JOHN K. GEARY, physician and surgeon, is one of the veteran members of the profession at Fort Wayne. It has been more than fifty years since he graduated from medical college, and in preparing himself for a professional career he was following out the strong inclinations and ambitions of boyhood. He was a poor boy, had to work for all he got, paid his own way through medical school, and for several years during his early career had to struggle against the handicap of poor health.

He was born in Licking County, Ohio, April 11, 1853. He was only two years old when his father, Samuel Geary, died. Doctor Geary as a boy in Ohio walked three and a half miles to attend school. In 1862, when he was nine years of age, he came to Indiana to live with his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. George Mathias Nichols, whose home was then on a farm and who later moved to Fort Wayne, where they died and are buried in the Lindenwood Cemetery. Doctor Geary while with his aunt and uncle attended country schools. His mother, Mrs. Eliza Jane (McCaulley) Geary, also came to Fort Wayne, and died in that city in 1878, at the age of fifty-one years. Doctor Geary was one of the first pupils in the Oakland School at Fort Wayne after the building was completed, and he also attended the Jefferson School. As a youth he worked in a stave factory in Van Wert County, Ohio, later being transferred to the plant at Middleport in the same county, and while there he began the study of medicine in the office of Doctor Beachler. On returning to Fort Wayne he completed the course of the Fort Wayne College of Medicine in 1873, and from that year has been active in the work of his profession. For seventeen years he practiced at Coesse in Whitley County, Indiana, and then returned to Fort Wayne and built the house, at 1701 East Wayne Street, where he lives today. Doctor Geary has acquired considerable property in and around Fort Wayne. For many years he has been a member of the Allen County, Indiana State and Tri-State Medical Associations, and was one of the delegates from the State Medical Association to the convention of the American Association at Atlantic City. He was made a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Middleport, Ohio, when he was twenty-one years of age, and later transferred his membership to Fort Wayne Lodge No. 14. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.

Doctor Geary married, May 14, 1871, Mrs. Martha (Benson) Harter. By her first marriage she had a son, Richard, who was born after his father's death and was reared by Mr. and Mrs. Ross, whose name he took. Richard Ross is now assistant superintendent of the Carhangany Telephone Company and has a son, Earl Ross, who is a very able and successful physician practicing in Cleveland, Ohio, and with home at Bay Village, a suburb of that city. Earl Ross during the World war was engaged in work in the United States Marine Hospital.

Doctor and Mrs. Geary have four children. Their daughter Lucretia May is the wife of Charles Johnson, whose daughter, Ruby, married Henry Menze, and their two children, Marion May and Henry Geary, are great- grandchildren of Doctor and Mrs. Geary. The second daughter, Lula J., first married James Mariman, and Martha Mariman, a daughter, is the wife of Thomas Clark, now vice president of the Heckman & Riley Fur Company, and Mr. and Mrs. Clark have two children, Otis and Betty Jane, who are also great- grandchildren. The second husband of Lula J. is Harry B. Mossman, and they have a son, Harry. Owen W. Geary, formerly a grocer, now in the automobile business at Mishawaka, Indiana. married Lydia Weisweaver, and has a son, John W. Georgia Geary, the youngest child, is the wife of D. G. Stager, a pressman with the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel and lives at 1705 E. Wayne Street.

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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


PHILIP PURVIANCE BASH. The responsibility of being at the head of a large and important business enterprise, of realizing that on his personal judgment and capacity rest the happiness of households and the safe carrying on of other commercial activities; generally appeal strongly to men of conscience and stability and keep them striving to fulfill what is expected of them. The public relies on its merchants and manufacturers for almost all the necessities of life and the relations between them are not always merely of a commercial character. Trust is engendered by fair and aboveboard dealing and friendships develop that help to make life worth while. This has been the case in the career of Philip P. Bash, treasurer and general manager of C. E. Bash & Company, Inc., of Huntington, who, while still a young man, has made rapid strides in the business world and has attracted to him numerous sincere friends through the honorable manner in which he has always comported himself.

