USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A standard history of Elkhart County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume II > Part 43
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Judge Lee is a member of the City Bar Association and the County Bar Association, and takes much interest in the Woodmen of the World, being affiliated with Elkhart Camp No. 30, was coun- cil commander beginning with 1911, and in 1915 was a delegate to Vol. II-26
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the national council of that fraternity. In politics he is a democrat.
On May 28, 1901, Judge Lee married Miss Maude Wickham. She was born in York Township, a daughter of Lewis and Sarah Wickham, being the youngest in their family of four children.
ROBERT EMMETT PROCTOR. While not numbered among the senior men of the law in Elkhart County, Robert E. Proctor has in less than ten years accomplished a great deal of splendid service and has advanced himself to recognition as one of the able lawyers, and has done much as a public leader.
A native of Elkhart, where he was born February 15. 1883, Robert Emmett Proctor is a son of Robert T. and Catherine (Canaan) Proctor. His father was born in Sandusky, Ohio, in 1850, and is still living at Elkhart. The mother was born in County Wexford, Ireland, in 1853, and died in 1898. The four children were: Mary Ellen, Robert E., William R. and Anna M. Robert T. Proctor, the father, received his early education in the public schools of Sandusky, and for nearly all the years of his active career has been identified with railroading. For a time he was in the employ of the Adrian and Western Railway Company, now part of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern system. From fireman he was advanced to locomotive engineer and has had charge of some of the most important runs over the division out of Elkhart for many years. For two years he was inspector for the railroad commis- sion of Indiana, Governor Marshall having appointed him to that position. At the end of two years he resigned and once more took his place as an engineer with the Lake Shore Road. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and has served as chief of John Hill Division. He belongs to the Knights of Colum- bus and in politics is a democrat.
The education of Robert E. Proctor was obtained in the pub- lic schools of Elkhart, finishing in the high school and he studied law in the University of Notre Dame at South Bend, graduating with the class of 1904. For a time he was in practice at Elkhart under the firm name of Raymer & Proctor, but after January, 1906, took up individual practice, and since July, 1912, has been in part- nership with Vern G. Cawley, under the name Proctor & Cawley. In 1908 Mr. Proctor was elected state senator from his district, and served the full term of four years. A most important other public service by which his name is readily recognized in Elkhart was as city attorney from 1910 to 1914. He is a member of the Elkhart County Bar Association, of the City Bar Association and the Indiana State Bar Association.
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Well known in social circles, Mr. Proctor is affiliated with Elk- hart Lodge No. 425, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Lodge No. 395 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Tent No. 599, Local Order of Moose, and Elkhart Council No. 1043 of the Knights of Columbus. He also belongs to the German Workingmen's Associa- tion, to the Democratic Club and the Wilson Club of St. Joseph County. Other clubs in which he has membership are the Atherton Club and the Century Club of Elkhart. In politics he is a democrat.
October 11, 1905, Mr. Proctor married Miss Evelyn A. Smith, who was born in Huntington, Indiana, daughter of Michael and Catherine (Young) Smith, who were both natives of Indiana and are now deceased. Mrs. Proctor was the oldest of their four chil- dren, all of whom are still living. Her father was a railway man in the employ of the Chicago & Indiana Railway Company. To this marriage have been born four children, two sons and two daugh- ters, namely: Eleanor Catherine, Patricia Elizabeth, Robert Em- mett, Jr., and Thomas Grattan.
The early struggles through which Mr. Proctor went to gain an education proved an excellent training for him in his early pro- fessional career. While attending the university at South Bend he waited on table, wrote for newspapers and magazines, and practi- cally paid for his entire course through the university. During vacations he was employed in different capacities by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. Though having to earn the money for his expenses, he was studions so that he completed the three year course in two years and gained the first honors of his class at Notre Dame.
JAMES A. BIGELOW, M. D. A retired resident of Elkhart in his seventy-eighth year, the life of Doctor Bigelow has been one of long and varied experience and service. As a graduate physician he en- tered the Union army at the beginning of the Civil war, and served with the rank of surgeon for five years. Half a century ago he came to Elkhart County and with the exception of five years spent as a pioneer in Dakota Territory and much travel from home on business and pleasure, he has been identified with this one commu- nity ever since.
