Patrick J. Kilroy, secretary of the Washington Street Improvement Corporation of Gary and a large dealer in real estate and insurance, is an Irishman, born at Foxfard, County Mayo, Ireland, March 1, 1885, a son of John and Bridget (Walsh) Kilroy. His parents were born, reared and educated in the same county, where they were married and about 1890 immigrated to the United States and settled in Eel River Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, where John Kilroy was engaged in farming and stock raising during the remainder of his life and died January 26, 1922, being buried in Calvary Cemetery, East Gary. He had spent the last three years of his life in partial retirement at Gary. His wife, who was an active member of Saint Luke's Catholic Church, Gary, died October 2, 1926, and was buried beside her husband. There were five children in the family: Mary, now the wife of Dennis Rouse, of Castle Connor, County Sligo, Ireland; James, who died at the age of fourteen years and is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Chicago; Patrick J., of this review; Catherine, now Mrs. Patrick Walsh, of Foxfard, County Mayo, Ireland; and Thomas, who died at the age of twenty-four years and is buried at Toomore, Ireland.

Patrick J. Kilroy was educated in the public schools of County Mayo and at Royal College of Science, London, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1907. At that time he entered the service of the British Ordnance Survey, in which he spent two years, and in 1909 came to the United States and first settled at Indianapolis, where he was employed for some time by the Spiker Engineering Company, of Vincennes, Indiana. For two years he was connected with the Bowen Publishing Company, and helped produce their road maps of Indiana and Michigan, being the producer of the data and drafting some of the maps for that work. Later he joined the Eastern Rock Island Plow Company, in the capacity of cashier and accountant, positions which he occupied for four years, and subsequently joined the biological laboratories of the Pittman & Moore Company, at Louisville, Kentucky, where he was in charge of the accounting department until 1922. Upon the death of his father Mr. Kilroy came to Gary to settle up the estate, and since then has been connected with the C. H. Maloney Plumbing & Heating Company, contractors. He is also the owner of a real estate and insurance business and has several pieces of valuable Gary South Side residential and business property, resides in his own home at 3861 Jefferson Street, and is secretary of the Washington Street Improvement Corporation. He belongs to the Open Forum Club and the Gary American-Irish Literary Society, of which he was one of the organizers and is secretary and treasurer, and was for years a member of the Republican Club. He likeise is interested in the Boy Scout movement and one if his hobbies is amateur astronomy and field geology. He is active in civic affairs and a constructive supporter of worthy municipal enterprises.

at Great Grimesby, England, July 16, 1908, Mr. Kilroy was united in marriage with Miss Annie Sophia Price, daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Davenport) Price, of Ashby, De La Zauche, Leicestershire, England. Mr. Price was for many years manager and purchasing agent for collieries at Moira and Coalville, England, and was also extensively engaged in farming, having a tract of 250 acre in Leicestershire. He died about 1905 and Mrs. Price in 1912, and both are bured in Donisthorpe Cemetery, Leicestershire, England. Mrs. Kilroy was educated in a young woman's boarding school in London, England, and for many years has been active in the work of the Episcopal Church at Donisthorpe.

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

FRANK MELVILLE Mac CONNELL. Well known and esteemed highly at Warsaw, Indiana, and in other sections of the country in which his personal and business interests at times have made him a resident, is Frank M. MacConnell, an able member of the Warsaw bar. Mr. MacConnell is also a registered pharmacist and in that relation was long identified with several of the largest drug houses of the country. By the time he was thirteen years of age he had made most satisfactory progress at school, for he has always been an eager student, and about that time he began to add materially to the family income by working at night and Saturdays and holidays in a drug store at Warsaw, his native city. He applied himself closely, not because he liked the drug business, but because he loved learning, and thus acquired a clear, comprehensive knowledge of chemistry botany, and other branches without ever having had collegiate scientific advantages. He remained in the drug business until 1895 and then cultivated his talent for the law and was admitted to the bar. In 1901 he accepted a position with a large bond house at Detroit, Michigan, and continued there until 1910, when, overcome by an overwhelming nostalgia, he resigned his lucrative position and returned once more to Warsaw, where he has since been conducting a law practice very successfully. To him there is no city to equal Warsaw, no friends like the oldtime ones here, no life so full of quiet usefulness and content as in the honorable practice of his profession. Mr. MacConnell is little past middle age in years, and sometimes, in friendly converse, he paraphrases a line from one of Indiana's beloved poets and smilingly murmurs: "And one grows old very slowly in Warsaw."