Mr. Bash was born at Huntington, July 21, 1897, and is a son of Charles E. and Elizabeth J. (Kenower) Bash. Charles E. Bash was born at Roanoke, Huntington County, Indiana, November 1, 1855, received ordinary educational facilities, and as a young man showed a marked trend for business and a capacity for discovering and seizing opportunities and creating opportunities of his own. He was engaged in the retail and wholesale grain, coal, feed and building supplies business all of his life, and in 1915 built the present fine office and store building of C. E. Bash & Company, Inc., at the corner of Warren and Washington streets. The concern also owns a large elevator and warehouse at 641 Third Street, and is known as one of the leading enterprises of its kind in the state, operating a branch store at Middlebury. Mr. Bash also had numerous other business interests and was a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank. He was likewise greatly interested in all worthy civic enterprises, and in his death, which occurred June 8, 1921, Huntington lost one of its most valuable citizens. Since then Mrs. Bash, his widow, has been president of the company and Philip P. Bash, treasurer and general manager. Mrs. Bash has taken an active part in local historical work. She was born at Huntington, a daughter of John and Sarah (Purviance) Kenower, the former of whom came to Huntington in 1841, at which time the village contained only fourteen families. He lived to see it become a thriving and prosperous city and himself contributed to its growth and civic development. To Mr. and Mrs. Bash there were born three children: Kenower W., who now resides at Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Henry E., of Los Angeles, California, who enlisted in the Aviation Corps during the World war and while flying over German territory was shot down, wounded by machine-gun fire and torn by exploding shells, and was then captured and held a prisoner in a German hospital until the close of the war; and Philip P., of this review.

Philip P. Bash attended the grade and high schools of Huntington, and following his graduation from the latter he entered the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was a student there at the outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Germany. With his elder brother he enlisted in the Aviation Corps and spent two years therein as an instructor, not being called upon for overseas duty. After receiving his honorable discharge he returned to Huntington, where he became associated in business with his father, and at the elder man's death, as before noted, became treasurer and general manager of the company, which positions he has retained to the present. Mr. Bash has become one of the strong and capable young business men of the city and has done much to enlarge and make more prosperous his company, which deals in coal, feed, building materials and poultry supplies. He is likewise a member of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Huntington and has various other connections, being a director of the local Young Men's Christian Association, a director of the La Fontaine Country Club, a director of the National Builders Supply Association, a past president of the Chamber of Commerce, a past commander of Huntington Post No.7 of the American Legion, past president of the local Kiwanis Club, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His religious connection is with the Baptist Church.

On August 28, 1920, Mr. Bash was united in marriage with Miss Nell Johnson, who was born at Michigan City, Indiana, a graduate of Indiana University, who taught in the Huntington public schools for a time previous to her marriage. To this union there have born three children: Philip Edwin, Jane and Ann. The pleasant home of Mr. and Mrs. Bash is situated at 1003 Guilford Street.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


PAUL GRAYSTON WEBER. During the period that he has occupied the office of county treasurer of Huntington County, since 1927, Paul Grayston Weber has displayed a conscientious desire to discharge the duties of his office in an expeditious and thoroughly effective manner, and has a'lso shown the possession of abilities that enable him so to do. From the time that he attended night school, in order to perfect his business training, he has been an industrious and busy citizen, occupied in several lines of activity, and at all times has been interested in matters pertaining to the welfare of the public.

Mr. Weber was born October 8, 1892, at Huntington, and is a son of Anthony A and Freelove Clara (Yant) Weber. His father, who for many years was a substantial agriculturist and live stock dealer of Huntington County, is now a retired resident of Huntington, although he still superintends his large and valuable farm interests.

After attending the public schools of Huntington and graduating from high school in Class 2, in 1910, Paul Grayston Weber secured a position with the firm of Weber & Purviance, of Huntington, dealers in grain, hay, live stock, seeds, wool and building materials, in the capacity of bookkeeper and secretary, and held these positions until 1918, at which time the firm disposed of its holdings at Huntington, Mardenis and Simpson, Indiana. In the meantime Mr. Weber had, in 1911, attended night school at the Huntington Business University. In 1917 he enlisted in the United States army and in March of that year was sent to the Second Officers Training Camp, at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, where he was in training during 1917 and 1918. While in training he met with an accident which necessitated his being placed in the limited service classification. After receiving his honorable discharge he returned to Huntington and became associated with his father in the live stock business, and this partnership continued until the summer of 1926, when the elder man retired. On November 4, 1926, Mr. Weber was elected treasurer of Huntington County and assumed the duties of that office January 1, 1927. On November 6, 1928, he was reelected to this office for a two-year term, beginning January 1, 1929, to end December 31, 1930. His official record is an excellent one and he has won the full confidence and esteem of the people of the community. Mr. Weber is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Huntington and was on the board of deacons thereof from April 1, 1928, until April 1, 1930. He has belonged to Huntington Lodge No. 805, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, since 1913, and is also a member of Huntington Post No.7, American Legion, and was elected commander of Post No. 7 October 13, 1930, also a member of Voiture No. 850, Forty and Eight. His hobby is hunting and he is a past president of the Northern Indiana Kennel Club and was also secretary of the Northern Indiana Coon Hunters Association.

