William F. Hodges was educated in public schools in Kentucky and in 1898 graduated with the Bachelor of Science degree from Valparaiso University of Indiana. In 1904 he completed the law course there and during the years he was in Valparaiso he completed courses in civil engineering, commercial work and oratory. In 1903 he was admitted to the bar at Valparaiso and for one year practiced at Rensselaer, Indiana. After a trip over the West he settled at Rensselaer, in January, 1906. In September, 1906, he came to Gary, and he and Claude V. Ridgeley, now judge of the Superior Court, formed a partnership that continued to their mutual advantage and profit until May, 1927. For twenty years they constituted one of the strongest law firms in Northern Indiana. After this firm dissolved Hershell B. Davis became a partner of Senator Hodges, and the latter's son has recently become a junior member of the firm of Hodges, Davis & Hodges, with offices at 607 Broadway.

Senator Hodges is a member of the Indiana and Gary Bar Associations. He owns real estate in Gary and for many years has been in close touch with the civic and industrial progress of the community. Fraternally he is affiliated with Gary Lodge No. 677 A. F. and A. M., Gary Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Knights Templar Commandery, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, South Bend, Orak Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Hammond, is a member of the B. P. O. Elks, a life member of the Loyal Order of Moose, was president for 1929-30 of the Gary Rotary Club and district governor of the Twentieth District Rotary International in 1930-31. He is a former president of the Chamber of Commerce, member of the Gary Country Club, Gary Republican Club, Lincoln Club of Hammond.

His activity in politics has been incidental to his studious devotion to his professional practice. In 1909-10 he served as deputy prosecuting attorney of Lake County, was city attorney of Gary in 1914-15, and mayor of the city from 1918 to 1922. He has been president of the Municipal League of Indiana. From 1926 to 1931 he was a member of the State Senate. Senator Hodges is a member of the official board of the Congregational Church.

He married at Hiseville, Kentucky, January 3, 1901, Miss Cassie Vernon Newberry, daughter of Dr. Thomas L. and Jennie (Pemberton) Newberry. Her father served as a surgeon in the Confederate army and for many years did the work of a country physician over Barren and adjoining counties in Kentucky. He died in 1905 and the mother in 1885. Mrs. Hodges attended school at Hiseville, the Jessamine Institute, a girls' school at Nicholsville, Kentucky and in 1904 was graduated from Valparaiso University of Indiana. She was a teacher in Kentucky and for a time was one of the instructors in Valparaiso University. Mrs. Hodges for two years was president of the Gary Woman's Club and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. They have two children. Their son, Thomas M., graduated from the Emerson High School of Gary in 1923, took his A. B. degree at the University of Wisconsin in 1927, and graduated in 1930, with the degree Doctor of Laws, from the University of Chicago, immediately afterward joining his father in law practices. Senator Hodge's daughter, Jennie Theodosia, graduated from Emerson High School in 1925 and from the University of Wisconsin in 1925, with the A. B. degree.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

REV. CHARLES WALTER POSTILL, whose home is at Rensselaer, is a retired minister who has devoted his leisure to some very interesting and important studies and investigations particularly the study of Indiana birds. He is probably the leading living authority as an ornithologist, and has amassed and collected a great mass of data which he has been preparing for publication and which bird lovers all over the Middle West will welcome as a mine of scholarly information on the bird life of this state. Mr. Postill out of a long and busy life has generated a wholesome philosophy and has propounded the interesting thesis that Indiana, with its wonderful beauties and resources of trees, flowers and birds, would have paid better dividends to Ponce de Leon in his search for the Fountain of Perpetual Youth than Florida.

Mr. Postill's father, William H. Postill, was born in Alexandria, Canada, and came to Indiana in pioneer times. He was an officer in the Civil war, serving with Col. Robert Milroy's men, known as the Ninety Day Men. He was wounded in the battle of Pittsburgh Landing. He was a farmer by occupation, and died in 1872. William H. Postill married Mary Ann Snodgrass, daughter of William Snodgrass, of Morgan County, Indiana.

Charles W. Postill received his early education in Jasper County and graduated with the degree Bachelor of Divinity from DePauw University in 1895. He became a member of the Northwest Indiana Conference and for three years was a pastor at Fontanet, six years at Wingate, three at Remington, five at Fowler, and at Attica three years. While at Attica his health failed and he gave up his pastoral duties. Coming to Rensselaer, he built in 1913 the handsome home which he has since occupied. In 1916 he retired from the ministry permanently.

