Mr. Black is a son of John and Talitha (Wheeler) Black. His mother was a daughter of Damos and Elizabeth (King) Wheeler and a granddaughter of Lebin and Polly Wheeler. Lebin Wheeler was native of Virginia and brought the family to Indiana in 1826. He was the first settler in this part of Jackson Township, and he put up a log cabin building which was still standing and in which Wheeler Black first saw the light of day. Members of the Wheeler family are buried in the Wheeler Grove Cemetery. John Black was born in Miami County, Ohio, and was brought to Tippecanoe County by his father, William Black, who had been a soldier in the War of 1812. William Black was buried at Rob Roy, Indiana. John Black was educated in country schools and spent his active life as a farmer in Jackson Township. He was a Democrat in politics. He and his wife had three children: Elizabeth, deceased; Emma, wife of J. W. Jennings; and Wheeler.
Wheeler Black being the only son of his parents remained at home and has always lived at the old homestead farm. He was educated in the Shawnee Mound Academy and for a time attended school in Forrest, Illinois. In 1906, after the death of his father, he took over the active management of the farm. Of his present place he inherited eighty acres from his mother, and he bought 120 acres. His place is known as the Wheeler Grove Farm.
Mr. Black married Elizabeth Bittle, daughter of John and Lucinda (Curtis) Bittle. Her father was born in Virginia and was brought to Indiana by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Bittle, who settled in Putnam County. John Bittle and wife had the following children: Emma; Etta; Erma, dead; Elizabeth; Julia; Minnie, dead; and John, dead. Mr. and Mrs. Black are members and he is a trustee of the Shawnee Mound Methodist Episcopal Church.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
CARL EDWARD HINCHMAN, superintendent of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad at the general offices at Gibson, is a resident of Hammond. He has been in railroad service since boyhood and has filled a succession of positions that are evidence of capacity for the persistent and concentrated effort demanded of railway men.
Mr. Hinchman was born in Rush County, Indiana, January 18. 1878. This is one of the families that have been identified with Indiana for four generations. His great-grandfather was James Hinchman, who came out of Virginia and was one of the early pioneers of Rush County, Indiana, where he took up Government land. He and his wife and many others of the family are buried in the Hinchman Cemetery east of Rushville. The grandfatehr of Mr. Hinchman was John T. Hinchman, a farmer and stock man and a native of Rush County. The parents of Carl Edward Hinchman were William M. and Augusta (Rediker) Hinchman. His father spent all his life in Rush County, where he was a farmer and stock raiser. He died December 21, 1925, and was buried at Indianapolis. His wife, Augusta Rediker, was born at Columbus, Indiana, grew up at Rushville and is now a resident of Daleville, aged eighty-two. She is a member of the Christian Church. Her four children were: Drucilla, deceased; Mrs. Ruby Magraw, of Daleville; Carl E.; and Mrs. May Paddock, of Saint Petersburg, Florida.
Carl Edward Hinchman attended public school in Rush County, the high school at Spiceland, and had a business college course in Indianapolis. From school he entered upon what has been his life career, railroad work. He started as a clerk at Indianapolis for the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, in whose service he remained from January, 1895, to January, 1910. He was made assistant chief clerk and in that capacity was transferred to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1902. In 1910 he became chief clerk for the Chicago, Indiana & Southern Railroad, with offices at Cleveland, but in December of that year accepted transfer to Gibson, Indiana, as chief Clerk of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, in the car service department. On September 1, 1911, he was promoted to superintendent of car service, and on October 1, 1927, was made superintendent, the office he holds today.
Mr. Hinchman is a member of McKinley Lodge No. 712, A. F. and A. M., the Hammond and East Chicago Chamber of Commerce, and is a Republican. He enjoys fishing for recreation, also goes on hunting excursions occasionally, and plays a quiet game of golf.
Mr. Hinchman married at Indianapolis, September 24, 1903, Miss Christina Ostermeyer, daughter of William and Christiana Ostermeyer. Her father was a grocery merchant at Indianapolis, where her mother still resides. Mrs. Hinchman attended grammar and high school at Indianapolis. She was reared in the faith of the German Lutheran Church. She is a member of the Hammond Woman's Club.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JOHN T. STOUT is an Indiana banker and in that business has given the most productive years of his life. Mr. Stout is president of the Orange County Bank at Paoli, and in his range of civic interests is easily one of the county's foremost citizens.