On June 26, 1918, at Huntington, Mr. Weber was united in marriage with Irene Opal Miller, who was born at Youngstown, Ohio, daughter of Curtis S. and Ethel B. Miller. Mr. Miller, who came to Huntington from Youngstown some years ago, was a prominent figure in the business world and at the time of his demise, August 16, 1928, he was secretary of the Chamber of Commerce at Washington Court House, Ohio. He was formerly vice president of the Schaff Piano Company. Mr. and Mrs. Weber are the parents of two children: Ethel Jean, born June 29,1919; and Douglas Marshall, born April 26, 1921, both of whom are attending public school at Huntington. Mr. And Mrs. Weber have a pleasant home at 1344 Poplar Street.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


ALPHONZO P. ROCKWELL, of Wheatfield, Jasper County, is in the shadow of his ninetieth year, and his long life includes many worthy accomplishments and services, not least among which was the three years he fought for the Union during the Civil war.

Mr. Rockwell was born in Oswego County, New York, October 18, 1841, son of Levi C. and Ruth (Knapp) Rockwell. His father was born in New York State, of English ancestry, and his mother was a native of Massachusetts. There were eight children in the family, four of the sons doing their patriotic part as Civil war soldiers. These soldier sons were Oscar, Wallace, who died while a prisoner at Andersonville Prison, Edward and Alphonzo. The other children were Francis, George, Ida and Malcolm.

Alphonzo P. Rockwell was educated in public schools. During his boyhood his parents came to Indiana and settled in Jasper County, and some of his first duties were in assisting in conquering the virgin soil and clearing away the woods and brush from the land. On December 11, 1863, when he was twenty-two years of age, he enlisted in the One Hundred Twenty-third Indiana Infantry, under Capt. E. Cougill. He was a participant in many skirmishes and engagements before finally being discharged on August 25, 1865.

When the war was over he returned to Jasper County and became a farmer. Farming was his chief vocation until 1896, when he moved to Wheatfield and from that point conducted a business as a carpenter and building contractor. In 1914 he retired from the active responsibilities of business and has since lived comfortably in his home there and from the income of his real estate and the pension with which the Government rewards the veterans of the war for the Union. He has always been a staunch Republican, is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr.. Rockwell married, September 9, 1868, Miss Martha M. Des Elms, a native of Ohio. Two of their children died in infancy and three are living. Besides his own children Mr. Rockwell has eighteen grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. His son Eddie E., a farmer in Jasper County, married Sarah E. Logan, and their children are Ernest, Elma, Cyril, and Earl. William F. Rockwell, also a Jasper County farmer, married Nellie Osborn and has five children, Norval, Martha Ellen, Nellie Frances, Elbirda Leona, and Wilda June. Mr. Rockwell's housekeeper and his companion in his declining years is his daughter Vermilya Grace, widow of Clarence Sands. Mrs. Sands is the mother of nine children, named Theo, Emogene, Mable, Paul, Lydia, Olin, Ruth and Ruby, twins, Martin A.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


SCHUYLER ROSE, South Bend coal merchant, is a native of St. Joseph County, where the Rose family were among the earliest settlers. As pioneers they did their part in clearing up and developing some of the good farm land in the St. Joseph River Valley, and through all the years their name has been associated with a high character of citizenship.

