Mr. Blakely was born at Fostoria, Ohio, July 31, 1891, son of Carl Watson and Clara (Crooks) Blakely and a grandson of Joseph Blakely. Joseph Blakely was an early settler of Delaware County, Indiana, a farmer, and he and his wife are buried in the Bethel Cemetery of that county. Carl Watson Blakely spent many years as a farmer and stock raiser in Delaware County, where he was born and reared. He died in 1923 and is buried in the Union Cemetery. His wife, Clara Crooks, was born at Granville, Delaware County. She was a Methodist and took a keen interest in politics. She died in 1925 and is buried beside her husband. There were two children, one of whom died in infancy.
Joseph C. Blakely attended public schools and graduated from the Muncie High School in 1908. His newspaper experience began with the Muncie Evening Press, of which he was circulation manager and later advertising manager for thirteen years. He left that to take up photo engraving work and for four years was a traveling representative for the Delaware Engraving Company. Mr. Blakely in 1925 became associated with R. F. Bryan and L. B. Springer in establishing the Muncie Electric Sales Corporation, and they have enjoyed a very successful business as dealers in electrical appliances and radio apparatus, with an attractive shop at the corner of Walnut and Washington streets, in the heart of the down town business district In addition to being president of this company Mr. Blakely is president of the Washington Acceptance Corporation and is a director of the Credit Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce. He is a Republican in politics.
He married at Muncie, September 30, 1913, Miss Roxie N. DeWitt, daughter of Wesley and Eva (Austin) DeWitt. Her father, a Delaware County farmer and stock man, died in 1916 and is buried in the Union Cemetery near Desoto. Mrs. DeWitt lives with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. Blakely, on a farm near Desoto. Mrs. Blakely graduated from the Desoto High School in 1909 and is also a graduate of the Conservatory of Music at Muncie, and has been an active figure in musical circles in that city. She is a Methodist. Mr. and Mrs. Blakely have four children: Walter, Josephine, Betty and Robert. The two oldest are attending school at Muncie.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
GEORGE S. INGLE, a retired business man and property owner at Evansville, was born in Vanderburg County, October 17, 1847. He is a sterling representative of a family that has lived in this section of Southern Indiana since pioneer times, and has always enjoyed a reputation for industry, thrift and good citizenship.
The old town of Inglefield in Vanderburg County was named after his grandfather, who came to this county from England in 1818 and died in 1872. His father, William Ingle, was born in England and was two and one-half years old when brought to Vanderburg County. He died in 1900. William Ingle married Eliza Neil. The house her father built in the west end of Evansville more than a hundred years ago was still standing in 1930. George S. Ingle was one of seven children, one of whom died in infancy, and another was killed by the kick of a horse at the age of two years. The children who grew up were John, George S., Charles, Anna and Joseph. John served two years in the Union army in the Twenty-first Indiana Infantry, and participated in fourteen engagements. About the time the war closed he was drowned while bathing in Mobile Bay. Anna became the wife of Frank Stacer, a farmer in Warrick County, and they had four children. Charles, who farmed the old homestead, married a daughter of Doctor Allison and has three children. Joseph died while engaged in ranching east of the Cascade Mountains in Washington.
George S. Ingle attended public schools at Inglefield and after leaving school learned the trade of carpenter. For several years he was engaged in carpenter work and contracting in Vanderburg County. In 1875 he went west to California, and became a rancher and farmer in the Sacramento Valley. The first year he put in a crop of two thousand acres of wheat. The second year his planting was on four thousand acres, but before the crop was harvested the levee along the river broke and destroyed all his fields. For several years he was engaged in gold mining, saved a few thousand dollars, and, bringing his capital back to Indiana, set himself up in business at Evansville as a grain commission merchant. Some years ago he promoted the development of the Epworth coal mine in Warrick County, was president of the company and was a coal operator until he retired in 1925. Some of his investments have taken the form of purchases of farm land in Texas. Mr. Ingle has never been a seeker for the honors of politics, and the only office he ever held was that of constable, to which he was elected when he was twenty-one years of age, in Scott Township, and he also served as deputy sheriff under Frank Darling. Mr. Ingle married in November, 1877, Mary Corbiere, a native of California. Her first husband was Dr. Charles F. Diefendorf, and by that marriage she had one son, Charles F., Jr., now represented in the medical profession of Evansville. Mr. and Mrs. Ingle have one daughter, Della A., who is a graduate nurse, having completed her training course in the Mayfield Sanitarium at Saint Louis, did post-graduate work in the Presbyterian Hospital of Chicago, and for one year studied medicine. When she was twenty-one years of age she had charge of the Pacific Hospital in San Francisco. She is now the wife of Charles U. Smith, and they have a son, George Ingle Smith, who was born January 9, 1911, and spent a year at Purdue University and is now engaged in work with an aviation company at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
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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
ARTHUR E. FRAKES. The proprietor of the popular public outing place, picturesquely known as Magnolia Manor Resort, at Shoals, Arthur E. Frakes has led a career that has been varied and interesting and entirely free from the monotony that frequently is the result of following a single line of endeavor. Like many men who have risen to success in various walks of life, Mr. Frakes commenced his career as a school teacher, but his was not the nature to remain long in the dull routine of the school room and his subsequent activities were of a character that suited his fancy. He has owned his present establishment since 1928 and is making a success of his venture, having in the meantime gained and held the confidence of the people of his adopted community.
