On his present homestead farm, in Lawrence Township, on the Millersville road and about nine miles northeast of the Soldiers Monument Circle in the City of Indianapolis, the birth of John E. Hunter occurred June 2, 1858, and he is a son of Matthew and Hettie Hunter, he being their only child, though by a previous marriage Mrs. Hunter had one child, William Henderson, who was at the Marion County Soldiers Home at the time of his death, he having been a soldier of the Union in the Civil war and his mother having been a resident of Anderson, Indiana, prior to her coming to Marion County. The .first wife of Matthew Hunter bore the maiden name of Mary Shaw, and the two children of this union, Tillman H. and Oscar, are deceased.
Matthew Hunter was born in or near Zanesville, Ohio, and was young at the time of the family removal to Indiana, his father, John Hunter, having become one of the early settlers and pioneer farmers of Marion County. Matthew Hunter established himself as a farmer in Lawrence Township in the year 1845, and here he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives on the old homestead farm that is now owned and occupied by their only child, John E., of this review.
In the schools of the locality in which he now lives John E. Hunter received his youthful education, here he was reared to maturity and here he early gained practical experience in the various details of productive farm enterprise. He was twenty-three years of age, as previously noted, when he here made his first purchase of land, and of the success that has attended him during the long intervening years of close association with farm enterprise the best evidence is given in his present ownership of 400 acres of the valuable land of Lawrence Township. Like his father he has been loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, and it may be stated that his father gave effective service as a member of the board of county commissioners of Marion County during the early 1850s. The political allegiance of Mr. Hunter is given to the Republican party, in. the Masonic fraternity his basic affiliation is with Capital City Lodge No. 312, A. F. and A. M., in Indianapolis, and his family have membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His farm home is on rural mail route No. 13 from the City of Indianapolis, and he still gives an active general supervision. to his farm, which is one of the well improved and valuable landed estates of Lawrence Township and to the management of which he has given the best years of an earnest and well ordered life.
May 29, 1888, marked the marriage of Mr. Hunter to Miss Clara E. Johnson, daughter of John and Nancy (Thomas) Johnson, of Lawrence Township, where Mr. Johnson was long a prosperous farmer and influential citizen, he having been born and reared in Marion County, a member of a family that was here established in the pioneer days. Victor, eldest of the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Hunter, married Miss Lenora Morris, and they maintain their residence at Fowler, Benton County; Ada and Lee remain at the parental home.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HORACE BLAKELY was born in Perry Township, Monroe County, February 23, 1858, and his career has been one of signal usefulness and honor. For many years he was engaged in farming, but for the past twenty years most of his time has been taken up with public duties. He is a resident of the City of Bloomington.
Mr. Blakely is a son of William and Elizabeth (Hall) Blakely and is a grandson of Thomas and Mary Blakely. Thomas Blakely was a Virginian, and lived for a number of years in Kentucky, bringing his family from that state to Monroe County in 1837. William Blakely accompanied the family on its removal from Kentucky, and spent his active life on a farm in Perry Township. His first home there was a log cabin. He died in 1892. His six children were: Mattie, who married Edward Anderson; William O., who married Lyda Field; Horace; Thomas, deceased; Florence, wife of Henry Dodds; and Estelle, who became the wife of Thomas King.
Horace Blakely was educated in the common schools of Perry Township, and all the time he was attending school he had chores and other duties on the home farm, so that he was well prepared for the life of a farmer, which was the vocation he took up and followed until he began his political career. He still owns land in Monroe County, but is not using it for agricultural purposes, rather for the development of its timber growth. Mr. Blakely in 1908 was elected county auditor, and altogether served three different terms in that office. He was elected and served four years as city clerk, in 1915 was elected county auditor and reelected in 1920. After being out of public office for two years he was chosen township trustee of Bloomington Township, in 1926, and is serving in that office. He was one of the few Republicans elected in that year. He is a member of the Christian Church, the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America and the Court of Honor.
