USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 79
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Mr. Lyon, who had served as correspondent of The Tribune, came to South Bend in 1874 and accepted a position in The Tribune eom- posing room and his connection with that paper continued until his death. April 4, 1907. He was advanced to the reportorial staff in 1875, became eity editor in 1878 and later was made associate editor, a position which he filled with splendid credit until failing health compelled him to resign in 1905. Ile continued his connection with The Tribune, however, as a special writer and did some excellent work.
Mr. Lyon was a co-author with Charles H. Bartlett, formerly principal of the South Bend high school, in a beautiful historic volume entitled "La Salle in the Valley of the St. Joseph" which was published by the Tribune Printing Company. He had also written many artieles and papers of historical value and deep interest. He was a thorough musician and had been identified with nearly every musical organization in South Bend for a quarter of a century. He was the eom- poser of several saered songs and anthems. Mr. Lyon was known as the original "Old Shady" and his services in politieal cam- paigns in a musical way made him very popular in northern Indiana and southern Michigan.
He was married in 1876 at Kalkaska, Mich., to Miss Frances A. Kurtz, of Buffalo. N. Y., who continues to make South Bend her home. Mr. Lyon was prominent in numerous movements of a progressive charac- ter and was a member of the Northern In- diana Historical Society and fraternally was associated with the National Union.
CHARLES FRANK is numbered among the leading business men of Mishawaka, and is also an honored soldier of the Civil war. His birth occurred in Beaver county, Penn- sylvania, March 18, 1842, and his father. Reinhold Frank, was a native of Germany, coming to America during his boyhood days in 1806. In this country he was married to Catherine Roupp, also a native of the fatherland, and she was about eighteen
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years of age when she came to this country, where her death occurred when she had reached the age of eighty years. In their family were seven children, five sons and two daughters, all of whom grew to years of ma- turity. The father spent the remainder of his life in Pennsylvania, dying there at the age of seventy-three years.
Charles Frank, the fourth child and third son in his parents' family, received his edu- cational training in the schools of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and remained at home until 1861, when he offered his services to his country during the Civil war, enlisting when a youth of nineteen years in Company B, Seventy-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteer In- fantry. His bravery and faithful service won him many promotions, and he was honorably discharged as a commissary sergeant after three years of faithful and arduous service, during which time he had participated in many of the principal battles of the war, in- eluding Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg. He was slightly wounded while at Charleston, South Carolina, and after the close of the con- flict he returned to his old home in Pennsyl- vania, while shortly afterward, in 1864, he came to St. Joseph county, first locating at Woodland, where for about twenty years he was engaged in the lumber business and also in conducting a saw mill. From that city he came to Mishawaka in 1889, resuming his lumber business. For forty-three years he has been a resident of St. Joseph county, and strictly upright and above reproach in all his dealing with others, he merits the high esteem in which he is held by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance. His prom- inence in the public life of the community has led to his selection for many offices of public trust, having been the Republican rep- resentative in the office of school trustee for several years, and was a justice of the peace in Madison township for many years, was elected mayor in the fall of 1906. In addi- tion to his extensive Inmber business he also has stock in the First National Bank of Mish- awaka.
In 1868 Mr. Frank was married to Mary A. Buchheit, the daughter of Jacob Buchheit. and their four children are: George F., a resident of Mishawaka; J. N .; Estella, the wife of R. H. Jernegan, of Mishawaka; and Grace, the wife of John W. Beiger, also of this eity. Mr. Frank has membership rela- tions with Houghton Post, No. 128. G. A. R.,
in which he has filled all the offices, and is also a member of the Odd Fellows order of Mishawaka and the Elks of South Bend.
