A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 73

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

USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana > Part 73

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J. F. Kreidler graduated from the commer- cial department of the public schools and after- ward became assistant postmaster at Michigan City, serving in that capacity for five years, largely under President Cleveland's first admin-

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istration. He then entered the First National Bank as bookkeeper, being gradually promoted until for the past eight years he has been the ef- ficient and popular cashier of the bank. He is one of its stockholders and directors, and is also financially interested in the Michigan City Trust & Savings Bank. On June 5, 1898, Mr. Kreidler was elected a member of the city school board, and at the expiration of his term of office, in 1901, was unanimously chosen by the city council to succeed himself. He has labored unceasingly to advance the interest of the public schools, and has fearlessly fought all vicious measures brought be- fore that board.

On the 17th of December, 1895, Mr. Kreidler was joined in wedlock to Miss Pearl B. Camp- bell, a daughter of Captain A. D. and Ida (Rob- erts) Campbell. Mr. Kreidler is a member of the Episcopal church, and his wife belongs to the Congregational church. He belongs to Acme Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M .; Michigan City Chap- ter No. 25, R. A. M .; and Michigan City Com- mandery No. 30, K. T .; while with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks he is likewise identi- fied. He built his beautiful home at 1302 Wash- .ngton street in 1896, and he also owns other city property.

JOSEPH BENTZ, at present holding the re- sponsible position of trustee of Cool Spring town- ship and for over half a century a resident of LaPorte county, was born in New York city, Oc- tober 10, 1843, and is the son of Fred and Cath- erine (Henry) Bentz, who were both natives of Alsace-Loraine, at that time a part of France, but now included in the German empire. Fred Bentz came to America in 1831 and was a resi- dent of New York city for eighteen years, but came to LaPorte county in 1849. He was a stonecutter by trade, but after coming to this county followed gardening near LaPorte. He died at the age of seventy-four, and his wife at the age of seventy-one, having been the parents of fourteen children.

Joseph Bentz, who was the twelfth in order of birth, was nine years old when he came to La- Porte county, and was reared and educated here. He remained at home till he was twenty-three years old. He learned the boiler-maker's trade, and for the following sixteen years followed that pursuit, in different places, during which time he traveled considerably and saw much of the coun- try. In 1880 he located in Cool Spring township and bought the farm on which he has since re- sided. He has a pleasant home, has many of the

conveniences which make country life so agree- able and profitable, and his farm is cared for in such a scientific manner that it always yields good crops and is regarded as one of the models of the township.

Mr. Bentz is a Democrat, and has taken a good citizen's part in public affairs. He was ap- pointed trustee of his township by the county com- missioners, and in 1900 was elected to that office, in which he gives careful attention to the many local matters which come under his supervision. He is a member of the Grange, and always has the best interests of the community at heart. In 1867 Mr. Bentz was married to Miss Eliza E. Pointon, a native of Indiana and a member of one of the early families to settle in this state. They have one daughter, Minnie A., who is now the wife of W. H. Thorp, of Center township.

HENRY N. MINER, a prosperous farmer in section 12, Cool Spring township, and a worker in the public cause and in religious matters, has been a resident of LaPorte county for thirty years. He is a son of Justin S. Miner and a grandson of Benjamin Miner, the former a native of Madison county, New York. He was a farmer by occupa- tion, and died in Chautauqua county, New York. His wife was Elvira Newell, also born and reared in New York, and she was the mother of three sons, two of whom are living.

Henry N. Miner was born in Erie county, New York, January 21, 1838, and at the age of eleven moved with his parents to Chautauqua county, New York, where he completed his edu- cation, married, and lived until 1865, when he moved his family to Van Buren county, Michi- gan. He followed farming in this place for about nine years, and in 1874 came to LaPorte county and took up his residence in Cool Spring town- ship. Throughout these subsequent years he has farmed and performed his part in the life of com- munity so as to be reckoned with the class of pub- lic-spirited and progressive citizens. He at pres- ent resides on a farm of fifty-two acres, which is one of the choice parcels of land in this township, and every acre of it is thoroughly cultivated and made to produce the largest possible yields.

