His parents, Andrew and Anna (Dybel) Tokarz, were born and reared near Cracow, Poland, and were educated in parochial schools. Andrew Tokarz came to America when a young man, lived in Chicago for several years, and with the establishment of the great refineries of the Standard Oil Company he moved to Whiting in April, 1893. He was employed by the Standard Oil Company until 1904, when he used his capital to engage in the mercantile business. When he retired from business, in 1915, he bought a farm at Dyer, Indiana, and he died December 15, 1925, and is buried at Calumet City, Illinois. His wife, Anna Dybel, came to America shortly after her marriage. She lives on the farm at Dyer. Both parents were devout Catholics. Of their ten children four died in infancy. Those living today are: John A.; Mary, wife of Andrew Dudzik, whose home is near Shawano, Wisconsin; Angeline, Mrs. William Mathews, of Hammond; Anna, wife of Casmir Krawczyk. of Dyer; Joseph and Alvis, both of whom live at Dyer.
John A. Tokarz was reared at Whiting, attended parochial schools, and in 1913 completed a liberal education in St. Joseph's College at Rensselaer, Indiana. From the time he left college until May, 1917, he was employed in the main office of the Standard Oil Company at Whiting. Mr. Tokarz has always been interested in local politics and in 1917 was elected city clerk of Whiting. He filled that office until 1922. While in office he established a real estate business, and during the past ten years has handled many important transactions in that field. In 1922 he was candidate for county auditor. He was appointed city comptroller in February, 1930, under the administration of Mayor Thomas S. Boyle. Mr. Tokarz was elected secretary of the Democratic county organization in 1928, and he is president of the Democrat League of Lake County. During the World war, as city clerk, he performed a large amount of patriotic work in addition to his routine of duties. He was secretary for several of the Liberty Loan drives and made out many of the papers for the local draft board.
Mr. Tokarz is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Catholic Order of Foresters and St. Adelbert's Catholic Church. He married at Whiting, January 27, 1914, Miss Stephany Skrzypinski, daughter of Alex and Mary (Szudzinski) Skrzypinski. Her parents spent all their lives in Poland, where her father died in 1929 and her mother in 1927. Her father followed the business of contracting and building, and also had considerable local fame as a violinist. Mrs. Tokarz received part of her education in Poland. She came to America in April, 1910, to join her brother at Garrett, Indiana. Her brother was the Rev. Julian Skrzypinski, pastor of the Catholic Church at Garrett. She completed her education after coming to this country. She is a member of St: Adelbert's Catholic Church and the church societies. Mr. and Mrs. Tokarz have one son, Leonard, born July 7, 1926, a kindergarten pupil. For recreation Mr. Tokarz finds his chief pleasure in fishing.
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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
WILLIAM EARL GRAHAM. Among the many alert young men who were quick to recognize the prominent place that the radio was to take in the world and who have since risen to places of independence in the business world, few have equaled in success William Earl Graham, proprietor of the Graham Radjo Company of Gary. A man of great enterprise, progressive spirit and unique ideas, he has taken advantage of every opportunity that has come his way and has also created opportunities of his own, with the result that, at the age of thirty years, he finds himself at the head of an important business undertaking that is on a sound and solid footing.
Mr: Graham was born at Ober, Indiana, September 12, 1901, and is a son of W. D. and Josephine May (Hale) Graham. The great-grandfather of Mr. Graham, who came from the East, was the founder of the family in Ohio, where he established a modest printing business and for a time conducted a small newspaper. His son, the grandfather of William E. Graham, carried on the business at Columbus, building it up until it became an outstanding printing, publishing and lithographing concern, doing a large and prosperous business throughout that section of the country.
W. D. Graham, the father of William E. Graham, was born at Columbus, Ohio, where he received a public school education, and as a youth entered the business of his father, where he was initiated into all of the secrets of the printing business. He later removed to Chicago, where he founded a publishing, printing and lithographing business of his own, and resided in the Illinois metropolis until 1906, when he came to Gary and became the proprietor of a restaurant. This he conducted until his retirement, several years before his death, which occurred in December, 1915, when he was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. For many years Mr. Graham was very active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Miss Josephine May Hale, who was born and reared on a farm near South Whitley, Indiana, and educated in the public schools there and at Wabash, Indiana. She has always been active in the work of the Christian Church, and now resides at Gary with her son, William E. There were four children in the family: Maniela, who died at the age of eleven years; William Earl, of this review; Everett, of Gary; and Tody, who died at the age of three years.