Mr. Stout was born April 29, 1848. His father, Hiram stout, represented some of the fine old Quaker stock of North Carolina. He was born in Orange County, that state, in 1808, and when a young man came to Indiana and settled on a farm, where he lived out his life. He died in 1896. His wife, Nancy Thomas, was born in South Carolina and died in 1858. They had a large family of children: William, Cela, Milinda, Mattie, John T., Amos, Ellen, Cloria, and Michael, the latter of whom died in infancy.
John T. Stout grew up on an Indiana farm, and attended public schools at Lick Creek and the Orleans Normal School. His was a boy, hood which emphasized industry and self-help. He made opportunities to turn his industry into profit while a boy on the farm by raising and selling watermelons and other garden truck. He also clerked in a store, starting at a very small salary, later was put on a profit sharing basis, and still later bought the business. After conducting it for a few years he sold out and in 1871 moved to Paoli, where he continued in the mercantile business for several years.
In 1886 Mr. Stout and his brother Amos acquired an interest in the Orange County Bank, their associates for several years being Mr. Bowles and Mr. Hicks. In 1888 the Stout brothers acquired the Bowles interest and later bought out Mr. Hicks. Since 1900 Mr. John Stout has been the chief owner of the bank, and its president.
Mr. Stout was thirteen years of age when the Civil war broke out. Later he traveled from his home to Indianapolis for the purpose of getting instructed for duty as a soldier, but was rejected on account of his age. He had spent all his money in getting to Indianapolis, and had to earn his way home by helping fire the locomotive, which was one of the old wood burning engines of those days. Mr. Stout has been an influential factor in the Republican party of Orange County. He was a delegate to the national convention that nominated William McKinley in 1896. He is a member of the Friends Church and has served as a member of the board of trustees of Earlham College at Richmond. Governor Durbin appointed him a trustee of the Southern Indiana Insane Hospital and for a number of years he gave his time to the important duties of administering this state institution. Mr. Stout is a Royal Arch Mason, member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has always been ready in response to worthy civic and philanthropic enterprises.
He married in April, 1870, Miss Adeline McCarell, daughter of William and Rachel McCarell, of Louisville. Her parents were living at Louisville, Kentucky, during the Civil war. When General Bragg, of the southern army, gave orders that all women and children should evacuate that city before he advanced upon it, the McCarells left and came to Dubois County and remained there permanently. Mrs. Stout passed away in 1915. Eight children were born to their marriage, one of whom died in infancy. The seven living children are: Minnie is the wife of John Copeland, of Paoli. Elmer, unmarried, is a graduate of Harvard Law School and is prominent in banking circles at Indianapolis, being president of the Fletcher American National Bank, the largest bank in Indiana, with resources of $48,000,000. His numerous honors and accomplishments are listed in Who's Who in America. Orville, of Vincennes, married Myrtle Brown and has two children. Mary is the wife of Dr. T. N. Braxton, of Boise, Idaho, and has four children. Charles lives at Memphis, Tennessee, and owns a chain of seven flour mills and is a man of large means. He married Warda Stevens and has two daughters. Raymond, cashier of the Orange County Bank at Paoli, married Sarah Oakes, of Boise, Idaho, and has a family of four children. John A., who is associated with Charles in the milling business, lives at Memphis, Tennessee. He married Helen Barnes, of Seymour, Indiana, and has two children.
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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
RAY P. JOHNSON. Because of the extent, variety and importance of the enterprises with which he is intimately identified, Ray Prescott Johnson, Sr., of Muncie, is unqualifiedly entitled to rank as one of the leading business men of his community. Even before the termination of his college career he had been one of the founders of the Warner Gear Company, a nationally known concern of which he has been president since 1917, and during more recent years has allied himself with other large interests, the size and prominence of which have not only assured his own position as a business captain but also have contributed to the prestige of his adopted city.
Mr. Johnson was born at Bluff ton, Indiana, June 4, 1878, and is a son of Abbott L. and Florence (Merriman) Johnson. Abbott L. Johnson was born in Herkimer County, New York, where he was reared and received a public school education, and in young manhood came to Indiana and took up his residence at Bluff ton. He became one of the substantial business men and highly-respected citizens of his community and was one of the founders of the Warner Gear Company, with which he was identified until his death in 1923, when he was buried in Beech Grove Cemetery at Muncie. He married Florence A. Merriman, who died in 1925, and is also buried in Beech Grove. There were three children in the family: John Edgar, who is now deceased; Ray Prescott, of this review; and Florence Grace, the wife of Charles S. Davis, a graduate of Harvard, class of 1899, and president of the Borg-Warner Corporation of Muncie. A sketch of his career appears elsewhere in this work.