December 3, 1862, Mr. Miner was married to Miss Alzina Kellom, who was born in Cattar- augus county, New York, September 7, 1837, and was reared and educated there, and for some years before her marriage taught school. Mr. and Mrs. Miner were the parents of six children, two of whom died young, and the others are: Nellie J., the wife of M. B. White, son of D. A. White,

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and they reside in Chicago; Bertha, the wife of W. W. Johnson, of Big Horn, Wyoming; Archie B., who married Carrie Terry, and resides in Cool Spring township ; Fannie, the wife of B. F. Wells, principal of the schools at Kingsbury, LaPorte county.

Mr. Miner has been a Republican for twenty years, and has always been interested in public affairs. He and his wife are both members and workers in the Methodist church. He has filled all the church offices, and was steward for fifteen years, and is trustee of the Cool Spring church ; and Mrs. Miner is superintendent of the Sunday- school, and is loyally devoted to its various forms of work. Mr. Miner is a member in good stand- ing of the Masonic order, and in all his relations is esteemed and held in high regard by his fellow men.

Mr. and Mrs. Miner have in their possession one of the old parchment deeds, executed under the hand of President Van Buren, and bears the date of March 15, 1837. This is the fifteenth deed of the kind found in the county and is a valuable souvenir in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Miner.

JULIUS BARNES, who has been a prom- inent figure in mercantile circles in LaPorte for nearly fifty years, has during all that time main- tained an unassailable reputation and has won for himself a foremost position among the merchants of the city. He is perhaps as well known as any representative of commercial interests here, and none others more justly deserve the confidence and esteem so uniformly accorded him. In mat- ters of citizenship he has manifested his devotion to the general good, and social and moral develop- ment has profited by his co-operation.

Mr. Barnes was born in Southington, Con- necticut, in 1831, and, early attracted by the op- portunities of the west, came to LaPorte on the 2d of February, 1855, and for two years clerked in the store of his cousin, James Lewis, one of the pioneer merchants of the city. He was then admitted to a partnership in the business under the name of James Lewis & Company, a rela- tionship that was maintained until 1865, when the firm of Julius Barnes & Company was organ- ized. The original store of James Lewis was a little wooden building on Main street, and in the year 1855 there were but eight brick buildings in the town. In January, 1856, the stock of goods was removed to a brick building, adjoining the State Bank, and remained there for twenty-five years, the store becoming one of the commercial

landmarks of the city. The next location, near the corner of Michigan avenue and Main street, was occupied for ten years, and in 1887 the store was removed to the present large brick building on Michigan avenue between Main street and Jef- ferson avenue, where two floors are devoted to the business. From the beginning this store has been known as the Bee Hive, named after a large store in Hartford, Cinnecticut. The name was well chosen, and is indicative of the business spirit and activity which prevail. The establishment is a large, modern, first-class, dry-goods store, equipped with a passenger elevator, and all the latest conveniences for shoppers, and has a large line of goods selected to meet all tastes and de- mands. The Bee Hive holds a warm place in the affection of the trading public, and is the largest mercantile concern of the city that has had a con- tinuous existence from pioneer times. The busi- ness has been developed by the strictest integrity and straightforward dealing, and some of the salesmen formerly employed in the store have gone forth to prominent positions in the outside business world, having been well fitted for re- sponsible places by the excellent training in the Bee Hive.

Mr. Barnes was married in LaPorte in 1858 to Miss Catharine Bailey Clark, a daughter of Amzi Clark, an old-time merchant tnd trader from Conecticut, who first settled in Connersville, Indiana, and in 1835 came to LaPorte, where he engaged in general merchandising and was prom- inent in the early development of the city ; he died in 1871. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, three of whom are living : Mrs. Anna B. Crane, Mary Day and Julius, the last named now a member of the firm.

