USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 31
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Born in Lake County, within the limits of the present City of Gary, September 5, 1871, John C. Becker is a son of John and Christina Becker. His father was a farmer of Lake County. Both parents were natives of Germany, and on coming to America in 1860 landed first at New Orleans, and in the following year established their home in Chicago. That city remained their residence only a short time, and in 1862 they moved to Tolleston, in Lake County, a village which has since been absorbed within the growing metropolis of Gary, and after a few years the parents had their home on what is now South Broadway in that city.
Mr. John C. Becker attended the public schools of Lake County, and finished his education in the Valparaiso University. At the conclusion of his college career he came to Hammond, in 1890, and began his busi- ness career in the grocery trade. That was the chief line of his enter- prise until 1897. For a year he sold groceries on the road, then for two years was employed by the Street Car Company, managed a grocery house for a time, and once more went on the road in the interests of one of the large wholesale grocery houses. He continued as a traveling sales- man for nine years. Mr. Becker during his residence in Hammond has had many important relations with business affairs, and he is a demo- crat in his political affiliations. In 1903 he was elected a councilman from the Fifth Ward of Hammond, and continued a member of that body for six years. In 1908 he succeeded in overcoming the normal republican majority in North Township, and by forty-four votes to spare was one of the three democrats out of eleven in the county elected to the office of township trustee. His official term continued until 1914. In that year he was a candidate for the office of county treasurer. Mr. Becker is vice president of the East Side Trust & Savings Bank, of which he was one of the organizers. He was also on the first board of directors of the Citizens German National Bank. He is a member of the Lake County Board of Education, and while a trustee was active in the Indiana Trustees Association, being on the legislative committee. While in the city council he served as chairman of the finance committee and also as a member of the water committee. Mr. Becker was secretary of the Indiana State Trustees Association four years. He was the first president, an office he held two years, and is now secretary of the Ham- mond Gun Club, and is vice president and a member of the executive board of the Chicago League of Gun Clubs. Fraternally he belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Benevolent League of Indiana and has church membership in All Saints Church.
On November 13, 1894, he married Mina Schreiber, a daughter of Ernest G. and Augusta Schreiber. Her father was a substantial farmer and later lived in the City of Hammond. To their marriage were born four children: Arthur Leonard, Florence Josephine, Josephine Gladys and Christina Claudia, but the last named died at the age of eleven years.
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Miles norton
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E. MILES NORTON. As a specialist in land law, Mr. Norton prob- ably stands in the front ranks of his profession in Northern Lake County, and during his practice at Gary since 1908, has enjoyed a large business and has made his services valuable to the people of that community. While skilled in the law, Mr. Norton is also a capable business man, and has made a splendid record of success at a time when many mnen are really at the outset of their careers.
E. Miles Norton was born in Cass County, Michigan, February 15, 1879, a son of Perry and Elizabeth (Lucas) Norton. His father was a farmer, and it was in the country that Miles Norton grew up and acquired his first advantages in the way of schooling. During 1900- 1901 he was a student at Olivet College, in Michigan, and in 1904 was graduated from the law department of the Valparaiso University. For one year he read law with Pealer & Miller, of Three Rivers, Michigan, that being one of the oldest and foremost law firms of the city. On April 25, 1905, Mr. Norton was admitted before the Supreme Court of Michi- gan, and after a brief experience as a lawyer in his native state, came to Gary, in December, 1908. Since opening his first office, his business has grown to an extent where he is justified in maintaining two sepa- rate headquarters, one at 788-90 Broadway, and another at 1101 Roose- velt Street. His practice, besides considerable business in the intricacies of real-estate law, partakes of a general nature, and he has successfully prosecuted cases through the various courts in both civil and criminal trials.
On August 21, 1906, Mr. Norton married Maude M. Hutchings, of Jones, Michigan. They have two children, Dana and Maxine. Mr. Nor- ton affiliates with the Tribe of Ben Hur, and in politics is a progressive republican.
