REV. JACOB WILLIAM KEEFER. The career of Rev. Jacob W. Keefer, a leading citizen of Kosciusko County, is a vivid and interest-compelling example of the value of character and industry in the overcoming of early disadvantages and hardships. When one considers the fact that he was twenty-three years of age before he could read or write and that up to that time his life had been spent in the humblest and most laborious unskilled labors, it is a matter of wonderment not unmixed with admiration to find him a large property-holder, a real estate and insurance man of prominence and formerly a minister of the First Christian Church of Warsaw. While he was pastor of the Central Christian Church at McComb, Illinois, he received a unanimous call to the Morris Street Church of Indianapolis. His health was not good and he decided to remain at McComb, and from there he accepted a smaller charge and gradually, due to ill health, had to accept outdoor work and became a farmer for nearly nine years. His health regained, he then decided on a business career. Before this, however, he became pastor of the First Christian Church at Warsaw and at the same time operated his farm.

Reverend Keefer was born on what was known as Bone Prairie, Kosciusko County, Indiana, September 17, 1867, and is a son of Joseph and Maria Elizabeth (Brittell) Keefer, the latter of direct French stock. His paternal grandfather was a Pennsylvania farmer, whose father had come from Germany. Joseph Keefer was born in Kosciusko County, in 1836, and followed farming all of his life, or until 1883, in which year his death occurred. He married Maria Elizabeth Brittell, who was born in Portage County, Ohio, and died in May, 1910. Of the eleven children born to this union three died in childhood.

During the boyhood of Jacob W. Keefer the illness of his father constantly kept the family in limited financial circumstances, and as his help was needed on the farm he was never sent to school. He was only thirteen years of age when he became the main support of the family, and continued so until his mother married again. Ten years later, at twenty-three years, he found himself so utterly unfitted to compete with his fellows because of his lack of education. At that time he was unable even to read or write, and his outlook for the future seemed discouraging. However, he decided upon a course of action to better himself, and for one term attended a country school, where his application and energy brought about such progress that he was able to enter a preparatory school at Angola, Indiana, where, after a term of six weeks, he was put in the regular classes, and continued therein for four years. At the end of this time he had prepared himself for teaching and for one year he taught in a rural school in Lake Township. During 1895 and 1896 he taught at Silver Lake, and acted as assistant principal and for three months as principal. At Warsaw in 1897 he married Miss Ruth Henderson, a daughter of George C. and Almeda (Voorhees) Henderson, of Thornville, Ohio. Mr. Henderson was a farmer of German-Irish descent, while the mother of Mrs. Keefer had a German grandfather and an English great-grandfather. Mrs. Keefer died June 30, 1922. The death of Mrs. Keefer was the source of great sorrow in the community. She was loved and respected by all who knew her and she was most helpful in her support of the work of her husband in religious work and all else that was of interest to him.

In 1897 Mr. Keefer entered the ministry of the Disciples Church and for a time was pastor at Salem and Sycamore. Later he held pastorates at Milford and Ligonier, Indiana, Astoria, Macomb and Coldbrook, Illinois, but in 1909 resigned and for nine years was engaged in farming. In 1918 he took up his residence at Warsaw, where he purchased a farm and engaged in the insurance business, subsequently adding real estate operations to his activities. He now has a large and prosperous business. Fraternally he is a Mason. Originally a Democrat, he is now a Republican in his political allegiance, but has not been a seeker of public office.

To Mr. and Mrs. Keefer there were born two children: Agnes Willadeane and William Sheldon. Agnes W. Keefer was born August 22, 1900, and graduated from the Galesburg (Illinois) High School in 1916. For two years she attended the State University at Bloomington, and then attended Broom Business College at Galesburg, Illinois, and she was graduated in 1923 from the Elkhart Business College. She is now employed as secretary to the president of the L. P. Hardy Printing & Lithographing Company of South Bend, Indiana. William Sheldon Keefer was born at Ligonier, Indiana, May 20, 1902, and graduated from the Warsaw High School in 1922. In that year he entered the medical department of the State University at Bloomington, but because of ill health left that institution to become his father's associate in the real estate business as Keefer & Son. This connection was dissolved in 1925, when he became constable under Judge Plank, but left this position to become manager of a filling station for the Standard Oil Company at South Bend. He next accepted a position as assistant district manager at Gary, Indiana, for the National Discount Corporation of South Bend, subsequently was transferred as district manager at Waukegan, Illinois, where he remained for three months, and then was made manager of the branch of the corporation's business at Jackson, Michigan. In 1929 he resigned to take a position with the Associate Finance Corporation at South Bend, where he has since remained. On November 19, 1927, at his father's home, he was married by his father to Miss Bernadine Don, of South Bend. They have one son, William Sheldon, Jr., born June 17,1929.