MYRON CAMPBELL is cashier of the South Bend National Bank, and his prestige in financial and business affairs has been won through marked executive force, keen discrim- ination, sound judgment and unfaltering energy. Ile was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, on the 13th of March, 1849, a son of Samuel A. and llarriet (Cornell) Campbell, and is a twin brother of Marvin Campbell. The public schools of his native city furnished him with his early educational training, this being sup- plemented by attendance at the Northern In- diana Normal College of Valparaiso, where he studied civil engineering, wiring and survey- ing, and afterwards assisted in the construc- tion of the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railroad between Flint and Lansing, Michigan. Dur- ing a period of four years, Mr. Campbell also acted in the capacity of surveyor of Porter county. In 1872 he embarked in the grocery business in South Bend, in partnership with Ex-Postmaster Horace G. Miller, business being conducted under the firm name of Mil- ler & Campbell.
During the past many years, however, Mr. Campbell's endeavors have been directed to the banking business, and his wise counsel and sound judgment have contributed to the suc- cess of the institution with which he is con- nected. In 1878 he entered the South Bend National Bank as a bookkeeper, and on March 14, 1891, was elected cashier, which position he has since held. He is also the manager of the South Bend Clearing House. He is an authority on banking business, having been awarded prizes by the Rand-McNally Bank- ers' Magazine for papers on country banking. and also by the Rhoades Journal for a paper on Domestic Exchange. He is also the author of a valuable book of interest and exchange tables, which has been endorsed by the lead- ing bankers and business men. The cause of education finds in him a warm friend, who has efficiently advanced its interests, having from 1895 until 1898 been a member of the Board of Education, and other measures for the pub- lic good receive his hearty support and co- operation.
Mr. Campbell was united in marriage in 1871 to Miss Abbie Fifield, also of Valparaiso, Indiana, and they have four children, two sons and two daughters: Edward II., a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and
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now a lieutenant commander in the United States navy; Robert S., assistant cashier of the South Bend National Bank; Ada C., a graduate of DePauw University. and now Ex- tension Secretary of the Y. W. C. A .; and Vera, a student in the Ohio Wesleyan College of Delaware. Ohio. The family are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which Mr. Campbell is serving as treasurer, and he is also an active member and Treasurer of the Young Men's Christian Association. Reliability in all trade transactions. loyalty to all duties of citizenship, fidelity in the dis- charge of every trust reposed in him-these are his chief characteristics, and through the passing years they have gained for him the unqualified confidence and respect of his fel- low townsmen.
CALEB A. KIMBALL. From an early period Caleb A. Kimball has been prominently iden- tified with the history of northern Indiana, and for many years past he has served as cashier of the First National Bank of South Bend. He was born in Ipswich, Massachu- setts, twenty-seven miles from Boston, Febru- ary 13, 1829, a son of P. H. and Susan (Stan- ly) Kimball, both also natives of that com- monwealth. The father was of English de- scent, and was a life-long manufacturer of furniture and lumber.
Caleb A. Kimball. the third of his parents' five children, was reared and received his edu- cational training at Yarmouth. Maine, there remaining until his removal to St. Joseph county in 1850. He at once engaged in the cutting of black walnut timber and the pro- duction of lumber in South Bend, being thus engaged for six years, when he turned his attention to farming for a few years. In 1864 he became connected with the First Nat- ional Bank as bookkeeper, but in 1870 was promoted to the position of cashier, in which he has ever since remained. He is a man of commanding influence in the community and the county, and widely known and honored throughout northern Indiana. He has attain- ed prominence in business circles, while in private life he has many warm friends.
In 1856. Mr. Kimball was united in mar- riage to Marcia L. Willis, the daughter of Lyda Willis, and one son has been born of this union. W. L. Kimball, cashier of the First National Bank of Mishawaka. During the long period of fifty years Mr. Kimball has re- sided within the borders of St. Joseph county,
and throughout all that time has been deeply interested in its upbuilding and improvement.
HON. JOHN B. STOLL. To Honorable J. B. Stoll has come the attainment of a distinguish- ed position in connection with journalism. his rise and present standing being due to deter- mined, honest and intelligently directed efforts, based upon a natural strength and practical ability. The intuitive insight and quick judgment, so necessary to the success of the journalist, were also his, as well as a practical knowledge of the printing business which enabled him to build his newspaper en- terprises on firm financial bases. Having all the best qualifications of the all-around news- paper man, his final success was assured.
