USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 22
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L. P. GODWIN. A business man of Gary since 1907, L. P. Godwin is one of the most progressive and enterprising real-estate men in the Calumet region, and has not only done a large volume of business, but also a business whose character results in the permanent improvement and benefit of the City of Gary and vicinity. His reputation in real- estate circles is based on reliable dealings and high-class methods.
Born in Virginia, in 1879, a son of Charles E. and Anna W. Godwin, his father a farmer, L. P. Godwin was reared in his native state, and completed his education in the Randolph-Macon College. He was thus started in life with several distinct advantages, including his early environment of the country, a liberal education, and a good family name. His early business career was in the produce trade, and for six years he was identified with the fruit and produce business at Boston, Massachusetts, and then spent a year in the interest of the California Citrus Union in California. From the West he located in Chicago, spent two years in the real-estate business in that city, and in 1907 moved to Gary, and has since been one of the active operators in that city.
Mr. Godwin is secretary and treasurer of the Gary Investment Com- pany and secretary and treasurer of the East Side Realty Company, and has a similar position with the Broadway Realty and Investment Com- pany. In connection with these companies he has been active in pro- moting the sales of the Gary Investment Company's subdivision of 300 lots in section 10, during 1907; the Broadway Realty Investment Com- pany's addition of 400 lots at Forty-fifth Avenue and Broadway, in 1911; and the East Side Realty Company's subdivision of fifty lots in McKey's addition during 1912.
Mr. Godwin was married in Chicago in December, 1909, to Eva M. Burns of St. Louis. Mr. Godwin is a charter member of the Gary Com- mercial Club, affiliates with the Masonic order, is a member of the Epis- copal Church, and in politics a republican.
JUDGE CASSIUS M. GREENLEE. Now in successful practice as a mem- ber of the Gary bar, Judge Greenlee has been an Indiana lawyer for thirty years, practiced a long time at Anderson, and after four years of service as judge of the Superior Court, came to Gary, and has a very success- ful and important practice as representative of corporate and individual clients.
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Cassius M. Greenlee was born in Franklin County, Indiana, Septem- ber 15, 1857. His parents were John and Angeline (Bartlow) Green- lee. His mother, who was a native of Franklin County, was the daugh- ter of Cornelius Bartlow, one of the early settlers in that part of the state, who moved there from New England and was a farmer by occu- pation. Judge Greenlee's father was a native of Pennsylvania, and after locating in Franklin County, Indiana, followed contracting. Judge Greenlee grew up in the counties of Franklin and Henry, passing through the usual experiences of an Indiana boy, attended the public schools and early in his career directed his ambitions to the legal profession. During this time he taught school for a period of eight years in Indiana, at the age of eighteen years obtaining a license for two years. After reading law for several years he was admitted to the bar in 1884, and was an active member of the Madison County bar at Anderson, until 1904. In that year, he was elected judge of the Superior Court, and served until 1908. On June 1, 1909, Judge Greenlee opened his office at Gary, with Harry Call, who had formerly been a student of law under Judge Greenlee.
He married Hermenia Bresler of Franklin County, Indiana, and at her death, in 1902, she left one daughter, Grace, now the wife of W. J. Carleton, of Gary. In 1910 Judge Greenlee married Jeanette Smith of Elwood, Indiana.
He is a republican in politics, and has long been active in fraternal affairs, especially in Masonry. His affiliations are with the Blue Lodge, with the Knight Templar Commandery, the Scottish Rite degree up to and including the thirty-second, and the Mystic Shrine. He is also affil- iated with the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
JUDGE LAWRENCE BECKER. Judge of the Superior Court of Lake County, Lawrence Becker has been prominent as a lawyer and citizen at Hammond for the past eighteen years. Judge Becker represents the best quality of judicial character, and in his official capacity has set some high standards of service for his successors in that office to follow.
Lawrence Becker was born August 10, 1869, in the Village of Fin- nentrop, Westphalia, Germany. When he was nine years old, or in May, 1879, the family arrived at the little village of Tolleston, which is now included within the larger industrial City of Gary, but in August of the same year the family moved to Hammond, where they lived until May, 1883. The Beckers then went West and found a home in the State of Montana. In these various moves Lawrence Becker shared, and the education begun in the schools of Germany was continued at Hammond, in the State of Montana, and after arriving at manhood he returned to the East and spent the year 1892-93 in the Valparaiso Normal College, and in 1894 entered the law department of that institution. After gradu- ating in 1896 he came to Hammond and opened his law office.