ST. STANISLAUS CHURCH OF EAST CHICAGO. A church whose growth in numbers and extension of usefulness are typical of the great develop- ment along other lines and in other branches of activities in the Calumet region is the St. Stanislaus Church of East Chicago. It is the social and religious center of the Polish Roman Catholic population of that city and is a strong and splendid institution, a fountain of spiritual influence and counsel, a capable factor in the education of the younger generation, and a power for morality and for wholesome social life.
St. Stanislaus Church was founded in 1896, but the community had been visited beginning with 1888 by pastors from St. Casimir's Church in Hammond, Rev. Casimir Kobylinski and Rev. Peter Kahelleck. In 1896 Father Kobylinski secured six lots on Baring Avenue and 150th Street, and founded the parish, the first church being a frame structure, 80x30 feet, and erected in the same year under the supervision of Father Kobylinski. The number of souls at that time in the parish were about two hundred.
The present church grounds were secured by Rev. John Kubacki in 1901. and have an area of one block, 225x296 feet, fronting on Morgan and Forsyth avenues and 150th Street. Five lots additional, each 25x140 feet, were secured by Father Kubacki in 1901 on Forsyth Avenue at a cost of about two thousand dollars. The church which stood on Baring Avenue was removed to its present site, after which it was en- larged and improved. Rev. Joseph Bolka took charge in November, 1904, and at a cost of $1,500 built an addition 36x30 feet to the church. The Rosary Society for women and St. Cecelia's choir in 1907 donated two
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side altars costing $240, and the church was also frescoed at a cost of $300. A lot situated some distance from the church was donated for the benefit of the congregation by the Bell & Hoffman Land Company. The building used for school purposes was erected by Father Kubacki in 1901, a two-story frame structure 22x64 feet, at a cost of $1,800. It had four class rooms and would accommodate about two hundred and thirty children. The school was conducted then in six grades, with four Sisters of St. Francis in charge. The residence occupied by the sisters stood on the ground purchased in 1901, and is a 11/2 story frame build- ing constructed at a cost of about eighteen hundred dollars. In 1905 Father Bolka expended about one thousand dollars in repairs and im- provements on the church property. The parochial residence also stood on the ground purchased in 1901, a building 22x56 feet and cost about two thousand dollars. In 1905 Father Bolka improved and enlarged the building at an expense of $2,000.
The parish then had about two hundred and eighty families, num- bering 1,324 souls. St. Stanislaus Church had then the following societies: St. Michael, 125 married men; St. Stanislaus Kostka for single men with a membership of eighteen ; the Rosary Sodality for mar- ried women, with eighty members; and the Rosary Sodality for single women, numbering forty-five; the Infant Jesus Society for children. with 183 members; St. Stanislaus Mutual Benefit, with fifty members.
On June 8, 1907, Rev. Julian Skrzypinski was given charge pro tem during the absence of Father Bolka. From June 8, 1907, St. Stanislaus was under the supervision of Father Skrzypinski till March, 1909, when he was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. Peter Budnik. Father Budnik built a school and church combined at a cost of $40,000, the building being 72x144 feet, with ten class rooms, and the church audi- torium on the main floor. Six hundred and sixty pupils are in the school, and attended by nine Sisters of St. Joseph. At the present writing it is planned to build a home for the sisters on Forsyth Avenue at a cost of $10,000. Since the advent of Father Budnik the membership has in- creased about 200 families, making the parish one of 600 families or about 3,500 souls. The old church has been changed into a parish hall, and the old school buildings are used as club rooms, equipped with gym- nasium and other facilities affording a place for social meetings and recreation.
In 1912 Rev. Father Ladislaus Kubiak became assistant pastor, but after two months, owing to illness, went south, and then returned to his home in South Bend where he died in the latter part of December, 1912.
Father Budnik is a native of the Province of Posen in German Poland, born in 1876. Brought to the United States at the age of eight years, his early schooling was in the parochial institutions of South Bend, followed by eight years at the Polish Seminary at Detroit, and two years in Mount St. Mary's Seminary at Cincinnati. Ordained to the priest- hood at Fort Wayne by Bishop Alerding in 1901, his first charge was at Walkerton, Indiana, for eleven months, followed by five years at Whit- ing, and was then at Terre Coupee, Indiana, until 1909, when he came to his present important duties at East Chicago. His mother resides with him. Father Budnik is a member of the Polish Catholic Union.
