USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 15
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Mr. Gavit is a member of the Hammond Country Club and the Cham- ber of Commerce, is a past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Maccabees. In January, 1890, he married Miss Emma Campbell. Her parents are John and Adelia (Johnson) Campbell. Mr. Gavit and wife have the following children : Elwin J., Russell, Bernard, Donald, Hubert, and Inez.
AUGUST H. W. JOHNSON. While the people of Lake County generally know Mr. Johnson as the efficient and popular county recorder, the business with which he has been chiefly identified is that of building
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contractor, and for a number of years he has kept up an organization whose services have been employed in many of the most important building contracts in East Chicago and vicinity. Mr. Johnson has applied intelligent effort to the building business, has afforded a thor- oughly responsible management and hundreds of investors and builders have sought his services in his particular line.
August H. W. Johnson was born at Hinsdale, Illinois, January 9, 1869, a son of Gustav A. and Wilhelmina H. Johnson. His father was a building contractor. The son had to take up the serious responsibili- ties of life with a very meager equipment in the way of book learning, but has made his way over all handicaps by sheer force of ability, and not long after getting started as a carpenter he took up contracting on his own responsibility. For four years he was employed as general foreman in the Grasselli Chemical Company at East Chicago, being foreman of all the outside plants of the company throughout the country. Most of his work as a building contractor has been performed in East Chicago. Examples of his construction there are the public library, the city hall, the engine house, the Mckinley school, the Wallace school, the Steglitz Park school, United States Metal Refining Building, the Calu- met Car Company's Building, the George B. Limbert Company's Build- ing, the William Graves Tank Works, the Freedman Building, and large numbers of stores, flats and residences. Outside of East Chicago he erected the schoolhouse at Saxony, Indiana, and has remodeled several school buildings in North Township.
Mr. Johnson's election to the office of county recorder came in 1912. He also has a military record, having enlisted early in the Span- ish-American war in Company A of the One Hundred and Fifty-first Indiana Infantry, went out with his regiment in the rank of lieutenant and saw one year of service in Cuba and was with the troops that occupied the City of Havana. Mr. Johnson was one of the organizers and charter members of the Spanish-American War Veterans, and was elected senior commander of the organization. Fraternally he has taken the Scottish Rite degrees, and is a Shriner, is past exalted ruler of Lodge No. 981 B. P. O. E. at East Chicago, and is past chancellor and member of the Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias. He and his family are members of the Congregational Church at East Chicago.
Mr. Johnson was married in 1904 to Flora B. Bronson of Valparaiso. daughter of Pernot and Elizabeth Bronson. They are the parents of one child, Marjorie Elizabeth.
ERNEST L. SHORTRIDGE. Now giving all his time to his duties as clerk of the Lake County superior court, with residence at Crown Point, Mr. Shortridge was for many years a law stenographer and court reporter and has been identified with Lake County practically all his life. His record as an official has been characterized by the fairness of performance and obliging courtesy to all who use his office which has made him one of the most popular of the county officials.
Lowell in Lake County is the birthplace of Ernest L. Shortridge, and he was born June 11, 1873, a son of Irenius and Marietta (Purdy) Shortridge. His father was a farmer, and his youth was spent on a farm, with an education in the public schools supplemented by a course in the Valparaiso University, from which he graduated in 1892. Hav- ing studied stenography, he took up law stenography as a profession, and after four years was appointed court reporter in both Lake and
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Porter counties, and had eleven years of experience in those exacting duties. His first election to his present office as clerk of the superior court of Lake County eame in 1906. In 1910 he was again elected, and still holds the office. Mr. Shortridge is also secretary of the Lake County Investment Company at East Chieago and secretary of the Lake County Security Company of Crown Point.
He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Hammond Coun- try Club, is a Knights Templar Mason and Shriner, affiliates with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Proteetive Order of Elks, and the church of himself and family is the Presbyterian. In 1898 Mr. Shortridge married Misha Mathis of Hammond. Their one child is Ruth Esther.