Mr. Postill was appointed township trustee in 1917 to fill out the term of Harvey W. Wood and was subsequently elected for a term of four years. He is now chairman of the Jasper County Hospital Board and since 1913 has served as a member of the board of the Monett School for Girls at Rensselaer. Rev. Mr. Postill was appointed chairman of the Jasper County Red Cross in 1922. In 1929 he was elected president of the Rainbow Garden Club, and is now served his second term as secretary-treasurer of the Jasper County Farm Bureau. He is secretary of the Rensselaer City School Board. All of these have been positions where he has had opportunity for constructive service and through which he has at the same time been able to pursue his hobby as a student of outdoor life. He also owns and operates a farm of 200 acres.

Mr. Postill married, September 3, 1890, Rebecca Elizabeth Richardson, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Jane Richardson, of LaPorte County. Their only child died in infancy. Mrs. Postill is a member of the Foreign Missionary Society and both are active members of the Methodist Church and are Republicans in politics.

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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

EDWARD HARRY MILGRAM has distinct precedence as a pioneer shoe merchant in the City of Gary, where he has maintained his residence since 1909, and where his success and his popularity indicate the communal estimate placed upon him as a sterling citizen and representative business man. Of the family history due record is given on other pages of this work, in the personal sketch of his brother Samuel H., the two having long been associated in business in Gary and each having here continued independently in the shoe business since the dissolution of their partnership.

Edward H. Milgram was born in Odessa, Russia, July 2, 1887, and is a son of Harry and Dora (Springberg) Milgram. In the schools of his native land Mr. Milgram continued his studies until he was fourteen years of age and he then, in October, 1901, came to the United States and established residence in Wisconsin. He supplemented his education by attending a business college at Merrill, that state, and thereafter was employed a few years as mercantile clerk, at Merrill and Wausau. In this connection he gained his initial experience in the shoe business, and he was an ambitious and self-reliant youth of twenty-two years when he came to Gary, Indiana, in 1909, the following year having marked his engaging independently in the retail shoe business here. His brother Samuel H. later was admitted to partnership in the business, and in 1915 another brother, David H., likewise became associated with the enterprise, which continued to expand in scope and importance until commercial expediency led to a dissolution of the partnership, the firm having in the meanwhile opened two other stores in the city. The firm dissolved partnership in 1920, and Edward H. Milgram at that time assumed individual ownership of the store at 686 Broadway, where he has since continued to maintain a substantial and representative business, his establishment being known as the M. B. Boot Shop and being one of the finest in Northern Indiana.

Mr. Milgram has entered fully and loyally into the communal life of Gary and as a citizen and business man has exemplified effectively the progressive spirit that has ever animated this wonderful industry city. He was for even years a director of the Peoples State Bank, and is now president of the Buchanan Realty Company. He has membership in the Gary Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club, his political support is given to the Republican party, and in their home city he and his wife are active members of the Temple Israel. His ancient craft Masonic affiliation is with Gary Lodge, No. 677, A. F. and A. M., and in this great fraternity his Scottish Rite affiliations are with the Consistory in the City of Fort Wayne, in which he has received the thirty-second degree and has thus become a sublime prince of the royal secret. In the City of Hammond he is aNoble of Orak Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and he is affiliated also with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the B'nai B'rith. He is a popular member of the Woodmar Country Club and the Turkey Creek Country Club.

At Wausau, Wisconsin, on the 26th of July, 1915, Mr. Milgram was united in marriage to Miss Anna F. Brenner, who was born and reared in that state and who received the advantages of the public schools of Wausau, including the high school. Mrs. Milgram is a daughter of D. J. and Rose (Chaimson) Brenner, who now reside in the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr. Brenner having been engaged in the mercantile business a number of years and having thereafter been a traveling commercial salesman for a wholesale clothing house. He is now living virtually retired. Mrs. Milgram has membership in the leading women's clubs in her home city and also in a local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. and Mrs. Milgran have three children, Hortense Madelin, Dorothy Jane and Jerome Charles. The elder daughter is, in 1931, a student in the Horace Mann High School of Gary, and the other two children are pupils in the public schools of their home city.

Mr. Milgram finds his chief recreation through the medium of golf, in which he is an enthusiast and indulgence in which which he finds through the links of the two country clubs with which he is identified, as previously noted. He takes deep and loyal interest in all that concerns the welfare and progess of his home city, which he appreciates as having offered to him the opportunities through which he has gained substantial success in business, and in the World war period he was an earnest supporter of the various patriotic activities of Lake County.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

LOUIS C. CHRISTOPHER has been a resident of Gary since 1916, and here has ben consecutively associated with the advertising and newspaper business, in connection with which his initiative and administrative ability have enabled him to gain a position of prominence and influence. Mr. Christopher is here president and manager of the Printcraft Service Company, the well equipped headquarters of which are established at 739 Washington Street, and is also president of the Gary News Corporation, which publishes the Glen Park News, a well ordered weekly paper that effectively represents the varied interests of the attractive suburban district of Glen Park. As a member of the Gary City Council he is giving definite expression to his civic loyalty and progressiveness.