He represents a very old American family. James A. Bigelow was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, September 15. 1838. His father, Augustus Bigelow, was born at New Lebanon. Columbia County, New York, in April. 1804. The grandfather was Job (Gardner) Bigelow, who was a son of Jabez and Alma (Gardner) Bigelow, and Jabez was in turn the son of Jabez and Susanna ( Eld-
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erkin ) Bigelow. Susanna Elderkin was a lineal descendant in the eighteenth generation from King Edward I of England. There is a publication compiled by Melvill Madison Bigelow of Cambridge. Massachusetts, which shows the complete genealogy of the Bigelow family in all its branches. On this authority the Bigelows were originally French and went into England at the time of the Norman Conquest.
Doctor Bigelow's grandfather Job G. Bigelow, was a farmer in New Lebanon, New York, where he spent his last days. The father, Augustus Bigelow, was reared on a farm and about 1832 removed west to Ohio and was an early settler in Ashtabula County. where he bought a tract of timbered land in Ashtabula Township, and during the next twenty years gave his time and energy to clear- ing up the woods and cultivating the soil. In 1852 he returned East and bought a farm in North Canaan, Connecticut, where he resided until his death in 1889 at the age of eighty-four. Augustus Bigelow married Frances Fenn, who was born in North Canaan, Connecti- cut, a daughter of James and Lois (Sedgwick) Fenn. She was of English stock, and her grandfather, Henry Fenn, was born in Lin- colnshire, England, and came to America in colonial times, settling at Sheffield, Massachusetts, which was his home the rest of his life. Augustus Bigelow and wife reared two sons: Theophilus Fenn and James Augustus.
For the first fourteen years of his life Doctor Bigelow lived on his father's farm in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and during that time attended public schools. He afterwards continued his education in North Canaan, Connecticut, and began the study of medicine under Dr. W. W. Welch of Norfolk, Connecticut. Entering Yale Colllege, he was graduated from the medical department in 1860.
In 1861 he assisted in raising the Eleventh Regiment of Con- necticut Infantry, having himself enlisted in Company E. On the organization of the regiment he was commissioned assistant surgeon, and continued in that capacity until 1863. He was then commis- sioned surgeon of the Eighth Regiment of Connecticut Infantry. With these two regiments he followed the fortunes of the Union armies in many campaigns and on many battlefields of the South. Some of the more important battles where he was present were those of South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Cold Har- bor. It was not until 1866, after five years of active service, that he was honorably discharged and mustered out at Hartford, Con- necticut.
It was in 1866 that Doctor Bigelow came West and located at Elkhart City. Later for several years he was advertising agent for
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the Miles Medical Company, and in that capacity visited the prin- cipal points in all the different states and territories from Lake Erie west to the Pacific Ocean.
One interesting phase of his experience came in 1881 when he went out to Dakota Territory to participate in one of the largest land openings there. He took a homestead about twenty miles north of Huron in the James River Valley, where he was one of the pio- neers not only as a homesteader but as a prominent citizen. He afterwards assisted in organizing the State of South Dakota and was especially interested in school matters, having served as super- visor and having organized ten school districts in that pioneer country.
After five years of residence in the Northwest Doctor Bigelow came to Elkhart and has lived in this city ever since. He has been successful in business, and has also given much of his time to public affairs, having served as a member of the city council two terms and as probation officer for the past ten years.