Mr. Schuyler Rose was born February 22, 1864, on a farm in Center Township, Saint Joseph County. He still owns this land, which has been in the possession of the family since it was entered from the Government in 1828. His father, William Rose, was born on the same place on March 31, 1832, and lived there, engaged in farming, until his death on January 1, 1888. William Rose married Mary Barnes, who was born in Maryland, September 9, 1832, and was two years of age when her father, John Barnes, moved to St. Joseph County, Indiana, where he likewise was numbered among the early settlers. She lived to the age of ninety-two, passing away in 1924. Mr. Schuyler Rose has one living sister, Mrs. Lilly Cowan, on a farm in St. Joseph County.

Schuyler Rose was educated in district schools and in 1879, when fifteen years old, began attending the South Bend High School. He lived on the farm and had to walk each day a distance of four. miles to school. He was twenty-four years old when his father died, and he took active charge of the farm until 1897. He married in that year and for two years was associated with his father-in- law in the dairy business. His first connection with the coal trade began in 1900, as an employee of Walter Miller, a South Bend coal dealer. He was with him two years, and during 1902 was with the Shidler Brothers Hardware Store. For six months he was superintendent in charge of construction work on the railroad from South Bend to Niles, for C. H. DeFreese. From August 15, 1902, to August, 1912, Mr. Rose was employed by the Hunter W. Finch Company of Chicago and part of the time he was a traveling salesman covering outside territory. During 1912-13 he had charge of the Detroit office of the Pittsburgh-Buffalo Coal Company, and was with the Krug Coal Company of Detroit, Michigan, from 1913 to June 20, 1914.

The death of his father-in-law called him back to Saint Joseph County, where he took over the management of the farm. In September, 1914, he bought a small coal business in South Bend, and during the past fifteen years has built up and made this one of the largest sales organizations of the kind in the city. His yards have grounds a block and a half long and he carries a complete stock of coal, coke, charcoal, wood and builders' supplies, the main headquarters of his business being at 513 East Madison Street. In 1921 he also bought the Joe Russell Coal Company at Mishawaka, and this is now operated as a branch of his main business.

Mr. Rose is a director of the Merchants National Bank of South Bend, director of the Mishawaka Trust Company and was a director of the Northern Indiana Brick Company. He owns three farms in Saint Joseph County, one being his birthplace and one of them is located within the city limits of Mishawaka. He and his family live in one of the most attractive homes of South Bend, at 1137 Woodside Drive.

Mr. Rose married, February 17,1897, Miss May Stiles. She was born in Saint Joseph County, where her father, Chester Stiles, was a pioneer farmer. Her grandfather, Doctor Stiles, was the first doctor in Saint Joseph County. They have one son, Jay Stiles Rose, now associated with his father. This son during the World war served thirteen months with the Ambulance Corps overseas. On June 17, 1925, he was united in marriage with Miss Luretta P. Grandstaff, of Laporte, Indiana.

Mr. Rose is a member of the Rotary Club, the B. P. O. Elks, is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, has been active in local Y. M. C. A. work and is a charter member of the Saint Joseph Valley Horticulture Society. Mrs. Rose is treasurer of the Saint Joseph County Orphan's Home and has done a great deal of social welfare work.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


CALVIN JOHN SHIMER. The career of Calvin J. Shimer, in its varied activities, has been a singularly active and interesting one, resulting in personal and monetary success. As manager of the Fort Wayne branch of the Boss Manufacturing Company and president of the Senso Manufacturing Company he occupies a position of prominence in business circles of Fort Wayne, where he likewise is known as a public-spirited citizen. He is a self-made man, and much of his success has come through his inventive genius, which has produced some of the most useful of household devices.