Frank M. MacConnell wa born at Warsaw, Indiana, January 1, 1866, a son of Nathan Bowman and Melissa C. MacConnell. He attend the grade and high schools for three years, and Cowan Seminary for two summer terms, and during about his thirteenth year began working nights, Saturdays and holidays in a rug store owned by Charles V. Pyle, where he remained employed for about six years. In 1886 he accepted employment with the Pottinger & Pyle Drug Company, of Hiawatha, Kansas, this store invoicing $20,000 and being known as "The Big Drug Store." It did an enormous prescription business and had a great territory to draw from, and as head of the prescription case Mr. MacConnell occupied a decidedly responsible position for eight years. In 1894 he purchased an interest in this store, and at this time it became, for the first time, necessary for him to be registered as a pharmacist, although this had not been necessary before, under the law. The examination was held at Hutchinson, Kansas, and out of forty-two applicants but seven passed. Mr. MacConnell stood 100%. This was the first time that such a mark had been made in Kansas, and Mr. MacConnell understands that it stood as a record for many years. Within the year 1894, while he was at the new store, he lost both wife and young daughter by tuberculosis, and his own health impaired, so seriously that it seemed necessary he change entirely his occupation. He had remaining to him two children, who are still living: Mrs. Isaac E. Hire, of Warsaw; and Charles E. MacConnell, of Chicago, Illinois, an advertising manager. The mother of these children, whom Mr. MacConnell had married in 1887, bore the maiden name of Fredericka Rohl.

In 1895 Mr. MacConnell returned with his children to Warsaw, and shortly thereafter entered the law office of Judges Hiram S. Biggs and studied law for about three years. He then went to the office of Judge Edgar E. Haymond for a like period, and was admitted to the bar, but did not practice to any extent. In 1901 he went to Detroit, Michigan, on a visit, and so liked the city that he remained there, securing employment with the H. W. Noble Company, selling bonds. He had met and married his second wife in 1899, and in October, 1904, was born his third child, Kathleen E., not Mrs. Charles H. Campbell, a very prominent musician of New York City.

Mr. MacConnell's experience with the Noble Company was of great value to him, it being the only contact with the world of big things and big men that he ever had. But it was simply the reading of a great new book to him and, growing tired of the monotony of the money game, he resigned his position in 1910 and returned to his beloved Warsaw and to his law. Mr. MacConnell considers that he has led a very uneventful life and that his present existence is a quiet and commonplace one. But it suits him to be among his friends and among those who admire him not for what he has but for what he is.

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

CHARLES C. LEISURE, prominently connected in a business and public way with Earl Park, Benton County, is a native of Indiana, and is a veteran of the Spanish- American war. He was born in Grant County, December 10, 1867. His father, Benjamin N. Leisure, and his grandfather, William Leisure, were natives of Kentucky. The Leisure family settled in Grant County about 1859. Benjamin N. Leisure married Jane Compton, a native of Adams County, Ohio. Of their seven children Charles C. was the oldest, and the others were Thomas and Pearl, deceased, Esta, Grace, Myrtle and Raymond.

Charles C. Leisure was educated in public schools in Grant County, and as a young man devoted his energies principally to farming. In 1895 he enlisted for a term of service in the regular army, and by reenlistment served for six years. He was an enlisted man when the Spanish-American war broke out, and he was sent to the Philippine Islands, and had some arduous service and exciting and dangerous duties incident to the Philippine insurrection.

After leaving the army in 1901 Mr. Leisure located at Earl Park, Benton County, Indiana. He was associated with a hardware business there until 1913, when he was appointed postmaster. He served two terms, eight years, throughout the Wilson administrations. Since 1922 he has been manager of the Wilbur Lumber Company of Earl Park. In 1922 also he was elected trustee of Richland Township, and has devoted much of his time to the management of the schools and the other duties included in the office of trustee. Mr. Leisure is a Democrat in politics. He has no formal church affiliation, but his family attend Catholic services. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Leisure married in June, 1911, Miss Millie Flinn, who was born in Benton County, Indiana. They have one son, Charles Daniel, born November 29, 1922.

Click here for photo.

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

HON. LEW M. O'BANNON. Few men during the past thirty years have had a wider and more interesting connection with politics, public affairs and other activities in Southern Indiana than Mr. Lew M. O'Bannon, lawyer and editor at Corydon.