Mr. Blakely married, December 10, 1879, Miss Alice Finley, daughter of David and Julia Ann (Dillman) Finley. Her father was an Indiana soldier in the Civil war and spent his active life as a farmer. He died while still in the army and is buried at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Blakely have had four children. Catherine is the wife of Noble Praigg and had two children, Catherine and a daughter Margaret now deceased. Jane Blakely, the second daughter, was married to K. B. Hunter and has a son, K. B., Jr. The son Finley is deceased and the only living son is Russell Blakely, who married Helen Ikerd and has a daughter, Anna L., of Los Angeles.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HENRY G. HAY. One of the pioneer families of the Wabash Valley were the Hays, one of whose representatives, Henry G. Hay, has had a conspicuous place as a banker in Northern Indiana for a number of years. Mr. Hay is president of the Commercial Trust Company of Gary.
His great-grandfather was with William Henry Harrison in the battle of Tippecanoe, which ended the Indian domination in the Wabash Valley. This great-grandfather prior to this campaign under Harrison had settled at Vincennes. He came from Pennsylvania. His father was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. The Gary banker has some old papers which were written by his great-grandfather and in which are some details of his early settlement and his campaign against the Indians. He named one of his children in honor of his commander, William Henry Harrison. The grandfather of Henry G. Hay was George Duffield Hay, who was born at Vincennes and for many years carried on a business operating packets and steamboats on the rivers.
Henry G. Hay, Sr., father of the Gary banker, was born at Indianapolis, but was reared and educated in Vincennes. He went west and for a number of years was in the banking business at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Later he went to New York, became assistant treasurer of the United States Steel Corporation and was active in that company until his death in 1919. He is buried at Vincennes. His wife, Ella O. Bullock, was born and reared near Ottawa, Illinois, attended school there and graduated from the Illinois State Normal School. She was a classmate of James H. Eckels, who afterwards became comptroller of the currency in Cleveland's administration. She taught school for several years before her marriage. She was a member of the Congregational Church, but her husband and their children became Episcopalians. She died November 5, 1895, and is buried at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Her two children are Henry G. and Mildred. Mildred is Mrs. W. F. Gibbs, of Pasadena, California. Mr. Gibbs is a retired business man and when he left the Western Electric Company was its treasurer. Mrs. Gibbs by a former marriage has two children, Margaret Hay Foster and Charles Bullock Foster.
Henry G. Hay, of Gary, was born at Cheyenne, Wyoming, June 30, 1876. He attended school in his native city, graduated from high school there in 1894 and then came east to enter the University of Michigan, where he received his law degree in 1896. After being admitted to the bar he engaged in the banking business with his father at Cheyenne and in 1900 opened a bank at Guernsey, Wyoming. After nine months he returned to Cheyenne and was a. banker in that city until 1905. In that year he opened a bank at Shoshoni, Wyoming.
At the invitation of his father, who was at that time assistant treasurer of the United States Steel Corporation, Mr. Hay on December 12, 1906, paid his first visit to Gary. It was then almost an unidentified part of the sand waste and dunes along Lake Michigan's shore. The land had been acquired by the steel corporation, and the work was under way for the making of a city after a manner unprecedented in America and perhaps in the world. At Gary .Mr. Hay met his father and went about with him and other officials of the steel corporation in inspecting the site. In April, 1907, Mr. Hay began his active career at Gary and on the 4th of March, 1908, he opened the Gary State Bank, at the corner of Fifth and Broadway. He became its first president and served in that capacity until July 1, 1923, when he resigned to take a well earned rest. His recreation included a tour of the Pacific Coast, including his old home at Cheyenne.
On returning to Gary he accepted the presidency of the Commercial Trust Company. The Commercial Trust Company's first president was Mr. John Brown, formerly of Crown Point, a pioneer citizen and banker of Lake County, and whose honored name and career is one of the cherished traditions and intangible assets of the Commercial Trust Company. Mr. Hay is also chairman of the board of the National Bank of America at Gary. During the World war he was city and county chairman in the Liberty Loan drives. He is a member of the Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce, is a York and Scottish Rite Mason, belonging to the Knights Templar Commandery, is a member of the Gary Country Club and Rotary Club. For twelve years he was on the Gary School Board and part of the time treasurer of the board, and from February 15, 1929, to January 8, 1930, was city comptroller. He is a Republican and a member of the Christ Episcopal Church.
Mr. Hay married at Chicago, October 12, 1897, Miss Bessie Robins, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, where she grew up and attended grammar and high school. Mr. and Mrs. Hay have two children. The son, Henry G., Jr., was born at Cheyenne, May 21, 1900, is a graduate of the Emerson High School of Gary and of the University of Pennsylvania, with the class of 1922. He is now assistant cashier of the Commercial Trust Company of Gary and is unmarried. Like his father, he is a golf enthusiast, is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Chamber of Commerce and the Gary Country Club. The daughter, Helen G., is a graduate of the Emerson High School and completed her education in 1926, when she graduated from Smith College at Northampton, Massachusetts. She is the wife of Dickson Rick, formerly of Gary, now in business at Detroit, and they have a daughter, Nancy Ann.