Mr. Shimer was born at Waterloo, Iowa, June 29, 1879, and received his education in the public schools of that place, where he graduated from high school in 1897. At that time he became an employee of a cleaning and dyeing firm, and subsequently saved sufficient capital to engage in the business on his own account, first at Waterloo, and later at LeMars, Iowa, where he continued for about four years. His next location was Cherokee, Iowa, where, in addition to a cleaning and dyeing business, he embarked in a laundry business, but subsequently sold the latter to embark in the glove business as president of the Cherokee Glove Company. After two years he disposed of his cleaning and dyeing establishment and moved the glove business to Sioux City, Iowa, where he founded the American Glove Company, with himself as president, treasurer and manager. Later he founded the American Notion Company, of which he was vice president and manager of the manufacturing department, and, while thus engaged perfected the invention of the Shimer Centrifugal Washer and Wringer, for the manufacture of which the Shimer Manufacturing Company was promoted at Sioux City. This concern was just getting started when the World war came on and for the time being business conditions were thoroughly disorganized. The company disposed of all of its patent rights to the Laundryette Machine Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, by whom the machine is still being manufactured and sold. Subsequently Mr. Shimer sold his interests in the American Notion Company to the Sibley Hess Company of Sioux City, while the Boss Manufacturing Company took over the interests of the American Glove Company and continued its operation at Sioux City, with Mr. Shimer as manager. In 1916 he was transferred to Toledo, Ohio, and became production manager of the entire Toledo area, consisting of five factories, over which he had direct charge. In 1921 Mr. Shimer came to Fort Wayne as manager of the Fort Wayne branch of the business, this concern now being the owner of fifteen factories throughout the United States. Mr. Shimer is president of the Senso Manufacturing Company, of which he was the organizer after he had invented a deodorizing device for use in homes, street cars, clubs, automobiles, buses, etc. He is a capable and energetic business man of practical views, and bears an excellent reputation for straight-forward dealing and integrity. He is a member of the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Rotary Club, the Orchard Ridge Country Club and the Wayne Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of which last named he is a member of the board of stewards.

On February 26, 1902, Mr. Shimer was united in marriage with Miss Effie B. Zimmerman, of Hampton, Iowa, and to this union there have been born four children: Byrl Reviere, a graduate of the Scott High School, Toledo, Ohio, now associated with his father in business, who married Miss Margaret Knox, of Fort Wayne, and has one son, Robert R., born in October, 1924; Helyn Kathlyn, a graduate of the South Side High School, Fort Wayne, who married Robert L. Wheatley, of Fort Wayne, and has one son, Robert Laurence, born June 7, 1929; Dale Eugene, a graduate of the South Side High School of Fort Wayne, who is now attending the Ohio Mechanics Institute, at Cincinnati; and Calvin John, Jr., a graduate of the South Side High School., who is attending the University of Indiana. The pleasant family home is Oakwood, R. R. No.3, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


LAWRENCE MICHAEL BAUER is member of the firm K. J. Bauer Company, real estate and insurance at Fort Wayne, a business that was established by his father in 1881, and is one of the oldest organizations under one continuous family membership in that city.

The founder of the business was the late Kajetan J. Bauer, who grew up in Fort Wayne a poor boy, had to make his own way, and showed his unusual business sense and striking manner. He was one of the originators of the building and loan plan now used throughout the United States in real estate operations. Many years ago, before the practice was general, he introduced of the plan of installment payments on homes, and his son and partner still carry on the business on the old principles.

Kajetan J. Bauer was born in Switzerland, June 18, 1850, and was brought to America by his parents, Joseph and Ursula Bauer, who first settled in St. Louis, where Joseph Bauer died. Subsequently Mrs. Ursula Bauer brought her family to Fort Wayne, Kajetan being only two years of age at that time. She died in Fort Wayne. Kajetan Bauer attended the Catholic parochial schools and public schools, went to work when still a boy, and out of his own experience developed his connections as a real estate man. In 1881 he established the real estate business first known as Glutting & Bauer, a partnership that continued for about eighteen years, and was then succeeded by K. J. Bauer & Company, real estate and insurance. Kajetan J. Bauer retired from business before his death, which occurred April 20, 1926, at the age of seventy-six. He was a director of the Lincoln Trust Company and was a devout Catholic.

Kajaten Bauer married Mary Martin, who was born in Fort Wayne in 1852. Her father was a native of Alsace-Lorraine and an early settler of Fort Wayne. Mrs. Mary M. Bauer died in 1888, when about thirty-five years of age. Six children survived: Joseph A., Anna J., Catherine, Theresa, Edith and Lawrence M.

Lawrence M. Bauer was born in Fort Wayne, December 2, 1884, was educated in St. Mary’s parochial school and as a boy came in contact with the real estate and insurance business in his father's office. Later he and his brother-in-law, John G. Bothner, took over the business, in 1908, and they continue the K. J. Bauer Company, one of the largest organizations of its kind in Northeastern Indiana. They also organized the Standard Real Estate Company, of which Lawrence M. Bauer is president and John G. Bothner, secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Bauer is a member of the Catholic Church and Knights of Columbus, B. P. O. Elks, the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, and belongs to the Fairview Country Club. He is a man of commendable public spirit and well known in both a social and business way.