William Earl Graham attended the Froebel School of Gary, from which he was graduated in 1915, and in the following year entered the employ of the Illinois Steel Company, with which he was connected for three years. For the following four years he conducted an electrical repair business, but in 1923 entered the radio retail supply business, in which he has since been engaged, being now the proprietor of the Graham Radio Company, with a large and modern establishment at 617 Washington Street. Mr. Graham has the agency for the Crosley, Amrad and General Electric radios and also carries a full and comprehensive line of radio accessories and parts. He has built up this business purely through his own initiative and resource and has made a place for himself among the young men who are accomplishing things in the business world today. Mr. Graham is a member of Gary Lodge No. 1152, B. P. O. Elks. He has always been actively interested in civic affairs and for some years was a member of the former Chamber of Commerce. Politically he is a Republican, although not active, and his religious affiliation is with the Christian Church. If he has a hobby it may be said to be fishing. He is unmarried.
At the present time Mr. Graham is building a beautiful new home at Ogden Dunes, and as an unique feature of this accomplishment, and one that will be of great interest to the family in future years, held a cornerstone laying August 2, 1930. The invitation to this affair, as composed by Mr. Graham, was as follows: "To the Elect. Greetings. To the highest hill on Dog Wood Lane in Ogden Dunes shall ye come on Saturday, August 2nd, in the year of our Lord 1930, when the sun shall reach eleven on the dial, and there by and with your presence assist me in the laying of the corner-stone on the foundation from which shall rise the House of Graham. That ye may be sustained in your exhaustive efforts in this momentous undertaking, liberal sustenence shall be afforded ye. Hear ye now my cry and fail me not. WILLIAMUS GRAHAMUS."
About fifty prominent Gary people were present, and Engwald Moe, the contractor who is erecting the "House of Graham," and a past potentate of Orak Temple of the Mystic Shrine, pronounced the prayer or benediction. Bob Windsor cemented the cornerstone in place, and Samuel Reck, owner of Ogden Dunes and Subdivision, was present and took part in the ceremonies. E. M. Pripps, of Gary, made the principal address of the occasion, which was as follows:
"Since the beginning of time when man emerged from the misty uncertainty which shrouded his creation, self-preservation compelled him to flee to the protection of the moss-hooded trees, and later to the rock-strewn caverns, where the never-jailing fires of his heart have kept at bay the prowling monsters, and his even more savage contemporaries. From the dawn of time down through the flight of ages the flickering fire on the hearth-stone has typified the home of man, and the rock-strewn cavern has changed its form to the embellished roof-tree of our time.
"As our savage ancestors gathered together for mutual protection about the eternal fire, so our pioneer forefathers meet and tear from the living forests the trees with which to raise their homes by brawn and skill, -and so we are gathered here today to perpetuate this age-old custom. Not with axe and ox-team do we labor, but by our presence, with kind thoughts and well wishes, do we lend ourselves to this endeavor. In symbolic emulation of our forefathers, therefore, do we set this corner- stone typifying our willingness to aid in the erection of this edifice, -the home of a friend, the House of Graham."
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JOHN ANDREW HICKEY is a representative young business man whose popularity in his home City of Gary is indicated by his being familiarly known as "Jack" Hickey. He is one of the two interested principals of the Triple H. Auto Parts Company, which has its well equipped headquarters at 632 Washington Street and which functions as one of the largest and most important wholesale and retail concerns of the kind in this section of Indiana. Of George F. Hoeffle, the other principal of the company, individual mention is made on other pages of this publication.
Mr. Hickey was born at Franklin, county seat of Johnson County, Indiana, November 26, 1892, and is a son of James C. and Laura (Ferguson) Hickey, who now reside in Los Angeles, California, where the father is living retired from active business. James C. Hickey was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was reared and educated and where he was long and successfully engaged in mercantile business. His wife was born and reared at Franklin, this state, and both are communicants of the Catholic Church. Of the six children the eldest is Mrs. Mary Scapard, of Fort Myers, Florida; Reginald resides in Los Angeles, California; Raymond is a resident of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Ernest and Edward are residents of Los Angeles, John A., of this review, having been the second in order of birth.
In the public schools of his native City of Franklin John A. Hickey continued his studies until he was graduated in the high school, and thereafter he was employed as clerk in drug stores at Terre Haute and Gary, to which latter city he came in 1910. He was thus engaged until 1915, when he became engaged in the automobile business on his own account then. In 1927 he formed a partnership with George F. Hoeffle and engaged in the whole- sale and retail auto-parts business, the enterprise being conducted under the title of Triple H. Auto Parts Company and the business having been developed to large volume in both wholesale and retail departments, while the reputation of the concern constitutes one of its strongest commercial assets.