CLAUDE W. ALLMAN. One of the oldest firms of abstractors in Lake County is that of Allman, and several members of the family have been identified with that business upwards of forty years. Mr. Claude W. Allman was trained along that line practically from boyhood, and it has been his regular work for the past twenty-six years.
Claude W. Allman was born at Niles, Michigan, October 24, 1869, son of Amos and Mary A. (Luther) Allman. His father moved to Crown Point in 1870, and engaged in the abstraet business, which sub- sequently was taken up by his son. Claude W. Allman grew up in Crown Point, was educated in the high school, and since 1888 has been with his father and brother in the abstract business.
Mr. Allman in 1913 was elected for a four year term as member of the city council of Crown Point, and has always been active in county affairs. He is an ex-member of the board of education. Among other business interests Mr. Allman is president of the Crown Point Building & Loan Savings Association. He is prominent in both the Masonie and Knights of Pythias fraternities, is a past master and past high priest, and belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He is a past chancellor eom- mander of the Knights of Pythias.
At Crown Point on June 29, 1892, Mr. Allman married Anna Fisher. To their marriage were born five children. One son, Luther John, died at the age of three years, while the four living are: Major F., John Claude, Ruth Genevieve, and Luther Milton.
J. FRANK MEEKER. Among the capable men who have made up the roster of the Lake County bar, there was perhaps none with greater ability in the law and with more serviceable citizenship in the com- munity than the late J. Frank Meeker, whose death on May 16, 1914. bereaved the county of one of its best known men. The late Mr. Meeker had practiced law for more than twenty years, and had gained success through hard work, a rugged native ability and thorough honesty and integrity.
J. Frank Meeker had a distinction which is now very rare having been born in a log cabin home. His birthplace was in Center Town- ship, five miles from Crown Point. and his birthday was December 11, 1868. His parents were Sherman B. and Elizabeth (Cress) Meeker, natives of Pennsylvania, who moved west to Illinois, later to Michigan. and in 1866 came to Lake County and built as their first habitation the log cabin in which their son was born. There were four children in the family : Nathan Brewster, Charles H., Henrietta and J. Frank.
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The youngest of the children, Mr. Meeker grew up on a farm, had the wholesome environment of the country to influence his early training and formation of character, got his first knowledge of books from country schools, and from the age of thirteen continued his schooling at the Crown Point High School before graduating. He read law in a local lawyer's office for two years, entered the University of Michigan, and gradnated in the law department with the class of 1892, and in the same year took up active practice at Crown Point. One year was spent in Hammond, but Crown Point was the scene of his activities as a lawyer and the community to which he devoted his best work as a citizen. For a time he was a partner in practice with Judge McMahan of the circuit bench. While his reputation and success came largely from his close application to the strict lines of his profession, Mr. Meeker was also in public affairs as deputy prosecuting attorney for four years, and also as county attorney for several years. He was also an active republican and had an official part in the affairs of that party. Fraternally he was identified with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Foresters and the North American Union.
Mrs. Meeker, who survives her husband, has the distinction of having been the first woman admitted to the bar of Lake County. Before her marriage she was Miss Stella S. Colby, and was born and reared in Lake County. She married Mr. Meeker on March 26, 1894. To their marriage was born a daughter, Stella.
SPENCER LANE BEACH. A long and honorable relationship with the public has been sustained by Mr. Beach at Crown Point through his office as agent for the Pennsylvania Railway Company. His service in this capacity has extended over thirty-eight years, and whether as a carpenter, a railroad man, or county official his work has always been characterized by efficiency and fidelity which marks him as one of the most dependable citizens.