He married, August 31, 1911, Miss Lillian Engelking:, of Fort Wayne. They had two children, Marie, born October 5, 1912, and died at the age of eight years, and Lawrence Kajetan, born September 5, 1922.

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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


HENRY C. KOHLMEYER, Fort Wayne druggist, at 628 East Lewis Street, gained his first experience in what has proved his permanent profession more than forty years ago. Mr. Kohlmeyer is one of Fort Wayne's very progressive business men.

He was born in Germany, June 28, 1869, son of Edward and Louisa (Rathert) Kohlmeyer. His father was born in 1843 and his mother in 1845, and in 1880 they came to America and located at Cincinnati, Ohio. Edward Kohlmeyer was a cigar maker by trade, and in 1887 he moved to Fort Wayne and continued to follow his vocation until he reached the age of seventy-six. He passed away February 27, 1923, at the age of eighty. His widow is still living, and of their seven children all are alive but one. The Kohlmeyers are Lutherans.

Henry C. Kohlmeyer acquired his first school advantages in Germany. He was about ten years of age when the family came to America. He finished his education in the public schools of Cincinnati and when he was twelve years of age he began the study of wood carving. He served a thorough apprenticeship for four years, but finally gave that up as a life business. In 1888 he began working in a drug store, and remained at Fort Wayne until 1895. His longest active connection with the drug business was at Cleveland, Ohio, where he was employed as a pharmacist by some of the leading drug stores of that city, and in 1911 engaged in business for himself. Mr. Kohlmeyer in 1924 returned to Fort Wayne and after one year of retirement bought the store at the corner of Hanna and Lewis streets and has built up a very prosperous business in that location. Mr. Kohlmeyer is a member of the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce and he and his family are Lutherans.

He married, June 28, 1898, at Cleveland, Miss Grace Frohnheiser, who came from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. She died in 1911, leaving one daughter, Dorothy Louise, who was born August 11, 1907. She attended high school at Cleveland and is a graduate of the South Side High School of Fort Wayne. Mr. Kohlmeyer on June 17, 1914, married Miss Lena Terry, of Fort Wayne. By this union they have one son, John Edward, born March 16, 1923. Mr. Kohlmeyer resides at 1224 Park Avenue.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


ALBERT WILLIAM HOLYCROSS, president of the Holycross Company, Incorporated, has enjoyed a secure position in automobile circles at South Bend for a number of years, as dealer and distributor of Ford cars.

He is a native of South Bend, born in that city August 18, 1897, son of Newton Henry and Emma (Megay) Holycross. Both parents were born near Plymouth, Indiana, where their respective parents settled in pioneer times. Newton Henry Holycross was reared and educated in Marshall County, growing up on a farm, and has lived at South Bend since 1895. He and his family are active members of the Catholic Church and he is affiliated with the Catholic Order of Foresters. There were three children. The son Raymond was in Canada when the World war broke out and subsequently joined the Canadian land forces, and died of the influenza before the close of the war. The daughter, Margaret, is Mrs. John M. Bannon, of South Bend.

Albert W. Holycross, youngest of the children, was educated in parochial and public schools, spending three years in the South Bend High School. In 1917, when he was twenty years of age, he volunteered for the navy, attended the Great Lakes, Naval Training Station near Chicago, and afterwards was on duty at Norfolk, Virginia, until discharged shortly after the armistice. He then returned to South Bend, was employed in the shoe business for a short time, and since 1920 has been a tire and automobile dealer. He organized the present company and in 1930 the business was incorporated. It is located at 317 East Jefferson Street.

Mr. Holycross is a member of the Catholic Church, is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, the B. P. O. Elks, Coquillard Country Club, and Lions Club. He married, April 17, 1922, Miss Viola Louise Cooper, of Three Oaks, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Holycross reside at 601 West LaSalle Street.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


JOSEPH CHARLES LAUBER is proprietor of J. C. Lauber & Company, South Bend's oldest sheet metal works. Mr. Lauber grew up in St. Joseph County, and has had forty years of consecutive business experience in the chief city of the county.

