Mr. Hopkins was born in Pendleton County, West Virginia, May 9, 1891. The Hopkins family is of Colonial and Revolutionary stock. They came from England and settled in Rockingham County, Virginia. At least one of Doctor Hopkins' ancestors was an officer in the Revolutionary war. His father was Dr. John J. Hopkins, who practiced medicine and also held various positions in the political life of Pendleton County, West Virginia.
Dr. William B. Hopkins was a boy when the family moved to Bartholomew County, Indiana. He had attended school in West Virginia and through his own efforts carried on his education through Valparaiso University, and in 1921 was graduated from the medical department of the University of Louisville. A year of interne experience in the City Hospital of Louisville gave him additional training before he entered upon his career as a practicing physician in Bartholomew County. From 1922 to 1928 he practiced at Hazard, Kentucky, and in the latter year located at Sellersburg, where he has won a fine practice and a most favorable reputation. While living in Kentucky he served four years as county health officer in Knox County. Doctor Hopkins is a member of the Indiana State, Clark County and American Medical Associations and belongs to the Sellersburg Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the college fraternities Alpha Epsilon and Pi Beta Pi.
Doctor Hopkins married Miss Edna L. Lykins, a native of Kentucky. They have three children, Ann, John J. and William D.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
STACEY H. MILLER is a successful young attorney now practicing law at La Fayette, with offices in the Loan & Trust Building. He was born in La Fayette, November 16, 1903. His grandfather, Reuben Miller, was a native of Pennsylvania, served with a Pennsylvania regiment in the Civil war, and after the war came to Indiana and was a farmer in Tippecanoe County. His wife was also a native of Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.
John H. Miller, father of Stacey H., was born in Tippecanoe County, served with the Marines in the Spanish-American war, and has for over thirty years been one of the substantial and respected farm residents of this section of the state. He married Albia L. Shaw, a native of La Fayette.
Stacey H. Miller was one of three children. He attended common schools at Battleground, graduated from the Scottsburg High School in 1923 and took the literary and law courses in the Central Indiana Normal School at Danvine, graduating with the A. B. degree in 1927 and the LL. B. degree in 1928. After his admission to the bar he located at La Fayette and has enjoyed a steadily increasing general practice as a lawyer there since November 1, 1928. He is a member of the Tippecanoe County and Indiana State Bar Associations.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
EDMOND JEFFRIES, who at the time of his death was a retired business man, with home at Kokomo, found his time occupied with the opportunities of useful service in the capacity of justice of the peace. Mr. Jeffries was a man of unusual energy, public spirit, a hard worker and enjoyed many important responsibilities in the business world, both in his native State of Indiana and in Pennsylvania, where he lived for many years; having been one of the most active citizens in founding what is now an important industrial city, Monessen in Westmoreland County.
Mr. Jeffries was born at Newcastle, Henry County, Indiana, March 10, 1857. The Jeffries family came to Indiana from Virginia, his grandfather, Anderson Jeffries, having been a Virginian. His father was Anderson A. Jeffries, who was born in Lancaster County, Ohio, in 1830 and died in 1895. Anderson A. Jeffries was a York Rite Mason. He married Melinda McLaughlin, who was born in 1830 and died December 5, 1925, at the great age of ninety-five years. One other son was Homer Jeffries, who was born in December, 1851, and died in 1918.
Edmond Jeffries grew up and received his early education in the public schools at Newcastle, learned a trade, and for a number of years was a contractor and builder. In October, 1880, when he was twenty-three, he moved to Anderson, Indiana. He did contracting there and after the beginning of the natural gas boom in Eastern Indiana he had an important part in some of the industries which were established at Anderson to utilize the natural gas resources. As a contractor he helped erect several of the pioneer plants of Anderson, including the National Tin Plate Company of that city.
In 1897 the National Tin Plate Company determined to erect a plant in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and Mr. Jeffries was chosen as the contractor for the building. He and other officials arrived at Monessen when it contained only a railroad station, and he helped select the site for the new factory and took entire charge of the erection of the plant. After the mill was completed he became superintendent and served in that capacity three years. A year after this plant was established it was sold to the American Tin Plate Company. Mr. Jeffries also had the management of the real estate holdings of the company, and as contractor supervised the erection of forty-nine residences at Monessen during the early months. Mr. Jeffries as a contractor was called upon by the first school board of Monessen to provide quarters for the opening of a school. At the beginning of the school year no building was available for the use of the pupils, and Mrs. Jeffries agreed to and carried out his promise of providing a temporary building within a week's time. He erected a frame structure twenty by sixty feet, which was divided into three rooms, and thus accommodated the children of the mill workers and the other citizens of the community.