On July 20, 1872, Doctor Bigelow married Mrs. Mary (Tur- nock) Bender, who represents some of the earliest pioneer stock in Northern Indiana. She was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Her father. Benjamin Turnock was born at Stoke upon Trent, England,. was reared and married there and set out for America accompanied by his wife and three children, making the voyage in a sailing ves- sel which was six weeks en route. In 1842 he came West, making the journey by the Hudson River, the Erie Canal and the lake as far as Chicago which he found a small and struggling city among the swamps. He thence came overland to St. Joseph County, In- diana, and bought 200 acres of land now included in the City of Mishawaka. His family occupied a log house on the banks of the St. Joseph River. He soon discovered that his family were unable to stand the rigors of the fever and ague which were so prevalent in the early days, and after two years he returned to Jersey City. again making the journey by primitive means, wagons and teams. In the East he resumed business as a contractor and builder. In 1852 Benjamin Turnock again came to Northern Indiana, this time locating in Elkhart County and buying a tract of land on the river road 21/2 miles west of the City of Elkhart. After he had secured his location his wife and family followed him. In the meantime the first railroads had been built across this section of the Middle West and his family came by freight train accompanying the household goods, and while it was a journey characterized by greater con- venience than the one which they had undertaken some ten years before, it required several days to cross the intervening country.
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Benjamin Turnock devoted a number of years to the improvement of his land west of Elkhart, but in 1861 moved into the City of Elk- hart. Here he had previously bought a lot at the northwest corner of North Main and Sycamore streets, and there he built a house which is now occupied by Doctor Bigelow and family, and which has stood as a landmark in the residence district for more than half a century. Benjamin Turnock after moving to Elkhart opened a cigar and tobacco store which he operated several years. He also filled such offices as constable, marshal and justice of the peace, and continued an honored resident of Elkhart until his death at the age of sixty-four. Benjamin Turnock married Mary Whittaker, who was born at Middlewick, near Macclesfield, England. She sur- vived her husband and died at the age of eighty-four, having reared seven children named William, Joseph, Edwin, Hiram, Jemima, Mary and Thomas.
Mrs. Bigelow has many interesting recollections of the early days in the City of Elkhart, which she first knew as a girl more than sixty years ago. When the Turnocks located in Elkhart County the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern was a one-track rail- road. The locomotives still burned wood as fuel, and near the depot was a wood yard with a saw operated by one of the old fashioned turntable horse power, one horse supplying the power. Mrs. Bige- low recalls having attended school in a log building heated by fire- place. The seats were plain wooden benches, and one distinctive characteristic that made the schoolroom somewhat different from others of the early type was that the benches beginning with the second row from the front, stood on an incline running back so as to make the schoolroom resemble an amphitheatre or a circus tent.
Mrs. Bigelow first married Jefferson Bender. He was born in Pennsylvania, son of David and Ortha Bender. In Elkhart he was an employe of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway as car inspector, and met his death by accident at the age of twenty- nine. The one daughter of this marriage was Anna Bender, now the wife of Brice H. Reid, of Elkhart, to whom reference is made on other pages.
Doctor and Mrs. Bigelow have a daughter, Frances, who is now in the profession of Chiropractor. Doctor Bigelow is active in the Grand Army of the Republic, and served one year as commander of Shiloh Field Post and ten years as quartermaster of the Post.
AARON BAKER. As a lad of ten years Mr. Baker accompanied his parents on their removal to Elkhart County, within whose borders he has continuously maintained his residence since the year
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1860. His father thus became one of the early settlers of the county, where he instituted the reclamation of a pioneer farm in Osolo Township and became otherwise worthily identified with the civic and industrial development and progress of this favored section of the Buckeye State. Reared and educated in Elkhart County, Aaron Baker has witnessed the transitions that have marked the advancement of the City of Elkhart from the status of an obscure village to its present position of importance as one of the vigorous and thriving municipalities of Indiana, and here he has found ample scope for successful endeavor, through which he has attained to definite independence and prosperity, the while he has not been denied the fullest measure of popular esteem in the city and county that have so long represented his home. He has long been actively engaged in the work of his trade, that of carpenter, and in connec- tion therewith has been for fully a score of years in the employ of the Miles Medical Company, one of the extensive and important manufacturing and commercial concerns of the City of Elkhart. For many years he has given efficient service as assessor of Osolo Township, and of this position he is the incumbent at the present time.
