A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 115

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273

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Politically Mr. Osborn is an ardent Republi- can, and socially is identified with the Hanna Lodge No. 708, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and the Modern Woodmen of America, Hanna Camp No. 4612. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Hanna, and he has always been promi- nently identified with any enterprise which he be- lieved would prove of public benefit or would in any way advance the interests of his fellow men. Mrs. Osborn was educated in Westville high school under Professor Laird, also under Pro- fessor Phelon, and in the schools at Hanna and Union Mills.

PHILO Q. DORAN, a prominent and lead- ing lawyer of LaPorte, who is also filling the position of United States commissioner, was born at Michigan City, in LaPorte county, in the year 1872. His paternal grandfather was a native of county Monaghan in the north of Ireland and was of Scotch descent. When a lad he came to America, landing at Montreal, and from there prceeded to the Uinted States, establishing his home in Ohio .. He afterward came, with the Bigelow family, a prominent pioneer family of Indiana, to LaPorte county, locating at what later became known as Bigelow Mills, near Wanatah. There he was married, and subsequently located at Michigan City, where he became associated with Chauncey Blair, of Chicago, and a capitalist in the grain business. They built an immense elevator on the lake front, from which their grain was taken to the vessels for shipment to Chicago. There were no docks or harbor at Michigan City at that time, for this was before the era of rail- roads, and the work of improvement had scarcely been begun in that portion of the country at that time. The firm, however, did an extensive busi- ness, the farmers hauling their wheat to Michi-

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gan City in wagons from a large surrounding district. The firm purchased the product, and transported it by boat to the city markets. In his later life Mr. Doran was the representative of the American Express Company, which corpora- tion eventually retired him upon a pension after many years spent in its service. He died in Michi- gan City in 1900, at the ripe old age of seventy- seven years. .

Francis H. Doran, the father of Philo Q. Doran, was born at Michigan City, in 1845, and is one of the old settlers of this portion of the state, having been a witness of its development and progress for fifty-eight years. He served as postmaster at Michigan City for four years under President Harrison's administration, and was elected county auditor on the Republican ticket in 1894, although the county is strongly Democratic, and that was particularly known as a Democratic year. The fact of his election in- dicates his personal popularity, and the confi- dence and trust which are uniformly reposed in him. In 1898 he was re-elected for another term of four years, and on the close of eight years' ser- vice in that position retired from office as he had entered it, with the trust and good will of all. In the last Republican convention held in Indi- anapolis he was a leading candidate for the nomi- nation of auditor of the state. He is now asso- ciated with the Pere Marquette Railway Com- pany, and still makes his home in LaPorte. In his early manhood he married Miss Mary Ellen Quinn, who was born in Bainbridge, Indiana, and like her husband enjoys the friendship of many in LaPorte and this part of the state.

Philo Q. Doran acquired his education in the schools of Michigan City and in a business col- lege in Chicago, becoming thus well qualified for the practical and responsible duties of life. After putting aside his text books he accepted the posi- tion of secretary to the superintendent of the passenger car department of construction of the Pullman Company, with offices at Pullman, Illi- nois. While in that position he had some thril- ling experiences in connection with the Pullman strike of 1894, being in charge of a picket guard recruited from the office force. His education for the bar and in oratory was obtained in leisure hours. While with the Pullman Company he studied without the aid of a teacher, his idea be- ing to apply his knowledge to the business in which he was engaged. He also studied elocu- tion in the Lyman school, and became so talented in that direction that as a social entertainer he was in great demand. His oratorical training

has been of great value to him in his profession and as a public speaker, and enables him to pre- sent a case with great effect. Having read law assiduously and attentively for sometime, Mr. Doran was admitted to the bar of LaPorte in 1895. In 1894, however, he had accepted a posi- tion as deputy county auditor under his father, and served in that capacity for eight years. In 1902 he was nominated by the Republicans for the position of county auditor, and although he made a strong race was defeated with the other candidates of the Republican party, for LaPorte county is a Democratic stronghold of the state. On the Ist of January, 1903, Mr. Doran entered into partnership with E. E. Weir, and since that time has been successfully engaged in the prac- tice of law. Although a young man he has at- tained a reputation which many an older practi- tioner might well envy. On the 2d of July, 1903, he was appointed United States commissioner for the federal court of which Albert Anderson, of Indianapolis, is the judge, Mr. Doran's juris- diction being LaPorte county and vicinity.