Rev. Father Joseph A. Zielinski, assistant pastor of St. Stanislaus. was born in the Province of Posen in German Poland in 1881, was brought to the United States when three months old, the family living in South Bend, and his early training was received in St. Hedwig's paro-
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chial school of that city. A few years were spent in work in a factory, followed by his entrance into the Polish Seminary in Detroit in 1902, the seminary about that time being removed to Orchard Lake, Michigan, where he finished his studies. He was ordained by Bishop Herman Joseph Alerding at Fort Wayne, June 21, 1912, and read his first mass in St. Casimir's Church in South Bend. On July 7, 1912, he was sent to East Chicago as assistant to Father Budnik. His mother now 'lives in South Bend at the age of fifty years. Father Zielinski is a member of the Priests Association of Fort Wayne. He is a highly cultured young churchman, and his special interest is in the training of young men, and he has proved his usefulness both as a spiritual adviser and a social leader. One phase of the church work which has been much stimulated under his leadership is the Literary Society which meets twice a month in the school hall.
CALUMET LAUNDRY. A business which has realized the best anticipa- tions of its proprietors from the point of view of profitable success and which has prospered largely through the standards of excellent service set and maintained since the beginning is the Calumet Laundry of Indiana Harbor, which was established in February, 1912, by the firm of Callahan & Schock. The plant which comprises a full equipment of new machinery, manufactured by the Troy Company, occupies a plant at the corner of Michigan and Hemlock streets, in a building 50x125 feet in dimensions. The service of the Calumet Laundry now covers the entire territory for half a dozen miles around Indiana Harbor, and about forty persons are employed in the various departments. There are six wagons which collect and deliver the goods, and collections and deliveries are made by agents and by means of regular train express service through- out the entire county. It is generally conceded that the Calumet Laundry has the most modern and complete equipment of any similar establishment in Lake County. As one fact which illustrates the extent of its service it may be stated that more than eighteen thousand pieces of family washing are collected, laundered, and delivered to customers every week. Among other facilities a truck is employed to bring in laundry from Hammond to the plant. The power is used not only to drive the necessary machinery but also runs a dynamo furnishing light throughout the plant. While the highest standards of cleanliness and quick service are maintained in so far as the laundry department is con- cerned, the management has also taken pains to insure the most sanitary conditions and comforts for the employes, and there is no better provided industry in Lake County in this respect.
JAMES A. PATTERSON. While his position and accomplishment as a lawyer in the Calumet district are distinctive and highly creditable, the career of James A. Patterson is particularly interesting for reason of what he had to overcome in order that he could attain his ambition to follow a professional vocation.
Born in Pennsylvania, August 31, 1867, a son of William C. and Polly (McAlpin) Patterson, both of whom were Scotch, his father a mining man, James A. Patterson was brought into the world in the semi-poverty which is so prevalent in industrial districts, and has known the stress of hard labor since childhood. When he was ten years of age he began working in coal mines as a boy helper, and practically all the education and privileges he has ever enjoyed has been paid for as a result of the
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sweat of his own brow. When he was about eighteen years of age his father was killed in an explosion in a coal mine in Oklahoma, and thus in addition to the necessity of winning his own livelihood he had his mother to support. At the same time a gun shot took away his own left hand. Mr. Patterson is a man who thrives on obstacles. After his in- jury he worked for the coal miners union, took a commercial course in a school at Leavenworth, Kansas, and then became bookkeeper at Coal City, Illinois. During his early boyhood he had worked in the same coal mine with John Mitchell, the famous labor leader, and they were on a plane of boyhood intimacy for several years. Mr. Patterson worked for five years as a bookkeeper, and then invested his savings in higher education, entering Valparaiso University in the fall of 1894, graduat- ing in the scientific course in 1896, and subsequently taking up the study of law. His later studies for the profession were pursued at Chicago, and in 1898 he graduated from the Chicago Law School and was admit- ted to the bar at South Bend, Indiana. After six months' practice at South Bend, Mr. Patterson moved to Hobart, taught school there for a time, and was one of the early lawyers to locate at Indiana Harbor in 1902. Since then his hard work, his ability, and his successful handling of all classes of litigation have brought him more and more into prom- inence as one of the able lawyers of the Calumet district. Mr. Patterson maintains offices at Gary, Indiana Harbor and Hammond.