Mr. Frakes was born January 19, 1883, at Branchville, Perry County, Indiana, and is a son of John W. and Susanna (Esarey) Frakes, and a grandson of Thomas Frakes, likewise a native of Perry County, where the family were among the earliest settlers. John W. Frakes was born at Branchville, Perry County, October 7, 1857, and was reared in that county, where he received a rural school education and took up farming. During his career he was an agriculturist, a stockman and a merchant, and he died at Branchville, February 17, 1931, where he was known as one of the substantial and public-spirited men of his community. He married Miss Susanna Esarey, also of Perry County, who died January 19, 1931, and to this union there were born six children, of whom three died in infancy; Mary E. died at the age of fourteen years; Ida Pearl married Charles Rissler, of New Albany, Indiana, and has four children; and Arthur E., of this review.
Arthur E. Frakes received his early education in the public schools of Perry County, following which he pursued a course in the normal school at Corydon, Indiana. With this preparation he was able to secure a teacher’s certificate and for a time was an instructor of the young minds of the rural districts of Perry County, but eventually sought adventure and enlisted in the United States Army, in which he served for three years, receiving his honorable discharge in 1906. In the same year he went to Indianapolis, where he secured employment on the street railway, and remained there for one year, subsequently going to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was employed in a like capacity for five years. He then returned to Indianapolis and resumed work as a street car man, continuing as such for seven years or until 1924, in which year he embarked in the insurance business at Indianapolis. In 1928 Mr. Frakes came to Shoals and purchased Magnolia Manor, one of the most popular resorts in Southern Indiana, which he has since conducted with great success. Mr. Frakes is an ideal host and has installed numerous conveniences and comforts for his patrons at the establishments, which is located on Shoals R. F. D. Route No.1, three miles west of Shoals. Mr. Frakes is a Republican and belongs to the Methodist Church and the Blue Lodge of Masonry, Evergreen Lodge, No. 703 at Indianapolis. Since locating at Shoals he has expressed his public spirit by assisting several movements for the betterment of his adopted community.
On September 3, 1908, Mr. Frakes was united in marriage with Miss Ada Prather, of Lancaster, Kentucky, and to this union there have come six children: Mary E., born in 1910, who married Horace Gaither and has one child, Betty Jean; William E., born in 1911, who is a member of the United States Army; Audrey P., born in 1913, married Theodore Melvin; Harold E., born in 1915, attending public school; Eva J., born in 1923; and Bruce D., born in 1926.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
ROBERT E. ECKERT, county superintendent of schools of Dubois County, is a highly qulaified and gifted educator and comes of a family of educators.
He was born June 4, 1884, son of Edward F. and Mary L. Eckert. Both his father and mother were teachers, and his maternal grandfather was one of the pioneer school men of Dubois County. Mrs. Mary L. Eckert gave forty-one years of her life to school work in that county, thirteen years of which were in the schools of Jasper.
Robert E. Eckert learned to read and write at the knee of his maternal grandmother. His first teacher was Mrs. Sarah Cooper, sister of Judge Hunter, of Jasper, and after that he had a succession of teachers, Mrs. M. A. Gugsell, Dr. A. F. Gugsell, Hon. Frank L. Betz. In 1898 he was graduated from the eighth grade, under Prof. Phineas Clark, and graduated from high school in 1902, under Prof. E. F. Sutherland. He was one of the early high school graduates of Jasper. He attended two summer normal schools in Jasper beginning his teaching at Dubois in 1903, and was with the public schools of that town eight consecutive years, until 1911. In the meantime, in 1905, he entered the Indiana State Normal School for the summer term, and went back each summer and spring until graduating from the "O1d Four Year Normal Course" in 1913. In the summer of 1914 he was enrolled in the University of Indiana, and kept up his studies there at intervals until he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in education and with philosophy his minor, in 1926. At the close of the summer session of 1929 he received his Master of Arts degree in education at the State University.