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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
THOMAS E. BOOHER is president and manager of the Hoosier Building Tile & Silo Company at Albany, a prosperous local industry and one whose products are sold and distributed over an extensive area in Eastern Indiana and Ohio.
Mr. Booher was born in that Delaware County town August 9, 1882, and his family on both sides have been in Indiana since pioneer days. He is a son of Levi and Amelia (Campbell) Booher. His grandfather, Daniel Booher, was an early settler in Randolph County. Levi Booher was born and reared near Union City, attended school there and spent all his active life as a farmer. He died in April, 1920, at the age of seventy years. His wife, Amelia Campbell, was born in Delaware County, daughter of Samuel Palina Campbell, an early settler. She resides with her son Thomas. There were seven children, Myrtle I., Forest V., Samuel C., Thomas E., Iva Dell (now deceased), Naomi B. and Warren Waldo.
Thomas E. Booher had the advantages of the public schools at Albany. He thought seriously of his qualifications for getting a living and making the best of his talents, and his first step was to secure an adequate education. With only sixty dollars in capital he enrolled as a student in the Eastern Indiana Normal, now the Ball State Teachers College, and by working his way paid his expenses until he graduated with the class of 1902. When he left school he became a traveling salesman for several months, selling stereoptican and stereoscope views, and also at the same time training other salesmen, chiefly students who were seeking that means of paying their expenses in college. Leaving that work, Mr. Booher was assistant freight agent at Muncie for the C. I. & E. Railroad, and for seven years he and his brother carried on a dairy business at Albany. While in that work he became interested in silos, and for five years traveled and sold the product of a well known silo manufacturing company. In the fall of 1917 Mr. Booher organized the Hoosier Building Tire & Silo Company at Albany, of which he has been president. This company secured the capital, set up a plant and has been manufacturing a type of silo that has proved worthy of all the favorable comment given it by its users, and the business has steadily grown from the start. From twenty-five to thirty persons are employed by this Albany industry.
Mr. Booher has at the same time taken an active part in civic affairs, is a member of the Albany School Board, is affiliated with Anthony Lodge No. 171, A. F. and A. M., the Kiwanis Club, is a Democrat, and he and his wife are active members of the Congregational Christian Church at Albany, of which he is a trustee.
Mr. Booher married at Muncie in August, 1906, Miss Mabel Dague, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Dague, of that city. She passed away in 1907, the year after her marriage. In June, 1915, at Winchester, Indiana, Mr. Booher married Miss Louise Gunther, daughter of Fred and Anna (Payne) Gunther. Her father was a farmer in Randolph County and died in 1926, her mother passing away in 1925, and they are buried in the Rittenhaur Cemetery near Deerfield. Mrs. Booher attended school at Winchester. She is a member of the Twentieth Century Club and the Eastern Star at Albany. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Booher are Carl W., James Vinton and Anna Marcella, all in school at Albany.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
ED T. MILLIGAN, secretary, treasurer and manager of the Muncie Stone & Lime Company, is a native of Eastern Indiana and nearly all of his active career has been spent in the line which he now follows.
He was born in Jay County, Indiana, July 4, 1875, son of S. H. and Harriet N. (Towle) Milligan. His grandfather, Wilson Milligan, came from Circleville, Ohio, about 1830 and was an early settler in Jay County. He was a farmer and stock raiser and also devoted a great deal of time to his duties as a minister of the United Brethren Church. He and his wife are buried at Broomfield. S. H. Milligan was born and reared in Jay County, served in the Union army during the Civil war and was with the One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Indiana Infantry. His active life after the war was spent as a farmer and stock raiser, and he died in 1889 and is buried at Portland. His wife, Harriet N. Towle, was born and reared in Jay County, attended public schools and Liber College and was a teacher for several years. She was an active communicant of the Congregational Church. Her death occurred in 1920. She was the mother of a family of nine children: Nina F., Mrs. Calvin Alexander of Portland, Indiana; Orla B., who died December 31, 1928; Wilson H., of Portland; Ed T.; Mary E., Mrs. G. F. Bishop, of Dayton, Ohio; John B., of Columbus, Ohio; Roygan R., of Hamilton, Ohio; Carl M., of Detroit, Michigan; and Scott, associated with his brother in the Muncie Stone & Lime Company.
