commissioner of the Midland United Company, a post which he has since retained. Mr. Wheeler is a member of the Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce, the Gary Country Club, the Turkey Creek Country Club and the Rotary Club, and is a golf enthusiast. A Republican in his political views, he has always been active in politics and civic affairs, and from 1916 until January 6, 1930, represented the Seventh Ward in the City Council, in which body he was regarded as a constructive member whose work accomplished much for the city. He is a member of Holy Angels Catholic Church.
At Buffalo, New York, February 6, 1901, Mr. Wheeler was united in marriage with Miss Mary Ellen Peel, daughter of Michael and Helen (Campbell) Peel, the former of whom was for years superintendent of coal mines on the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh. Mrs. Wheeler's parents have been deceased for several years and are buried at Pittsburgh. After attending the public schools of Pittsburgh, Mrs. Wheeler took a course at Loretta Academy. She has been active in the work of Holy Angels Catholic Church and is a popular member of the Woman's Club. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler have had one daughter: Lucy Helen, a graduate of Saint Mary's, of Columbus, Ohio, and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, whose sad death occurred in 1920. The attractive home of Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler is situated at 766 Jefferson Street, Gary.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
CURTIS E. MISER is president and owner of the Wabash Machine & Tool Company, a manufacturing industry that reflects Mr. Miser's broad and capable experience as a machinist and whose products have served to make the name or the City of Wabash better known to the outside world.
Mr. Miser was born in DeKalb County, Indiana, May 12, 1885, a son of Curtis E. Miser and a grandson of Samuel Miser. His grandfather was a pioneer farmer of DeKalb County. Curtis E. Miser was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, and was a child when the family moved to Indiana. He was a carpenter and shoemaker and also a farmer.
Curtis E. Miser was one of a family of three sons and four daughters. His early educational equipment was derived from a few terms in the grade school of DeKalb County. He really began working when he was only twelve. His education has not been neglected, though it has been developed largely along specialized and technical lines, and in his ambition to perfect his knowledge he has gone through books and theories, but everything he has learned has been tested in the light of practical demonstration. When he was fourteen years of age he was working in the shops of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, where he laid the foundation of his trade as a machinist. He remained there until he was twenty, and then, in order to broaden his knowledge of mechanical practice, he worked in several other shops, specializing in different lines of machinery and tool making.
Mr. Miser in July, 1914, came to Wabash and with Mr. Edmonds organized the Wabash Machine & Tool Company, equipping a shop for the manufacture of tools, dies and special machinery. The first shop had 2,800 feet of floor space and was located on South Miami Street. A fire burned him out of business in 1917 and for a time he was located in a smaller place near the Wabash Depot. After acquiring the interest of Mr. Edmonds he moved to his present quarters, on South Wabash, in January, 1927, buying a building with over 10,000 square feet of floor space and with equipment, motor driven, that makes it one of the best specialty machine shops in Northern Indiana. The company does an extensive business in the manufacture of tools; dies and custom work for industries allover the United States.
Mr. Miser .is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose and is one of Wabash's most respected business men. He married Blanche Seery, a native of DeKalb County. They have two children, Velma and Frances. Velma is the wife of Carl Reger.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
ROBERT DANIEL SMITH is a prominent Wabash attorney, where he has practiced law for the past seven years. He is a native of Indiana, born in Huntington County, January 24, 1896.
His grandfather was Phillip Smith, who came to Indiana in the 1830s. He married Louise Neuer, whose father was a captain in the Civil war. William A. Smith, father of the Wabash attorney, was born at Roanoke, Indiana, and spent his active life of service in the mechanical department of the Big Four Railway Company. He married Agnes Duker who died in 1913.
Robert D. Smith was the oldest of six children. He attended school at Huntington and Indianapolis and studied law with Warren G. Sayer at Wabash. He was admitted to the bar in 1923, and has found abundant opportunities for the exercise of his talents and training as a lawyer. He carries on a general practice, with offices in the Citizens Bank Building. He has served by court appointment as a member of the Board of Children's Guardians. Mr. Smith is a member of the Wabash County and Indiana State Bar Associations and is affiliated with the B. P. O. Elks.
In December, 1917, he enlisted in the Signal Corps, and was sent to Vancouver Barracks and later to Astoria, Oregon, where he was on duty as a private of the first class until discharged in February, 1919.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
CLINTON T. BROWN, a member of the Indiana bar since 1902, has been accorded many of the honors of the successful lawyer and public leader. He is a resident of Kokomo, and is the outstanding man in the Democratic organization of Howard County.
Mr. Brown and his father were born in the same house. That house was in Switzerland County, Indiana. Clinton Brown was born October 28, 1877. His father, Hiram R. Brown, was born September 25, 1850, and died August 25, 1929. Hiram Brown married Susan Rebecca Greyble, who was born in Scott County, Indiana, in 1851 and died in 1879. Her father, John Greyble, was a soldier in the Civil war, in Company I of the Sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Hiram Brown and wife were married January 23, 1877.
Clinton T. Brown grew up in Southern Indiana, had the advantages of the common schools of Switzerland County, and at the age of eighteen taught his first term of school. He studied law with Judge F. M. Griffith, a former member of Congress from Indiana. On December 4, 1902, he was admitted to the bar at Rising Sun. He began practice in the law office of John Kemp at Tipton and in 1912 was appointed prosecuting attorney of Tipton County by Governor Thomas R. Marshall and was subsequently twice elected to that office. On coming to Kokomo Mr. Brown was for several years associated with the Kokomo Daily Dispatch, but since 1921 has been engaged in a successful general practice as a lawyer.
During the years 1925 to 1929 he was on many occasions called in , the service as special judge to assist Judge John Marshall in clearing up the crowded dockets. A number of important cases were entrusted to him as special judge. For this service he had the endorsement of the Howard County Bar Association. Mr. Brown was Democratic county chairman in 1920. Again in 1926 he was put in entire charge of the Democratic organization, and in that year he carried the county for the senatorial Democratic-ticket for the first time in history when there was no third party in the field.
Judge Brown is the father of two sons and a daughter. His sons, William O. and Robert, were both with the colors during the World war. William was in Battery F, Eighty-third Field Artillery, and went overseas in 1918. Robert was in the Eighth United States Cavalry but did not get overseas. The daughter, Hazel, is the wife of Carter Ray, of Dayton, Ohio. On August 22, 1929, at Kokomo, Judge Brown married Lodell Covey.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931