Aaron Baker was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of November, 1850, and in the same county of the old Keystone State were also born his parents, Israel and Fannie (Groff) Baker, the former of English and the latter of German lineage Both families were early founded in Pennsylvania and in that state the parents of Mr. Baker continued their residence until 1851, when they removed to Ohio and established their residence in the Vil- lage of New Berlin, Stark County. He whose name initiates this review was an infant of less than one year of age at the time of the family removal to the Buckeye State, and he was reared to the age of ten years in Stark County, where he acquired his rudimentary training in the public schools. In 1860, as previously intimated, removal was made to Elkhart County, Indiana, where the father, though a carpenter by trade and previous occupation, purchased a tract of land in Osolo Township. Only five acres had been cleared and the only improvement on the place that was worthy of note was a log cabin of the pioneer type. While giving his attention to the reclamation and improvement of his farm Israel also continued in the work of his trade, in connection with which he found ready demand for his skilled services, and after a few years he removed from his farm to the Village of Elkhart, where he became a repre- sentative contractor and builder and where he continued his resi- dence until his death, at the age of sixty-four years, his wife having
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preceded him to the life eternal. They became the parents of seven children, all of whom are still living and all of whom have married and reared children, the names being here entered in respective order of birth: Amanda, Aaron, Alice, Elizabeth, Sarah, Benjamin and Lillian.
Aaron Baker is able to recall the appearance of the City of Elkhart when it was a small and unimportant village and when much of its present territory was still covered with the native tim- ber. As a youth he not only assisted in the work of the farm but also served a virtual apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade, under the effective direction of his father. In the meanwhile he did not neglect the advantages afforded in the local schools and thus he waxed strong in both mental and physical powers and became well fortified for the battle of life. From his early youth to the present time he has been actively and successfully engaged in the work of his trade, as a skilled representative of which he has been for twenty years in the employ of the Miles Medicine Company, with which he has long served in a semi-executive capacity and been the virtual head of his department.
Mr. Baker has shown himself essentially loyal and public-spirited in his civic attitude and maintains deep interest in all that touches the welfare of his home city and county. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he has been more or less influential in its local councils and activities. Since 1900 he has served con- secutively in the office of assessor of Osolo Township and his pres- ent term will expire in 1918.
In the year 1872 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Baker to Miss Sarah Smith, who was born at Goshen, the judicial center of Elkhart County, and who is a daughter of William and Elizabetli Smith, both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Baker are members of the United Brethren Church in Elkhart and are distinctively popular in the representative social circles in which they move. They be- came the parents of four children, concerning whom the following brief record is entered in conclusion of this sketch: Orpha, now deceased, was the wife of Charles Replogle, who survives her, as do also six children-Elmer, Joseph, Gladys, Wayne, Helen and Robert. Clinton wedded Miss Lottie Williams and they have one daughter, Bonneta. Clarence married Miss Blanche Everett and they have five children, namely: Everett, Forrest, Joyce, Charles and Donald. Bessie is the wife of James Van Dusen, and their two children are Doris and Robert.
WILBUR A. GRAY was born May 31, 1879, at Oskaloosa, Iowa. His father, D. A. Gray, was a train dispatcher, and his occupation
W.a. gray
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took the family into many states, including Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska. Twenty-three years ago, Mrs. Gray brought her children to live with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. David Young, now deceased, in Cleveland Township. After three years in Cleve- land Township, the Grays again moved, this time to Granger, where Wilbur was employed in Lowery's general store."
Wilbur Gray first came to Elkhart, accompanied by his mother, brother, and sisters about 1900. After working in several factories including Buescher's and the Davis Acetylene Company, he obtained employment in the Lake Shore storehouse. His aptitude for work, and general efficiency won him many rapid promotions until he was sent to the Collinwood offices as an expert accountant. From there he was sent to Kankakee where he was storekeeper of the C. I. & S. railway.
Upon his return to Elkhart, Mr. Gray became chief clerk at the Lake Shore storehouse here, in which position he was employed when he resigned to take up the duties of his city office.
In January, 1910, Mr. Gray assumed charge of the city treas- urer's office, having been elected by 489 majority. No official ever serving the city has had a better record.