Mr. Christopher was born at Saint George, Serbia, August 28, 1894, a son of Charles and Theodora (Subick) Christopher, who were there born and reared and who came with their children to the United States in 1903, the family home having been established in the City of Chicago, where Charles Christopher was engaged several years in the retail grocery business and where his death occurred February 26, 1914, his widow being now a resident of Gary, Indiana, which city likewise is the home of her three children, of whom the eldest is Louis C. Christopher, of this review; Stephen, the next younger son, has here been variously engaged, his activities having included service as teller in one of the local banking institutions; and Philip is here in the employ of the Illinois Steel Company.

Louis C. Christopher was a lad of about nine years when the family home was established in Chicago and there his public school advantages included those of the Lane Technical High School, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1913. There after he completed a course in the Koester Advertising School of that city, and during the ensuing three years he was retained in the advertising department of the A. M. Rothschild Company, which at that time conducted one of the largest department stores of Chicago and which was virtually succeeded by the present Davis Company. In 1916 Mr. Christopher came to Gary, Indiana, and during the first year he was here in the employ of the Gary Post. During the next four years he was similarly associated with the Gary Tribune, the pioneer paper of the city and one that eventually was consolidated with the Post, under the present title of Gary-Post Tribune. After severing his direct alliance with newspaper service, in which he had been a representative of the advertising department, Mr. Christopher organized the Indiana Advertising Service. For this concern he developed a prosperous and important business in the general newspaper advertising field, and after the passing of two years he amplified the enterprise by organizing the Printcraft Service Company, of which he has since continued the president and manager and to which he has drawn a substantial and representative clientage. The well ordered printing establishment and general offices of this progressive corporation are located at 739 Washington Street.

On the 12th of April, 1928, Mr. Christopher gave further evidence of his initiative ability and his progressiveness by founding the Glen Park News, which has been successfully published as a modern weekly paper, by the Gary News Corporation, of which Mr. Christopher is the president. As a member of the City Council Mr. Christopher has the 1931 assignment to its buildings and grounds, public welfare committee and special police investigating committee. He is a loyal and valued member of the Gary Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club. His basic Masonic affiliation is with Mizpah Lodge, A. F. and A. M., in the City of Chicago, and in his home city he has membership in Gary Chapter, R. A. M., and Gary Commandery, Knights Templar. In the time-honored fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, besides being a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, in Orak Temple, at Hammond. He is affiliated also with Gary Lodge No. 1152, B. P. O. E., and with the local organization of the Loyal Order of Moose. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and he retains the ancestral religious faith, that of the Greek Orthodox Church. His wife likewise is an active communicant of this church and is affiliated with the Order of the Eastern Star.

July 20, 1924, recorded the marriage of Mr. Christopher to Miss Louise Gaitz, daughter of Dushan and Anna (Knezevich) Gaitz, who were born and reared in Serbia, where their marriage was solemnized and whence they came to the United States about 1900. After having been engaged in business some time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mr. Gaitz removed with his family to Detroit, Michigan, where his death occurred in 1914, his widow being now a loved member of the family circle of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher, in Gary. Mrs. Christopher received the advantages of the public schools of Philadelphia and Detroit, and prior to her marriage she had served a few years as bookkeeper in the offices of the General Motors, in Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. Christopher have two children: Louis C., Jr., and Nattalie.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

RUDOLPH CONRAD MOHR has given excellent account of himself in the land of his adoption, is a skilled artisan in the cut stone industry, and along this line has become one of the leading contractors in the City of Gary, where he has maintained his residence since 1908 and where he has developed a large and important business in general contracting in stone construction work. His partner in the business is Willibald Dittrich, and the well equipped plant headquarters of the business are established near Third and Virginia streets, on the right-of-way premises of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. When the operations of the firm are at the maximum in rush periods it is found essential to retain an average of about twenty employees.