In the early part of 1903 Mr. Doran was hap- pily married in LaPorte to Miss Laura Nye, a daughter of the late Hon. Mortimer Nye, a for- mer lieutenant governor of Indiana. The young couple have an attractive home, and to them is extended the hospitality of many of the best homes of LaPorte. Mr. Doran is a past exalted ruler of the local lodge of Elks, and belongs to the Masonic and Knights of Pythias fraternities and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Independent Order of Foresters and the Knights of Maccabees. He has made his home in LaPorte continuously since 1894, and is a popular young man of wide and varied experience. He pos- sesses a genial manner and pleasing disposition. Wherever he goes he wins friends and has the happy faculty of being able to retain them. His popularity has made him a great favorite in all circles.

CLARENCE H. GEIST, of Chicago. is a native son of LaPorte county who has achieved success and prominence in the business world, and is now a capitalist and promoter of business enterprises. He is a distinctively self-made man. He was a young man without capital when he started out, and his first venture was almost a failure, so that when he went to Chicago a few years ago he had little more than enough money to last a week. But since that time, while he has made certain his own material prosperity, he has been particularly identified with the development

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of many public utilities of great benefit to the people of Chicago and other communities, and is now to be mentioned among the men of push and enterprise of whom Chicago is so proud.

Mr. Geist was born in New Durham town- ship, LaPorte county, Indiana, in 1866, the son of Ezra and Elouise (Bradley) Geist. Ezra Geist was born in Northumberland county, Penn- sylvania, in 1831, and came to LaPorte county in 1835, with his parents, who were among the first settlers, and who took up land in New Durham township, where the family has lived ever since. Ezra Geist has followed farming all his life, and has been a man of prominence in his township. He still lives on the Geist homestead near West- ville, but his wife, who was a native of New York state, died in July, 1901.

Mr. Geist attended the township and West- ville public schools, and lived on the home farm until 1888, when he went to Clay county, Ne- braska, to engage in the stock-raising business. He remained there for four years, with poor suc- cess, as may be judged from the fact that he ar- rived in Chicago, in 1892, during the panic, with only twelve dollars in his pocket. As soon as pos- sible he secured a position in the employ of the Rock Island Railroad now the Rock Island System, as collector on the suburban trains, at a salary of fifty-five dollars a month. This position he held for one year, and then made the important change of his life by engaging in the real estate business. For the first six months he sold property on commission for different firms, and then for a year carried on a very suc- cessful business in that line in Blue Island. after which he opened an office in Chicago. He had a flourishing trade in city and suburban real es- tate for several years, but recently has engaged extensively in gas and electric illuminating entr- prises, especially the former. He has promoted and capitalized several companies of this charac- ter, and is now president of the South Shore Gas and Electric Company, whose territory includes Hammond, East Chicago, Indiana Harbor and Whiting: and is also president of the Michigan City and Northern Indiana Gas Company, of Michigan City. He is now building gas works at Chicago Heights. He is also president of the Central Telephone Construction Company and he has just formed a company, of which he will be the president and general manager, for the pur- pose of the consolidation of the gas interests of five cities lving west of Chicago. He is a stock- holder in the Calumet Electric Company and a director of the Manufacturers' Bank of Chicago.

He owns much valuable real estate throughout the city and many acres in the Calumet district. At the present time he is interested in the pro- motion of an extensive telephone enterprise in Iowa.

Mr. Geist has the aggressive and pushing spirit which will never down, no matter how many defeats or difficulties come. These qualities and his persevering industry were the only re- sources he could call to his aid when he began his career, and he has certainly risen rapidly in the business world. Ten years is a very short time to lift himself from a poor Nebraska stock farmer to a place among the leading business men of the second city in the union of states.