Mr. Eckert taught in the French Lick public schools eighth grade, two years, 1911-13, was then elected principal of the high school, but accepted an offer at Markleville, where he secured the commission for the high school and remained as principal of this semi-consolidated school four years, 1913-17.
Mr. Eckert has been continuously at the head of the system of county schools in Dubois County since 1917. Except for the first term he has received the entire vote of the board, and in 1929 was reelected for his fourth term of four years. He has the distinction of being entitled to his rank of superintendent from three different qualifications: by virtue of his Master's degree, by exchange of license and by virtue of holding office.
Mr. Eckert was chairman of the Third District County Superintendents Association five years, and has been treasurer of the Indiana County Superintendents Association since 1925. He was the first schoolman from Dubois County and the first county superintendent in Indiana to become a life member of the National Education Association, and in that organization served as a member of the committee on tenure. He was secretary of the resolutions committee of the State Teachers Association in 1926-28 and has also served on the auditing and nominating committees of the same association. He has served as a member of the executive committee, chairman of the executive committee, and as vice president and president of the Southwestern Teachers Association of Indiana, an organization made up of 1,600 teachers. He is a member of the Indiana School Men's Club, member at large of the Pi Gamma Mu, a national social science organization. He took his first Masonic degrees at Markleville, Madison County, in 1913. During the World war Mr. Eckert was a director of the Jasper Chapter of the Red Cross and a four-minute speaker, and carried on other war activities through the schools. He is also a member of the Indiana State Historical Society.
He married in the fall of 1905 Miss Kathryn A. Seng, of Dubois. They have three children: George, born in 1906, is a salesman at Jasper; Ruth, born in 1910, is a graduate of the Indiana State Teachers College at Terre Haute, in the class of 1930 and is now teaching school in the Richland Township High School, Fountain County; and Roberta, born in 1921, is attending the grade schools at Jasper.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
SAMUEL ALBERT CHENOWETH. Although the career of Samuel Albert Chenoweth belongs to the past rather than the present of Martin County, his death having occurred March 29, 1904, his life was such a successful and honorable one and his accomplishments so numerous and varied that no work pertaining to the achievements of prominent men of the Hoosier State would be complete without at least a brief history of his activities. A resident of Shoals for many years, he was a leader in a number of lines of endeavor, and at various times was chosen by his fellow-citizens to represent them in important public offices.
Mr. Chenoweth was born March 13, 1856, in Washington County, Indiana, a son of Wilson and Mary (McIntosh) Chenoweth. The family traces its ancestry back to John Chenoweth, who was born at Martin, County Cromwell, Wales, in 1682, and was the founder of the family in America, being an early settler of Baltimore County, Maryland, where he passed the rest of his life as a planter. His son, John Chenoweth, was born in that county, in 1706. The next in the direct line of descent was also named John, as was the latter's son, and the last named also had a son named John, who was born December 16, 1765, in Hampshire County, Virginia, later West Virginia. Joseph Chenoweth, son of John just named, and grandfather of Samuel Albert Chenoweth, was born in the same county, March 8, 1799, and became an early settler of Washington County, Indiana, where he located a farm and passed his life in its cultivation. Wilson Chenoweth, son of Joseph, was born September 26, 1826, in Washington County, Indiana, where he was reared, educated and married, and early in life took up the business of flour milling. He subsequently became a pioneer of Martin County, where he built and operated the first mills at Shoals, became a prominent and substantial citizen, and rounded out a long and honorable career. He married Mary McIntosh, daughter of James and Winfred (Potter) McIntosh. James McIntosh was born in Virginia, the oldest son of John O. McIntosh, a native of Scotland, who came to America during the Revolutionary war.
Samuel Albert Chenoweth was educated in the public schools of Washington and Martin counties, and as a youth became associated with his father in the latter's flour milling operations. On entering upon his independent career he took up farming and stockraising and later milling, and became successful in all of these lines of activity. During his later years he was the possessor of large financial interests and president of the Martin County Bank of Shoals at the time of his death. Mr. Chenoweth was a leader in civic affairs and in the Republican party, being for some years chairman of the Martin County Republican committee. He served ably as county auditor and township trustee, and in all of his activities maintained a record for unquestioned integrity and probity. As a churchman he was allied with the Methodist Church, and his fraternal connections were with the Blue Lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In his death his community lost one of its most valuable and highly-respected citizens.