His public record needs no comment and is of itself a high tribute to his efficiency as a lawyer and judge and his public spirit as a citizen. He was elected in 1898 city attorney of Hammond and discharged the duties of that office until September, 1902. In May, 1904, he was elected mayor of Hammond, and was re-elected in November, 1905, and in 1909. His administration as mayor was one of great material progress in Ham- mond, and it was with keen regret that the citizens learned of his resig- nation in March, 1911. In 1912 Judge Becker was a delegate from the
Laurence, Beaker
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Tenth Congressional District to the National Democratic Convention, and in that convention was the Indiana representative on the committee on rules. He supported the interests of President Wilson on the ques- tion of abolishing the unit rule and also on seating Wilson delegates whose seats were contested, and worked to have the Indiana delegation go to Wilson when there was no chance of Governor Marshall receiving the nomination. The resignation of Judge Becker as mayor of Ham- mond was the result of Governor Marshall offering him the appointment as judge of the Superior Court of Lake County, and since taking up those duties he has made this court an impartial tribunal and one in which efficiency and expedition are as characteristic as its unvarying justice.
Judge Becker was one of the principal organizers of the Hammond Public Library, and when the organization of the board was completed in 1903 he accepted a membership on appointment from Hon. Willis C. McMahon, judge of the Lake County Circuit Court. He has been a mem- ber of the library board ever since. On September 3, 1898, Judge Becker married Miss Agnes Eaton. They are the parents of three children.
JAMES CHESTER GIBBS, M. D. Since 1888 continuously engaged in the practice of his profession at Crown Point, Doctor Gibbs is one of the oldest and best known medical practitioners in Lake County. To the large practice which he serves, he has brought the ability and careful skill which would have gained him perhaps more distinction, but not greater honor for substantial service in the populous urban centers. Doctor Gibbs is a graduate of the homeopathic school of medicine, and has also gained a reputation for special training and skill in several branches of . medicine and surgery.
James Chester Gibbs was born in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, March 10, 1856. His parents, Jacob B. and Eleanor (Dunn) Gibbs were farm- ing people and Doctor Gibbs spent most of his youth on a farm, attended the public schools, and after finishing the high school course in the City of Kalamazoo pursued his education in the University of Michigan, which graduated him B. A. in 1883. Doctor Gibbs is a graduate with the class of 1886 from the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. The fol- lowing year was spent in practice at Crown Point, but he then returned to Chicago and for a year and a half was an interne in the dispensary and hospital. Since 1888 his general practice has absorbed all his time. Doctor Gibbs has prominent relations with the medical fraternity, be- longs to the Lake County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association, the American Association of Orificial Surgeons, and the American Association for the Study of Spondylotherapy.
Doctor Gibbs is treasurer of the Crown Point Building and Loan Association. He has taken the chapter degrees in Masonry, and belongs to the National Geographic Society. Mrs. Gibbs, who before her mar- riage was Mattie A. Dresser, is one of the influential women in local society, was formerly a teacher in the Crown Point public schools, and is active in the Women's Study Club. Doctor and Mrs. Gibbs were married in 1891, and Mrs. Gibbs is a daughter of Lewis Dresser, a former Crown Point merchant.
REV. H. A. HOERSTMAN. As pastor of St. Edward's Catholic Church at Lowell, Father Hoerstman has for the past four years directed a pros-
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perous and flourishing parish, which has been in existence as a religious institution at Lowell for more than forty years.