Mr. Hickey expresses his civil loyalty and progressiveness through his membership in the Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club and is a director of the Washington Street Improvement Company. He is a Republican in political alignment and holds the office of notary public. Mr. Hickey is affiliated with Gary Lodge, B. P. O. E., and with Gary Memorial Post No.1 7, American Legion, and is a member of the Cressmore Country Club. He and his wife have membership in the Christian Church in their home city and both are popular figures in the social life of the community.
In 1917, the year that marked the nation's entrance into the World war, Mr. Hickey enlisted for service in the United States Army, in which he received preliminary training at Camp Taylor, Kentucky; Fort Thomas, Georgia; and Camp Sheridan, Alabama. He was assigned to the Ninth Chemical Warfare Division and in the same assisted in training troops for overseas service, he having thus continued until he received his honorable discharge, February 22, 1919. He retains vital interest in his former comrades and is a member of the aviation committee of Gary Memorial Post of the American Legion.
At Gary, on the 10th of July, 1920, Mr. Hickey was united in marriage to Miss Lucille H. Janssen, daughter of Theodore B. and Susan (Howell) Janssen, who were born and reared in Indiana; where the respective families were established in the pioneer days. Mr. and Mrs. Janssen still maintain their home in Gary and he has given thirty-eight years of service as a foreman with the American Bridge Company. Mrs. Hickey was graduated in one of the high schools of the City of Chicago, and there also she received excellent musical training, through which she effectively developed her fine contralto voice, she having been on the concert stage for some time, prior to her marriage, and being now actively associated with musical and other cultural interests in Gary. Mr. and Mrs. Hickey have a winsome daughter, Betty Lou, born July 20, 1929.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
BERTRAM DAY, president of the Northern States Life Insurance Company of Hammond, is one of Indiana's most interesting and versa- tile citizens. At one time the ministry was the goal of his ambition. While at Crawfordsville in Wabash College he completed the foundation studies for the theological course. While there he came in contact with Indiana’s distinguished author, Lew Wallace, and has always derived a great deal of inspiration from that soldier-novelist. Mr. Day is himself a poet and writer of no mean distinction. He has been heard from the lecture platform in many states, and from his studies of the Bible and a wide range of classic literature, and from his world-wide travels, has compiled material for a dozen inspirational lectures, including travelogues on the Holy Land and the Near and Far East, and also addresses on great characters in Biblical history. At one time he was on the regular schedule of a Chautauqua circuit. He is author of a book, The Dawn, which has for its theme character building.
Much of Mr. Day's success can be attributed to an inordinate capacity for hard work. There has never been a time since early boyhood when he was unable to stand on his own feet and make his own way. He was born at Clinton, Michigan, November 26, 1871. He is of Scotch ancestry, and is a descendant of Amos Day, who was born in the Highlands of Scotland, September 15, 1754. He was the founder of the family in America, locating in Maryland. His son, Louis Day, was born in Maryland. Ezra Day, son of Louis, moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio. John F. Day, father of Bertram Day, was born in Richland County, Ohio, August 11, 1835, and married Lois Elizabeth Edsall, who was born in the same Ohio county May 18, 1835. John F. Day was a carpenter, a farmer and stock raiser, and spent all his active life in Michigan. He died in that state December 28, 1894, and his wife passed away January 3, 1897. Both are buried at Tecumseh, Michigan. Of their ten children two died in infancy. The others were: Ella, widow of Everett S. Chandler; Charles, of Ohio; Ezra, deceased; Frank, of Michigan; Bertram; Minnie, deceased wife of Frank Miller; Lulu, Mrs. Guy Collins, of Michigan; and Cora, Mrs. G. R. Miller, of Indiana.
Bertram Day grew up on a farm near Clinton, Michigan, attended a school there and later a township high school at Macon. During summer vacations he worked in a store, bought and sold eggs and produce, and while in high school he earned a salary the first year amounting to $135. Later he clerked in a dry goods store at Tecumseh, at twelve dollars a week, and from his earnings helped his sister through high school. For two years he attended high school at Lockport, Illinois. He then went back to Tecumseh, Michigan, managed a store a year, and for two years was a clerk for Marshall Field & Company at Chicago, at eighteen dollars a week. He left there to enroll as a student in Wabash College at Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he graduated in the classical course with the A. B. degree in 1903.
While in college he sold life insurance for the Mutual Life Company of New York. This experience discovered for him his real forte and caused him to give up the idea of becoming a minister. Mr. Day won his letter at Wabash as an all-round athlete. In college competition he won a first place in the broad jump and in the hundred-yard dash, doing a hundred yards in ten and a half seconds flat. He played halfback on the football team, managed the team one year, and was a pitcher for the baseball team. Even this did not exhaust his versatility and he won the junior essay contest and the oratorical prize.