Mr. O'Bannon was born on a farm in Harrison County, Indiana, August 18, 1864, and is a descendant in the sixth generation from Brian O'Bannon, a native of Ireland, who settled at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1719. His son, John O'Bannon, was a native of Ireland. The great-grandfather of Lew O'Bannon, was William O'Bannon, and the grandfather also had the name of William. Both these ancestors were natives of Virginia. Mr. O'Bannon's father, Presley Neville O'Bannon, was born in Kentucky, July 29, 1824, in Breckenridge County, and came to Indiana about 1849. He died in Harrison County, January 25, 1881. Presley Neville O'Bannon married Christiann Ferree, who was born in Harrison County, Indiana, February 1, 1830, and died at Corydon Gebruary 16, 1911. She was a daughter of Jacob and Rachael Ferree and granddaughter of Joel Ferree, who gave up his life during the War of 1812 at Zanesville, Ohio. Both Jacob and Joel Ferree were natives of Pennsylvania. Jacob Ferree became a colonel in the Indiana Home Guards during the Civil war and was killed in the battle of Corydon, Indiana, July 9, 1863.

Lew M. O'Bannon's early education was the product of a few terms in rural schools. His father had a plant for the manufacture of shingles, and it was in this factory that Lew M. O'Bannon trained his hand and eye until his father's death in 1881. For nine years his occupation was teaching country schools in winter terms, the intervening summers being spent in farm work. Out of a varied experience he trained himself for larger responsibilities. While he is largely self-educated, he has constantly reached up to the broader horizon of intellectual interests.

Mr. O'Bannon served as surveyor of Harrison County in 1877-90, was county recorder in 1890-94, being elected to both offices on the Democratic ticket. While in office he took up the study of law, and has been an active member of the bar at Corydon since January, 1895. He was fortunate in his association as a law partner of Judge Robert S. Kirkham until the latter's death on December 24, 1927. Since then he has continued in individual law practice.

Other business interests have occupied much of his time, frequently to the exclusion of his law work. Since October, 1910, he has been secretary of the Savings & Loan Association of Corydon. He has been first vice president and in 1927-29 was president of the Savings & Loan League of Indiana. Mr. O'Bannon has been owner and publisher of the Corydon Democrat since January 1, 1907, nearly twenty-five yeras. The Corydon Democrat is a newspaper with a great and loyal following in Southern Indiana. It was established in 1856. Mr. O'Bannon is a former president of the Indiana Democratic Editorial Association.

He has had a number of honors within his own party and also as a non-partisan appointee. From March 4 1897, to March 4, 1907, he served as private secretary to the late Congressman William Taylor Zenor, who represented the Third Indiana District in Congress during these ten years. In the campaign of 1924 Mr. O'Bannon was Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Indiana, and in 1928 he was the permanent chairman of the Indiana Democratic State Convention, held at Indianapolis. He served as a member of the Indiana Historical Commission during the ten years of its existence, from 1915 to 1925, being appointed by the successive Governors Samuel M. Ralston, James P. Goodrich and Warren C. McCray. Mr. O'Bannon is a member of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Commission of Indiana and the George Rogers Clark Sesquicentennial Commission, which was created by act of Congress. He is deputy district governor of the Lions Club of Southern Indiana. He belongs to the Masons, Elks, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodsmen of American fraternities, and the Christian Church.

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

JOHN A. SZIKORA was one of the earliest residents of Gary. He is remembered as a sterling business man, an influential figure among the Slovak people of that city, and as a result of his industrious career and ability he left a splendid and growing business to his family, several of whom are still active in its management.

He was born in Austria-Hungary, February 8, 1870, son of Frank and Anna (Etsal) Szikora. His parents lived out their lives in their native land and are buried there. Of their twelve children five sought home and fortune in America. These were: John A., Charles and Frank, both of Gary; Mrs. Agnes Korcek of Detroit, Michigan; and Mrs. Martilda Slobodnick, also of Detroit.

John A. Szikora was reared and educated in his native country, and came to America in 1904. For three years he lived in Chicago and in 1907 moved to Gary and was one of the early grocery merchants in that rapidly expanding steel city. He built up a great trade and a splendid business and was acting in its supervision until his death. He also owns farming lands and other property in the city. Mr. Szikora died November 11, 1929. He was a member of several of the lodges and club organizations of Gary.