Mr. Barnes has been an active member of the Presbyterian church of LaPorte for many years, and is now serving as one of its elders. He is also a trustee of the Ruth C. Sabin Home, and is always found ready to respond to the wants of the needy or those in distress. Politically he has been a life-long and earnest supporter of the Re- publican party. His career has been an honorable one, and confidence in his integrity and the high regard for his character are merited rewards to a life spent in such useful activity.

A. B. HUNT, who has resided in LaPorte county for the best part of seventy years, and during that time has held a foremost place among the agricultural element of the county, has made a good record in civil life and gave his services to the country during the Civil war, and is passing

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the remaining years of a well spent life on his farm in section 12, Cool Spring township.

Seth W. Hunt, his father, was a native of Pennsylvania, and by occupation was a black- smith. He came to LaPorte in 1837, and in 1838 sent for his family to follow him to this fertile and beautiful section of northern Indiana. He lived* at first in a little log cabin in Cool Spring township, and then moved near to Pine lake in Center township, but finally returned to Cool Spring township, where he died in the eighty- seventh year of his life. He was a member of the Protestant Methodist church, and in politics was a Democrat until the Civil war, after which he was a Republican. He was one of the well known and highly respected early residents of the county. He was married in New York state to Miss Mercy Festbinden, a native of that state, but little is known of her family as she died when the sub- ject of this biography was four years old. After coming to LaPorte county Mr. Hunt married a Mrs. Rose, and of this union there was a son, who died in Alabama, in 1862, while in the serv- ice of his country as a member of the Ninth In- diana Volunteer Infantry. Of the four children of the first marriage the only one living besides A. B. Hunt is Jacob W., who resides in O'Neill, Nebraska.

Mr. A. B. Hunt was born February 27, 1832, in Tioga county, New York, near the Susque- hanna river. He came to LaPorte county when five years old, and is the only representative of the family now living in the county. He lived in his father's home and attended the log school house of the neighborhood, assisting in the farm work, until he was of age, and then started out in the agricultural line for himself. He was mar- ried in 1862, and after this important event in his life he and his wife settled in a block house, twen- ty-two by thirty-two feet. on the same farm which has been their home to the present time, for over forty years. But as they became better fixed in the world's goods they added to their material comforts, and in 1865 they erected the substantial home which still affords them shelter and com- fort. In February, 1865, Mr. Hunt responded to almost the last call for troops, and enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Indi- ana Volunteers, and served till the close of hos- tilities, when he came home and devoted himself to the occupation which is still his chief activity. He has passed the years of arduous effort, and has won most of the rewards of life, but is still vigorous and energetic, superintends his business interests with the same keenness of former years,

and may still be given rank among the best and most successful farmers of his township.

Mr. Hunt was married February 18, 1862, to Miss Mary Redding, who was born in Center township, LaPorte county, February 4, 1845, the daughter of Josiah and Caroline (Griffin) Red- ding, who came to LaPorte county from New York state in 1835. Mr. Redding was born in Ohio, and his wife in New York, and they were the parents of six children, three of whom died in infancy, Mrs. Hunt being the second of the family. She was reared and educated in Center township, LaPorte county. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have no children. Mrs. Hunt is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Hunt has been a stanch Republican since casting his first vote for General John C. Fremont. He served as road supervisor for seven years, and has always been identified with the progressive movements and higher ideals of his township and county.

DR. EDWARD GUSTINE BLINKS is the junior member of the well known and prom- inent firm of Tillotson & Blinks, leading physi- cian and surgeons of Michigan City. He is yet a young man, but has already attained success which many an older physician might well envy, and the liberal patronage accorded him is an indication of the confidence reposed in him by the public. A native son of Michigan City, he was born on the Ist of January, 1869, his parents being William and Louise (Gustine) Blinks. The fam- ily is of English lineage and was established in America by Edward Blinks, the grandfather of the Doctor, who was born in England, whence he sailed for the new world, thinking that he would enjoy better business opportunities in the new world, nor was he disappointed in this hope. He located in Elgin, Illinois, where he made his home for a long period, his death occurring there when he was about eighty years of age. To him and his wife Ann, a number of children were born, including William Blinks, the Doctor's father, who was born in county Kent, England.