Ed T. Milligan was reared on a farm, attended public school at Portland and the Portland Normal School, finishing his education with a course in the Muncie Business College. After leaving school, in 1900, he was employed for two years by the Cline & Wilt Lumber Company. For four years he was with the Portland Stone & Lime Company and in 1908 established the Muncie Stone & Lime Company, and has served continuously as its secretary, treasurer and manager. This company has acquired extensive deposits of limestone and has installed all the working equipment for quarrying, crushing and preparing the material for building and road construction. The company employs between twenty and twenty-five men, and provides a prompt and efficient service for indispensable material .in building construction and road work.
Mr. Milligan is a popular business man and citizen of Muncie. He is a member of Muncie Lodge No. 245, B. P. O. Elks, Lodge No. 33 of the Loyal Order of Moose, the Optimist Club, Chamber of Commerce, Travelers Protective Association. He is a Republican voter.
He married in Delaware County, Indiana, June 30, 1903, Miss Martha Colvin, daughter of Ephraim and Hannah (White) Colvin. Her father was a butcher and stock buyer and for many years carried on a successful meat business. He died in 1894 and is buried at Eaton, Indiana, being survived by his widow. Mrs. Milligan attended school in Delaware County.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
B. W. McCLAIN is giving a most loyal administration in the office of superintendent of the Hendricks County farm and home for the indigent, and his long and practical association with agricultural and livestock industry fortifies him well for the obtaining of major returns from the varied operations of the well improved county farm of 200 acres; while his wife is the efficient and popular matron of the home. The county poor farm is situated on the Rockville Road, one mile east of Danville, the county seat.
Mr. McClain was born on the parental home farm in Washington Township, Hendricks County, Indiana. November 22, 1867, and is a son of Gilbert D. and Amanda (Walker) McClain, who continued their residence in this county until their death. Gilbert D. McClain was born in Hendricks County, where his father became a pioneer farmer and where he himself was reared to manhood under the conditions and influences of the pioneer days. His parents, Michael and Jane (Palmer) McClain, were natives of Kentucky, where their marriage occurred and where they continued to reside until they came to Hendricks County, Indiana, where Michael McClain reclaimed and developed a productive farm and was a substantial citizen, both he and his wife having died in this county. Gilbert D. McClain was reared on the pioneer farm and his entire active career was marked by his continued association with farm enterprise in Hendricks County. From this county he went forth as a loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he served as a member of Company K, Seventy-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, his command having been assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and he having participated in the various campaigns and battles in which his regiment was involved. After receiving his honorable discharge he resumed his farm operations in Hendricks County, and here he remained until the close of his life, he having been about seventy-seven years of age at the time of his death, and his wife having passed away when about sixty-eight years of age. Of their two children B. W., of this review, is the elder, and the younger is Adrian R., a resident of Hendricks County.
B. W. McClain early began to aid in the work of the home farm, and after profiting by the advantages of the district schools of his native township he took a commercial course in the Indiana State Normal School at Danville. He then resumed his active alliance with farm industry in his native county, where he was prospered in his efforts during the passing years and where he still retains ownership of a valuable farm property. He assumed his present office, that of superintendent of the county infirmary and farm, in the year 1925, and his has been a conscientious, efficient and progressive administration of all departments of the work over which he has supervision as a valued county official.