After attending public and private schools Ray P. Johnson entered the University of Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1903. Two years previous to this time, in 1901, he had been one of the founders and organizers of the Warner Gear Company, and immediately upon his graduation entered the office of this company, rising by general stages and promotions until elected to the presidency in 1919. This has become one of the leading concerns of its kind in the country and its market covers the entire United States and a number of foreign countries, where its product is known for its excellence and reliability. Mr. Johnson is also a director of the Delaware County National Bank of Muncie, president of the Warner Electric Company, vice president of the Glasscock Brothers Manufacturing Company, vice president of the Borg-Warner Corporation and a member of directorate of the Live Poultry Transit Company of Chicago, in addition to being connected in various capacities with many other enterprises. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of Delaware Lodge No. 46, A. F. and A. M., of Muncie, and of Murat Shrine, Indianapolis; and belongs likewise to the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Columbia Club of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Athletic Club and the Delaware Country Club. In politics he is a Republican and his religious affiliation is with the First Baptist Church of Muncie, of which he is a member of the board of trustees. He has always been known as a public-spirited and patriotic citizen, and during the World war was appointed by the secretary of the war department to head a group of automotive engineers to assist in the organization and operation of the Motor Transport Corps, a service which called for his presence at Tours, France, for six months. His work in this direction was very valuable and was highly appreciated, as were his services in behalf of the Liberty Loan and other drives.
On June 6, 1906, at Terre Haute, Indiana, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage with Miss Anna Davis, of that city, a daughter of Daniel N. and Margaret (Hyde) Davis. Mr. Davis was for a number of years engaged in the coal business, until becoming connected with the Warner Gear Company, with which he continued to be identified until his death. He was buried in Beech Grove Cemetery, while Mrs. Davis still survives and is a greatly esteemed resident of Muncie. Mrs. Johnson was educated at St. Mary's of the Woods, Terre Haute, from which she was graduated in 1903, and has been very active in church work and in the Matinee Music Club and the Woman’s Club. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson: Ray Prescott, Jr., and Margaret. Ray Prescott Johnson, Jr., after attending the public schools of Muncie and graduating from the high school, entered Wabash College, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1928. Following this he took post-graduate work at Harvard, and now holds a responsible position with the Warner Gear Company. Miss Margaret Johnson, a graduate of Mount Vernon Seminary, Washington, D. C., class of 1929, is now an art student in the Grand Central Art School, New York City, where she is showing much promise.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
WALTER A. BATES. In the highly specialized field of steel manufacture for public utilities corporations, one of the best known concerns is the United States is the Walter Bates Steel Corporation, of Gary. This company has been in existence only since 1926, but within this short space of time, by reason of the mechanical genius, executive capacity and broad and thorough knowledge of steel manufacture of its president and manager, Walter A. Bates, it has assumed a commanding position in the face of strong competition. Mr. Bates has led a somewhat varied career, having been engaged in a number of pursuits, but steel has always been his real vocation and hobby, and as the head of his present concern he finds himself the directing power of one of the great enterprises of a great industrial city.
Mr. Bates was born at Joliet, Illinois, November 14, 1887, and is a son of Albert J. and Ellen (Amos) Bates. The Bates family is of English origin and was founded a number of generations ago in this country, the grandfather of Mr. Bates being a pioneer of Carthage, Missouri. At that place, in 1862, was born the father of Walter A. Bates, Albert J. Bates, who was reared in his native community and educated in the public schools. As a youth he displayed great mechanical ingenuity and eventually became a mechanical engineer and rose to top of his profession. He was the founder of the Bates Expanded Steel Truss Company at East Chicago, Indiana, in 1914, and is still president of that company, although sixty-eight years of age, a time of life when most men, when possessed of a generous share of this world's goods, consider the matter of retiring from active business labors. Mr. Bates won the medal at the World's Columbian Exposition (World's Fair) at Chicago in 1893, for "the best steam Corliss engine," which he designed and built. For a number of years he served in the important capacity of chief consulting engineer of the American Steel & Wire Company, and is the originator of a large number of their products. Mr. Bates makes his home at Chicago and is a popular member of the South Shore Country Club. Mrs. Ellen (Amos) Bates was born in England and came to the United States at the age of twelve years with her parents, the family settling at Carthage, Missouri, where she received her education in the public schools. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church and has taken an active part in the movements of women's clubs and societies. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bates: Pearl, now the wife of W. P. Wood, of Chicago; Walter A., of this review; Richard A., of East Chicago, Indiana; Albert J., of Chicago; and Charles I., also of that city.