It was in recognition of his exceptional qualities as a lawyer that led to his election in 1912 to the office of prosecuting attorney for the thirty-first judicial circuit, and he still handles the business of that im- portant office. Mr. Patterson is a republican in politics, and fraternally his relations are with the Masonie Order, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, his wife being a member of the Eastern Star. During his college days at Valparaiso Mr. Patter- son met Miss May Wiles, who was born in Iowa and was a popular teacher, and on June 25, 1898, they were united in a happy marriage.
CHARLES E. BOWEN. The office of chief of police in such a commu- nity as East Chicago is one of the highest importance to all citizens and one of the greatest trusts with which any member of the community can be honored. The choice of Charles E. Bowen for that office in 1914, a man was selected in whom the people have the greatest confidence, and one whose personal rectitude, whose executive efficiency and industrial and commercial record will bear the closest scrutiny and tests of competence.
Charles E. Bowen, who has given the greater part of his adult life to the iron and steel industry, was born at Arba, Indiana, December 19, 1872, a son of L. C. and C. E. (Bunch) Bowen. His father is a mill worker in the steel works of the steel mills. As a boy Charles E. Bowen acquired a substantial education in the public schools. In 1892, at the age of twenty, he was employed at work in the steel mills at Muncie, and remained in that city until 1901. He was advanced to the respon- sibilities of soaking pit heater, and when he came to Indiana Harbor in August, 1901, was taken on to the staff of the steel mills in a similar capacity and remained with the Indiana Harbor company until 1906.
While Mr. Bowen had demonstrated in various ways his qualifica- tions for official office, he was particularly well fitted for his present office since he possessed four years of practical experience in the lower grades of the police service. From 1906 to 1910 he was an active
LE Banus
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member of the Indiana Harbor police force and on leaving that depart- ment of the municipal government he was engaged in the country prod- uce business until 1914. Then came his appointment and the beginning of his duties as chief of police on January 5, 1914.
Mr. Bowen is a democrat in politics and his fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic Order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1895 he married Liddie Knaff of Muncie.
FRANK ORTH. Indiana Harbor grew in a little more than a decade from a sand waste to a closely built and populous center of industry and homes. Much of the early work in brick construction was performed by Frank Orth, and he could go about the city and point out in almost every block some instance of his enterprise as a building contractor. In ten years he has enjoyed a flourishing business and is one of Indiana Harbor's successful men.
Born in Ontario, Canada, in 1867, a son of Henry and Susan Orth, his father a farmer, Frank Orth spent the first sixteen years of his life in his native province, and in 1883 after coming to the United States learned the trade of brick laying. That was his regular work in a number of states, including Indiana, California, Florida and other points both east and west. Mr. Orth has been in the contracting line since 1892, having began the business in the State of Washington. Return- ing to Indiana, in 1900 he engaged in business at Mathews, as both a contractor and brick manufacturer. The opportunities presented by the growing industries of Indiana Harbor caused him to move his busi- ness there in 1903, and his services and organization have been employed in many important contracts, while he has done much building on his own account. A number of business structures, flat buildings and private homes have been put up by him during the past ten years ; several of the churches of Indiana Harbor were also erected by him. Mr. Orth has made a practice of buying unimproved lots, putting up business or residence structures, and then renting or selling them, a feature of his work which has been on the whole quite profitable.