During his first year in this office Mr. Gray handled a grand total business aggregating $662,785.82, or nearly double the amount ever before handled in the city treasurer's office in any one year in Elkhart's history. In transacting this immense amount of business for the city Mr. Gray showed remarkable ability and accuracy, as evidenced by the report of the state accountants who audited the affairs of his office in June, 1911. But four minor errors were found, amounting to the inconsequential sum of $5.92. The state accountants, in making their report, paid a high tribute to Mr. Gray.
His campaigns for the county office were made on an "efficiency" platform, and in both he won by big pluralities. He made the same record for competency in the county treasurer's office that he established while city treasurer. With the exception of the year 1914, when he lived in Goshen, Mr. Gray resided in Elkhart, going to Goslien every day.
Mr. Gray had been prominent in public life for the past six years. In 1909 he was elected to the city treasurership on the demo- cratic ticket, serving in the Chester administration. He resigned his position in the fall of 1912 to accept the democratic nomination for county treasurer. He was elected and took up the duties of his office on January 1, 1913. He was re-elected to this office in the 1914 elections, and was in the midst of the first year of his second term when death overtook him.
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His tenure in office was marked by such efficiency as to evoke praise from even republican papers which had opposed his candi- dacy on partisan grounds. He was unusually gifted as an account- ant and the examiners of the state board of accounts always compli- mented his records.
Mr. Gray had been admitted to the Elkhart County bar. He became a stockholder and officer of the City Ice and Fuel Company and also of the Popular Amusement Company, lessee of the Buck- len Theater. His home was at 520 West Marion Street.
Mr. Gray was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church and it was while one of the choir of that church that he met Miss Edna J. Funk, daughter of A. K. Funk, who was soloist in the choir, and to whom he was married on March 16, 1909.
Mr. Gray passed peacefully away at the General Hospital Octo- ber 25, 1915, after a four weeks' illness due to inflammation of the brain, complicated by acute Bright's disease.
His wife, Edna Funk Gray, and son, Wilbur Allen Gray, aged three and a half years, survive.
Tributes to the memory of the late county official were paid by representative Elkhart business men.
"He was one of the best public officials we ever had," said W. H. Knickerbocker of the First National Bank.
"Mr. Gray's death is a great loss to the community. I consid- ered him a first class man in every particular, and his ability as a business man and official was without question. We found him strictly honest and an exemplary man," said ex-Mayor Charles T. Greene, now connected in an official capacity with the St. Joseph Valley Bank.
"My relations with Mr. Gray, which were in a business way, were the most pleasant at all times. I found him to be one of the best business men it has been my pleasure to meet. He was always courteous, and any information desired from his office in connection with my office was always given in a courteous manner, the same as it was given from my office," said E. A. Campbell, city treasurer.
DANIEL MIKEL. A name that should have some record among the early settlers of Western Elkhart County is that of Daniel Mikel, who spent many years as a prosperous farmer and influential citi- zen in Olive Township.
He was born in Germany August 18, 1808, and when four years of age came with his parents to America. His father Joseph Mikel in 1812 settled in North Carolina, a few years later moved to Ohio and then came out to the frontier and bought a tract of Government
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land in Baugo Township of Elkhart County. He also acquired land in Olive Township, but improved his home in Baugo and spent his last days there. He married Mary Baumgardner, who also died in Baugo Township.
Daniel Mikel grew up in the State of Ohio, and took up an in- dependent career after coming to Elkhart County. He lived a few years in Baugo Township, and his father having given him thirty acres in Olive he settled on that land, cleared it up and developed a good farm, and was busied with its activities until his death in his eighty-second year.
He married Catherine Eller, who was born in Ohio March 14, 1815, a daughter of William and Sarah Eller. Mrs. Mikel died in middle life, leaving six children: Joseph, William, Mary, Jacob, Sarah and Albert. The son Jacob was a soldier in the Union army and died while in the service.
JACOB E. MARTIN. One of Elkhart's most esteemed citizens was the late Jacob E. Martin who died at his home in that city May 17, 1914.
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