Walter A. Bates attended the public schools of Joliet and was graduated from high school as a member of the class of 1906. Upon leaving school he secured employment with the American Steel & Wire Company, in the capacity of mechanic, but after a short time went to Chicago, where he was employed on the Board of Trade, later being with the Milwaukee Board of Trade, in all for about three years. For the five years that followed he was connected with ranching in Montana, but sold his ranch and returned to East Chicago, Indiana, where he became associated with his father in the Bates Expanded Steel Trust Company, in the capacity of vice president and general manager. As such he had charge of the construction of the plant and later was in charge of the management for twelve years, or until 1926. During this period, in 1919 and 1920, he was employed at Savana, Italy, in the construction of a subsidiary plant of the same corporation, and this plant is still in successful operation. Returning to Gary in 1926, Mr. Bates constructed his own plant, the Walter Bates Steel Corporation, which is one of the largest of its kind in the country, specializing in the manufacture of steel for public utilities corporations, of which Mr. Bates is president and manager, with offices on East Fifth Avenue. One of the most recent products of this company is the "Squaretrus" expanded-angle steel pole, designed and perfected by a group of engineers who are specialists in steel products for utilities. In producing this pole they have accomplished in design, serviceability and economy a product that identifies this company for its close cooperation with utilities. Not alone in engineering, but in manufacturing, the Walter Bates Steel Corporation is equipped for quality production. The large plant is most modern throughout - each process is an advanced one - all machinery of the latest types, even to electrically heated and controlled galvanizing pot. Accuracy has always been one of the corporation's slogans. Mr. Bates stands exceptionally high in the esteem of his associates in the steel industry as a man of authoritative knowledge and rare executive ability. He is an enthusiastic and constructive member of the Rotary Club of Gary, the Gary Commercial Club and Chamber of Commerce, the Gary Country Club, and the Union League Club of Chicago. He is not a politician, but votes the Republican ticket. During the World war he was engaged in the manufacture of materials for the allied cause and also worked for the various drives. He has taken a keen and helpful interest in civic affairs, and is a consistent member of the First Presbyterian Church.
On June 28" 1912, at Dillon, Montana, Mr. Bates was united in marriage with Miss Beulah Harrison, daughter of Homer and May Harrison, formerly of Lewiston, Illinois, and later of Dillon, Montana, where Mrs. Bates graduated from the State Normal College. For a few years prior to her marriage she taught school in Montana, and has always been interested in the cause of education. She is a devout member of the Presbyterian Church and has been active in club and social circles of Gary. To Mr. and Mrs. Bates there have been born two children: Walter A., Jr., and Betty, both of whom are attending the Horace Mann School at Gary.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
ALLYN FRANCIS BRADLEY, secretary-manager of the Whiting Chamber of Commerce, is president of the Indiana Commercial Secretaries Association. Mr. Bradley has shown a special genius for organization work, and has a reputation in several progressive cities of the Middle West.
He is a native of Illinois, born at Plano July 25, 1887, son of Horace S. and Mary Ann (Swanick) Bradley. Mr. Bradley is descended from an old and prominent New England family.
His great-great-grandfather was Timothy Bradley. Timothy Bradley was a man of remarkable experience and lived to the great age of 101 years, two months and one day. He was born at Guilford, Connecticut, July 20, 1770, and died September 21, 1871. His father, Capt. Timothy Bradley, commanded the fort at Guilford, Connecticut, during the Revolutionary war. His brother was also an officer in that war. Timothy Bradley as a youth served an apprenticeship of seven years at the trade of ironing ships. When a young man he removed to the State of New York, settling at Sherburn, subsequently lived at Windsor and then at Vestal, and more than sixty years of his life were spent in Broome County. He was one of the family of twelve children, and was himself the father of five children. The oldest of these was Gen. Horace S. Bradley, Sr., who afterwards was a member of the firm of Bradley & Bradford, the first jewelers in business at Binghamton, New York. On the occasion of the one hundredth birthday of Timothy Bradley his friends and neighbors in Broome County came to congratulate him on the occasion, at which time the outlined facts of his career as just noted were published in a local paper, together with an address of welcome, which is herewith quoted:
"You were born in a little British colony in 1770, and can remember when the new nation was born which you have seen grow to great influence and power, and take its place among the foremost nations of the world. Brought up during the eventful scene of the Revolutionary war; what transpired then is only known to us in history, but is to you, experience. You have often seen General Washington and many prominent officers of the Revolutionary war, witnessed some of the engagements of that war, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Battle of Bunker Hill, the suffering of the army at Valley Forge, the surrender of Burgoyne and Cornwallis, are all events that you recollect perfectly well. When the War of 1812 broke out, you were over forty years of age, and no doubt thought you were becoming an old man, but your life has been continued on to the age of steam and telegraph, on past with the war with Mexico, the War of the Rebellion, you have seen the continents connected by railroads and the oceans by telegraph. Your mind is yet vigorous to comprehend the advancement of this age and compare it with a century ago.