On the 9th of September, 1890, Mr. McClain was united in marriage to Miss Clara B. Moore, who likewise was born and reared in the Hoosier State and who was sixth in order of birth in a family of eight children, the others being William, Tolbert, Henry (deceased), Eudora, Agnes, Grant and George. Mrs. McClain is a daughter of the late John and Sarah (Speer) Moore. John Moore was born at or near Zanesville, Ohio, where his parents, James and Mary Moore, died when he was a child, he having been placed in the home of a family in the same locality and having been a lad of eleven years when he ran away from that home and made his way on foot to Indiana. He eventually became the owner of a farm near Clermont, Marion County, there his children were born and there he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, their mortal bodies having been laid to rest in Crown Hill Cemetery at Indianapolis. In the earlier period of his residence in Marion County Mr. Moore assisted in the erection of the old state capitol at Indianapolis. Mrs. McClain was born on the old home farm in Marion County and after attending the public schools in the neighboring town of Clermont she continued her studies one year in Butler College, Indianapolis, and during an equal period was a student in the Central Normal School at Danville. Prior to her marriage she was a popular teacher in the rural schools of Pike Township, Marion County. Mr. and Mrs. McClain have four children: Sarah is the wife of Charles Money and they have one child, Anna Marie. Lester G. married Miss Kate Lawson and they have five children - Lavelle J., Evelyn, Lois F., Mary B. and John W. The next and younger of the children of the subject of this sketch is Miss Mabel, who was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of the City of Newcastle, Henry County, for five years. The youngest in the family is Chester P., who married Gladys Berry, and they reside at Danville. They have three children, Barbara, Bobbie and Chester, Jr.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
CHARLES C. LEITSHUH, founder of the French Steam Dye Works of Muncie and for many years a popular business man and citizen of that community, was born in Bavaria, Germany, October 1, 1867, son of Anthony and Tillie Leitshuh.
He was a boy when his parents came to America and established their home at Springfield, Ohio. In that Ohio city he completed his schooling and learned the cleaning and dyeing trade. In 1900 he moved to Muncie and in 1903 established the dyeing and cleaning business known as the French Steam Dye Works. Into this business Mr. Leitshuh incorporated many original ideas of his own and built up a flourishing industry. He was also a thoroughly public spirited citizen, actively identified with the commercial and civic life of the community. He was a member of the Muncie Chamber of Commerce, belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, B. P. O. Elks, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Knights of Columbus, Improved Order of Red Men and the Loyal Order of Moose. He was a member of the local Advertising Club and a charter member of the Kiwanis Club.
In Springfield, Ohio, June 25, 1895, Charles C. Leitshuh married Theresa M. Mayer. To this union nine children were born, two of whom died in infancy. Surviving are four sons, Frank A., George, Raymond and Charles, and three daughters.
Two other sons, George and Raymond Leitshuh, were educated in St. Lawrence parochial school at Muncie and are graduates of St. Joseph's College at Rensselaer, Indiana. During school vacations they received their initial training in the cleaning and dyeing trade under the personal supervision of their father. When he left school George Leitshuh was associated with his father in the business for two years. On the death of Charles C. Leitshuh, September 25, 1925, George Leitshuh and his younger brother, Raymond, took over the active management of the business for their mother, Mrs. Theresa Leitshuh. The firm has kept apace with great developments in the cleaning and dyeing industry and have one of the largest and best equipped- plants of its kind in Eastern Indiana, employing a working force of from fifty to seventy-five persons. The Leitshuh brothers are members of the Chamber of Commerce, the Knights of Columbus, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and are members of St. Mary's Church, of which George Leitshuh is a trustee.
In December, 1925, Paul Stubbs, husband of Rose Leitshuh, was included in the family group conducting the French Steam Dye Works. Mr. Stubbs was born in Abbeville, South Carolina, February 7, 1890, son of William Franklin and Henrietta (McBride) Stubbs. During the World war he served with the Seventeenth United States Railroad Engineers and was overseas in France twenty-seven months. He is a member of Muncie Post No. 19 of the American Legion, is a Mason, member of the Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce at Muncie. He is a Republican and a member of Grace Episcopal Church.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HON. ORA LEONARD WILDERMUTH. In the career of Hon. Ora L. Wildermuth, a leader of the bar of Gary and, an ex-city judge, there is much to be found of an encouraging nature to the youths of today who are starting out to fight their way to prominence and independence. When he began his career Judge Wildermuth was given no special assistance or advantages, but through energy, perseverance and integrity gained the goal which he sought, and today is not only a respected legist and citizen, but a recognized benefactor of Gary, who has done much for the cause of education, Christianity and good citizenship.
Judge Wildermuth was born in Pulaski County, Indiana, October 15, 1882, and is a son of Elias and Olive (Herrick) Wildermuth. His great-grandfather, Abraham Wildermuth, was one of the earliest pioneer settlers from Ohio in Cass County, Inqiana, and later moved across the line into Pulaski County, where he passed the rest of a long and honorable life in the pursuits of agriculture. At the side of his loyal and worthy wife he was buried in the old farm cemetery there. Judge Wildermuth still has in his possession, signed by President William Henry Harrison in 1840, old land grants of the period. Henry Wildermuth the grandfather of Judge Wildermuth, was born in 1820, in Ohio, and there reared and educated. At the age of twenty years he accompanied his parents to Indiana, the family settling first in Cass County and then moving on to Pulaski County, where he engaged in farming and stock raising until the time of his retirement.