Mr. Stoll is of German birth, being a native of Wurtemberg, and the day of his birth, March 13, 1843. His father, who was a large landed proprietor, was drowned in the river Murg a few months before his birth. and the child went to live with his grandparents, attending school until 1853. In that year he emigrated to the United States with his mother and located at Harrisburg. Pennsylva- nia, where she died. leaving him an orphan at the age of twelve years. After seeking em- ployment of various kinds the boy found work in the printing office of the Harrisburg Telegraph and Der Vaterlands-Waechter. By diligent study and extensive reading he mas- tered the English language and, at an early age, entered the political arena. Although a sturdy Democrat, he was opposed to slavery, and in 1860, when but seventeen years of age. was, by the Democracy of Cambria county, chosen as a delegate to the Douglas state con- vention. Upon the nomination of Douglas and Johnson, by the Baltimore national con- vention, he delivered an eloquent address at the ratification meeting held in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The following year he went to Middleburg. Snyder county, that state, where he worked as a journeyman on the People's Friend, purchasing the paper in 1863. When he thus made his first independent venture in journalism he was only twenty years of age, but he greatly improved the paper, and in the vear following the purchase was elected a member of the school board, while subsequent- ly he was made auditor of Snyder county.
In 1866, Mr. Stoll first came to Indiana, publishing the Ligonier Banner for a period of seventeen years. In the spring of 1869, he established and edited the Laporte Argus, and in 1873 became editor of the South Bend
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Courier, published in German. The next journal with which he became connected was the Daily and Weekly Democrat, of which he became editor and proprietor, as also of the Monitor. During all this period he resided at Ligonier, where he edited and published the Banner. Mr. Stoll organized the Press Association of northern Indiana, and for six years successively was its president, while in 1881 he was chiefly instrumental in founding the Democratie State Editorial Association, serving as its first president.
As the editor and proprietor of the Times, Mr. Stoll is a power for good in his commu- nity. Ile is a brilliant writer, an able jour- nalist and a forceful speaker, and has placed the Times among the leading newspapers of northern Indiana. Ilis influence has passed beyond the confines of his home locality, and upon the ladder of his own building he has elimbed to prominence and prosperity. In- tensely loyal to all movements for the good of his locality, he is especially interested in edu- cational and literary affairs, and has served as president of the school board of South Bend for eight years. Thus commingling his characters of journalist and citizen, and the management of his private with public affairs. his influence is of great breadth and effective- ness.
WILLIAM BELL CALVERT. The history of the Calvert family. continued to the present generation through William Bell Calvert, the well known real estate man of South Bend, introduces personages who have been promi- nently known in St. Joseph county since the first years of its settlement and pioneer life.
For the origin of the American branch of the family. we go back to the parish of Essex, England, where on August 25, 1793, was born Isaac Bond Calvert, grandfather of the Calvert above named. On January 15, 1815, he married Isabella Bird, who was born in Cumberland, England. March 17. 1792, and in 1819, with two children, this pioneer couple came to America, settling near Philadelphia.
For a number of years Isaac B. Calvert engaged in the dairy business, with Philadel- phia as his market. In the fall of 1834 he set out for the west, and after a long over- land journey by wagon, arrived in the little village of South Bend in January, 1835. In Portage township, four and a half miles west of South Bend, is located the Calvert farm, one of the best known and handsomest
country estates in the county. It is still owned in the family, and 220 acres of it has never passed from this ownership since Isaac B. Calvert bought it, over seventy years ago. Although his first home shelter has long since been removed, it deserves a place of lasting remembrance in the family records.
It was a double cabin, and was of rather advanced style of pioneer architecture, be- cause the logs were hewn on two sides. giv- ing plane surfaces both within and without. Chips and clay filled up the spaces between the logs. The floor was of puncheons, and the one door swung on wooden hinges, with a wooden bolt and latch on the inside, and, in accordance with family hospitality, the latch string was always on the outside. A clar and stiek chimney completed the prin- cipal features of this primitive home. Here occurred the death of Isaac B. Calvert. Feb- ruary 27, 1839, leaving a widow and eight children to continue his memory. His widow died March 7, 1866.