Lowell was first visited by Father F. X. Deimel, the Crown Point pastor, and mass was said in the private home of John Driscoll. The church may be said to have existed since 1870. The site was selected by Bishop Luers, who donated $100 for the purpose, and under his direction a small frame building was erected at a cost of $500 and was dedicated by the bishop in person in 1870. At that time the Catholic population of Lowell comprised only seven or eight families, and the increase was slow until 1878. It was conducted as a mission to Klaasville, and visited by Father John H. Bathe until 1882. In that time a cemetery site was se- cured at a cost of $250. The next priest was Rev. Charles A. Ganzer, who remained until 1891, and the mission was then attended a short time by Rev. Adam Buchheit from Klaasville. From 1891 to 1898 Lowell was attended by the fathers from the Most Precious Blood Church near Rensselaer. The present church edifiee was erected by Father F. X. Schalk at a cost of $5,000, and the building was dedicated by Bishop Rademacher in 1897. In September, 1898, Lowell received its first resi- dent pastor in Rev. Frederick Koenig, who also had two missions. Father Koenig in 1898 built the rectory at a cost of $2,500. When he was trans- ferred in 1905 to Lottoville, his successor was Rev. Charles F. Keyser. and from 1907 to June, 1910, the resident pastor was Rev. Alphonse Mueller. Father Hoerstman has been in charge of St. Edward's Parish since June, 1910.
H. A. Hoerstman was born at Delphos, Ohio, July 26, 1882, a son of Benjamin and Mary Hoerstman, the former aged fifty-eight and the latter fifty-three. There are two sisters, Mary and Rolena, and three brothers, Bernard, Alexius and Vineent. Father Hoerstman, the oldest . of the children, acquired his early education in the parochial schools of Ohio, and after the removal of the family in 1893 to Mishawaka, Indiana, continued in school there until the age of fourteen. His college studies were pursued in St. Joseph's College, until graduating in the classical course in 1893, and then for five years he prepared for his work at Mount St. Mary's Seminary at Cineinnati. Father Hoerstman was ordained at Fort Wayne, May 22, 1908, by Bishop Alerding, and for the following four years was assistant at St. Joseph's Church in Logansport, and since then has had charge of the St. Edward's Parish at Lowell. Father Hoerstman has done mueh to build up the interests of his church, has placed it out of debt, and the parish now has forty-five families or nearly two hundred souls, with about fifty children. On August 27th the church and school was destroyed by fire and Father Hoerstman, at the cost of $12,000, is erecting a new briek structure which will be a combination church and school building and will be ready for occupancy about January 1, 1915.
JUDGE W. C. McMAHAN. As judge of the Lake County Circuit Court, Judge MeMahan fills a place of distinction and important publie service in this section of Indiana. He has been identified with the bar of Lake County for thirty years, and twelve years of this time have been spent on the bench. His record of service clessifies him as a fine type of the modern judge, and he has long been noted for his expeditious handling of the business of his eourt, and his fairness in treatment of attorneys and his impartiality of decisions have again and again been commended by both the bar and the general public.
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Willis C. McMahan was born in Carroll County, Indiana, August 2, 1858, the oldest of six children born to Robert and Martha (White) McMahan. The ancestry is Scotch-Irish, and the judge's grandfather, Robert McMahan, was an Indian trader and served as aide de camp to General Washington. Later he became a pioneer at the old town of Chillicothe, Ohio, and lived there during the Indian wars. Robert McMahan, the father of Judge McMahan, was born in Darke County, Ohio, moved with his parents when a boy to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, was reared on a farm and during the early days of that section of the state. For many years he was one of the substantial and well known farmers of Carroll County, and reached a venerable age. He was twice married, having one son by his first wife, and four sons and two daugh- ters by the second. His second wife's father, Zenas White, settled in Carroll County, Indiana, in 1832.
Judge McMahan is a product of the Indiana rural district, growing up on a farm and attending country schools. He was a student in the Normal School at Ladoga, Indiana, for a time and spent four years as a teacher. In preparation for his profession he spent a year in the Univer- sity of Michigan, read law with a firm in Logansport, and in 1883 was admitted to the bar at Delphi in Carroll County. Since April, 1884, Judge McMahan has had his home and professional business at Crown Point. He practiced there with a rising reputation, and his services have been almost constantly in demand for some public responsibility. Six- teen years were spent in the office of town attorney, he was prosecuting attorney of the county from 1890 to 1894, and in January, 1892, came his appointment to the office of circuit judge, and in the fall of the same year he had his first election to that office. Since then his service as judge has been continuous. Judge McMahan is a republican in politics, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias. In 1888 he married Miss Irene Allman, daughter of Amos and Mary (Luther) Allman. She was born in Crown Point. There are four children : Claudia, Mary, Maurine and Robert.