Mr. Geist is a member of the Chicago Athletic Club, the Midlothian Golf Club, the Hamilton Club, the Englewood Men's Club, and the Chi- cago Riding and Driving Club. His office is at 171 LaSalle street, and he resides at the Chicago Beach Hotel. His wife is Isola ( Web- ster) Geist, to whom he was married at Harvard, Nebraska. Mr. Geist is an earnest and active Re- publican, and is taking a leading part in state and national politics.

CAPTAIN ALLEN A. KENT, head of the United States life-saving station at Michigan City, has been assigned to this station since 1897, and has been in the revenue and life-saving ser- vice since he was twenty-two years of age. There is no one branch of government institutions which performs greater service for the protection of human life and property than the life-saving de- partment, and the hardy, robust and brave- hearted men who man the stations hold a higher position of honor and esteem than those who be- long to the standing army or navy, for they are constantly in warfare with the elements, and peace is never declared to their strife with the storm and waves. Captain Kent has done important work in this capacity, and many owe their lives to him and his gallant crew.

Captain Kent is of English descent on both father's and mother's side, and his family dates back several centuries in the history of the coun- try. His father's people were early settlers of New York state, and lived for many years in Utica of that state. His grandfather, Henry Kent, was a native of that state, was a farmer by occupation, and died at a very old age. He had a large family of fourteen sons and two daughters. Of these sons, Arba B., the father of Captain Kent, was the only one who did not enlist for service in the Union cause during the

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Civil war, and he was only prevented from carry- ing out his patriotic impulses in order to remain at home and care for his aged parents. He was born in New York, and in youth was a lumber- man. He went to Muskegon, Michigan, in 1843, and was engaged in mercantile purusits during the later years of his life. He still lives in Mus- kegon, but for about eight years was in business in Waukegan, Illinois, without, however, sever- ing his connection with the lumber interests of Michigan. He is now eighty years of age, his birth having occurred on January 27, 1824. He married Sarah J. Spaulding, who was born in Illinois, and is also still living. They are mem- bers of the Methodist church, and have been ac- tive workers in religious affairs and have helped build several churches. They had three children, a son and two daughters, and the daughters died in infancy. Mrs. Sarah Kent's father was Allen Spaulding, who was a pioneer to Illinois, and lived principally in Waukegan and Chicago. He owned considerable property in both these cities, and speculated in real estate. There were eight or ten children in his family.

Captain Kent was born during his father's residence in Waukegan, Illinois, on November 8, 1860, and was reared in Muskegon, Michigan. He received his schooling at the latter place. When a boy he manifested a strong desire for a sailor's life, and as soon as he could he became a sailor on Lake Michigan. He has sailed all over the Great Lakes, and he continued this pur- suit until he was twenty-two years old, at which time he entered the revenue service. He was advanced to different grades, and in the spring of 1897 was stationed at Michigan City as cap- tain of the crew. He has been present at a num- ber of wrecks, and has saved many lives. He is popular with his men, and the discipline and training at this station are as high-class as can be found at any point around the lake.

Captain Kent was married on August 29. 1885, to Miss Martha Weaver, a daughter of John Weaver, of East Saugatuck, Michigan, and they have two children, Allen J. and Ray Kent. Captain Kent and his wife are Methodists in faith, but are not identified with the church. He affiliates with Washington Lodge No. 94, K. of P., and with the Modern Woodmen of America, also with Martha Washington Temple No. 275, Rathbone Sisters.

REV. HENRY WELLER, who during many years in the middle of the last century was a leader in the religious propaganda and doctrines

of the famous Emanuel Swedenborg, and whose influence through the press and pulpit and his daily contact with men was felt throughout many sections of the middle west, was born at Battle, Sussex county, England (the scene of the deci- sive battle of Hastings in 1066), in 1801.

He received a good literary education, and, being a strong-minded youth, with much fond- ness for investigation, especially along religious lines, he early became interested in a society known as "Free-thinking Christians," which claimed freedom from all sectarian bias. He cherished the ambition to become a minister, and at the age of fifteen delivered his first religious discourse at Hastings, England.

