Mr. Hoover had a genius for commercial organization, and for some years before his death has been vice president and was probably the most influential member of the Hoover-Rowlands and the Hoover-Bond Furniture Syndicate, operating a chain of stores in many cities, including the Ohio cities of Columbus, Zanesville, where two stores were under that management, Lima, Marion, Mansfield, Lancaster, Ashtabula, Steubenville, Tiffin and Mount Vernon; at Kalamazoo and Lansing, Michigan, and at Richmond, Columbus, Hartford City and Montpelier, Indiana. Though he began life with his own resources as his chief asset, he rose to a place of prominence in the business world, and at the time of his death was among the wealthiest citizens of Hartford City, with extensive interests outside the furniture trade, including the ownership of a large amount of property at Hartford City, Marion, and other places. He was the owner of the Marion Hospital, where on the day before his death he was operated upon for appendicitis.

Joseph L. Hoover was born in Lima. Ohio, April 7, 1865. He came of an old and substantial German family, and in that country the name was spelled Von Haffer, and it was the late John Hoover, father of J. L. Hoover, who changed the spelling when he came to the United States. John Hoover was born in Germany, in 1839, and when about fourteen years of age, in 1853, accompanied an older brother to the United States, and after a residence of some time in the east, probably in Pennsylvania, the two brothers became separated, and John, having acquired a skill in the cabinet making trade, moved to Lima, Ohio, and there assisted to start the first furniture store, which might be considered the nucleus of a business with which the Hoover name has been associated successfully for a long period of years. John Hoover married in Bremen, near Columbus, Ohio, to Miss Barnadena Busse, who was born in that section of Ohio, and of German ancestry. After his marriage John Hoover located near Lima, in Allen county, and there he and his wife spent the rest of their days, being honored for their worthy character and their helpfulness in church and community affairs. They were devout members of the Catholic faith. John Hoover died in June, 1911 and his wife in August, 1910. They were the parents of six sons and four daughters, and the late J. L. Hoover was the fourth child and third son.

His boyhood was spent in Lima, with an education in the public schools, supplemented by attendance at the night school, and at the age of fifteen he was at work in the store of Mr. Musser, and besides learning the trade of cabinet maker, was also getting experience as a furniture salesman and in the undertaking work. Four years of application in this way gave him that thoroughness of knowledge of detail which characterized all his career. At the age of eighteen or nineteen Mr. Hoover went to Marion and was employed by Keller & Mead Chair Co. as a travelling salesman for the Keller & Mead Chair, later as manager of Keller Furniture Store, and continued that work until the age of twenty-three. In the meantime, when twenty-two years of age, he had married and established a home of his own, and a little later moved to Lima, engaged in the furniture business with John, Henry and William Hoover, under the firm name of Hoover Brothers. Five years later, having sold his interest to his brothers, with the determination to come to Marion, instead Mr. Hoover engaged in business a short time at St. Mary's Ohio, and then sold out at an advantage and moved his enterprise to Hartford City, which was his home and the center of his business activities for sixteen years, until his death. In 1898 he bought the J. U. Moore Furniture Store, in the Elton Block, opposite the Methodist Episcopal church, and subsequently moved his place of business to its present location. In 1899 his stock was destroyed by fire, but he started anew and by shrewd business management soon had the chief business of its kind in the city. With the foundation of his local success in merchandizing, Mr. Hoover became one of the active organizers of the Hoover-Rowlands Company, a syndicate that established furniture stores in a number of cities, of which company he was vice president, and was also one of the organizers and a director of the Hoover-Bond Company, engaged in the same line of business. At the time of his death Mr. Hoover had an interest in sixteen furniture stores in different cities, and was president of the Hoover Furniture Company of Hartford City, this enterprise being owned by himself and his youngest brother, Frank, and Arthur Smith of Hartford City.