In June, 1901, Mr. Orth married Mrs. Ella G. Taylor, of Boscobel, Wisconsin. By her first marriage Mrs. Orth has two children, Mrs. H. M. Lesh, of Chicago, Illinois; and Robert Lee Taylor, of Muskegon, Michigan. Mr. Orth is a member of the Royal League and Knights of Pythias, belongs to the Episcopal Church, is a charter member of the Indiana Harbor Commercial Club, and is independent in politics. While his trade and building contracting has been his chief business in life, Mr. Orth perhaps deserves to be best known as an inventor, and has con- tributed several original improvements to the great technic of the indus- try. Several patents have been issued both in the United States and abroad for improvements on the open hearth furnace, and these patent improvements are now in use on open hearth furnaces in the United States and other countries.
LEWIS E. BARNES. While the business community of Hobart knows Mr. Barnes as a successful real estate man and dealer in coal, wood building materials and similar lines, it is his live enterprise as a citizen that makes him so vital a factor in that community. Mr. Barnes has for nearly six years served as trustee of Hobart Township, and anyone familiar with the progress of schools and good roads during that time needs no further evidence of his useful public spirit. As he has a Vol. II -- 15
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record of progressive success in his own career, he stands for similar tendencies in his community. His present business was established at Hobart in 1909. He sells, both by retail and wholesale, tile, coal in carload lots, sewer pipes, building materials, and is also one of the leading dealers in real estate. His business organization comprises eight employes. Mr. Barnes has had the handling of all the large amount of Earl property in Hobart Township and in the Calumet dis- trict, and has laid out several subdivisions.
Lewis E. Barnes was born at Wheeler, Porter County, Indiana, Oeto- ber 27, 1875. His early education was acquired in the public schools at Wheeler, and as a boy he learned telegraphy and was an operator for fourteen years. On June 16, 1895, at Hobart, he married Agnes Fiester. Mrs. Barnes is one of the leading women in local club circles, a member of the Ladies' Reading Club, and is a graduate of the Hobart High School. They have three children. Mayme, aged eighteen, is a member of the class of 1914 in the Hobart High School; Lola, aged six- teen, is in school; and Merle, aged fourteen, is in the seventh grade. Both daughters are taking special musical courses.
Mr. Barnes is an active member of the Masonic order, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His substantial qualities of public-spirited citizenship are more promi- nent than his activities as a republican, though he has long been promi- nent in his party. In November, 1908, Mr. Barnes was elected township trustee. During his administration the splendid new addition to the high school building was constructed, making the Hobart consolidated schoolhouse one of the most commodious and best equipped school structures in Lake County. The contract was let in May, 1910, and the building completed in September of the same year, at a cost of $35,000. Also under his administration a new school building at Miller was con- structed at a cost of about $15,000. Mr. Barnes as trustee gave active supervision to the installation of the heating and ventilating systems in the schools, to the equipment of the gymnasium in the Hobart school, and was the chief factor in introducing drawing and oratorical work in the school curriculum. Another fact which should be noted of his administration was his working connection with the construction of a sewer system in the Town of Hobart and in connecting and in building new township roads. Mr. Barnes was the first to agitate the public library question at Hobart, and is now a member of the library board. The movement for the establishment of a library at Hobart was begun in 1913, and an appropriation of $16,000 was secured from the Carnegie fund. The lot has been bought, and Mr. Barnes now has in his posses- sion the plans and specifications for the building which will soon adorn the city.
Mr. Barnes is active in outdoor sports, and especially fond of motor- ing. He is a baseball fan, and is well remembered as having played the position of catcher for the old Hobart team, which defeated all com- petitors. Mr. Barnes is township president of that portion of the Lincoln highway through Hobart Township. He is a member of the executive board of the Hobart Commercial Club. As a member of the old Earl family Mr. Barnes has in his office a safe which is 110 years old and was the property of a member of that family when he first came to this country. He also has a collection of miscellaneous papers and documents of more than ordinary antiquarian interest.
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JOSEPH G. VAN STEENBERGEN. Though he came to the United States as a young man of twenty about ten years ago, and was confronted with the great difficulties of accustoming himself to American methods as well as the English language, Joseph G. Van Steenbergen has in that time worked his way from an employe at a butcher's block to a position as one of the leading merchants of Indiana Harbor, and is now propri- etor of a prospering grocery and market at 3418 Guthrie Street.
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