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


ERNEST FREDERICK WAGNER came to Kendallville when sixteen years of age, was a boy of foreign birth, had no special advantages except a capacity for hard work, and his energies have raised him to a place among the successful business men of that Indiana city.

Mr. Wagner, who is president of the Puritan Ice Cream Company of Kendallville, was born in Germany, March 3, 1870. He had his early public schooling in his native country. In 1886 he accompanied his parents, David and Minnie Wagner, to America.. His father died in Kendallville in 1894 and his mother is also deceased. Of their six children three are now living.

Ernest Wagner attended public school at Kendallville for a time, and then entered the service of one of the local industries, the Fleet & Walling Manufacturing Company, with which he remained twenty-four years. On leaving that he engaged his individual capital and experience in the ice business, conducting this business until selling out, and in 1923 began the manufacture of ice cream. He organized the Puritan Ice Cream Company, Incorporated, of which he is president. The company started a plant supplying a limited local market and it now produces a high quality of ice cream products sold and distributed all through this section of Indiana.

Mr. Wagner is a member of the Lutheran Church. He owns considerable Kendallville real estate, including his fine home at 109 South Clark Street. He married, November 4, 1896, Miss Amelia Dedtring, of Kendallville. Of the four children born to their marriage two died in infancy. His daughter Elsie, a graduate of the Kendallville High School, married Ralph Atz, of Kendallville, and they have two children, named Norman and Loren. The other daughter, Ruth, also a high school graduate, is the wife of Oscar Ratz, of Elkhart, Indiana, and they have children named Robert and Amelia.

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


JOHN VIRGIL SINGLETON, sheriff of Noble County, has been a very popular citizen and business man of Northern Indiana. By profession he is an auctioneer, and has the engaging qualities and sympathy and human understanding that make for success in the vocation and also are qualities of special value to a man who has constant dealings and contacts with people.

Mr. Singleton was born at Decatur in Adams County, Indiana, November 15, 1883, son of William and Abigail (Warner) Singleton. His father was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1849 and came out to Indiana at the close of the Civil war, locating in Adams County. He was a farmer and now, at the age of eighty, is living retired at Decatur. His wife was born in Adams County after the death of her father, Reuben Warner, an early settler. Mrs. Abigail Singleton is deceased. In the family is one daughter, Miss Letitia, who lives with her father in Decatur. One other son was Jesse L., a farmer in Adams County, and still another son is deceased.

John V. Singleton attended the grade and high schools at Decatur and all his early working experiences were on a farm. During 1910-11 he pursued a course in the Jones National School of Auctioneering at Chicago, and with this special training entered upon the work of his profession at Decatur. He cried sales allover this section of Indiana. In 1914 he moved to Albion, county seat of Noble County, and his professional services have been in demand constantly, and he gave most of his time to his profession until he entered his present office. From 1922 to 1926 he was juvenile probate officer. Mr. Singleton was elected sheriff of Noble County in 1926, for the term ending in 1930. He has favored and worked for many organizations promoting the interests of the younger people. He is a Methodist, a member of the Masonic fraternity, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Singleton married Edith E. Cook, who was born at Decatur in Adams County. Her mother, Mrs. R. Cook, is eighty-three years of age and a resident of Decatur. Her father is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Singleton have a large family of eight children, named Hubert, Irma, Arthur, Lelah, Phyllis, John, Helen and Edith Irene.

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


GEORGE MARION O'NEIL, D. C. A thoroughly skilled and successful exponent of the benignant system of chiropractic, which has proved so splendid an aid in the alleviation of suffering and in the eradication of many of the ills to which human flesh is heir, is found in the person of Dr, George M. O’Neil, of Fort Wayne. He was one of the early practitioners of his calling and prior to coming to his present location had a large practice at Toledo, Ohio, where he still maintains offices, although he now makes his headquarters at Fort Wayne, where since 1925 he has been president of what is now the O'Neil College of Chiropractic.