The late Mr. Hoover was a democrat in politics, and not being a member of any church, he was wont to attend the Presbyterian church with his wife, and in religious, social and civic affairs was a man of unusual breadth and liberality. He is a member of three Hartford City lodges, the Elks, the Knights of Pythias, and the Macaabes, and the Lodge of Elks attended his funeral in a body, and a special mark of respect to this prominent merchant was paid when the Hartford City business houses remained closed during the funeral hour. Mr. Hoover was also a member of the Blackford Club, a social organization, which during the past year has been greatly depleted by the hand of death, Mr. Hoover being the fifth of its membership to be called away.

Another comment on his passing is the following from the Marion Leader-Tribune: "Coming at a time when Mr. Hoover had reached a prominent place in the business world, when he was in the prime of life and was so essential to the happiness and welfare of his family, his death is a crushing blow to his household. Another feature which makes the passing of the father particularly sad, is the fact of the approaching marriage of his eldest daughter, Miss Helen Hoover, prominent socially in Hartford City, Mr. Hoover was a man who made friends by the scores. He was highly regarded by his associates, and will be greatly missed in the community as well as by his family and relatives."

Mr. Hover was married at Marion, Indiana, January 4, 1888 to Miss India Kimball, whose family has long been one of the most prominent in the city of Marion. She was born at Converse, Indiana, February 12, 1866, was reared there and educated partly in the Holy Angles Academy at Logansport, and since her husband's death has taken up the active administration of his varied interests.

The Kimball family of which Mrs. Hoover is a member has a long and interesting lineage. Moses Kimball, who was a native of England, came to America with some brothers during the Colonial era, and in the Revolutionary war served on the American side as a sergeant. His son, Abner, became a pioneer settler in Coshocton county, Ohio, and died there, an old man after a long career as a farmer. Abner married a Miss. Jefferies, who died in Coshocton county, Ohio, and they were the parents of a number of children. Among these was Moses Kimball, who was born on Coshocton county, and married Miss Louisa Powell, who was born in Ohio, and was descended from Lord Powell of England, and was also a cousin to William Dean Howells, the famous American novelist, whose early boyhood and manhood was spent in eastern Ohio. Moses Kimball and wife, after their marriage, moved to Miami county, Indiana, took up wild land, and improved it, and subsequently once more moved out to the frontier, going to Kansas and in Wilson county acquiring a tract of virgin soil, and in the course of years developing one of the best farms in the entire state. It was improved with a fine large stone house, and a part of the Kimball land is now the site of the city of Neodesha. Moses Kimball and wife spent their declining years in Kansas and are buried in Wilson county. They were the parents of ten children, six sons and four daughters, including two well known physicians. One of these was Dr. Thomas Kimball, the father of Mrs. Hoover, and the other was Dr. Abner D., who was the first physician and surgeon at the National Soldiers Home in Marion, and held that place until his death. Dr. Abner saw six months of active service during the civil war, while Dr. Thomas was a member of Company I in the Eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, enlisting at the age of eighteen and serving for three years. He participated in eighteen battles and skirmishes, was almost constantly on duty, and through in many narrow escapes, came out unscathed. His superior officers were Major Steele, Captain Williams of Indiana and Colonel Shunk. After the war Thomas Kimball graduated in medicine from the Rush Medical College of Chicago, establishing himself as a practitioner, and throughout his lifetime was sincerely devoted to his profession and took a number of post-graduate courses. It was Dr. Kimball who built and for a number of years was active head of the Marion Hospital. During the Spanish-American war President McKinley appointed him chief division surgeon, and as such he served with General Breckenridge's division at Chattanooga. His death occurred at Jacksonville, where he was seeking health, on March 5, 1905. Dr. Kimball was born November 23, 1842. He was a republican in politics, and he and his wife were Methodists, and fraternally he was identified with the Masonic Lodge, Knight Templar Commandery, Scottish Rite degree, and the Mystic Shrine, and both he and his wife were charter members of the Eastern Star Chapter, of which Mrs. Kimball was chaplain.