CHAMPION RIVET COMPANY. A rivet is one of the familiar and useful. objects, used in some form or other in almost every type of building and machine construction, but the average person would not be likely to re- gard as the basis for a highly specialized industry. The sole product of the Champion Rivet Company is rivets, in all commercial sorts and sizes, and their business is now one of the features of the East Chicago indus- trial district. The headquarters of the company are at Cleveland, Ohio, and the branch plant was established at East Chicago in 1912, the factory beginning operations on September 1, 1913. The site is 1,200 by 500 feet, and the buildings are modern and thoroughly equipped. About fifty men are employed, half of them skilled labor. The plant has a capacity of sixty tons of rivets per day, and automatic machinery is employed, driven by electric power. The output goes all over the West.
C. C. Shelden, superintendent of the East Chicago plant, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1881, and after leaving the public schools learned the trade of machinist. He worked as foreman or superintendent in a number of shops, and has been with the Champion Rivet Company for the past four years as superintendent. Mr. Shelden is married. He lives in East Chicago, and is affiliated with the East Chicago Club, the Commercial Club and the Knights of the Maccabees. His company has membership in the Safety First Association of East Chicago.
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W. C. QUINCY, M. D. For the past eighteen years the name of Dr. W. C. Quincy has been increasingly identified with the best principles of medical and surgical science in Lake County, and among many of the longest established and most conservative families of Lowell his skill, resources and sympathetic nature have come to be regarded as indispen- sable. While the record of the capable physician is often little known outside of the community of his own patients, a service of eighteen years in one locality finds recognition in the gratitude of many individuals for their restoration to health and happiness. Devoted to the best ideals of his calling, Doctor Quincy has the zeal which recognizes no limitations in his work and the thirst for further knowledge that has led him fre- quently into the ever-widening fields of research. Descended from New England ancestors he has many of their sterling attributes and at all times has worthily represented the honored family whose name he bears.
Doctor Quincy was born at Burlington, Vermont, in 1848, and in Rutland County, that state, attended the preparatory and academic de- partments of the noted Troy Conference Academy. At the age of twelve he moved to Orleans County, and grew to manhood in the Town of Lowell. His father had been a teacher in the Troy Conference Academy, was also a bookkeeper and later a farmer. For a number of years the boy assisted his father in the numerous duties pertaining to farm work, but through- out never gave up his ambition to enter the field of medicine, and with this end in view studied constantly. At the age of thirty-five he began to devote all his time to medical work, and in 1888 went to Chicago for the purpose of completing his training. Entering Bennett Medical Col- lege, formerly one of the noted schools of medicine of that city, he was graduated in 1889, in the last class to leave the old building on State Street. After his graduation Dr. Quincy practiced 31/2 years at Wau- conda, Illinois, returned to Chicago in 1893, taking a course in the Post Graduate School, on the West Side. He then practiced in that city until 1896. That year saw his advent in Lowell, which has since been the scene of his labors and success. Since coming to Lowell Doctor Quincy has built up an excellent professional business. He is a member of the Indiana State Eclectic Society and the National Eclectic Medical Associ- ation, and also holds membership in the newly organized Health Officers Association. His fraternal connection is with the Modern Woodmen of America. In all civic and public movements Doctor Quincy has taken an active and interested part, and can be depended upon to contribute of his time, energy and means in behalf of movements making for better education, better morals and better citizenship.
Doctor Quincy married Miss Mary A. Owen, who was educated at Coventry, Vermont. When she died in 1911 many of Lowell's poor mourned the loss of one who had frequently befriended and aided them. The doctor's two oldest children died in infancy. The one living child, Donald O., born in Chicago eighteen years ago, was for a time a tele- graph operator and is now a student in Purdue University.
C. MATSON. The people of Whiting who are not directly familiar with the name of Mr. Matson have long recognized the purity and high quality of the products that are supplied to the community through the industry of which he is the head and chief factor. Mr. Matson, as was his father before him, is an expert dairyman, and has one of the largest establishments in Northern Indiana for the handling of milk and its products. IIe supplies the city with pure milk, and has a plant for the
La
C. MATSON, DAIRY PLANT AND ICE CREAM MANUFACTORY
C. Ination and Family
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manufacture of ice cream, a commodity that goes out to the trade under a recognized label and with unexcelled quality.