He was born at Hamilton, Ohio, February 16, 1868, son of Anthony and Crescent (Dick) Lauber. His parents came from Germany. His father was a cooperage manufacturer at Hamilton, where he died in 1870, when his son Joseph was two years old. After his death the mother brought her family to Mishawaka, Indiana, where she died in 1890.

Joseph C. Lauber, the youngest of six children, three of whom are living, grew up at Mishawaka, where he attended the grade and parochial schools. He also had a course in the South Bend Business College. He served his apprenticeship with Jared Morse, of Mishawaka, and in 1887 he went with Shriver & Weathersly, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, learning drafting and architectural metal work. In 1890 he joined George Titzell in establishing the Titzell-Lauber Metal Sheet Works of South Bend. After one year Mr. Lauber became sole owner, and the business has since been conducted as J. C. Lauber & Company, contractors and manufaacturers of copper and galvanized iron cornice, slate and tile roofing, heating and ventilating. The location of the business is at 506 East LaSalle Avenue, Mr. Lauber owning both the ground and the plant. His first contract for work in South Bend came in March, 1890, for St. Mary's College. He has handled all the sheet metal work for this institution in the past forty years. From 1892 until 1926 he had the sheet metal contract for all the public schoolhouses in the city. Other notable contracts were for the Y. M. C. A., City Hall, St. Paul's Church, J. M. S. Building, Public Library and recently the Odd Fellows Office Building, the Building & Loan Building, the Hoffmann Hotel, also the Notre Dame Law Building. Mr. Lauber is a director of the La Salle State Bank and the La Salle Building & Loan Association and is a director of the Sunnyside Land Company.

He has been a generous and public-spirited business man. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, B. P. O. Elks, Knights of Columbus and is a Catholic. Mr. Lauber married, in 1896, Miss Emma Zaehnle, who was born in St. Joseph County, Indiana, where her father, John Zaehnle, was a pioneer farmer. They have four children: Miss Mildred Helen; Irene Eleanore, wife of A. J. Schmitt, of Laporte, Indiana, and mother of three children, Howard John, Richard James and Paul Joseph; Joseph Wilton, a student in Notre Dame University; and Miss Carol, at home.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


CARL LEONARD HIBBERD is secretary treasurer of the Hibberd Printing Company, an old established business which in the development of its facilities as a complete commercial printing organization has kept pace with the growth of the City of South Bend.

Mr. Hibberd was born at South Bend, May 8, 1889, son of Charles B. And Lillian (Leonard) Hibberd. His father was a son of Joseph and Helen A. (Baldwin) Hibberd. The Hibberd family moved to South Bend in 1867. Charles B. Hibberd was born Onondago County, New York, and his wife at Westville in Laporte County, Indiana. He was educated in the grade and high schools of South Bend and in 1889, the same year that his son Carl was born, founded the Hibberd Printing Company. Before his death he had made that a flourishing business. He was a very popular citizen, having many friends, and he took an interest in every organization designed to promote the growth and development of the community. He died in California, in 1901 and his wife passed away in 1891. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a charter member of the Indiana Club. There were two children, Harriett, wife of Robert R. Bassett, of Oswego, New York, and Carl L.

Carl L. Hibberd was twelve years old when his mother died. He was graduated from the South Bend High School in 1907 and his higher education came through contact with three great universities, the University of Michigan, University of Chicago and Cornell University, and his A. B. degree came from Cornell in 1911. After completing his education Mr. Hibberd returned to South Bend and has since been closely associated with the management of the Hibberd Printing Company as president and manager. He is also a director of the Morris Plan Company.

Mr. Hibberd is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, member of Mizpah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Wayne and is secretary of the Saint Joseph Valley Temple Association. He is also a member of the B. P. O. Elks, the University Club, the Rotary Club, the South Bend Country Club and is president of the South Bend Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Hibberd married, April 22, 1914, Miss Fanny Hardy, who grew up in South Bend, completed a high school education there and subsequently attended Oberlin College of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hibberd have two children, Carl Leonard Jr., born December 4, 1917, and Alan, born November 17, 1921.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


RALPH SHANNON SOLLITT, prominent building contractor at South Bend, represents the third generation of the Sollitt family in the contracting business.