Mr. Jeffries in 1900 moved to Donora, Westmoreland County, and for two years was superintendent of construction for the Union Steel Company, and also handled the affairs of the Improvement Company there. In 1902 he organized the Standard Tin Plate Company of Cannonsburg, erected the new plant and served as its president and general manager until 1904. On April 24, 1905, Mr. Jeffries returned to Monessen, took charge of the special agency for the East Side Land Company, and on the first of June became manager of the real estate and insurance departments of the Monessen Savings & Trust Company. He was connected with that company for many years, and while still in that position he was appointed by President Wilson postmaster of Monessen. He served in this office from 1913 to 1917. During the World war he was in the coal business, selling the entire product of a number of mines to the Government for war use.
After retiring from business Mr. Jeffries returned to Indiana and located at Kokomo. He was appointed justice of the peace in Kokomo by the county commissioners January 13, 1925, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Clarence Davis. He was commissioned by Governor Jackson.
Mr. Jeffries was a Democrat in politics and throughout a long and useful career distinguished himself by his willingness to give time and effort in procuring things needed by his community and in the performance of public service. He, with his family, was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Jeffries married Miss Catherine Malone at Anderson. She was born at Centerville, Indiana, May 3, 1857. Of their children the oldest is Edna, wife of William Eichenlaub, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth is the wife of J. A. Trexler, of Chicago. Ruth Virginia is the widow of Frank Goshorn and lives at Pittsburgh.
Joseph W. is an attorney in Chicago, and Thomas E. is also a lawyer by profession and resides at Detroit. Helen Marie is the wife of Alvin Parsons, of Pittsburgh. The daughter Della Donner Jeffries died August 5, 1920. Mr. Jeffries died at his home, 1248 East Jefferson Street, Kokomo, Indiana, August 29, 1930, at the age of seventy-three.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HENRY WILFORD MOCK. Not only is Henry Wilford Mock one of the ablest attorneys practicing at the bar of Crawford County, but he is an outstanding figure in the life of English, and connected with progressive measures along many lines. He was born in Crawford County, September 7, 1877, a son of Squire E. Mock, a farmer, born in Harrison County, Indiana, and a veteran of the war between the states, during which he served as a member of the Fifty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under General Sherman. Squire E. Mock was a son of Solomon Mock, a North Carolinian who established the family in Indiana, and became a farmer of Harrison County. The wife of Squire E. Mock, and mother of Attorney Mock, bore the maiden name of Annie Goldman, and she was born in Knox County, Indiana. Mrs. Mock is still living, having attained the age of eighty-six years in 1929. She and her husband had eight children, namely; Nancy, who resides in Posey County, Indiana, married John Romine, has no children; Sarah, who resides in Crawford County, married John Belcher, has no children; Margaret, who resides at Princeton, Indiana, married William B. McWilliam, has seven children; Theodore, who lives in Michigan, married Grace Taylor, and they have three children; Millie, who resides at English, married James Brown, has two children; Attorney James Brown, who is the next in order of birth; Albert, who lives at Indianapolis, Indiana, married Alva Killieil, and they have two children; and George, who lives at Louisville, Kentucky, married Daisy Fein, no children.
Henry Wilford Mock attended the public schools of Crawford County and the State Normal School, Terre Haute, Indiana, from which he was graduated in 1902. For three years thereafter he taught school in Patoka Township, Crawford County; for two years he was superintendent of the Alton schools; and for six years he was superintendent of the public schools of English. In the meanwhile he attended New Albany, Indiana, Business College, from which he was graduated in 1903, after which, for two terms, of four years each, he served, through successive election, as circuit clerk. While in office he took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1909, but did not enter upon the practice of his profession until 1919. For the past decade, however, he has been engaged in a general practice at English, and is attorney for the English State Bank. He belongs to the Crawford County Bar Association and the Indiana State Bar Association.