Joseph Hall Calvert, son of the above pio- neer and father of W. B. Calvert, was born near Philadelphia, October 30. 1822, and ae- companied the family to St. Joseph county when he was twelve years old. To continue his schooling in this county he had to walk two and a half miles to the primitive school- house that then gave, for a few weeks in the year, educational facilities to the neigh- borhood children. He bought the interest of the other children in the old homestead, and continued to reside there until his death, April 1, 1885, since which time his widow has made this her home.
Another log house was erected by him, and somewhat later he built a commodious frame house, barn and other farm buildings, so that the farm, then containing 320 acres, was the best improved in the township at the time of his death.
By his marriage on March 30, 1862. to Mary Jane Briek, he united by family ties two of the oldest families connected with the history of St. Joseph county. His wife was the daughter of William Woolsen and Elizabeth (Wills) Brick. The former, who was born at Mount Holly, New Jersey, Feb- ruary 13, 1808, traced his ancestry back to 1663, when three brothers, John, William and Samuel, of whom the first was the founder of this branch of the family, came from England with a Quaker colony that settled in New Jersey and became owners of
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large tracts of land there, where the family is still prominent. John, the direct ancestor, was conspicuous in the activities of his lo- cality, being a lawyer, farmer, banker and judge.
William Woolsen Brick, on coming west, first settled on Pokagon prairie in Cass county, Michigan, in 1826, but two years later came to St. Joseph county, joining the first settlers who beat down the wilderness and . founded the institutions of civilization here. Securing government land in Warren town- ship, he began the improvement of what is to-day one of the best farms in the county, and after living a number of years on this farm he moved to South Bend, where he spent his declining years. He was three times married and left a large family.
Representing the third generation of the family in this county, William Bell Calvert was born in his father's log cabin in Portage township, October 22, 1863. After attending the country schools he continued his educa- tion at Valparaiso (Ind.) Business College and at Oberlin (Ohio) College, preparatory to entering Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., where he was a member of the class of 1890. His studies at the university were mainly along the lines of mechanical and electrical engineering.
Having completed his education, he re- turned to his home county and bought a farm in Warren township a few miles from South Bend. However, farming was his ac- tive vocation only a few years, when he moved to South Bend and entered the manufactur- ing field, from which after two or three years he turned his attention to the real estate business.
In the handling of city and farm proper- ties and the promotion of building additions, Mr. Calvert has become a large factor in the expansion and development of his city. Be- sides acting as agent for others in numerous large transactions, he has had a large busi- ness on his own account. On his Highland Park addition there is a natural park of twenty-five acres, well wooded and attractive, which he intends giving to the city for public park purposes. This addition is valued at about one hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars. Mr. Calvert was the first to introduce grading and the improvement of streets in the new additions of South Bend,-his first work of this kind having been done at Rose- land Park, one of his several additions to
the city. Calvert street, one of the principal streets of the city, was named in honor of him. Mr. Calvert has one of the finest and best equipped real estate offices in the state.
August 24, 1887, Mr. Calvert married Miss Ella Sincox, a daughter of Alvin and Caroline (Carleton) Sincox, of Ohio and Vir- ginia ancestry respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Calvert have two sons, Charles Everett and William Franklin.
Mr. Calvert affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in all its branches and has been elected to and filled all the offices up to the Supreme Lodge; the Elks and other orders; is a member of the Commercial Ath- letic Club, Business Men's Association and several others. He was one of the organizers and the first secretary of the Real Estate Board of South Bend, which was the first successfully organized Real Estate Board in the state. It is the most active institution in advancing the general interests of the city.