Dr. Thomas Kimball was married in Miami county, Indiana to Miss Louisa Vinnedge, who was born in Richmond, Indiana, January 21, and Elizabeth (Jump) Vinnedge. Her maternal grandfather was Rev. Jump, an Episcopalian minister. The Vinnedge family came originally from Germany, and for many years beginning with the pioneer era were identified with Hamilton county, Ohio. Moore Vinnedge's father was William Vinnedge. Moore Vinnedge was born in Hamilton Co., Ohio, moved there to Richmond, Indiana, when a young man, and after his marriage continued to live there and in Howard county, Indiana, and died at Kokomo, at the age of sixty-six. His widow died in Chicago, in 1892, at the age of sixty-nine. They were Methodists, and Mr. Vinnedge was a Douglas Democrat.

The late Dr, Kimball and wife had the following children: Mrs. Hoover; Carl, who is a lumberman at Jackson, Mississippi, and has two sons; Dr. Glenn, a Marion physician and ex-member of the Indiana legislature from Grant county, married Minnie Murdorff, a talented musician whose name was long prominent in musical affairs; Earl, who is a furniture dealer, and is married.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Hoover are briefly mentioned as follows: Irma Louise was born December 30, 1888, and died February 20, 1893. Helen Elizabeth, born May 8, 1891, educated in the city high school and also at Los Angeles, California and at Glendale College, near Cincinnati, was married June 25, 1914, to Paul A. Moore, furniture dealer, formerly connected with the Hub Clothing House of Chicago, and later in the furniture business at Marion; Mr. and Mrs. Moore now have their home in Hartford City. Inez Louisa was born January 29, 1899 and died that same year. Harriet Ester was born May 10, 1900, and is now in the eighth grade of the Hartford City schools, and was also a student for a time in Los Angeles, California. It was these two living daughters who were the chief pride of the late Mr. Hoover, and he lavished upon them the riches of his affection as well as his abundant material means. The Hoovers have membership in the Presbyterian church.

Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn
Volume I Illustrated
The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914
Submitted by Peggy Karol

ELBERT SMILACK. This valued citizen of Hartford City is a native of Russia, came to America fifteen years ago, and after some varied experiences which did not bring him any capital he arrived in Hartford City within a few months after landing in Philadelphia. He had to borrow money to get his start in the county seat of Blackford, but since contrived to prosper so that he is regarded as one of the wealthier men of that city. Much has been said of the boundless opportunities presented in the New World to the immigrant from the old, but it will usually be found that an exceptional degree of enterprise, initiative, industry, and courage are important factors in the creation of such success as has been acquired by Elbert Smilack.

In Russia, Mr. Smilack's name was spelled Smilackoff. He was born in Smolanks, October 15, 1872. His father Abraham was an attorney by profession and is still living in the old country, sixty-six years of age. The mother of the Hartford City business man died when this son was eighteen months old, he being the youngest of four children. The father is now living with his second wife, and by that union there is one son who still lives in Russia, but recently returned from America. One of Mr. Smilack's brothers died young, a sister is married and living in Russia, another brother is still single in the old country.

Elbert Smilack grew up and was very well educated, being a member of a fairly prosperous family. He learned the trade of confectioner, and after a few years was employed as commercial representative for a loaf sugar manufacturing concern. He was with that house from the age of sixteen to twenty-one, being secretary and bookkeeper in the office the first year, and after that traveling extensively over a large part of the Empire. At twenty-one Mr. Smilack was impressed into the military service for a period of six years, belonging to the dragoons, but after four years and six months was relieved from further duty because of his excellent record. At the time of his discharge he was at Kiev, from there set out for his home, and thence to Antwerp, Belgium, where he took passage on the ship Penn for the United States. After sixteen days en route he was landed in Philadelphia, and there began his American adventures. It was 1899, and from the east he journeyed west as far as Kalamazoo, Michigan, worked there six weeks, went to Chicago, was employed in that great city three days at a dollar and a quarter per day, but being dissatisfied with his employment, made his way to Marion, Indiana, and there found work which gave him a small amount of capital. With this he purchased a horse, buggy and harness for thirty-five dollars and drove across the country to Hartford City, where he arrived with thirty-five cents in his pocket. In deciding to remain there he chose wisely and well. A friend loaned him five dollars to make a start in the junk business, and in a short time he repaid the advance fund and from that beginning has built up a business which has enabled him to invest extensively and he is rated at a fortune of over fifty thousand dollars. He owns a large business property, 40x120 feet on East Washington street, a fine home at 306 East Main street, five acres of land as grounds around his residence, and also has property in Buffalo, New York, land in Dewey, Oklahoma, and forty seven oil wells in this state, located in Blackford, Wells and Randolph counties. Few native Americans could exhibit a better record of business prosperity than this former Russian citizen.