Elias Wildermuth, the father of Judge Wildermuth, was born in Pulaski County, Indiana, where he received a public school education and in young manhood adopted teaching as a profession, being engaged therein for a period of fourteen years. Subsequently he turned his attention to farming and stock raising and became one of the substantial men of his community, retiring to Gary about 1908. There he made his home until his death in 1915. Mr. Wildermuth married Miss Olive Herrick, who was also born in Pulaski County, received a public school education, and was always active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the faith of which she died in 1925, being buried at the side of her husband in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Gary. Mr. and Mrs. Wildermuth were the parents of five children: one who died in infancy; Harry E., who met an accidental death in a railroad disaster in 1910; Ora L., of this review; George G., whose death occurred in 1907; and Joe H., an architect of Gary.
Ora L. Wildermuth attended the public schools of Pulaski County, and after leaving high school pursued a course at the University of Indiana, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws as a member of the class of 1906. Admitted to the bar in the same year, he immediately entered upon the practice of his profession at Gary, where he now occupies a modern suite of offices at 690 Broadway. Mr. Wildermuth stands high in his profession and has been identified with much important litigation that has come before the courts during his twenty-five years of practice. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Indiana State Bar Association, the Lake County Bar Association, the District Bar Association and the Gary Bar Association. He was the first city judge of Gary, serving in that capacity from 1910 until 1914, also has the distinction of having taught the first school in Gary, in 1906 and 1907, and built the first house on the west side of Broadway. He has numerous business and financial connections, being a director of the Glen Park State Bank and of a number of corporations. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and politically he is allied with the Democratic party. Judge Wildermuth assisted in the organization of the Congregational Church, the first church at Gary, and has been a member of the board of trustees thereof ever since its inception. He belongs to the Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce, of the latter of which he was for one year president. During the World war he was a member of the Lake County Council of Defense and was active in all drives and war movements. He is likewise a trustee of Indiana University and of the Gary Public Library board, having held the latter position since it's organization. Judge Wildermuth, in fact, may be said to be the father of the public library, as he led the way for its organization by keeping a small public library in his law office, to which the citizens had free access. In every way he has shown himself a man of progressive spirit, enlightened views and civic pride.
At Peru, Indiana, September 3, 1907, Judge Wildermuth was united in marriage with Miss Cordelia Wilds, of Peru, daughter of John and Sophia Wilds, the former of whom died some years ago, while the latter survives and is a resident of Indianapolis. Mrs. Wildermuth was educated in the public schools of Peru and Indianapolis and is active in religious work as a Congregationalist. Judge and Mrs. Wildermuth have one daughter: Maxine Elizabeth, a graduate of Emerson High School of Gary, who is now attending Indiana University.
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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
FRED M. DECK is a well known retired business man of Noblesville, in which city he has lived all his life.
He was born there January 10, 1872. His father, Henry Deck, came to Indiana in the early '30s and during his active life time carried on a meat business, having the largest and best patronized shop in the city. Fred M. Deck grew up at Noblesville, attended school there, and from boyhood was associated with his father's business. After that was closed out he conducted a soft drink and confectionery establishment until he gave up his active business responsibilities and retired in 1926.
Mr. Deck has never married. He is a Republican in politics, has sought no official honors, and in former years was a member of several fraternal organizations. He lives on Wayne Street, Noblesville.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
LEONIDAS L. BRACKEN, Muncie attorney, with offices at 108 East Washington Street, was born at Brookville, Indiana.
He comes from a family of pioneers in Southern Indiana and the name has been prominent in the professional and public life of the state for many years. His grandfather, William Bracken, was a physician and surgeon and practiced his profession sixty years. He was always interested in public affairs and served as a member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850. He lived to the age of ninety years and he and his wife are buried at Greensburg, Indiana.
William H. Bracken, father of Leonidas L., was one of the leaders of the Brookville, Indiana, bar for nearly fifty years. His practice was interrupted from 1893 to 1897, during which time he served as United States internal revenue collector, during President Cleveland's second administration. He was a presidential elector in 1892 and was a captain of an Indiana company in the Union army during the Civil war.