He spent the first eighteen years of his life in his native country, and then came with his brother Edward to the United States. After living in Ohio for about six months, he went to Chicago, Illinois, where he learned the molder's trade, fol- lowing that pursuit there until 1855. Coming to Michigan City almost a half century ago, he took charge of the foundry forming a part of the plant of the Haskell & Barker Car Works, and was there employed, with the exception of three inter- vals, until 1883. He became a leading and influ-

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ential factor in the business life of the city, and after severing his connection with the car com- pany was for some years the president of the Michigan City Gas Company. In matters per- taining to the public welfare he took a deep and active interest, and co-operated in many move- ments for the general good. He gives his politi- cal allegiance to the Democracy, and upon that ticket he was elected and served as city clerk and also as alderman. His district made him its rep- resentative in the state legislature for one term, and in public office his fidelity has stood as an un- questioned fact in his career. He was united in marriage to Miss Louise A. Gustine, whose birth occurred in Michigan City. Her father, William B. Gustine, one of the early residents here, was born in New Hampshire and was a tailor by trade. He also served as justice of the peace. He mar- ried Eliza A. Booth, and to them were born three children, including Mrs. Blinks, who by her mar- riage became the mother of two sons and a daugh- ter, but the latter, Grace L., the first born, died in infancy. The two sons are Edward G. and Wal- ter Moulton.

Dr. Edward Gustine Blinks has spent his en- tire life in Michigan City, and at the usual age he entered the public schools. He was also a student at Barker Hall for a time, and when he put aside his text books to make his own way in the world he sought and obtained a position in the First National Bank, in which he remained for four years, filling a clerical position. He then became connected with the business of manufacturing reed chairs, but all this were merely a means to an end. He then became imbued with a desire to enter the medical fraternity, and never for a mo- ment did he abandon this plan, but so shaped his course that it would prepare him for his chosen field of labor. While connected with other busi- ness interests, he devoted his leisure time to read- ing medicine, and after pursuing courses in the Chicago Medical College and the Baltimore Med- ical College was graduated from the latter insti- tution with the class of 1893, after which he took a post-graduate course in Johns Hopkins Univer- sity, being then a young man of twenty-four years. He began practice in his native city, and has since remained here, gradually working his way up- ward in the profession of his choice. His career is in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country, for in the city of his nativity Dr. Blinks has so directed his labors as to gain public con- fidence, respect and business support from the people among whom he has always lived. In the

summer of 1893 he entered into partnershiu with Dr. A. G. Tillotson, and in 1897 they opened a hospital, which they have since conducted with constantly growing success. Their institution is splendidly equipped for the care of these patients. every facility for comfort being secured, together with the latest improved instruments for surgical work, splendid electrical apparatus and an X-ray generator.

On the 22d of March, 1889, Dr. Blinks was united in marriage to Miss Florence A. Tillotson, a daughter of Dr. A. G. and Frances (Combs) Tillotson, her father being his partner in the con- duct of the hospital and in the practice of medi- cine and surgery. To Dr. Blinks and his wife have been born two sons: Harold Tillotson and Edward Tillotson. The parents occupy an envi- able position in the social circles of the city in which their entire lives have been passed, and en- joy the hospitality of the best homes here. The Doctor is a member of the Episcopal church and his wife belongs to the Presbyterian church. In politics he is a Democrat, but has never been an aspirant for political preferment. Fraternally he is connected with Acme Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M. He is assistant medical director of Waunita Hot Springs Sanitarium, and he lectures on sur- gery in the Lakeside Clinical School of Chicago, being selected because of his expert work in this direction. He is president of the LaPorte County and Michigan City Medical associations, a mem- ber of the Kankakee Valley Medical Society, of the State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association, and all things which tend to bring to man the key to that complex problem which we call life are of interest to him. He is continually advancing in his chosen calling, and his broader knowledge and more efficient work is manifest in the successful results which attend his professional labors as the years advance.