On December 31, 1903, Mr. Mock was married to Miss Emma A. Robertson, a daughter of William H. and Cynthia (Baggarly) Robertson, also of Crawford County. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mock, namely: Garth Robertson, who died in infancy; Ferris W., who lives at English, and is engaged in the radio business, is unmarried; and Glenis, who also is a resident of English, married Helen Young, and they have two children, Mary Louise and Patricia Ann.
During the World war Mr. Mock was a member of the local draft board, and took a zealous part in all of the drives for patriotic purposes. A Democrat, he is one of the leaders of his party at English. The Christian Church has long held his membership, and he is one of its elders. He is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a Knight Templar, and he also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Order of the Eastern Star. For twenty-two consecutive years he served as worshipful master of Crawford Lodge No. 470, A. F. and A. M., a very unusual occurrence in any order. Mr. Mock believes that there is immediate demand for the encouragement of religious training in the home life; the increase and improvement of educational facilities; the provision of homes and hospitals for those who are unavoidably destitute and helpless on account of sickness and affliction, and he is ready and willing to lead in bringing about these enactments, just as he has in so many other public-spirited movements, for such is the character of the man.
Click here for photo.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HON. PAUL R. SHAFER, Terre Haute attorney, is a former judge of the City Court and now probate judge of Vigo County.
Judge Shafer was born in Claremont, Illinois, April 28, 1886. His father, James F. Shafer, was born at Claremont and his mother, Zada M. Stokes, was born in Ohio. James F. Shafer has been a prominent farmer and stock man for many years, raising thoroughbred racing horses and is president of the First National Bank at Claremont.
Paul R. Shafer attended high school at Olney, Illinois, took the Bachelor of Science, 1906, and Bachelor of Arts degrees, 1907, from Valparaiso University and for two years was science instructor in the Southern Conference College at Siloam Springs, Arkansas. He studied law at the University of Illinois, graduating LL. B. in 1911 and for a short time was associated in practice with Judge Lynch, of Olney, and on coming to Terre Haute did clerical work until 1914, when he engaged in a private law practice. As a lawyer he has specialized in municipal finance and corporation law and has had a wide technical experience in matters involving title. Judge Shafer was city judge of Terre Haute four years, 1918-22. During this time the Indiana Bone Dry Law became effective and many cases came before him involving that law and several of them presented situations and circumstances where he was called upon to render decisions affecting liquor violations where there were no established precedents to follow.
Judge Shafer has been commissioner of probate for Vigo County since January, 1925. As probate judge he has been called upon to handle some of the largest estates ever settled in the county. Judge Shafer is a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and is a member of the Vigo County, Indiana State and American Bar Associations. He was president in 1925 of the Terre Haute Kiwanis Club and has been district trustee of the Kiwanis.
He married, August 28, 1909, Miss Eva Foster, daughter of Corban and Angeline (Stanninger) Foster. Mrs. Shafer is a graduate of the musical conservatory of the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington and was a teacher of music before her marriage and since coming to Terre Haute has taken a prominent part in local musical affairs. They have three sons, Paul Ora, James Corban and Byron Foster.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
HENRY FERNUNG, for many years active in the business and industrial life of Franklin County, was born at Mount Carmel, Indiana, April 2, 1862, son of Andrew and Margaret (Betz) Fernung. His grandfather, John Betz, came from Germany and settled in Ohio. Andrew Fernung came to Indiana at the age of eighteen, began learning the shoemaker's trade at Brookville and finished his apprenticeship at Hamilton, Ohio, where he was married. In 1858 he located at Mount Carmel, and conducted a shoemaking business there until his death in 1880, at the age of forty- six. The widowed mother survived to the age of sixty-three. Three sons of the family are now living: Henry; Andrew J., of Kokomo, Indiana; and Charles, of White Water Township, Franklin County.
Henry Fernung attended District School No. 6 in Franklin County, was on a farm until eighteen, and then learned the business of sawmilling at Mount Carmel. In 1892 he established an elevator of his own and carried on his operations on an extensive scale for many years, buying timber and converting it into lumber, and also did a wholesale and retail business as a lumberman. Mr. Fernung in 1926 disposed of his lumber business, and since that time has looked after his private investments, particularly some highly improved farming land in White Water Township. He owns 300 acres, and for several years has been specializing in Hampshire hogs.