He married in Austria-Hungary in 1894 Miss Agnes Hittmar. She and her husband were members of the Holy Trinity Church of Gary. She died December 4, 1924. These parents had a family of seven children, Margarette, Elsie, John A., Jr., Agnes, Stephen (who died when only one year old), Frank and Joseph. All attended public schools and the Emerson High School

Miss Margarette Szikora, the oldest child, is a thoroughgoing business woman, and for a number of years has been the active manager of the Oak Park Grocery Company, the title of the business established by her father. She is also well known in local politics, and in 1930 was Republican candidate for township trustee of Calumet Township. She is a member of the Woman's Club, the Harrison Club, the Business and Professional Woman's Club, the Hungarian Woman's Social Club, the Woman's Slovak Political Club, the Slovak Sokol, the Cosmopolitan Club, the Lincoln Hills Country Club and the Holy Trinity Church.

Elsie, the second daughter, is the wife of Julius Domonkos, of Gary. They have two children, Olga and Paul.

John A. Szikora, Jr., after graduating from the Ross Township High School entered the store of his father, and has been one of the hard workers in that establishment ever since. He is a member of the Harrison Club, the Slovak Political Club, the Lincoln Hills Country Club. He is unmarried.

Agnes is the wife of Ernest Woods, of Gary, who is also connected with the Oak Park Grocery Company. Their children are Richard and Audrey, and the Woods family are members of the Harrison Club.

Frank Szikora is unmarried, and is associated with the business established by his father. He is a member of the Lincoln Hills Country Club and Slovak Social Club.

Joseph, the youngest of the family, is also a popular figure in the business and is active in local clubs at Gary.

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

DORSEA W. ZOOK for over a quarter of a century has furnished that indispensable service of humanity, involved in the responsibilities of the undertaker and funeral director, to the community of Converse in Miami County. Mr. Zook is a man of fine character, whole souled and sympathetic, an ideal man for his service and profession.

He was born in Wabash County, Indiana, April 4, 1876. His father, Jacob B. Zook, was born in Ohio and came to Wabash County just before the Civil war. He married Lide E. Eckelberger, who was born in Wabash County.

Dorsea W. Zook is one of two children. He attended school near his father's farm and helped his father until he was twenty, when he left home to become a farmer on his own account. While thus engaged he took up the study of embalming and in 1902 was issued a license to practice. In 1903 he moved to Converse and in July of that year opened his undertaking parlors. He has been in business now continuously for twenty-seven years and along with his competent experience he has kept his facilities up to date. Supplementing his funeral service is a funeral chapel, and he has hearses, ambulances and funeral cars.

Mr. Zook in 1915 was elected a town councilman and was also elected a member of the advisory board of the city. By appointment he served as a member of the Converse school board from 1923 to 1927. During the World war he did his part in selling bonds, raising funds for the Red Cross and assisting in the food administration. He is now a member of the health board of Converse. He is a Democrat, he and his wife are members of the Christian Church, and he has affiliations with a number of social and fraternal organizations, including the Lions Club, Masonic Lodge, Independent Order of Red Men, Modern Woodsmen of America. His wife is a member of the Rebekahs and the Eastern Star.

He married in 1898 Miss Zadia Lawshe, who was born in Wabash County. Her father, Thomas Lawshe, was the pioneer undertaker of the town of Somerset. Mr. and Mrs. Zook have two daughters, Miss Beatrice L. and Berniece. Berniece is the wife of Mr. Reno Tibbetts, of Converse, and they have three children, Wilma Dean, Rex Edward and Darrell William.

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

LEO JOHN CHELMINIAK, who was born at South Bend, April 9, 1895, has during the past ten years come rapidly into prominence in the financial life of the community. He is secretary and treasurer of the Kosciucko Building & Loan Association.

Mr. Chelminiak's parents, Lawrence and Antonette (Beyer) Chelminiak, were born in Poland. His mother was a child when her parents came to South Bend, about 1860, and she was a resident of that city for many years, passing away January 23, 1915. Lawrence Chelminiak came to South Bend in 1879 , when a young man. In his native country he had learned the trade of painter and paper hanger, and in South Bend he conducted a paint and wall paper store on West Division Street, and for thirty years did a successful contracting business. He died October 3, 1922. These parents had a family of nine children, five of whom are living: Stanley J., Leo J., Aloysius and Walter, both of whom are railroad clerks; and Hattie, wife of Casmer Roznakowski, of Cleveland, Ohio.

Leo J. Chelminiak was educated in Saint Hedwig's Parochial School, attended the South Bend High School and the Thomas Commercial College, and was just getting established in a business career when the World war came on. He was in the Officer's Training School at Fort Benjamin Harrison, later at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, and finally an instructor in the Government Radio School at Harvard University.