Mr. Mohr was born in Austria, February 19,l 1876, and is a son of Ferdinand and Anna (Florian) Mohr, the former of whom passed his entire life in Austria, where his death occurred June 21, 1921, and where his mortal remains rest in the cemetery at Sandhubel, he having long been engaged in the bakery business in his native land, where his widow still resides. Of their seven sons one died in infancy, and of the survivors the subject of this review is the eldest; Joseph is a resident of Denver, Colorado; Julius is a resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as does also Raymond; Prof. Franz Karl Mohr is a member of the faculty of the historic old University of Virginia, at Charlottesville; Robert remains at the old home in Austria.

Rudolph C. Mohr received his early education in the excellent schools of his native land, including a trade school in which he gained a thorough knowledge of all details of the stone industry. After becoming a skilled workman at the trade of stone cutter and carver Mr. Mohr continued to follow the work of his trade in Austria until 1893, when he came to the United States and established residence in the City of Columbus, Ohio. After following his trade three years in the capital city of the Buckeye State he returned to his native land, where he served three years in the Austrian army. Upon coming again to the United States he located at South Bend, Indiana, where he followed his trade until 1908, which year marked his removal to Gary, where he has since continued to be independently established in business as a stone contractor and where he has a good measure of pioneer precedence in this important field of enterprise. Here his record has been one of marked success and he has gained rank among the substantial and representative business men of the great industrial metropolis of Lake County. Mr. Mohr is a valued member of the local Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club, is a Republican in political alignment, and he and his wife are popular in social life in their home city, he being a talented pianist and being also skilled in the playing of band and orchestra instruments. Mr. Mohr is a communicant of the Catholic Church and his wife holds the faith of the German Lutheran Church.

At Gary, on the 31st of December, 1928, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mohr to Mrs. Margaret M. (Weisser) Schuster, who was born and reared in Germany, her father, Julius Weisser, having long been engaged in the bakery business in the City of Breslau, where he still resides and where occurred the death of his wife, Anna. Mrs. Mohr came to the United States in 1914 and had resided in Chicago a few years prior to her establishing residence at Gary. By her former marriage she has one son, Paul Theodore. Mr. and Mrs. Mohr have one son, Rudolph Ferdinand, born February 21, 1930.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

RUSSELL E. WARREN. The county superintendent of schools of Randolph County, Indiana, Supt. Russell E. Warren, is a man of practical ideas, and a thorough knowledge of the requirements of schools under his charge. His life has been spent in school-teaching, he loves his work, but possesses the decision and persistence to enforce discipline; the patience and industry to impart knowledge, to reason and analyze, and the progressiveness to adopt new methods when he is certain that they will prove effective. His record in educational work is exceptionally good, and the results he is securing in this present office are very acceptable to the people of the county.

Superintendent Warren was born in Randolph County, November 2, 1889, a son of Joseph and Martha E. (Sarff) Warren, natives of Indiana, he born in Randolph County and she in Adams County. All his life a farmer, the father served for some years as township road supervisor, and was a man of standing in his community, and when he died, in July, 1918, his loss was mourned by all who knew him and appreciated his many excellent traits of character. The mother survived him until May, 1927, when she, too, passed away, leaving behind her fragrant memories of kindly deeds and Christian living.

After the usual educational training of a farmer's son Superintendent Warren had three years in the Terre Haute, Indiana, State Normal School; one year at Ball's Teachers College, Muncie, Indiana; six weeks at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, and twenty-five hours at Adrian College.

In the meanwhile, at intervals between his own studies, he taught in the district schools for two years and a grade school for one year. Then for four years he was principal of the township high school of Ward Township, Randolph County, Indiana, going from there to the township high school of Green Township. His next school was that of Nettle Creek Township, where he remained for three years. Leaving Randolph County, he then taught for two years at Cowan, Delaware County, Indiana, and in February, 1926, assumed the duties of county superintendent of schools of Randolph County. Mr. Warren holds an A. B. degree from Ball's State College and a Master's degree from Indiana University.

In 1915 he was married to Miss Edna Wallace, who was born in Wayne County, Indiana, a daughter of William and Eva (Adams) Wallace, natives of Wayne County. There are no children. Superintendent Warren is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a Democrat in a Republican stronghold, and is the only Democrat to hold his present office in Randolph County his personal popularity having elected him. He is a Chapter Mason, and belongs to the Kiwanis Club, the National Education Association, the Indiana State Teachers Association, the County Superintendents Association and other organizations, in which he is as popular as he is in everything with which he is connected. In addition to his official duties he is interested in farming, owning two farms, one of 135 acres and the other of fifty-six acres. He owns the Branham Hotel in Union City, Indiana, where he now lives, and also owns a one-half interest in the Hoosier Hotel in Danville, Indiana.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931