Doctor O'Neil was born at Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan, May 4, 1889, and received his early education in the public grade and high schools of his native city. Subsequently he attended the Grand Rapids Business College, and at this time became interested in the new science of chiropractic. Entering the Michigan College of Chiropractic, he was graduated therefrom with the degree of Doctor of Chiropractic as a member of the class of 1913, and immediately thereafter went to Toledo, where he established himself in practice. He remained there for twelve years, during which time he built up a large and important practice, and still continues to carry on his professional business in that city, where he has one of the largest and best-equipped offices in Ohio. In July, 1925, Doctor O’Neil came to Fort Wayne, where he is well established as president of the O'Neil College of Chiropractic. This institution was founded in 1908, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, by Mark B. Thompson and N. C. Ross, as the Michigan College of Chiropractic. In 1909 the school opened a branch college at Detroit, Michigan, which in 1911 was moved to Fort Wayne, changing the name to the Ross College of Chiropractic. This continued until the arrival of Doctor O'Neil in 1925, when he became president and manager, and in May, 1929, the name was changed to its present form. This college has had 1,500 honor graduates since 1908. In 1926 a handsome and commodious structure was erected at 1311 Webster Street, and the building is now equipped with large and airy classrooms, an X-Ray laboratory, and all possible equipment known to modern science. The Government acquired this location for the new postoffice and the college was moved to its present location. Doctor O'Neil is president of the Ross College Building Association, and a member of the Fort Wayne Atlas Chiropractors Club, the Indiana State Chiropractic Association, the Ohio State Chiropractic Association and the National Chirpractic Association. He is a Scttish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine, and also takes an enthusiastic part in civic work as a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

On November 27, 1928, Doctor O'Neil was united in marriage with Miss F. E. Kemper, who was born at Bluff ton, Indiana, a daughter of Darius and Sarah (Nutter) Kemper, natives of Colorado, now deceased. Mrs. O’Neil is secretary of the O'Neil College of Chiropractic.

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


REV. OTTO A. PETERS is giving in his native State of Indiana a zealous and consecrated service as a priest of the Catholic Church, he being pastor of St. Mary's Church, which has its prosperous rural parish in Benton County.

Father Peters was born at Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana, September 26, 1888, and is a son of George L. and Julia (Deregnaucourt) Peters, both likewise natives of that county, where the former was born October 21, 1859, and latter on the 14th of October, 1858, their home being still maintained in Franklin County, where George L. Peters was long and successfully identified with farm industry. Of the children of this devoted Catholic family the eldest is Sister Leonardina, who was born May 25, 1884, and who is a member of the Franciscan Sisterhood of the Catholic Church, her service at time being at the present time being at Lafayette, this state. Father Otto A., of this review, was next in order of birth. Raymond died in infancy. Hilda was born May 29, 1892, and is the wife of William Gall, who is engaged in the automobile business at Tipton, Judicial center of the Indiana county of the same name. Antoinette was born June 2, 1900, and now holds an office position as a skilled stenographer, in the City of Kokomo. Sister Rosanna, who was born October 6, 1904, is a member of the Catholic Sisterhood of St. Francis and is teaching in St. Boniface School in the City of Lafayette.

The earlier education of Rev. Otto A. Peters was obtained in the schools of Brookville and was advanced by his course in the high school at Tipton. His classical and general academic studies were prosecuted in St. Joseph's College at Collegeville, Jasper County, and his philosophical and ecclesiastical courses were taken at St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Indiana. In the Cathedral in the City of Fort Wayne he was ordained to the priesthood, June 16, 1916, and his first clerical assignment was to the position of assistant priest of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in the City of Huntington. He next passed four years as an assistant at the Cathedral, Fort Wayne, where he had been ordained, during the ensuing five and one-half years he was assistant priest of the parish church at Decatur and February 20, 1926, went to St. Michael's Church, Summitt, near Waterloo, Indiana. He assumed his present parish in October, 1929. Here he is doing earnest service in advancing the spiritual and temporal interests of the parish of St. Mary's Church. Father Peters is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and takes deep interest in the affairs of this fine Catholic fraternal order.