On September 16, 1889, Mr. Chenoweth was united in marriage with Miss Susan Brooks Campbell, of Loogootee, Indiana, daughter of Dr. J. C. L. and Emily (Brooks) Campbell. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Chenoweth were born four children: Ida Alberta, born June 14, 1890, who married Leon B. Rogers, in the insurance business at Bloomington, Indiana, and has one child, James C., born August 8, 1922; Laura A., born October 26, 1891, who married Reg B. Stull, cashier of the First National Bank at Bloomington, Indiana, and has two children, Mary S., born January 6, 1921, and Richard B., born October 31, 1923; Wilson, born June 29, 1893, who is in the rural mail service and married on February 1, 1930, Joice Furry, and they have one child: John W., born January 20, 1931; Ainslie C., born June, 24, 1895, a salesman of fraternity jewelry, who is unmarried.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
WARREN D. SHULTZ. Among the old-established and reliable manufacturing concerns of Indiana, one which for a half a century has held the confidence and patronage of a wide and representative trade is the Griffith Furniture Company, of Muncie. During this long period it has developed from modest beginnings to become one of the leading manufacturers of smokers' and novelty furniture in the country, principally through the fact that it has been in the hands of capable, energetic men of good judgment and absolute integrity. One of these men is Warren D. Shultz, who joined the concern, as an accountant, in 1927, and who now occupies the position of secretary, being also a member of the board of directors.
Mr. Shultz was born in Randolph County, Indiana, July 1, 1886, and is a son of Hon. George C. and Anna L. (Peacock) Shultz. His paternal grandfather, Peter Milton Shultz, was born in Pennsylvania, whence he came as an early settler to Spartansburg, Indiana, prior to the outbreak of the war between the states, during which he served as a soldier in an Indiana volunteer infantry regiment and won the rank of captain. Following the war he returned to Randolph County, Indiana, where he spent the remainder of his life and became one of the substantial members of his community. He and his worthy wife are buried at Winchester, this state.
George C. Shultz, the father of Warren D. Shultz, was born in Randolph County, and attended the public schools of Ladoga, Montgomery County, where he prepared for the law and was admitted to the bar. At one time he was a law partner of Sen. James Watson, of Winchester, but practiced for a few years only, his activities for twenty-six years being devoted to the cause of education as a teacher in various schools. He became widely known in educational circles for his progressiveness, judgment, farsightedness and learning, and won particular distinction as one of the earliest advocates of the consolidated schools. He was likewise prominent in civic and political affairs, and served one term each in the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Indiana State Legislature. His death occurred in 1923, and interment was made at Union City, Indiana. Mr. Shultz married Miss Anna L. Peacock, who was born and reared in Randolph County, where she received a public school education, and throughout her life has been active in the work of the Christian Church. She survives her husband and resides at the old Shultz home near Winchester. Her father was Hiatt Peacock, who married a Miss Pickett, of Randolph County.
The only child of his parents, Warren D. Shultz attended the public schools of Randolph County, and after his graduation from high school pursued a course in the Eastern Indiana Normal School at Muncie, where he was graduated in 1907. Two years later he completed his course in the Indiana Business College, and for five years following taught in public schools in Randolph County and two years in the Indiana Business College. He then secured an appointment in the United States postal service at Union City, Indiana, but in 1919 resigned to come to Muncie as an employee in the offices of the General Motors Corporation, where he remained two years. He next was employed by the Durant Motors Company for four years, subsequently opening an office as a public accountant. In 1927 Mr. Shultz formed his first connection with the Griffith Furniture Company, starting as an accountant and later being made secretary and a member of the board of directors. This company was founded about 1880, at Huntington, Indiana, by the late George Griffith, the plant being subsequently moved to Albany, Indiana, and finally to its present site at Muncie, where, as before noted, it has been developed into one of the largest manufacturers of novelty and smokers' furniture in the United States. Following the death of George Griffith the business was carried on by one of his sons, Edwin L. Griffith, who brought the plant to Muncie, and whose own death occurred in 1917. The latter's two sons then took charge of the business, these being F. Randolph Griffith and George Lytle Griffith, the former of whom died in September, 1928, and the latter in December, 1924. The business is now carried on by Verne G. De Camp, as vice president, plant superintendent and member of the board of directors, a sketch of whose career appears following in this work; Mr. Shultz of this review; and Miss Ethel Hartman. Mr. Shultz is acknowledged to be one of the capable and energetic business men of the city and one who is active and progressive in civic and political affairs. He is a member of the Knights of the Golden Eagle, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Muncie Chamber of Commerce and the Muncie Exchange Club. In politics he supports the principles of the Republican party, and his religious connection is with the Christian Church.