Mr. Smilack took out his naturalization papers some years ago, and has since affiliated with the republican party in politics, and takes much interest in local affairs. On October 31, 1905, at Muncie, Indiana, Mr. Smilack was married to Gertrude Robin, who was also born in Russia, in the year 1885, and in young womanhood emigrated to America in 1904 to join her brother Jacob in Toledo, Ohio. Later she went to live with another brother, Louis, in Muncie, Indiana, where she was married. Mr. and Mrs. Smilack have two children: Celia, who is seven years of age and in school, and Sophia, six years old. Mr. Smilack is active in lodge and fraternal work, has taken fourteen degrees in the Scottish Rite Masonry, is a member of the Blue Lodge, No. 106; of Chapter, No. 111; of Council, No. 76. He is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 625, and belongs to both the Lodge, No. 626, and the Encampment of the Odd Fellows in all their branches. He is also a member of the K. of P. Lodge, No. 135, of the Rebekah Lodge, No. 394, and Mrs. Smilack is a member of the Eastern Star, all of Hartford City.

Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn
Volume I Illustrated
The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914
Submitted by Peggy Karol

WILLIAM T. McCONKEY. Although twenty years have passed since the death of William T. McConkey, he is still remembered by the older residents of Washington township as an industrious, enterprising and practical farmer, a realiable and thoroughly progressive citizen and a neighbor whose loyalty to his friends was proverbial. He was taken away in the prime of life, yet he had already achieved much that was worthy and helpful to his community, and a review of his career is therefore eminently worthy of mention in a work of this nature.

Mr. McConkey was born in Washington township, Blackford county, Indiana, January 7, 1850, and died on the farm owned by him there February 1, 1892. He was a son of Eli and Eliza (Marts) McConkey, natives of the state of Ohio, the former of Scotch-Irish ancestry and the latter of German stock. James McConkey, the grandfather of William T. McConkey, was reared in Pennsylvania, and was married in Fayette county, Indiana, to Mrs. Prudence (Cook) Manlove, a North Carolinian. By her first marriage she had a family of six children. James McConkey was a widower when he married Mrs. Manlove, having formerly married a Miss Burt, in Pennsylvania, by whom he had five sons and two daughters, viz: John Joel, Hannah, Betsey, David, James and Zephaniah. His marriage with Mrs. Manlove resulted in the birth of three children: Eli, Sophronia and Thomas Cranor. Sophronia married Reuben Allen; David came to Blackford county about 1836 and settled on land here entered by his father, who took up four sections and one eighty-acre tract at the same time; James came next and had a large family, but only three lived to mature years, a son, Walter, a daughter, Margaret, who married Ephraim Perry, and another daughter who married a son of Daniel Sills, and after his death married a Mr. Fritz; Zephaniah came to Blackford county in 1849, and Eli in February of the same year. James and Prudence McConkey by their marriages had altogether sixteen children, of whom Eli was the last survivor.

Eli McConkey was born January 30, 1825, and was married in November, 1845, to Eliza Marts. She was a daughter of Peter Marts and his wife, Christena (Myers) Marts, who were reared in Pennsylvania and never learned to speak the English language until they came to Fayette county, Indiana. They became the parents of a large family, among whom were: Henry, Charles, Sarah, Moses, Isaac, Christena, who married Newman Shinn, Eliza, Samuel, Jacob, Barbara, Mary, Catherine and Gideon. Christena Shinn was born November 14, 1820, and died at Hale, Carroll county, Missouri, March 22, 1912. Moses and Isaac were twins and married twin sisters named McCormick, and each had twelve or thirteen children. Moses' youngest children were twin sons who looked almost exactly alike. Peter Marts subsequently sold his farm and went to Arcadia, Indiana, where he died when nearly eighty years of age, while his widow subsequently located at the home of the McConkeys and died there in her ninetieth year.