Mr. Fernung is an independent voter. He married in 1886 Miss Mary Bell Thomas, who was born at Metamora, Indiana. Her father, Milton Thomas, was also a native of Metamora. Mrs. Fernung died October 13, 1924, leaving one child, Howard R. Howard lives with his father and married Miss Ruth Thomas.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JAMES REESE. For nearly a century the Reese family have lived in Hamilton County. Of sterling Quaker stock, they have exemplified the familiar virtues of that sect, have lived without ostentation, have been kindly, friendly, thrifty and industrious, and have measured up to the highest qualifications of good citizenship.
The late James Reese, several of whose children are well known in Hamilton County, was born at Leesburg in Highland County, Ohio, November 30, 1828, and died November 11, 1879. He was a son of Thomas Reese, who was also born in Ohio and was of Welsh ancestry. James Reese was about seven years of age when the family came to Indiana in 1835 and settled in the Providence neighborhood of Hamilton County. James Resse grew to manhood there, and his efforts put him in the class of the wealthy and extensive farmers of the county. James Reese married Sarah Jane Armstrong, who was born January 14, 1837, in Henry County, Indiana, where her people were pioneers. She passed away May 14, 1888. Both parents were active members of the Friends Church and are buried in the Hinkle Friends Cemetery. They had a family of nine children. Mary Ellen, born August 25, 1858, married James Jester and is now a widow living in Indianapolis. Lincoln, born November 8, 1860, died January 18, 1868. Alvin and Alpha were twins, born March 14, 1864. Alvin, who died May 11, 1921, married Ella Hiatt, and was a lifelong farmer. Alpha married Alex Nixon, who died in 1918, and she lives at Noblesville. Rodolphus, who was born October 11, 1866, has never married and is living retired at Noblesville. Lydia, born February 12, 1870, first married Lincoln Parsons and after his death became the wife of Clarence Sellers, and they live in Marshall County, Indiana. Phoebe Alice, born May 20, 1872, died March 4, 1877. Melvin, born in 1874, is a clothing manufacturer in New York City and married Ruth Greene, of Kokomo. Burdie, the youngest of the children, was born January 26, 1876, and died August 20, 1877.
Rodolphus Reese was reared and educated in Hamilton County and from early manhood took the active management of his father’s extensive farming interests and conducted them as long as his parents lived. Since then he has enjoyed a well earned retirement and has resided at Noblesville. He was mayor of the Village of Deming from 1904 to 1908. Mr. Reese is active in Masonry, being affiliated with Noblesville Lodge No. 57, A. F. and A. M., Noblesville Chapter No. 120, Royal Arch Masons, and Radiant Chapter No. 200 of the Eastern Star. He is a birthright Friend.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
FRANK CASPAR WAGNER was an eminent engineer and scientist who gave almost a third of a century of his service to one of Indiana's great technical institutions, the Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute. Doctor Wagner was president of the institute for five years, until his unfortunate death on November 21, 1928. While he was driving his car off the campus it was struck by an interurban car. His death was regarded as a loss not only to the institution over which he presided, its numerous alumni, but to American science at large.
He was born at Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 5, 1864, and was just at the climax of his powers when death overtook him. His father, William Wagner, was born in Germany and came to America at the age of nineteen. At Ann Arbor he established a tailoring business that still bears his name. The mother of Doctor Wagner was Priscilla Moeller, of a Pennsylvania family. It was from her that Doctor Wagner doubtless inherited his strong bent for the precise sciences. She possessed a wonderful mathematical ability. Doctor Wagner was next to the youngest of the three sons of his parents. There were also three daughters.
He was educated in the public schools of Ann Arbor and in 1884 received the Master of Arts degree from the University of Michigan. He was awarded this degree before he was twenty years of age, and for many years had the distinction of being the youngest Master of Arts graduate from the institution. By an additional year of work at the university he received the degree Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1885.