On August 20, 1913, at Union City, Indiana, Mr. Shultz was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Roe, of Union City, a daughter of Fred and Nettie (Alexander) Roe, of that place. Mr. Roe was for many years a prominent farmer and stock raiser of his community, but for the past twenty or twenty-five years has been engaged in mercantile activities at Union City. Mrs. Schultz was educated in the public schools of Union City, including the high school, and is one of the prominent women of Muncie, being active in the work of the Jackson Street Christian Church, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Woman's Club and the Matinee Musical Club. Mr. and Mrs. Shultz have one daughter: Marta Ruth, who is preparing her way for a comprehensive future education by attending kindergarten.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
VERNE G. DE CAMP. The young and energetic generation which is contributing so greatly to the commercial and industrial prestige of the thriving City of Muncie finds an able and worthy representative in the person of Verne G. De Camp, superintendent and a member of the board of directors of the Griffith Furniture Company. A member of an early Indiana family, he is largely a self-made man and started his career before reaching his majority as a railroader, and his career has since included overseas service during the World war. Since 1925 he has been identified with his present company, and in addition to discharging his duties therewith has a number of interests which lead him to touch life on many sides.
Mr. De Camp was born at North Judson, Indiana, March 16, 1894, and is a son of Abe and Margaret (Ford) De Camp. His paternal grandfather was one of the early pioneer settlers of Starke County, Indiana, where he carried on extensive operations as a farmer and stock raiser, and he and his worthy wife are now buried at North Judson, Indiana. Abe De Camp was born at North Judson, Indiana, where he acquired a rural school education, and when still a youth was attracted, like many other farm boys, by the romance of railroading. Leaving home in about 1889, he entered the service of the Erie Railroad, with which he has been identified for more than forty years, and now has a passenger conductor run out of Huntington, Indiana, where he makes his home. Mr. De Camp has a wide acquaintance among the traveling public and there are few men who are more greatly esteemed, either by their fellow-citizens or by the company that has employed them for so many years. Mr. De Camp married Miss Margaret Ford, who was born and reared at Mount Vernon, Ohio, and educated there and in Indiana, where she came with her parents as a child, the family settling as agriculturists in Starke County. She also survives and is very active in church work as a member of the Presbyterian congregation at Huntington. To Mr. and Mrs. De Camp there were born two children: Verne G., of this review; and Donald, employed by the American Express Company at Huntington, who married Miss Avis Smuck, whose people are prominent agriculturists and stock-raisers near Huntington.
Verne G. De Camp attended the grade and high schools of Huntington, graduating from the latter as a member of the class of 1913. On leaving school he secured a position on the Erie Railroad as yard clerk at Huntington, and by industry, ability and fidelity worked his way upward to the responsible position of yardmaster. In 1914 Mr. De Camp resigned his position to enter the employ of the Caswell-Runyan Company, with which he continued until the United States entered the World war, and May 13, 1917, enlisted in the United States Army. He entered the First Officers' Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, where he remained three months and received his commission as first lieutenant, following which he spent a few months in southern training camps and went overseas July 31, 1918, in command of the Thirty-ninth P. O. D. Company. In this service he built and operated the woodworking section of the Ordnance Base Shops at Mehun-Suryebe, France, where he remained until July 3, 1919, and then sailed for the United States and was honorably discharged at Washington, D. C., August 1, 1919, after twenty-seven months of loyal service. Returning to Huntington, he rejoined the Caswell-Runyon Company, in the capacity of assistant superintendent, but February 1, 1925, resigned to accept the position of superintendent of the Griffith Furniture Company, of Muncie, which position he still fills, in addition to which he is a member of the board of directors and vice president of this concern. Mr. De Camp is known as one of the energetic and capable business men of the city, and one who is thoroughly informed as to every detail of his work. He is a thirty- second degree Mason and a Knight Templar, and has been active as a Shriner since reaching the age of twenty-one years. He belongs also to Muncie Post No. 19, American Legion, the Exchange Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Politically he is a Republican and has been active in a number of civic movements. His religious connection is with the Presbyterian Church
On October 10, 1921, at Huntington, Mr. De Camp was united in marriage with Miss Marie Oswald, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, a daughter of Gabriel Oswald, who for many years has been an engineer in the employ of the Fort Wayne Electric Company. Mrs. De Camp is a graduate of the Fort Wayne High School, and is active in the work of the Presbyterian Church. She and her husband are the parents of one daughter: Yvonne Marie, who is attending public school.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