Spencer Lane Beach was born in Knox County, Ohio, June 18, 1849, a son of William and Emily Beach, grew up on an Ohio farm, and the education which has served him adequately for all the requirements of his career came from the public schools and a business college. As a youth he learned the trade of cabinet maker and later that of carpenter, and that was his line of work until 1876. In the meantime, in 1870, he had located in Lake County, but the demand for workmen in his line after the Chicago fire of 1871 kept him busy in that city until 1873, after which he continued his trade in Lake County until 1876. On May 24, 1876, Mr. Beach began his work for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as agent at LeRoy. His service continued there until January 1, 1893. In the meantime he had served in the office of county commis- sioner during 1890-91-92, and in October, 1892, was appointed and on the first of the following year took charge of the Pennsylvania station at Crown Point as agent. Since then his home has been in the county seat.
Mr. Beach is prominent in fraternal affairs, is a past noble grand and member of the Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, is past chancellor and also president of the Endowment Rank in the Knights of Pythias. He is a trustee and a member of the official board of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Crown Point. On Decem- ber 22. 1899, was celebrated his marriage to Nannie Hart, of Frederick- town, Ohio. Her father was Christian Cosner, a farmer. Mr. Beach and wife have one daughter, Floy Ellen, who now lives at home.
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HENRY G. MERZ, M. D. For fully twenty years Doctor Merz has practiced medicine and surgery in Northern Indiana, the greater part of the time in Fort Wayne, though it was in Hammond that he began his career as a doctor and for the past five years has again been identified with that city. While he has done much in the quiet way of a private practitioner to impress his ability and services on these two communities, he has been particularly prominent in the medical profession as a whole, and at Fort Wayne was a leader in the organized activities of medicine. As a surgeon he probably has no superior in Lake County.
Dr. Henry G. Merz, though most of his career has been spent in the North, was born at Castroville, Texas, December 5, 1869. His parents were Henry and Anna (Germann) Merz, his father a Lutheran minister and a pioneer of his church in Southwestern Texas, but now superin- tendent of the Lutheran Orphanage at Addison, Illinois. Doctor Merz attended the Lutheran parochial schools in Texas, finished a business course in Austin of that state, and in 1884, when fifteen years of age, went to Chicago and found employment as clerk in a drug store. It was his work as a pharmacy clerk that eventually afforded him the means to take up the practice of medicine. He studied medicine while at work in the store, and at the age of seventeen entered the Homeopathic Medical College of Chicago, where he graduated M. D. in 1892. For two years following his graduation, he was house physician and surgeon in the Emergency Hospital of Chicago. Towards the close of 1893 Doctor Merz located at Hammond, but after two and a half years went to Fort Wayne, and that city was the field of his professional efforts for fourteen years. During his first residence at Hamomnd he served two years as secretary of the Board of Health. In successive years his general practice has become more and more concentrated into the department of surgery, and at the present time a large amount of his own work lies in that field and many cases are transferred by other physicians to him for surgical treat- ment.
During his residence at Fort Wayne Doctor Merz was secretary of the Homeopathic Society one year and president a year. He was one of the organizers of the Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital, and when that institution was finished he was made president of its medical staff and served five years. The staff from time to time was increased to about twenty members, and Doctor Merz' activities were largely influential in the success of the hospital. He was also house physician for the Reformed Orphanage Hospital four years, and house physician three years at the Lutheran College at Fort Wayne. In 1909 Doctor Merz returned to Hammond, and his practice has since been confined to this city and vicinity. He is a member of the Lake County Medical Society and the Indiana State Medical Association, the American Medical Asso- ciation and the American Institute of Homeopathy.
Outside of his profession he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Hammond Country Club and the Lutheran Church. Doctor Merz married Caroline Birkner of Chicago, daughter of Charles and Hen- rietta Birkner. Her father was an architect.
WILLIAM NEWTON. The high business and personal standing of William Newton rests upon many years of activity, but principally is it the outgrowth of the progressive farming operations with which he has been connected in section 9, Center Township, during the past ten years. He is further known as a natural mechanic, a skilled machinist,
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a public-spirited promoter of stable and practical conditions, and as a typical representative of the best class of Englishmen who wander from their native land to this country.