In 1837 Mr. Weller emigrated to the United States with his family, and, after residing in New York city for two years, located in Marshall, Michigan, in 1839. At that time southern Michi- gan was a wilderness, with population in num- bers in favor of the Indians, and in every way an uninviting place except for the sturdy pioneer. Mr. Weller, in addition to the arduous toil of making a home, also preached in the new coun- try, at different communities in Michigan and in northern Indiana.

In 1840 he became attracted to the spiritual philosophy of Swedenborg, with the result that he adopted those beliefs, and from that time till his death was an earnest and enthusiastic ex- pounder of the faith of the Church of New Jeru- salem. In 1850 he made his first visit to LaPorte, where he began the formation of a society of the New Church, having the honor of being its foun- der as well as its first minister. The beauty of the doctrines of the new denomination and the deep spiritual character of its head together at- tracted some. of the most prominent citizens to his support, among whom were the Andrew fam- ily, Judge Niles, Dr. Teegarden and others, who remained his most intimate friends and admirers throughout his lifetime.

In 1853 Mr. Weller brought his family from Grand Rapids, Michigan. and located perma- nently in LaPorte. Grand Rapids was also the scene of his endeavors, and he had built up a society of the New Church there. On July I. 1853. he founded in LaPorte a periodical called the Crisis, "devoted to the inner life of the New Church." This magazine was ably conducted and edited, and from the start enjoyed a wide and appreciative circle of readers, not only from La- Porte and environs, but from all parts of the United States and England. The name was later changed to the New Church Independent, which

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publication was discontinued recently, after a continuous life of fifty years.

The old Weller homestead, about a mile north of LaPorte, on Stone Lake, was established by Mr. Weller in 1855, and has remained in the family ever since. It contains several acres of picturesque woodland bordering on the lake, and of recent years has been operated as a summer resort, under the name of "Weller's Grove," and the cottages located there are occupied by resi- dents of LaPorte and other cities.

Mr. Weller is especially remembered by the old soldiers, for during the years 1863-64 he was chaplain of the Eighty-seventh Indiana Infantry, and there was not a man in the regiment who would not speak a kind and appreciative word for their spiritual friend. And many of the old- time residents of LaPorte trace the beginning of their religious enlightenment and knowledge to his beneficent influence and teachings, and thus as long as individual thought and effort domi- nate the world his power will be felt and ac- knowledged. He died June 7, 1868, from disease contracted in the army.

Mr. Weller was married September 20, 1826, in Hastings, England, to Miss Caroline Stevens, who died at Chicago in June, 1867, having been the mother of four sons: John S., William H., Alfred and Charles E., the first three of whom were born in England, and the last in Michigan.

John S. Weller was born at Hastings, Eng- land, August 20, 1829. He came to LaPorte in 1853 to take charge of the business department of the LaPorte Weekly Times, a local paper un- der very efficient management and backed by some prominent and wealthy, men, chief among whom was John Walker. He was the publisher of the Times until July 1, 1853, when he became the publisher of his father's magazine, the Crisis, and during the greater part of his years spent in LaPorte devoted himself capably to the interests of that periodical. A short time after the break- ing out of the Civil war he established the Weekly Review in Elkhart, Indiana, but upon his father's enlistment in the early part of 1863 he returned to LaPorte, and once more took charge of the Crisis. In 1872 he and his family removed to Chicago, where he was engaged in business till his death, June 8, 1894. He was married in 1854 to Miss Sarah Anne Bricher, who died in Chi- cago in 1898. Their three sons, Walter, Fernald and George, and one daughter, Carrie, are living in Chicago.

William H. Weller, the second son of Rev. Henry Weller, was born in England in 1832, and,

having learned the printer's trade, took charge of the printing and mechanical department of the Crisis when it was started. During the sum- mer of 1856 he learnel telegraphy, and from that year until within a few years of his death he was connected with the telegraph business in railroad service, and for nearly thirty years was chief train despatcher of the western division of the Lake Shore Railroad, with headquarters at LaPorte. In 1872 he purchased his brothers' interest in the old Weller homestead north of the city and made it his home, and during the last years of his life gave attention to the renting of the cottages and other details connected with the summer resort of Weller's Grove. He died in December, 1900. His widow, who was Miss Ella Thompson, survives him, and lives at the Weller home. Of their two children, Henry F. is assistant bookkeeper at the First National Bank of LaPorte, and the daughter, Mrs. H. L. Stan- ton, resides in Chicago.