From 1886 to 1889 Doctor Wagner was employed in engineering work for the Thomson- Houston Electric Company of Lynn, Massachusetts. He supervised the erection of a number of electric lighting plants for this corporation, which was a pioneer in the development of the electrical industry in America. Some of his last work for the company was in the Republic of Mexico, where he had charge of the installation of a number of plants in and near the capital. In 1890 he returned to the University of Michigan and for the following six years was assistant professor of mechanical engineering, associated with Prof. M. E. Cooley and Prof. John R. Allen. While at the University of Michigan he tested a Nordyke pumping engine at Grand Rapids. These tests furnished him the material for a paper which he subsequently presented before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. For his research work Doctor Wagner earned a national reputation as a consultant engineer. While at the university he made a number of tests on a Sterling boiler, in connection with a patent suit. This began his work as an expert witness in patent litigation which was to occupy so large a share of his time until his death. This patent work covered a wide variety of subjects, but mainly was concerned with problems in steam engineering and heat transfer. Out of this he secured the data for a number of papers which he read before engineering societies of which he was a member. In collaboration with Mr. W. C. Ely, of Terre Haute, he designed the first rotary puddling furnace used at the local steel mills. In later years Doctor Wagner furnished expert testimony in connection with a suit involving the cracking process for the production of gasoline.
Doctor Wagner came to the Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute in 1896 as associate professor of steam and electrical engineering. In 1904 he was promoted to the rank of full professor and in 1920 was made professor of mechanical engineering. In 1923 he was given the office of president, and was the executive head of this splendid technical school until his death. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and the Tau Beta Pi fraternities.
Doctor Wagner held membership in many engineering societies. He was a fellow in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the American Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was chairman of the Indianapolis section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1927, and was president of the Indiana Engineering Society in 1928. He was appointed to represent this organization at the assembly of the American Engineering Council on January 1, 1928. During the World war he was administrative engineer for Indiana of the United States Fuel Administration. The Rose Polytechnic Institute conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Science in engineering, and a little later he received a similar degree from the University of Michigan. Besides his many contributions to engineering publications he was author of a volume entitled Notes on Applied Electricity, published in 1903.
His interests were by no means confined to engineering and science. He was acquainted with seven or eight ancient and modern languages, and he was also a deep thinker on sociological subjects. His activity in community affairs was likewise commendable. At the time of his death he was acting as president of the Community Thrift Fund of Terre Haute. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis Club, the Terre Haute Country Club and the Tau Beta Pi fraternity. Soon after coming to Terre Haute he joined the First Congregational Church, and held nearly every lay office in that organization. His charming personality and remarkable sympathy made him a friend of every student at the Polytechnic Institute, and his name is a venerated one among all alumni who attended the institute while he was there as a professor and president. The student body felt that they could always look to him for sympathetic advice as well as instruction. He lived the life of a thorough Christian gentleman in every relationship. His ability as a teacher and scientist won him national distinction. His unfailing patience and his kindly interest both inside and outside the classroom gave him the love of all his students at Terre Haute.
Doctor Wagner married at Ann Arbor, June 16, 1892, Miss Mabel Peck. She was born in Indiana and represents a prominent pioneer family of Michigan City. Her parents were Sylvester and Lucy (Rollins) Peck, her father, of Colonial ancestry, a native of New York State and her mother was born in Maine. The founder of the Peck family in Indiana was Willys Peck, leader in the business and public affairs of Michigan City and at one time mayor of that city. Mrs. Wagner has a special veneration for her grandmother, Mrs. Willys Peck, with whom she lived as a child and young woman. Mrs. Willys Peck reached the remarkable age of ninety-nine.
Doctor and Mrs. Wagner had five children: Helen, wife of J. L. McCloud, of Dearborn, Michigan, a research chemist of the Ford Motor Company; Frank Caspar, chief engineer with the Texas Central Power Company at Corpus Christi, Texas; Priscilla, wife of Fred Bates Johnson, an Indianapolis attorney; Willys Peck Wagner, an architect, connected with the Boston firm of Blodgett, Strickland & Law; and Barbara, wife of Charles D. Goodale, bacteriologist with the Commercial Solvents Corporation of Terre Haute.
Mrs. Wagner during her many years of residence in Terre Haute has had a prominent part in its social and charitable affairs. She is a member of the Woman's Department Club, the Terre Haute Club, the South Side Book Club and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Click here for photo.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