Mr. Newton was born near the City of Manchester, England, Decem- ber 24, 1857, and is a son of Edwin and Margaret Newton, the former born near Manchester, England, and the latter in Wales. The father, a machinist by trade, followed that occupation throughout his life at Manchester, in which city both he and the mother died. Five sons and two daughters were born to them and of these children six are living. William Newton attended the schools of his home locality until reaching the age of thirteen years, and at that time began learning the trade of machinist under his father's instruction, so that his further studies had to be prosecuted in night school. He remained with his father for a period of ten years, but when twenty-three years old, in 1880, crossed the Atlantic to Canada, and for five months was employed in the Kings- ton Locomotive Works, at Kingston, Ontario. Following this he came to Marquette, Michigan, and for one and one-half years was foreman of the Detroit, Mackinaw & Marquette Railroad shops, and for a short time was employed on the Iron Range, in Marquette County. Succeed- ing this Mr. Newton went to the copper country and began work for the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, July 12, 1883, as a machinist working on locomotives, but in June, 1888, was promoted to the posi- tion of foreman on an underground pump. He continued in that capac- ity continuously until February, 1905, with the exception of twenty months spent as a Rand drill foreman, and in March, 1905, came to Lake County, Indiana, where a short time later he purchased his pres- ent beautiful farm of 168 acres, located in section 9, Center Township, one mile east of the courthouse at Crown Point, an ideal location and a well improved farm. Mr. Newton has shown that one can follow a cer- tain line of work for many years and then transfer his attentions to another line and meet with as great success. He has proven his worth as a farmer, even as he did as a mechanic, and his property gives every evidence of the presence of good management and thrift. Its buildings are commodious, substantial and architecturally handsome, his equipment is of modern manufacture and in a good state of repair, and his land is well drained, ditched and fenced. Mr. Newton carries on general farming, and specializes in thoroughbred Holstein cattle, although he has a few grades, this being a fine herd and one which he is constantly improving. Mr. Newton's career is an excellent example of what may be accomplished by hard work and earnest purpose, and should prove encouraging to those who are just entering upon their life's endeavors. As a business man and a citizen, Mr. Newton bears the highest reputation, gained through honest dealing and strict integrity in all matters.
In 1885 Mr. Newton was married to Miss Ellen M. Kellen, who was born and reared in Marquette County, Michigan, where the union took place. Five sons and two daughters, the same number as his parents', have been born to him: C. Harry, who is engaged in operating his father's farm; Edward K., a graduate of the Boulder (Colorado) Col- lege of Medicine and now practicing at Whiting, Indiana; Henrietta, formerly a student of Northwestern University, and now a teacher in the public schools of Gary, Indiana; William C., who resides at home and is being reared as a farmer; Lowell, a student in the Northwestern University ; Samuel N., who is attending the Crown Point High School ;
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and Ellen M., who is also a pupil of that sehool. Mr. and Mrs. Newton and their children are devoted members of the Episcopal Church. In his political views he is a protectionist and republican and but once sought for public office.
AUGUST W. NEUNFELDT. Occasionally there arises an individual in our public life who, through the capacity for finding enjoyment in what he has to do, invests his duties with interest and enthusiasm and thus achieves astonishing results from his labors. These are essen- tials of success which are found in the public career of August W. Neun- feldt, who since January 1, 1907, has held the position of superintend- ent of the Lake County Poor Asylum, which at this time reflects his ideas and individuality, as against the blind following of methods of operation practiced by his predecessors.
Mr. Neunfeldt is still a young man, but may well take a pardonable pride in what he has accomplished. He was born in 1875, near the City of Berlin, Germany, and is a son of August and Johanna ( Haas) Neun- feldt, both of whom were born near that city. Ile was the third of four children, the eldest being dead and the others, Herman, a farmer of North Dakota; and Tina. The family emigrated to the United States in 1884, locating first in Chicago, where they remained until 1892, and then came to Winfield Township, Lake County, Indiana, the father engaging in agricultural pursuits. This continued to be the residenee place of the parents until 1909, when they moved to North Dakota to make their home with their son, Herman.