The third son, Alfred, was born in England in 1836, and learned telegraphy at the age of twelve, in Marshall, Michigan, on the first tele- graph line built west of Detroit, being at that time the youngest telegraph operator in the west. He was the first person to discover that the Morse alphabet could be read by sound, and now enjoys the distinction of being the oldest living telegraph operator in the United States. In 1853 he left the telegraph service and came to LaPorte to join his parents and brothers, and was for some time employed as deputy postmaster, first under Major Walton, and afterwards under Dr. Lemon, and was afterwards employed as deputy circuit clerk under Volney W. Bailey. In 1855 he re-entered the telegraph service at White Pigeon, Michigan, and in 1857 obtained a position in the Western Union telegraph office at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A year later he was appointed manager of the Milwaukee office, which position he held continu- ously from that time for about forty years. He is now general manager of the Signalphone Manufacturing Company with headquarters at Milwaukee. In December, 1860, he married Julia G. Seymour, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, by whom he has two sons, Harry 'S. Weller, as- sistant manager of the Pittsburg Plate Glass Com- pany at Pittsburg, and William B. Weller, secre- tary and treasurer of the Wisconsin Fidelity Trust & Safe Deposit Company of Milwaukee.

Charles E. Weller, youngest son of Rev. H. Weller, was born near Marshall, Michigan, in 1840. At twelve years of age he began work in his father's printing office, and a year later

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learned telegraphy under John Milliken, at La- Porte. In 1862 he learned Pitman's system of phonography, and having perfected himself as a law stenographer, went to St. Louis in 1867, taking with him the first prac- tical typewriter ever constructed, he having been an intimate friend of the inventor, Hon. C. Latham Sholes, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1866 he married Margaret A. Watkins at Mil- waukee, by whom he has two sons, Dr. William Ed. Weller, a practicing dentist, and Frank Wel- ler, a law stenographer, who is in partnership with him under the firm name of Weller & Wel- ler, Law Stenographers, at St. Louis, Missouri.

WILLIAM R. ANDRUS, proprietor of the Star Steam Laundry at Michigan City, was born in Edwardsburg, Michigan, on the 4th of August, 1863, being a son of James and Celinda (Har- ring) Andrus, the former a native of Michigan and the latter of the state of New York. On the paternal side he is a grandson of Hazzard An- drus, who also claimed the Empire state as the place of his nativity, and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was a soldier in the . war of 1812. He was the father of a large fam- ily of children. He was summoned into eternal rest in old age, and his wife reached the good old age of eighty-four years. The maternal grand- father of William Andrus passed his life as a far- mer in New York, and he, too, reached an ad- vanced age.

James Andrus, the father of William Andrus, also took up the life of a farmer, and he lived his entire life in Michigan with the exception of two years spent in Kansas, in which state he was married, and during the period in which he was absent as a soldier in the Civil war. He still makes his home in Edwardsburg, and is engaged in the tilling of the soil. His wife, who was born on the 9th of December, 1840, was called to the home beyond on October 4, 1903, when sixty-three years of age. She was a member of the Methodist church. During the war of the rebellion Mr. James Andrus enrolled as a soldier in the Union army, entering the artillery service, but on account of sickness spent most of the time in a hospital. In political matters he is a Pro- hibitionist. Four children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. James Andrus, three sons and a daughter, the latter of whom, Cora, is deceased, and the sons are Henry, William R. and George S.

William R. Andrus lived at Edwardsburg, Michigan, until he was sixteen years of age, dur-

ing which time he attended the public schools, and after putting aside his text-books he entered the grocery business, to which he devoted nearly his entire attention until coming to Michigan City. The date of his arrival here was in February, 1896, when he embarked in the laundry business and is now the proprietor of Star Steam Laundry, at 310 Franklin street.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 115

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1273

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273