Following his graduation from college he became an agent of the State Life Insurance Company of Indianapolis, was promoted to supervisor, for three years was superintendent of agencies, and left that company to join the American Central Life Insurance Company of Indianapolis, which he served successively as third vice president, second vice president and first vice president during the seven years he was with the organization.
After a trip abroad Mr. Day became president of the La Fayette Life Insurance Company at La Fayette, with which he was identified from 1911 to 1916. While at La Fayette he accepted the opportunity for special work in Purdue University, from which he received the Bachelor of Science degree in 1916. Mr. Day for two years, 1916-18, traveled as a lecturer on the Chautauqua platform. For ten years he was president of the Crescent Life Insurance Company of Indianapolis, selling his interest in the company in 1928. In this year he was made president of the Northern States Life Insurance Company of Hammond. He is a director and one of the large stockholders of a company which in resources and services is one of the largest life companies in the Middle West. Mr. Day is also a stockholder, director and trustee of the Security Life Insurance Company of Chicago, is a director and stockholder in the Inter-Southern Life Company of Louisville, Kentucky, and a stock- holder in the Missouri State Life Insurance Company of St. Louis.
Mr. Day retains his home in Indianapolis, at 46 Audubon Place. He has been prominent in the Methodist Church of that city, serving on the official board, and is a teacher of a class in the Irvington Methodist Episcopal Church. He is an independent Republican in politics, a member of Crawfordsville Lodge No. 50, A. F. and A. M., the Royal Arch Chapter and Council at Indianapolis and the Scottish Rite bodies in that city. He is a member of the University Club, Chamber of Commerce, is a Phi Delta Theta, member of the Kiwanis Club of Hammond.
Mr. Day married at Tecumseh, Michigan, June 24, 1903, Miss Alice Josephine Temple, daughter of John F. and Helen (Ide) Temple. Her father was a farmer and lumberman in Michigan. He died in 1904 and her mother in 1915, and both are buried in Tecumseh. Mrs. Day was educated in the Tecumseh High School, graduated in 1897 from Albion College of Michigan, and for several years before her marriage was principal of the high schools at Astoria, Illinois. She is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is registrar of her chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Day have made three trips around the world. Mrs. Day is a talented contralto singer and for a number of years was in the choir of her church at Indianapolis. She is a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Mr. arid Mrs. Day have no children of their own, but among their many philanthropies they have educated six girls and one boy through college.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JESSE J. MEYER. As a builder in the insurance field Jesse J. Meyer ranks as one of the outstanding leaders in Northern Indiana. Mr. Meyer has his offices at. 825 Chicago Avenue, East Chicago, and is manager of the Calumet district for the Empire Life & Accident Insurance Company of Indianapolis.
He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Augw:st 17, 1887, son of Thomas H. and Eliza- beth (Hicks) Meyer. His father was born in Germany, attended school there and when eighteen years of age came to America, locating at Freedom, Indiana, where he became a farmer and stock raiser. Later he moved to Arkansas and had a farm near Little Rock. He lived there until the death of his wife in 1893, when he returned to Freedom, Indiana, later disposing of his property in Arkansas, and he was a farmer in Indiana until his death in 1896. He is buried at Freedom and his wife at Little Rock. She grew up at Freedom, Indiana, where her parents were early settlers. Thomas H. Meyer and wife had the following sons and daughters: Joseph, Charles, Sam, Harry, Mary, Bessie, Jesse J. and Katherine. Only two are now living, Bessie, who is Mrs. Fletcher D. Goss, of Freedom, Indiana, and Jesse J.
Jesse J. Meyer was educated at Freedom, Indiana, graduating from high school in 1903. His first business experience was a few months at Indianapolis with the Taggart Baking Company. He left that business to take up insurance work, in which he has displayed his great forte. He was first with the Life Insurance Company of Virginia at Indianapolis, and in 1912 became manager for the Northern Indiana territory of the Public Savings Insurance Company of Indianapolis, with headquarters at South Bend. In 1914 he transferred his office to Gary, and since that date has had the management of the Calumet district for the Empire Life & Accident Insurance Company. He has built up a business to a point where the territory was divided into two districts, and he now has charge of the East Chicago district, with a large agency force under his supervision. This company had the largest industrial, life, health and accident premium income of any company doing business in this district. Mr. Meyer is a stockholder in the company.