Captain Bracken married Phebe A. Kerrick, whose father, Nimrod Kerrick, was a pioneer teacher and later minister of the Methodist Church in Southeastern Indiana. Mr. Bracken died in November, 1912. His widow still occupies the old home at Brookville.
Leonidas L. Bracken was reared and educated in Brookville, attending public schools there and continued his education in Indiana University. He was graduated LL. B. from the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, Illinois, in 1903, and in the same year was admitted to the Illinois bar and was admitted to practice in Indiana in 1904. He has been practicing law at Muncie for over a quarter of a century. For some years he was associated in partnership with his brother, Thomas E. Bracken. In 1909 he entered the partnership of Silverburg, Bracken & Gray, which is regarded as one of the strongest law firms in Eastern Indiana. Mr. Bracken from 1915 to 1919 was secretary of the Federal Trade Commission at Washington, D. C.
He is a member of the Delaware County, Indiana State and American Bar Associations, and fraternally is affiliated with Delaware Lodge No. 46, A. F. and A. M., Muncie Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Muncie Commandery, Knights Templar, and he is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and is active in Democratic politics, having been a delegate from Indiana to the Houston National Convention in 1928. Mr. Bracken is unmarried.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
CHARLES J. KNEER, M. D., who is established in the successful general practice of his profession at Oaklandon, Marion County, is a native son of this county, his birth having occurred in the capital city, Indianapolis, December 30, 1875. His success and prestige in his profession is definitely the result of his own ability and efforts, even as was the preceding advancement he had gained in connection with other phases of practical business, he having depended upon his own resources in defraying his professional education both as a pharmacist and as a physician and surgeon.
Doctor Kneer is a representative of the third generation of the Kneer family in Indiana. He is a son of Jacob P. and Mary (Becker) Kneer, the former of whom was born on the parental home farm in Franklin County, this state. He eventually established residence in Indianapolis, where he was long associated with brick manufacturing and where he and his wife passed the closing period of their lives, their children having been five in number: Anna, Dr. Charles J., Elizabeth, Frederick W. and Matilda. The religious faith of the family has long been that of the Lutheran Church.
Jacob P. Kneer was a son of Jacob and Catherine Kneer, the former having been born and reared in Germany and the latter in Pennsylvania, where their marriage was solemnized and whence they came to Indiana and settled in Franklin County, Jacob Kneer having become one of the pioneer farmers of that county and having been a young man when he came to the United States.
The preliminary education of Doctor Kneer was acquired in the public schools of Indianapolis, he having thereafter been for a time in the home of his maternal grandfather, in Harrison, Ohio, and having then returned to Indianapolis, where his school work was continued through the fifth and sixth grades. He then returned to Ohio, where he completed his high-school course, and upon coming again to his native city, Indianapolis, he there found employment in a meat market, he having later engaged in independent business and having become a tax-payer when he was but seventeen years of age. He became a registered pharmacist and was engaged in the drug business prior to preparing himself for the medical profession. Upon completing his course in the Indiana Medical School, Indianapolis, he duly received his degree of Doctor of Medicine, and he has been engaged in the active general practice of his profession at Oaklandon since April 15, 1901, the scope and representative character of his practice giving evidence of the high estimate placed upon him as a man and as an able and loyal physician and surgeon.
Doctor Kneer has membership in the Marion County and the Indiana State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association, he is a Republican in politics, and he and his wife are earnest communicants of the German Lutheran Church. In the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Raper Commandery, Knights Templar, and also with Murat Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Indianapolis. Both he and his wife have membership in the Order of the Eastern Star.
January 30, 1901, recorded the marriage of Doctor Kneer to Miss Florence M. Clendening, daughter of John and Helen (Miller) Clendening, and she passed to the life eternal August 15, 1915. Of the children of this union the first, Paul, is deceased, and those surviving are Carl J., Ethel M. and Louis P. The second marriage of Doctor Kneer was solemnized February 5, 1916, when Miss Susan F. Paris became his wife, and of their three children the first born, Paris C., is deceased, the others being Lola Arnella and Susan C.
Doctor Kneer takes loyal interest in all that tends to advance the welfare of his home community and is valued as a progressive citizen as well as an efficient physician and surgeon.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