CHAUNCEY N. FASSETT. For a long period Chauncey N. Fassett has been a resident of South Bend, and during many years of that time has been connected with its journalistic interests. South Bend also claims him among her native sons, for his birth occurred in this city on the 30th of July, 1849, his parents being Chauncey S. and Lucy Jane ( Harmon) Fassett. both natives of the state of New York. In the late '30s the father came to South Bend and engaged in a mercantile business. He was also numbered among the Argonauts to California, going to that state in 1849, and remaining for four years, when he returned to the east and established himself in business in Middlebury, Elkhart county, Indiana. IIe afterwards removed to Missouri, where he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, but failed in the general panic of 1857. Be- fore the war Mr. Fassett had gone to Colo- rado with his eldest son, Charles S., and they assisted in opening Russell's Gulch, being among the first there. The father spent most of his remaining days in the west. dying in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1879. when he had reached the age of seventy-six years.
In 1863 the family returned from Missouri to Goshen, where the son Chauncey N .. at- tended the common schools, and after com- pleting his education spent two years in the law office of the late Judge Mitchell. At that time Mr. Fassett became convinced that his forte was journalism, and in 1873 he began
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THE NEW YORK PUBL BARY Astor, Lene> and Tilder oBRGations, 1909
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work on the old "Union," one of the early papers and which was owned by his brother Herbert. After the Union was sold, he pur- chased the Register, later was employed on the Tribune until 1878, and was then ap- pointed assistant postmaster, continuing as the incumbent of that office for eight years. In 1887, Mr. Fassett established the Sunday News, and although it is owned by a stock company, he has the controlling interest and is president and editor of the corporation. IIe is a writer of force and ability. and his name. occupies a conspicuous place among the lead- ing journalists of northern Indiana.
The marriage of Mr. Fassett was celebrated at Lewistown. Pennsylvania, on the 31st of Oetober, 1877, when Anna Thrush beeame his wife. Her father, the late Rev. John Thrush, was former pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal church of South Bend. One daugh- ter was born of this union, Thrush, who died at the age of eighteen years, on the 5th of May, 1901. In her memory her parents have established a silver medal to be given annually in the high school for highest standing in English literature, the Thrush Fassett Medal. In addition to his journalistic work, Mr. Fas- sett is treasurer and manager of the Indiana Foundry and Machine Company, and is also interested in real estate in a general way. He is an able and experienced newspaper man, and at the present time is engaged in prepar- ing a biography of the late Clem Studebaker. Coming from such a versatile and brilliant writer. this will prove an interesting and vahi- able work.
ELMER CROCKETT. Conspicuous on the roll of names who have conferred honor upon the profession of journalism in Indiana is that of Elmer Crockett, president of the Tribune Printing Company. He has a great versatil- ity of talents, and exaetness and thoroughness characterizes all his attainments and work. He is a writer of superior force and ability, and in all the relations of life he is an honorable, upright gentleman. He was born in St. Joseph county. September 1. 1844, a son of Shellem and Louise (Ireland) Crockett, and a de- scendant of Davy Crockett. In 1849 the fam- ily moved to South Bend, but Elmer remained in Mishawaka for several years with an uncle, S. I. H. Ireland, receiving his education in its public schools. He later became a student in the Northern Indiana College at South Bend, thus receiving an excellent educational training as the foundation of his future life
work. During the Civil war he served with the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Indiana Volunteers, and after being mustered out he entered the office of the Mishawaka Enter- prise, where he learned the printer's trade. He then returned to South Bend in 1867, and has ever since been identified with the inter- ests of this city.
For several years Mr. Crockett served as foreman in the office of the St. Joseph Valley Register, founded by Schuyler Colfax, vice- president of the United States, and ultimately purchased the paper in company with A. Beal and his brother-in-law, Alfred B. Miller, forming the firm of Beal. Miller & Company. In 1872 the firm of Miller & Crockett founded the South Bend Tribune, which is now num- bered among the leading Republican news- papers of northern Indiana. A few years later the Tribune Printing Company was in- corporated, with Mr. Miller as president and Mr. Crockett vice-president and manager. After the death of Mr. Miller in 1892, Mr. Crockett became printer and business man- ager, which position he still oeeupies. He is an active and vahied member of the Republi- can party, and in 1888 was appointed by Ben- jamin Harrison as postmaster of South Bend. Ile has also served as a member of the State Republican Committee during several eam- paigns, and was chairman of the State News- paper Bureau.
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