"It is the wish of your many friends that the few remaining days that may be allotted to you, may be full of happiness, and when you are gathered to your Father, you may be like a shock of grain, fully ripe for the harvest."
The grandfather of Allyn F. Bradley, Horace S. Bradley, served as an officer in the Union army in the Civil war. After his business connections in the East he came to Illinois and was one of the pioneers of Carroll County, where he followed farming and stock raising. He and his wife are buried at Mount Carroll.
Horace S. Bradley, Jr., father of Allyn F. Bradley, was born and reared at Mount Carroll, Illinois, attended public schools there and the State Normal School. After his marriage he moved to Plano, Illinois, where with his brother he established and conducted for two years a general mercantile business. They then opened a general store at Sandwich, Illinois, and were together in business until 1910. Since that year he has been Central West representative for the Babcock Corporation of Bath, New York. He is a prominent Mason, and an elder and trustee of the Presbyterian Church at Sandwich. His wife, Mary Ann Swanick, was born and reared at Mendota, Illinois. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church and active in community affairs. The three children of these parents were: Allyn F.; Hazel J., widow of Reynolds Dale, of Sandwich; and Dr. Horace S. Bradley, an osteopathic physician at Elmhurst, Illinois.
Allyn F. Bradley graduated from the Sandwich High School in 1904. He subsequently took special work in commercial administration and accounting at the University of Wisconsin and Northwestern University. As an accountant he spent six years as associate planning supervisor with the Lyon Metal Products Company and another six years as cost accountant with the Aurora Automatic Tool Company.
Since 1919 Mr. Bradley has given all his time to Chamber of Commerce work. For three years he was assistant managing secretary of the Aurora, Illinois, Chamber of Commerce. He then accepted the invitation to become the first secretary of the Association of Commerce at Bismarck, North Dakota, and while there he organized the North Dakota State Corn Show. He was in North Dakota three years and from there came to Indiana. He was at Mishawaka four years, as secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, organizing and developing the industrial program of that city. He also organized and perfected the work of the Mishawaka Welfare Federation and Community Fund and the Mishawaka Credit Bureau.
Mr Bradley became manager and secretary of the Whiting Chamber of Commerce in 1929. He has accomplished some big things in this city, including the reorganization of the Whiting-Robertsdale Community Chest, the Council of Social Agencies; the Whiting Dental Society and the Whiting Credit Bureau. He is a member of the Mid-West Shippers Advisory Board and Foreign Trade Council, and is secretary of the Calumet Congress, which is a super organization representing all the Chamber of Commerce work in the Calumet region.
Mr. Bradley is a Master Mason, a member of the Lions Club, is an independent Republican and a member of the Presbyterian Church. His recreations are golf and fishing. He has had an active part in Boy Scout work for a number of years, being chairman of the troop organization at Whiting and while at Aurora, Illinois, he was appointed the first deputy scout commissioner in that area. He was at Aurora during the World war period, and when Maj. Charles Harkison organized the Sixth Illinois Reserve Militia Mr. Bradley was appointed sergeant major on his staff and later was lieutenant of Company K, Sixth Regiment, Illinois Reserve Militia.
He married at Aurora, March 30, 1912, Miss Alice M. Sexton, daughter of Charles S. and Helen (Satterly) Sexton. Her father was a farmer and stock raiser in Illinois and later moved to Garden City, Kansas, where he became a rancher, but is now living there retired. Mrs. Bradley's mother died in 1898 and is buried at Na-au-say, Illinois. An uncle of Mrs. Bradley is Charles E. Shepherd, of the Ingalls-Shepherd Drop Forge Company of Harvey, Illinois. Mrs. Bradley attended the grammar and high schools at Garden City, Kansas, took a business college course at Aurora, Illinois, and for about two years before her marriage was in secretarial work with the United Gas & Electric Company. She is a member of the Whiting Woman's Club and the Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley have an interesting family of eight children: Helen Shepherd, Mary Charlotte, John Sexton, June Elizabeth, Allyn F., Jr., Alice Ruth, Shirley Ann and Richard Satterly. Helen was graduated from the Mishawaka High School in 1929 and was elected honor member of the National Honor Society and was a member of the Quill and Scroll Society in high school. She assisted her father in the Credit Bureau at Whiting as assistant manager until April 1, 1931, and is now in secretarial work with the Lever Brothers Company. The daughter Mary Charlotte is in junior high school, and John, June and Allyn are in the grade schools.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