He is a very popular member of this Northern Indiana business community. Fraternally he is affiliated with Roosevelt Lodge No. 716, A. F. and A. M., was formerly quite active in the Commercial Club, is a Republican and a Methodist. Outside of business his enthusiasm is vented in outdoor sports, hunting and fishing, and he is an ardent baseball fan.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HENRY FREDERICK EGGERS, who as a business man and citizen gained a high measure of respect and esteem in the City of Whiting, represented the first pioneer family in this section of Lake County. Mr. Eggers was born March 14, 1877, at what was then known as Berry Lake, his birthplace a few years later being acquired as part of the site for the great Standard Oil Company's plant and community of Whiting.
His grandfather, Henry Daniel Eggers, Sr., came from Germany, in 1842. His first home was at Chicago, Illinois. In 1846 he came to Northern Indiana and acquired a tract of Government land at Berry Lake. Thus he became the original settler of the site of what later became the City of Whiting. During the Civil war he served in the Union army and after the war he cultivated his land as a farm and also engaged in hunting and fishing. Some of the Pottawattamie Indians were still living in the community when he settled there, and one old Indian made his home at the Eggers place and worked on the Eggers land. Henry Daniel Eggers, Sr., was buried at Chicago.
Henry Daniel Eggers, Jr., was born at Berry Lake in the old homestead, attended public schools, and for many years operated ice houses and also was a hunter and fisherman for himself and supplied equipment for other hunters and fishers. He died in 1900 and was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery at Hammond. His wife was Ellen Reese, whose father, Henry Reese, was another early pioneer in this section of Lake County. Henry Daniel and Ellen (Reese) Eggers had a family of seven children: Amelia, widow of Christ Etter, of Whiting; Henry F.; William F., of Robertsdale; Frederick, of Denver, Colorado; Mrs. Clara Ford, of Whiting; and Charles H. and Mayme, twins, the latter the wife of Frank Buehler, of Robertsdale.
Henry F. Eggers was educated in the public schools of Whiting. After leaving school he entered business as a teaming and trucking contractor, and that afforded him opportunity for a profitable business career. He conducted his business under an individual name. He was also a director in the Central State Bank of Whiting and for several years was an official of the Chamber of Commerce. At the time of his death he owned considerable property in both Whiting and the Robertsdale district, including the beautiful home now occupied by Mrs. Eggers at 1510 Lake Avenue.
Mr. Eggers was a member of the B. P. O. Elks, the Hammond Gun Club and the Whiting Gun Club and the Grape Island Gun Club of Illinois. He found pleasure and diversion in hunting and trap shooting. His death was due to a heart attack while on the grounds of the Whiting Gun Club, April 6, 1930. Mr. Eggers was a leading citizen and for eight years was a member of the Hammond City Council. He was a Republican, in politics and a member of St. John's Lutheran Church at Whiting. At the age of twenty-one years he enlisted at Kenosha, Wisconsin, for service in the Spanish-American war, but was not called into active service, receiving his honorable discharge.
Mr. Eggers married at South Chicago, Illinois, August 14, 1901, Miss Elizabeth M. Seliger, daughter of William H. and Marie (Schroder) Seliger. Her parents were born, educated and married in Germany and about two years after their marriage came to America, in 1882. They located at East Side, now South Chicago, Illinois. Her father during the rest of his life was employed as a blacksmith by the Standard Oil Company at Whiting. He died in August, 1918, and is buried in the Concordia Cemetery at Hammond. Mrs. Seliger lives with Mrs. Eggers. Mrs. Eggers was one of a family of four children, the others being: Marie, deceased; William J., an electrical contractor at Whiting; Frank H., of Hammond; and Carl H., of Whiting.
Mrs. Eggers was born in Germany, December 27, 1881, and was about three months old when her parents came to America. She attended public school at East Side, now South Chicago. She is an active worker in St. John's Lutheran Church at Whiting and a member of the Hammond Woman's' Club. Mr. and Mrs. Eggers had three children, Cecelia Marie, Dr. Henry William and Virgil Frank.
The daughter Cecelia graduated from the Hammond High School, the Chicago Normal School of Physical Education, after which he spent two years in the University of Wisconsin. She is the wife of Arthur O. Johnson, a civil engineer. They 1ive at Madison, Wisconsin, and have a daughter, Shirley Jean Elizabeth, who was born February 26, 1931.
Dr. Henry W. Eggers was born at Robertsdale, Indiana, September 23, 1904. He graduated from the Hammond High School, took his pre-medical work in the University of Illinois and was graduated from the University of Illinois School of Medicine in 1930. He is now an interne in St. Margaret's Hospital at Hammond. On August 10, 1929, he married, at Hammond. Miss Esther Eugene Cooper, daughter of Eugene and Gertrude (Fetterly) Cooper, of Hammond, and a granddaughter of Eugene Cooper, Sr., who at one time was state superintendent of schools of Indiana. Mrs. Eggers graduated from the Hammond High School and the Columbia School of Music of Chicago, and since her marriage has been prominent in the musical circles of Hammond, being a gifted pianist. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Kappa Kappa Kappa sorority and the Hammond Junior Woman's Club.