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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


PUBLIC LIBRARY. The Public Library of South Bend was established in 1888, but the history of its establishment goes back to 1880, when the city, in conjunction with a number of other cities in the state, sent a petition to the Legislature requesting authority to establish free public libraries. This was granted in 1881, by the passage of an act authorizing cities of 10,000 population or over to establish such a library through their boards of education. Prior to that time, in 1872, a small library had been started, and was first kept in the rear room of a store building at Michigan Street and later at 123 West Washington Street until the building was burned. After the passage of the law authorizing the school board to establish a free library in connection with the public schools and before the proceeds of the tax levies for the purpose were collected, Mr. James Oliver advanced the amount necessary to open the library and purchase the first books. Donations were also made by Clement Studebaker, Leighton Pine and others. The library was opened in 1888, on the third floor of the Oliver Opera House Block. The site of the main library for many years has been at the corner of Wayne and Main streets. This property was purchased by the school board in 1895 and the library building was formally opened May 1, 1896, at a cost of $40,000. The development of the library has been in keeping with the progress of the city. There are now four branch libraries, the Washington, at 1532 West Sample Street, the River Park, at 3410 Mishawaka Avenue, the Virginia M. Tutt, at 2003 Miami Street, and the La Salle, at 2315 Lincoln Way, West.

The South Bend Public Library has five general departments, adult, juvenile, medical, document and local history, and business and industrial departments. The adult group supplies book collections to several business firms who are cooperating with the library in securing reading matter for their employees. Book facilities are furnished to the fire stations. The children's department sends books to nine public schools and to the summer camp of the Camp Fire Girls and the Boy Scouts.

In 1896, when the library was opened, it contained about 10,000 volumes for public use. The book circulation at that time was about 25,000 annually. For the year ending July, 1930, the library shows about 98,000 volumes, with a book circulation of 780,000, more than twenty-three times as many borrowers as in the first year.

From the opening of the public library Miss Evelyn C. Humphreys was librarian until August, 1903. She was succeeded by Virginia M. Tutt, who remained at this post until her death in May, 1927. Miss Ethel G. Baker, the present librarian, has been with the library since 1908 and for a number of years was assistant librarian under Miss Tutt.

The medical department, with 3,000 volumes and fifty periodicals on medical subjects, was established in 1912 by a group of prominent South Bend doctors. The business and industrial department of the library is located at 120 West Wayne Street.

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


EDWARD REED SMOCK, cashier of the Delphi State Bank, is a man with an interesting business history. During the last forty years he has been active in a number of roles in Carroll County, teacher, farmer, public official and banker.

He was born in Madison Township, Carroll County, March 11, 1872, one of the four children of Jonathan P. and Sarah J. (Ryhn) Smock. His father was an early settler in Carroll County, locating there in 1845. Edward R. Smock grew up on his father's farm, had the advantages of the common schools; and later attended high school and the Central Indiana Normal at Danville. At twenty he was teaching, a work he carried on for three years, and when twenty-three years of age was made deputy county auditor of Carroll County. He filled that post of public duty for eight and a half years. In 1904 he became associated with a construction company doing gravel road construction.

In 1905 he established himself on a farm, and has had farming interests through all the years. For three years he was assistant cashier of the Bank of Rossville in Clinton County. He resigned and in 1909 returned to his farm in Carroll County and after a year moved his home to Delphi and for nine years had the responsibility of overseeing a number of farms for the E. W. Bowen organization. During the World war Mr. Smock's time was largely taken up with patriotic duties. He served as chairman of the Red Cross Chapter and was a leader in the drives for the sale of Liberty Bonds. In 1920 he was made cashier for the A. T. Bowen Company, and from 1922 to 1926 had the management of the Delphi Ice, Coal & Supply Company. He has been cashier and a director of the Delphi State Bank since 1926 and is still on the board of directors of the Delphi Ice, Coal & Supply Company and is a director of the Temple Building Association.

Mr. Smock is a Knight Templar Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, Improved Order of Red Men, the Lions Club and Country Club. He is a Republican and Presbyterian.

Mr. Smock married Mary Grace Martin, a native of Carroll County. They have three children, all of whom have had the advantages of the Delphi High School. Sarah Isabel attended Purdue University and graduated from Lafayette Business College; John Reed graduated B. S. at Indiana University, class of 1930, and is now taking the law course; and Mary Margaret graduated from the Teachers College at Indianapolis.