Prior to coming to the United States, August W. Neunfeldt attended the publie schools of his native land for a short time. He was a lad of nine years when he accompanied his parents to this country, and after locating in Chieago was not long in securing a working knowl- edge of the American language. He continued a pupil in the graded schools until fourteen years of age, and then laid aside his books and was variously employed until the family came to Lake County, where he was engaged in assisting in the work of the home plaee until his marriage. This occurred May 9, 1900, to Miss Mathilda Knopf, of Lake County, and following their union they resided in Chicago for one and one-half years, but eventually returned to Winfield Township and re- sumed farming. On January 1, 1907, Mr. Neunfeldt was elected to his present office by the board of county commissioners, and has been reap- pointed four times, the last time for a period of four years. In the fall of 1913, Mr. Neunfeldt assisted in organizing and became a mem- ber of the State Association of County Poor Superintendents.
The Lake County Poor Asylum consists of a tract of 310 aeres, all under a state of cultivation. When Mr. Neunfeldt arrived he found the place in poor repair, the buildings old and unsanitary, badly ventilated and in need of new equipment. For five years he labored assiduously to secure a new set of structures, and finally, in 1912, was successful in securing them, these costing some $200,000, and now said to be the finest in the state. While there have never been over 150 inmates. there are easily accommodations for 350, and if necessary 400 could be provided for. The institution is provided with its own steam heating and gas plant, the hospital and operating room are as well equipped as any private institution, living and sleeping rooms are separate, the ventilating system is the most highly approved known, and everything about the place is of the most modern kind, reflecting the careful.
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thrifty, progressive and energetic management of the superintendent. Mr. Nennfeldt may be said to be the right man in the right place; he is kind, generous and considerate of those who are placed under his guardianship, yet is a strict disciplinarian, and when occasion demands is adamant. He has the assistance of five capable men and as many women assistants. Few public services are more to be commended than the careful protection of our worthy poor, and Mr. Neunfeldt's labors should therefore place him among his community's most helpful citizens.
Mr. and Mrs. Neunfeldt have had three children, the first two being twins: Paul, who died at the age of two weeks; Karl, born in 1901, in Chicago ; and Loretta, born in 1903, in Lake County. Mr. and Mrs. Neunfeldt are members of the German Lutheran Church at Crown Point, of which Mr. Neunfeldt is a trustee. His political support is given to the republican party's candidates and principles.
WILLIAM LAWHAN HANDLEY. This representative business man of Crown Point bears a name that has been familiar in Lake County since the early days, he is himself a native of the county, and his active and successful business connections have brought him into relation with several different communities, in each of which he has been a leader, not only in his own line of business but in community affairs.
William Lawhan Handley was born in Lake County on a farm Octo- ber 17, 1867, a son of George W. and Sarah (Gambrill) Handley. The education which he received in early life came almost entirely from the public schools, and it has been by practical contact with men and affairs that he has developed his best faculties. Early in his business career he bought a drug store at Lowell, and lived there and was in business for fifteen years. Five years of that time he was president of the Lowell school board. After selling out his interests in Lowell, he bought a general store at Cedar Lake, conducted it two years, then turned his attention to farming, having a place in Cedar Creek Town- ship. After the experiences thus enumerated Mr. Handley moved to Crown Point, and once more identified himself with the drug business, and now conducts a well stocked and well equipped store, that is one of the principal trading points in the city.
His connection with public affairs has continued since moving to the county seat, and in 1912 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of city treasurer, and served in that capacity until January, 1914. Mr. Handley was one of the organizers of the Crown Point Chamber of Commerce and through that organization and as a private business man has worked and co-operated for the advancement of this com- munity. Fraternally he is a chapter Mason and belongs to the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters. Outside of business his chief recreation is found in automobiling, and for a number of years he has been one of Lake County's enthusiastic motorists. On December 31, 1887, Mr. Hand- ley married Kate Blatchly, of Lowell, a daughter of Cornelius and Lizzie (Meske) Blatchly.
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