Virgil F. Eggers, the younger son of Mrs. Eggers, graduated from the Whiting High School in 1929 and is a member of the class of 1934 at the University of Wisconsin, where he is one of the promising members of the football squad.
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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
WESLEY ROBERT KIBBY chief of police of Michigan City, has been with the police department for ten years, and the efficiency of the force is in a large measure to be credited to his careful and thorough supervision.
Mr. Kibby has lived in Michigan City for many years. He was born at Frankfort, Michigan, July 7, 1884, son of Gilbert C. and Jane (Law) Kibby. His father was a native of New York State and was about ten years of age when his parents moved west to Frankfort. He grew up there, and for many years was engaged in the lumber business. He died in March, 1924, at the age of seventy-two, and is buried at Frankfort. His wife, Jane Law, was born and reared in Benzie County, Michigan, and died in 1890. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. These parents had five children: Charles, who lost his life by drowning in Lake Michigan at the age of thirty-three; Hattie, wife of Howard Kimball, an electrician at Michigan City and mother of two sons, Wesley and Howard, Jr.; Wesley R,; Myrtle, the wife of Michael Herbon, an employe of the Ann Arbor Railroad Company at Frankfort, Michigan, and their four sons are Leon, Harley, Charles and Jim; and Gilbert Kibby, a foreman in the moulding clay industry at East Springfield, Pennsylvania, who is married and has two children.
Wesley R. Kibby attended the grammar and high schools of Frankfort and on leaving school entered the lumber business. He acquired a thorough and practical knowledge of the lumber business in all its details, and continued in that line until 1917, when he sold his interests at Frankfort and came to Michigan City.
Here Mr. Kibby was with the millwright department of the Pullman Car Shops for five years. On June 1, 1922, he joined the police force, and in 1928 was appointed chief- of-police. He has built up the force to a fine organization. Mr. Kibby's hobby outside of his public office is the Michigan City Zoo, and he is chairman of its advisory board.
He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. Fraternally he is affiliated with Acme Lodge No. 83, A. F. & A. M., Michigan City Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Kibby has been active in the Republican party organization and is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. His favorite recreations are fishing and motoring.
He married at Frankfort in September, 1905, Miss Helen Ward, daughter of Jim and Nona (Reed) Ward. Her father, who died in 1910, at Frankfort, was in the lumber business there. Her mother still lives at Frankfort. Mrs. Helen Kibby completed her high school education at Frankfort. By this marriage Mr. Kibby had two children: L. D. Kibby and Elda Kibby. L. D. Kibby attended school at Frankfort and the Michigan City High School, is now an employee of the City of Michigan City, and married Miss Leona Smith, of Manistee. Elda Kibby is the wife of Charles Curry, an employee of the Nickel Plate Railroad Company at Indianapolis, and they have a daughter, Helen. In April, 1924, Mr. Kibby married, at Michigan City, Miss Ruby Utterback, daughter of P. H. Utterback and wife. Her father is a leading business man and citizen of Oblong, Illinois, where he is in the wholesale egg and poultry business. Mrs. Kibby attended school at Oblong and is a graduate nurse of the Lakeside Hospital of Chicago. She engaged in the work of her profession for several years before her marriage. She is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, the Eastern Star and Woman's Club.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HON. ALFRED J. LINK, judge of the Circuit Court of LaPorte County, comes of a family of scholars and professional men. and has crowded a great many interests into the few brief years since he graduated from law school.
Judge Link was born at Mount Clemens, Michigan, September 22, 1889, son of Rev. George and Fredericka (Mohr) Link. His father, a native of Dodge County, Wisconsin, was educated in the parochial schools of the Lutheran Church, attended Concordia College at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the Concordia Seminary at St. Louis, Missouri. For almost a quarter of a century he was engaged in the work of a minister of the Lutheran Church. For eight years he was clerk of the Circuit Court of LaPorte County, being the first Republican elected to that office in the county during a period of thirty years. He died September 11, 1913, and is buried in the Pine Lake Cemetery at LaPorte. His wife was born at Monroe, Michigan, and attended the parochial schools of the Lutheran Church, of which she was a devout member. These parents had eleven children, one of whom died in infancy. The others were: George K. K. Link, professor of botany at the University of Chicago; Alfred J.; Herbert J., assistant cashier and a director in the A. P. Andrew State Bank at LaPorte; Miss Helene, a musician at Tucson, Arizona; Miss Ruth M., of Rockford, Illinois; Miss Agnes Louise, a graduate nurse at Tucson, Arizona; Theodore A., an oil geologist with the Imperial Oil Company at Calgary, Canada; Karl Paul, professor of organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, at Madison; Walter K., an oil geologist with a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, in Java; and Margaret, a Red Cross worker at Tucson, Arizona.