HON. JOHN ADAMS HINSEY, al- though not now a resident of LaPorte, has, because of his close connection with political affairs in this vicinity during the sixties, retained especial affection for city, and is deserving of the title of "ex-LaPor- tean" and a place in the county's history. His career is also one of great interest, inasmuch as it is a record of accomplishment and progress from a youth spent in poverty to an important position with one of the largest corporations in the country and a place of honor among many friends.

John Adams Hinsey was born at what is now

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Tatlinsey

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Robesonia, Berks county, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1833, the son of Jacob and Lydia (Hibbard) Hinsey, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Pennsylvania. Jacob Hinsey moved to Berks county, Pennsylvania, where he worked in a pig-iron furnace, but in March, 1841, he died, leaving his wife and eight children in poverty, John Adams being the fourth in age of these chil- dren. Mrs. Hinsey's father was living at that time in Richland county, Ohio, and in August fol- lowing the death of Mr. Hinsey he sent a two- horse team to Pennsylvania to move the widow and her family to Ohio. The few household effects were put in the wagon, the mother and the younger children rode, while John Adams and the three elder brothers followed behind on foot the entire distance of over five hundred miles across the Alleghanies, an experience which left an indelible impression on one so young.

On arriving in Ohio, John Adams was bound out to work for a farmer till he was sixteen years old, under the condition that he was to attend school at least three months every winter, but in that entire eight years he was in the schoolroom hardly eight months, and the rest of the time was spent in hard drudgery ; part of the period he did work with a threshing outfit. He was conse- quently very poorly provided from an educational standpoint when he was sixteen years old, and during the next five or six years he took advan- tage of every opportunity that came in his way, and obtained an education mainly by attending night school, after his hard day's work was fin- ished. He apprenticed himself to a shoemaker and mastered that trade in two years. In 1850 he went to Fulton county, Ohio, where his mother, who had married again, then resided : she died in 1887. After a short time spent there he went to Adrian, Michigan, where he was a journeyman shoemaker for a time, but he soon found out that he was engaged in an uncongenial occupation, and in the same year he became a brakeman on the Michigan Central Railroad. After a year of ser- vice as a freight brakeman he had proved him- self so capable that he was made conductor of a passenger train running between Detroit and Chi- cago.

It was the several years following this service and previous to 1866 that Mr. Hinsey had his residence and interests in LaPorte. He took an active part in politics, and is remembered by all the old-timers there. He is still strongly attached to LaPorte, through the ties of friendship formed during his residence there, and his many friends have followed his subsequent career with interest.

In 1865 Mr. Hinsey entered the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company as special agent, and during all the thirty-eight years following has been in charge of the claim and secret service departments of that great company, one of the ablest and most trusted of the thirty-five thousand employes of a mighty corporation. As long as the general offices of the road were in Milwaukee he retained his residence in that city, but in 1890 he came to Chicago, where he has lived since that date.

This brief outline of the career of Mr. Hinsey is a record of self-achievement, in which family position and extraneous circumstances have had little to do, and at the rounding out of his seventy years of life work and thirty-eight years' connec- tion with the railroad company, on August 10, 1903, a large number of the employes of the claim department came from their homes in different parts of the country and celebrated that event so as to show their appreciation of his usefulness and honorable activity. As a memento of the occa- sion he was presented with a loving cup, engraved with his name and the names of all the guests, and with the following inscription: "Presented in loving remembrance by members of the Special Agent's Department C., M. & St. P. Ry. Co., of which he has been the head since 1865, at a din- ner given by him at Chicago, Ill., August 10, 1903, in celebration of the seventieth anniversary of his birth."

In the speech of presentation one of those present detailed the eventful career of the host . from the time he trudged barefoot along the rough roads of Ohio, through his subsequent struggles to get started in life and to secure an education, how he had been advanced rapidly from minor positions to those of responsibility and trust in different departments of life, and how finally, when he had rounded out the al- lotted threescore and ten, he was permitted to enjoy the results of his efforts and the regard and affection of his associates and employes.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 73

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