Following the armistice and his release from military duty Mr. Chelminiak gaave six months to his father in the paint and wall paper business, and on November 1, 1919, became secretary and treasurer of the Kosciusko Building & Loan Association. This is one of the oldest building and loan associations in Saint Joseph County, having been founded in 1884, and for over forty-five years has been an important factor in inculcating thrift and home ownership. The institution is now housed in a fine new bank building at 423 South Chapin Street.

Mr. Chelminiak married, September 30, 1919, Miss Theresa D. Urbanski, who was also born in South Bend, where her mother, Mrs. Stephen Urbanski, resides. Her father is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Chelminiak have five children, Clement John, Gertrude Marie, Helen Marie, John Henry and Thaddeus Stanley. Mr. Chelminiak and family are members of Saint Stanislaus Polish Church and he is active in all Polish-American societies, being financial secretary and a director of the M. Romanowski Polsih Falcons.

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

HUBERT MORTON ENGLISH, chairman of the medical staff of the Methodist Hospital at Gary and member of the staff of the Mercy Hospital, has achieved high rank and has won notable success in his profession since coming to Gary.

He was born at Marshall, Illinois, July 30, 1890, and represents the fourth generation of a family that went to Illinois nearly a century ago. His great-grandfather, Rev. Abel English, was descended from a Colonial family of New Jersey, and the family had representatives in the Colonial army during the war of the Revolution. Rev. Abel English moved west to Indiana in 1835, and in 1837 established a home at Marshall, Illinois. He was a pioneer Methodist minister, helped establish the first church of that denomination in Marshall and carried on the work of the ministry over a large part of the Illinois River Valley. He married Margaret Babcock and both are buried in a cemetery at Livingston, Illinois. Their son, Isaac English, was born in New Jersey, in 1821 and was fourteen years of age when the family moved to Indiana. He attended school in New Jersey, in Indiana, where the family home for two years was near Indianapolis, and completed his education in Illinois. He became a farmer, and spent an active life in that vocation. He died in 1896 and his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Black, passed away in 1892. These were the grandparents of Doctor English of Gary.

Doctor English's parents were John A. and Marietta (Clemings) English. His father lived all his life at Marshall, Illinois, was a farmer and stock man and was in his fifty-third year when he died in 1900. His wife, Marietta Clemings, was born and reared near Newark, Ohio, attended school there and taught school in Ohio and Illinois before her marriage. She died September 7, 1927, at the age of seventy-nine, and she and her husband are buried at Marshall. Her parents were James and Rosana (Barclay) Clemings. Doctor English is one of a family of seven children. One child, Ferman, died in infancy. John William is a farmer at Paris, Illinois; Raymond C. is a railway mail clerk, with home at Decatur, Illinois; Ava is Mrs. Albert Hall, of Marshall, Illinois; Mark H. died at the age of seventeen; and Charles W. is with the Gary Railways Company at Gary.

Hubert Morton English grew up on an Illinois farm, attended district schools and was graduated from the Marshall Township High School in 1910. He then entered the University of Illinois, graduating in 1914, and completed his professional training in the Harvard Medical School, taking his M. D. degree in 1918. On July 1, 1918, he joined the colors as a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps, serving two and a half months in an officers training camp at Camp Greenleaf, Georgia, and for two and a half months was assigned duty at Saint Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D. C. He was given a discharge December 13, 1918, and then for three years engaged in a general practice at Anawalt, West Virginia. Returning to Chicago, he was for fifteen months connected with the Augustana Hospital as interne and in post-graduate study, and after this special training came to Gary in 1923, opening an office, and has enjoyed a rapidly growing practice in medicine and surgery. His offices are at 73 Broadway. Doctor English is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and since 1925 has given part of this time to his duties as an instructor in the medical department of Northwestern University at Chicago. He is a member of the Lake County, Indiana State and American Medical Associatons. Doctor English is a member of the Masonic fraternity, is a Republican, member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and belongs to Gary Post of the American Legion.

He married at Ironwood, Michigan, January 11, 1923, Miss Esther Holmgren, daughter of John A. and Tolina (Gunderson) Holmgren. Her father has for many years been connected with the iron mines at Ironwood, and is superintendent in one of the large mines in that district. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and a deacon in the Lutheran Church. Mrs. English attended school in Ironwood, graduating from high school there, and is a graduate of the nurses training class in the Augustana Hospital at Chicago, with the class of 1919. For four years after graduating she was surgical nurse at this hospital. She is a member of the Methodist Church in Gary and the Gary Woman's Club. They have one son, Hubert Morton, Jr., born July 2, 1925.

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