Judge Link was educated in the St. John's parochial school at LaPorte, spent one year in grammar school and was graduated from the LaPorte High School in 1907. In 1916 he received the Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago and in 1917 was graduated Doctor of Jurisprudence in the University of Chicago Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1917, but in January, 1918, answered the call to the colors. He received training at San Antonio, Texas, at Camp Meade, Maryland, Camp Hancock, Georgia, was commissioned a second lieutenant, and was then transferred to Camp Greene, North Carolina. After the armistice he was honorably discharged on March 26, 1919.
After his military service he entered upon his active career as a practicing attorney at LaPorte. He was city attorney from January 1, 1926, to December 31, 1928. At the beginning of 1929 he entered upon the office of judge of the LaPorte Circuit Court for a six year term. He is a member of the LaPorte County, Indiana State and American Bar Associations, the LaPorte Chamber of Commerce, is a Phi Beta Kappa, and a past commander of Hamon Gray Post No. 83 of the American Legion. Judge Link is a Republican and was deputy clerk of the LaPorte County Circuit Court from 1910 to 1913. He is a member of the Lutheran Church. His favorite form of recreation is work and :play that take him out of doors. He enjoys gardening, knows a great deal about trees and has made a hobby of promoting conservation work in the line of reforestation.
Judge Link married at New Rochelle, New York, November 12, 1918, Miss Helen Hicks. She is a daughter of Clarence J. and Mary (Riddell) Hicks, of Pelham Manor, New York. Her father has had a prominent career in public relations work. He was for several years international secretary for the Y. M. C. A. Later he was with the International Harvester Company. In 1915 he entered the employ of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, Denver, Colorado, at the time of the great coal mining strikes in that state, helping solve the industrial troubles. For several years he has been executive assistant to the president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. He was a member of President Hoover's conference as executive for considering the problems of employment, and he is a lecturer on industrial relations at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth and Princeton Universities. His home is at Pelham Manor, New York. Mrs. Link's mother died in May, 1913, and is buried at Omro, Wisconsin. Mrs. Link attended Wellesley College in the East and received the Bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1915. She was dietician in the department of institutional economics at the University of Chicago during 1915-17, then went in a similar capacity to the Lincoln School of New York City, and in 1918 to Columbia University. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, the American Legion Auxiliary, is president of the Woman's Literary Society of LaPorte and is a past president of the local chapter of the American Association of University Women. Judge and Mrs. Link have four children, all of whom are attending the public schools of LaPorte, Alfred John, Jr.., Helen, George Hicks and Frederick Herbert.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
FRANK HAYDEN WHITMORE, librarian of the East Chicago Public Library, has spent over thirty years in library work. He is not only familiar with the technical side of his profession, but has been a lifelong book lover, and his tastes and attainments are the product of years of study, travel and active association with organizations outside his own special field.
Mr. Whitmore is a native American, but was born on an American sailing ship of which his father was captain, in the harbor of Melbourne, Australia, July 14, 1877. He is a descendant of Francis Whitmore, who came from England and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, prior to 1648. The subsequent ancestral line runs through his son John and the latter's wife, Rachael; their son John and his wife, Mary Lane; their son Francis and his wife, Mary Hall; their son Andrew and his wife, Lucy Couillard; their son William C. and his wife, Phoebe Hayden, who were the grandparents of Frank Hayden Whitmore.
Mr. Whitmore's parents were Benjamin Franklin Delano and Mary Noyes (Palmer) Whitmore. His mother, a daughter of Judge William Palmer, was born at Gardiner, Maine, in 1851, and died October 13, 1899. Benjamin Franklin Delano Whitmore was born at Arrowsic, Maine, May 9, 1839, and died March 23, 1900. As a captain of Maine built sailing ships he carried on trade with many distant ports in South America, Europe, the Pacific Coast and the Orient.
Frank Hayden Whitmore during his childhood practically lived on shipboard, participating in long ocean voyages, occasionally by way of Cape Horn to Pacific Coast ports. He was educated in private schools in the United States and England, was graduated from high school at Gardiner, Maine, in 1895, and was a student in Harvard College from 1895 to 1899. He took his A. B. degree at Harvard in 1899 and during the following two years attended the New York State Library School, from which he received the degree Bachelor of Library Science.