C. Matson was born in Christiania, Norway, March 20, 1878, a son of Anton and Carrie Matson. The family emigrated to America in 1880, when Mr. Matson was two years of age, lived in Chicago until 1885, then moved to Hegewisch, Illinois, and from there to Whiting in the spring of 1893. Anton Matson brought to Whiting an equipment of two cows which was the nucleus of the large dairy that subsequently grew up under his management and was conducted under the name "Five Brothers Dairy" beginning in 1893. In 1896 the business was moved to Wilcox, a suburb of Whiting, at which time the herd had increased to thirty-three. In 1896 thirty-three more cows were added, and the head- quarters were near East Chicago for one year. In 1897 the father sold out and returned to Whiting, and engaged in the buying and selling of milk, finally retiring altogether.
In 1908 Mr. C. Matson resumed the business in which he had been trained, and began dealing in milk and dairy products and the manufac- ture of ice cream. At the present time he handles thirty-five cans of milk each day, and his plant has a capacity of 400 gallons of ice cream daily. The establishment is located at 410 Indiana Boulevard, and the building and machinery, all of the latest type, represent an invest- ment of about twenty-five thousand dollars.
Mr. Matson was married April 23, 1903, to Josephine Biesen. Her father, Joseph Biesen, came to Whiting in 1890, and has since been con- nected with the Standard Oil Company. Mr. Matson and wife have one daughter, Elizabeth, now in her eleventh year. Fraternally he is affili- ated with the Elks and the Knights of Columbus, with his family wor- ships in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, and in politics is independent.
GEORGE J. HOEVET. A Lowell business man, who has had varied ex- perience in training in business affairs in Chicago, as a practical farmer, and now one of the foremost merchants of the town, George J. Hoevet has contributed his enterprise in various ways to the commercial up- building and improvement of this section of Lake County.
Born on a farm in Kankakee County, Illinois, November 12, 1870, he is a son of Mathias and Mary Hoevet, both of whom now live in Lowell, the former at the age of sixty-nine and the latter at sixty. There are three sisters and six brothers living. Ed P. lives in Lowell and is in the employ of the International Harvester Company. Otto looks after his father's farm. Herman is connected with the International Harvester Company at Mason City, Iowa. Albert is a farmer at Triumph, Minne- sota. Engelhardt is a farmer at Wells, Minnesota. The oldest daugh- ter, Thekla, lives on a farm at Tenstrike, Minnesota. Malinda lives on her father's farm in Illinois. Marie lives in Lowell and M. H. is con- nected with the Wilbur Lumber Company at Lowell.
George J. Hoevet acquired his education chiefly in the country schools, up to the age of sixteen, and took both academic and business courses for two years in the Valparaiso University. Then followed two years of commercial experience in Chicago in connection with the grocery trade, and for three years he conducted a grocery business on North Wells Street, finally selling out to his partner, and coming to Lowell entered the employ of E. R. Lynch, an old groceryman. In 1896 Mr. Hoevet returned to Kankakee County, and for nine years was success- fully engaged in farming on his father's estate. His return to Lowell in Vol. II-11
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1905 introduced him permanently to local business affairs. He bought out the business conducted by his old employer, Mr. Lynch, and now has a flourishing mercantile establishment, conducted in a store 50 by 80 feet, with basement and a part of an upper floor. The business requires the services of five employes.
On February 21, 1896, Mr. Hoevet married Emma Selk, of Grant Park, Illinois. She was educated in Grant Park, and is an active factor in the Ladies' Aid Society of the Methodist Church at Lowell. They are the parents of two children : Violet, aged fourteen, is now in high school ; and Pearl, aged twelve, is attending the grammar school.
In July, 1911, Mr. Hoevet was elected a member of the Lowell school board, and since then has bent his efforts toward improving in every pos- sible way school facilities. Among other improvements there has been installed a heating and toilet system, and at the present time plans are being matured to establish a joint high school, and it is expected that within a few months the bonds for the new school will be sold. Mr. Hoevet also served as chief of the fire department at Lowell for three years, and while his time is well taken up with his private business he is always ready to perform his share of public duties. In politics he is a progressive. Fraternally his connections are with the Masons, Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and he has held office in the two bodies. Outside of his store, Mr. Hoevet is best known in the business community as president of the Cedar Valley Creamery Company, one of the most successful enterprises of its kind in Northern Indiana. It ships to different markets a butter well known in hundreds of households under the name "Cedar Valley Butter," and the trade now requires the full capacity of the creamery.
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