His grandfather, Thomas Sollitt, built the famous old Palmer House in Chicago, a hotel that for years was the synonym of luxury, and it was regarded as a mark of distinction to have spent a night in this hostelry. It stood well on into the modern age of Chicago building construction, giving way only a few years ago to a great new building that still bears the name Palmer. Consequently Sollitt has been a name in the building business at Chicago of many impressive associations.

The father of Ralph S. Sollitt, with his two brothers, has been all his active life engaged in the general contracting business at Chicago, and their activities have extended all over the Middle West and at time to nearly all parts the United States. One of the brothers at Chicago was Sumner Sollitt, a past president of the Associated General Contractors of America; who have headquarters at Washington, D. C. This organization included nearly all the leading contractors in the country.

Ralph S. Sollitt, of South Bend, who is vice president of the Ralph Sollitt & Sons Construction Company, came to this Indiana city in 1920 and introduced to the Saint Joseph River Valley the name and work of this great firm. During the past ten years his organization has had contracts for many imposing buildings, including the Blackstone Theater, Palace Theater, Palais Royale Ballroom, American Trust Building, Poledor Building, Granada Theater and Store, Studebaker Spring Foundry Building, Studebaker Assembly Building addition and many others. The Sollitts were awarded the contract for the construction of the $800,000 stadium for Notre Dame University.

The South Bend office of the Sollitt Company is a separate and distinct branch of the business, with Ralph S. Sollitt as general manager. Mr. Ralph Shannon Sollitt was born at Chicago, March 15, 1892, and was reared and received his early education in that city. His technical training was acquired in Cornell University, where he graduated from the college of engineering in 1914. During the World war he was with the colors two and a half years, with the rank of captain in the Sixty-first Engineers, American Expeditionary Forces. Since the war he has held the office of vice president of the Ralph Sollitt & Sons Construction Company of Chicago, of which his father, Ralph Sollitt, is president.

Mr. Sollitt is a member of the Hamilton Club of Chicago, Mizpah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Wayne and the Kiwanis Club. He is one of South Bend's very popular and progressive citizens. He also belongs to the University Club, South Bend Country Club and the B. P. O. Elks. He married Miss Ellen Anita Bishop, daughter of Thomas Bishop, of Chicago. Their three children are Gwen Charlotte, born July 7, 1918, Ralph Bishop, born March 3, 1926, and Gloria Sharillon, born December 30, 1929.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


JOHN CONRAD KREIDT has been a working member of the business community of Fort Wayne since 1900. Since boyhood he has followed the sheet metal trades and is now president and manager of the John C. Kreidt Company, a well established business in that line, located at 517 Ewing Street.

Mr. Kreidt was born in Germany, June 25, 1875. Six years later his parents, John C. and Elizabeth (Hoch) Kreidt, came to America and located in the State of Iowa. His father was a coal miner by occupation. For some years he was in Portland, Oregon, where he was engaged in road contracting. About 1897 he returned east and settled at Wabash, Indiana, and lived retired for a number of years before his death, which occurred in 1926, at the age of eighty-four. His wife also died in 1926, when seventy-nine years of age. They were members of the Lutheran Church, and of their ten children five are living.

Mr. John C. Kreidt attended public and parochial schools in Iowa. When the family moved to Oregon he took up the work of his trade and also followed that business in Wabash, Indiana, until moving to Fort Wayne in 1900. Mr. Kreidt in 1913 established a business of his own, and in 1929 moved to his present location. He has handled many important contracts throughout the Fort Wayne district.

Mr. Kreidt is a member of the Lutheran Church, belongs to the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, and is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and member of Mizpah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Wayne. He is also a member. of the B. P. O. Elks.

He married, December 25, 1900, Miss Lucy Heyer, of Wabash, Indiana. To their marriage were born two daughters, Irene Vera and Mildred May. Mildred was born October 24, 1905; and died July 5, 1913. Irene, who was born October 7, 1903, is a graduate of the Fort Wayne High School and is now the wife of Mr. S. S. Schwartz, an automobile dealer at Graybill, Allen County. Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz has a son, John Christian, born August 4, 1928.

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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


Deb Murray