Mr,Whitmore was assistant librarian of the Bowdoin College Library at Brunswick, Maine, from August, 1901, to July, 1905. He was librarian of the public library of Brockton, Massachusetts, from August, 1905, to February, 1925, and at the latter date came to the East Chicago Library,
He has been an interested participant in the work of library associations. While at Brockton he attended a number of the conventions of the American Library Association. He is a life member of the Massachusetts Library Club, which he served as vice president in 1910 and as recorder from 1915 to 1922. He is a member of the Old Colony Library Club, of which he was president in 1912-14, 1919, 1922. Mr. Whitmore was president in 1929 of the Indiana Library Association and is a member of the Chicago Library Club.
He was a member of the executive committee for the centennial celebrated in 1921 in commemoration of the founding of Brockton. He arranged a pageant, improvising a number of scenic effects to illustrate the outstanding events in the history of the city. His interest in boys and their welfare was responsible for his early enthusiasm for the Boy Scout movement, and while at Brockton he acted as secretary of the Boy Scouts Council.
During the World war Mr. Whitmore had a part in the service rendered by the American Library Association. He was a worker in the library war service at Camp Deyens in 1918, and also served as library supervisor at Forts Standish and Warren in Boston Harbor, and during 1919 was transport librarian for the U. S. S. Mount Vernon. He attended the Plattsburg Training Camp in July, 1916, and in 1917 became a member of the Massachusetts State Guard.
Mr. Whitmore has always been a lover of the sea and in later years has come to be known as an authority on early American sailing ships, having collected rare works on that as well as on many other subjects. He has seen much of the world in his travels, which have taken him to England, France, Holland, Switzerland, the West Indies and the Caribbean region. He has contributed regularly to library journals and other periodicals. He compiled Bibliography of Ethics, published by the New York State Library, well known to library workers. He was compiler and editor of Addresses at Laying of Cornerstone and Dedication of Public Library of Brockton, 1913.
Mr. Whitmore is a Republican, a Delta Upsilon, Mason and Elk, member of the Harvard Clubs of Boston and Indiana, University Club of Chicago, Indiana Historical Society, Appalachian Mountain Club, the East Chicago Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis Club. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. His recreations are golf, tennis and indoor gymnasium work.
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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
LOUIS GEORGE KLITZKE, vice president of the Hammond National Bank, has been a well known figure in the business and civic life of that community since early manhood.. Success has come to him in generous measure through the medium of hard work and close and faithful attention to his affairs and duties.
Mr. Klitzke was born in Chicago, Illinois, April 23,. 1878, son of Ferdinand and Augusta (Mullenhaur) Klitzke. His parents were born in Stettin, Germany, attended public school there and after their marriage came to America, about 1869. They lived in Chicago for a number of years and later in Hammond. Ferdinand Klitzke was in the lumber business all his active life. He died in 1917 and his wife in 1926. They are buried in the Concordia Cemetery at Hammond. They were active members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Of their eight children two died in infancy; John is a resident of Calumet City, Illinois; Herman lives at Hammond; William died at Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1917; Emil is a resident of Hammond; Louis G.; and Paul is a member of the board of public works at Hammond.
Louis G. Klitzke acquired his early education in the Hammond public schools. Immediately after leaving school he found employment in the plant of the Hammond Packing Company, where he remained six years. For thirty-one years he was in the dairy business, and in that line he laid the basis of his financial competence. He sold out and retired from the dairy business and since 1929 has been one of the active officials of the Hammond Natiolial Bank, of which he is a director and vice president.
Mr. Klitzke has always manifested a public spirited interest in the welfare and progress of his community. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Woodmar Country Club, the National Board of Trustees of Valparaiso University, is a Republican and a member of the board of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. He has many diversions, is a baseball enthusiast, and also plays golf.
Mr. Klitzke married at Hammond, October 7, 1907, Miss Hattie Robinson, daughter of Asa and Esther (Hildebrandt) Robinson. Her parents came from White County, Indiana, to Hammond. Her father was a stationary engineer in the service of the G. H. Hammond Packing Company for many years. He died about 1926. Mrs. Robinson lives with Mr. and Mrs. Klitzke. Mrs. Klitzke was born and reared in Hammond, attending the public schools of the city. In early life she was a member of the Baptist Church, but is now a member, like her husband, of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. She also belongs to the Hammond Woman's Club. They have three children, Helen Alma May, June Mary Louise, and Robert George. Helen graduated from the Hammond High School in 1927 and is the wife of Dr. J. Wesley Powley, a rising young dentist at Hammond. Doctor and Mrs. Powley have a daughter, Patricia Ann. The two younger children are still in school, June in high school and Robert in St.. Paul's Lutheran School.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