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


HAROLD G. MARTIN, M. D., was in the World war, making a capable record, afterwards took up the study of medicine and since graduating has been practicing in the City of Lafayette, where he has offices at 216 North Fourth Street.

Doctor Martin was born in White County, Indiana, March 14, 1893, son of Gus and Nellie (Ransdell) Martin, his father a native of Ohio and his mother of Indiana. Doctor Martin is one of their four children. His father came to Indiana in 1870 and spent his active life as a farmer.

Doctor Martin grew up on an Indiana farm in White County. His early educational advantages were acquired there in the grade and high schools. In 1916 he was graduated with the A. B. degree from DePauw University at Greencastle.

Before he had made any important move toward establishing himself in a business or professional way America entered the World war. In September, 1917, he joined the Second Officers' Training Camp, was commissioned a second lieutenant of artillery in December, 1917, but in May, 1918, was transferred to the air service. He attended the Aerial Observation School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, later was at Mount Clemens, Michigan, and finally at Roosevelt Field, Long Island. He received an honorable discharge in December, 1918.

Later Doctor Martin entered the Indiana School of Medicine at Indianapolis and was graduated M. D. in 1925. He had the benefit of a year of training and experience as an interne in Saint Elizabeth Hospital at Lafayette and on July 1, 1926, opened his office and settled down to a general practice. He is one of the busy professional men of the city today. He has served as physician for Tippecanoe Township and is a member of the Tippecanoe County, Indiana State and American Medical Associations. Fraternally he is affiliated with Greencastle Lodge No.47, of the Masonic fraternity. He is a Methodist and a Republican. Doctor Martin married Miss Nellie Shipley, of Summitville, Indiana. Their two sons, Joe and Harold, are both attending school.

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


MRS CORA M. VAN GILDER. Since November, 1922, the duties and responsibilities of the position of librarian at the Mentone Public Library have been discharged in a highly capable and efficient manner by Mrs. Cora M. Van Gilder, a native of the state and one who has spent her entire life therein. A woman of high intellectual attainments, Mrs. Van Gilder, since assuming her present position, has done much to encourage public interest in literature and education and has effected changes that have been highly beneficial to the public institution of which she has charge.

Mrs. Van Gilder was born in Kosciusko County, Indiana, September 30, 1880, and is a daughter of Jefferson and Sarah R. (Burt) Stoockey. Her father was born December 6, 1844, in Kosciusko County, Indiana, of Swiss descent, and her mother, also a native of the same county, was born January 12, 1849, being of Irish-French descent. Cora M. Van Gilder attended the common schools of Kosciusko County and the high school at Leesburg, following which she spent two years in the Tri-State Normal School at Angola, Indiana. She then took up the vocation of teaching school, spending four years at Monoquet and one year at Oswego, and April 17, 1907, was united in marriage with Dr. Bert M. Van Gilder, of Warsaw. To this union there were born two children: Donald J., born at Mentone, March 29, 1912, who attended the junior high school at Mentone and at North Manchester prepared for the dental school of the University of Indiana; and Jack W., born June 22, 1916, who is attending the junior high school.

Dr. Bert M. Van Gilder was born May 9, 1878, in Kosciusko County, a son of William and Elizabeth (Jameson) Van Gilder, natives of Indiana, the former of German descent. After attending the high school at Warsaw he entered the Indiana Dental College, at Indianapolis, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1900, receiving the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery, and in the same year commenced practice at Claypool. In 1906 he removed to Mentone, where he built up a large and representative clientele and rose to a high position in his profession, being president of the Kosciusko County Dental Society and a member of the Indiana State Dental Society and the American Dental Association. He was a great lover of out-doors sports, was a member from 1908 until his death of Mentone Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and April 9, 1915, was made a member of Warsaw Lodge No. 233, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He died January 21, 1919.

Mrs. Van Gilder became librarian of the Mentone Public Library in November, 1922, and this has become under her direction one of the best-managed institutions of its kind in any small city in Indiana. It has always been maintained under the public tax system, which is now at its minimum rate. Mrs. Van Gilder is popular in club and social circles and is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. She is a Republican in her political allegiance and takes an intelligent interest in public affairs and civic matters. She is vice president of the W. C. T. U. Her religious connection is with the Methodist Church, in which she is active. Being of a literary turn of mind, it is but natural that books should be her hobby.

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


Deb Murray