In February, 1849, Eli McConkey and wife moved to Blackford county, and settled on a farm which had been entered by his father James McConkey, and they continued to reside there during the remaining years of their lives, succeeding through thrift and industry in developing an excellent farm. Eli McConkey passed away at the age of seventy-five, while Mrs. McConkey was fifty-two years of age at the time of her demise. They were faithful members of the Dunkard.church, with which they were identified for years, and in the faith of which they died. In politics Eli McConkey was a democrat but not an office seeker, although he was known as a good and helpful community worker, and both he and his wife had in the highest degree the respect and esteem of those about them. They were the parents of a large family of children.

The next to the oldest child of his parents, William T. McConkey, grew up amid rural surroundings, and much of his boyhood was spent in assisting his father in his agricultural duties, while his education was being obtained in the district schools. At the time of his marriage, Mr. McConkey received eighty acres of the one hundred and sixty acres belonging to his father, and then settled down to farming on his own account, making the old homestead his residence during the remainder of his life. He was successful both as a farmer and stock raiser, showed himself at all times a good business man, and had the complete confidence of his associates. Since his death the farm bas been owned by his widow, who has now retired to her home at Montpelier, where she is living with her son, Harvey W. McConkey.

William T. McConkey was first married on September 4, 1875, to Margaret E. Mason, daughter of Thomas and Harriet Mason. To that union were born two children, twin daughters, Viola and Leora, on July 14, 1876. When these babies were five days old their mother died, July 19th, and the daughter Leora died when sixteen days old. Viola is now the wife of William F. Minnich of Wells county, and they have a nice farm of sixty-seven acres in Jackson township. Mr. and Mrs. Minnich are the parents of three children, as follows: Lawrence W., born March 15, 1898, now attending high school at Warren, Indiana; Emma Fern, born September 16, 1901; and Sylvia Pearl, born October 18, 1905.

After the death of his first wife Mr. McConkey was married in Harrison township, at the home of the bride, to Miss Eliza E. Kitterman. She was born in Wayne county, Indiana, January 8, 1859, and was brought in childhood to Washington township, Blackford county, by her parents, Harvey and Sarah J. (Wicksham) Kitterman, in 1865. Harvey Kitterman died October 7, 1866, at the age of thirty-two. His widow subsequently married Uriah Dick, whose first wife was named Rosie and left him five children, including Richard Dick, in whose sketch in this work complete details of the family history may be found. Sarah J. Kitterman-Dick died June 26, 1912, at the age of seventy-four, both she and her husband having passed away in Blackford county.

To William T. McConkey and wife were born the following children: Lawrence, born September 6, 1878, was educated in the common schools, is a railway fireman residing at Huntington, Indiana, and married Zelda Foreman of Blackford county, and they have a daughter Thelma, born November 20, 1904, and now attending the city schools; Frederick, who was born March 24, 1881, has for several years been in poor health and is now recovering in a sanitarium at Newcastle, Indiana; Clarence A., was born March 14, 1884, died at the age of sixteen years; Guy, born July 14, 1888, married Ethel Markin, and their son Ennis Earl was born May 24, 1911; Harvey William, born July 12, 1891, is a harness maker and unmarried and lives with his mother at 548 S. Franklin street Montpelier. The son Guy McConkey now operates The Old Homestead, as the home property in Section 12, Washington township, is appropriately named. On it Mrs. McConkey has erected a fine stock and grain barn, 40x50 feet, and the improvements are all of the best, making it a very valuable property. Mrs. McConkey and her husband never united with any church, but as the Dunkard was the most convenient to their home it was the one which they usually attended. The late Mr. McConkey was a democrat in his political views, although his sons are all republicans. The people bearing this name have always been industrious enterprising and true to their engagements, and have been decided factors in the upbuilding and general welfare of the community in which they have made their homes.

Blackford and Grant Counties, Indiana A Chronicle of their People Past and Present with Family Lineage and Personal Memoirs Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of Benjamin G. Shinn
Volume I Illustrated
The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago and New York 1914
Submitted by Peggy Karol