USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 34
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On December 1, 1891, he married Sadie E. English, of Pennsylvania. They are the parents of three children: Bert, a law student in the State University, and lives in Gary; Emma and Louis are both at home. Mr. Kuss affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America, is a repub- lican, and his church home is the Methodist.
JAKE KRAMER, JR. Coming to the United States as a poor boy at the age of thirteeen, with no knowledge of the English language, with an indifferent education and without financial support, accepting whatever work he could find in order to get a start, and gradually working his way to a place for himself among the successful men of his community, such has been in brief the career of Jake Kramer, Jr., of Hobart. Mr. Vol. II-16
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Kramer is now owner of a handsome farm, of much property in Hobart, and his public spirit is an important factor in community affairs.
Jake Kramer, Jr., was born in Flengen, Germany, July 5, 1867. His father, Jacob Kramer, who was one of the pioneers of Lake County, was born in Germany April 26, 1841, had his early education in his native country, and was married there July 5, 1866, to Maria Eigemann. Besides Jake, Jr., there are three sons and a daughter living, and the mother is still living and in excellent health.
The Kramer family located at Hobart in 1880. Jake had to go to work to earn his own way at the age of thirteen, and consequently had little opportunity for schooling. His first employment was as a delivery boy for a grocery company at South Chicago, and after two years he went to the City of Chicago and was employed there four years. At the age of nineteen he went to North Judson, Indiana, and became man- ager of a large farm owned by a relative, and successfully handled its operations for two years. Returning to Chicago, Mr. Kramer then started a milk route, but after one year moved to Hobart in 1891. His first employer here was Charles Gruel, and after a year and a half he bought out his employer, and continued the business for two years. His next venture was the purchase of a farm in Porter County, but he rented the land and since then his career has been one of varied activities. With a team which he had purchased Mr. Kramer became one of the builders of the first gravel road in Lake County, a work which he regards with pride and satisfaction. In 1897 Mr. Kramer moved to the farm of his father-in-law, where he lived for six years, and in the meantime bought forty acres of his own. While conducting his farm he also engaged in the real estate business. Mr. Kramer bought property in Hobart, and erected a handsome residence which he still owns. Mrs. Kramer inherited considerable property from her father, including four store buildings on Main Street. Mr. Kramer for a number of years has shown exceptional public spirit in his community, and wherever possible has aided in the upbuilding of Hobart and vicinity. In 1914 he laid out the Jake Kramer, Jr., Addition to Hobart.
On March 4, 1893, he married Theresa Stocker of Hobart. They are the parents of four children: Helen, the oldest, is the wife of Everett Parks, a young lawyer of Hobart, and who has worked his way to success in his profession by his own efforts, having paid for his own schooling; Clara, George and Dwight. There is one grandchild, Jacob Parks. Jake Kramer, Jr., has attained to the Shrine in Masonry. He also belongs to the Hobart Commercial Club, and in politics is a democrat.
SOUTHSIDE TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK OF GARY. Every item in the record of the Southside Trust and Savings Bank is an evidence of its soundness and perfection of service in every department. With a capital of $50,000 and a surplus and undivided profits of more than $10,000, this bank conducts a general banking business, acts as deposi- tary for public and postal savings deposits, has an abstract department, and a department of property management, issues surety bonds, has a general insurance department, and as a trust company has all the powers to serve as administrator, guardian, trustee, receiver, etc.
The officers of the bank are: C. O. Holmes, president; William Feder, vice president ; T. T. Snell, vice president; C. R. Kuss, secretary- treasurer; L. P. Kuss, manager of the insurance and rental department; and M. G. Kreinman, manager of the foreign exchange department.
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The Southside Trust and Savings Bank was organized in 1910, and its capital stock was increased from $25,000 in 1911 to $50,000. It occupies handsome quarters in a building of standard bank architecture, erected in 1911, and furnishing suites of offices upstairs. The building is located at 1112-1114 Broadway.
C. R. Kuss, secretary-treasurer of this bank, has had a broad and varied experience in banking, both in the Middle West and in the North- west. Born at Wanatah, Indiana, May 6, 1885, a son of Christian and Matilda Kuss, his father a farmer and business man, C. R. Kuss was educated in the public schools, and later provided himself with special training in his profession by a course in banking at the University of Chicago. In 1901, at the age of about seventeen, he was taken into the First National Bank of Hammond as a minor employee, and advanced to the place of receiving teller. Going to Chicago in 1905, he became connected with the American Trust & Savings Bank as receiving teller, and from 1907 to 1910 was assistant eashier in the Thomas Cruse Sav- ings Bank at Helena. Montana. On returning to Chicago in the latter year he took an active part in the organization of the Southside Trust & Savings Bank of Gary, and has since served as secretary-treasurer of the company. In 1914 he was elected president of the Lake County State Bank of North Chicago, Illinois.
On October 10, 1911, Mr. Kuss married Hazel A. Arkwright of Helena, Montana. Mr. Kuss is a member of the American Institute of Banking at Chicago, belongs to the Gary Commercial Club, and his church is the First Methodist of Gary.
WILLIAM PYATT. A business man of Hobart who has united fine success with a large public spirit is William Pyatt, whose home through practically all his life has been in Lake County, and whose practical accomplishment as a builder and contractor has so many illustrations in Hobart and in Gary as to require no further mention than this brief reference. Mr. Pyatt, while a successful business man, has not narrowed his interests into one groove, but is a man of an unusual intellectual range, and his collection of antiques and curios forms one of the most interesting and valuable in Northern Indiana.
William Pyatt was born in Pennsylvania August 24, 1873, a son of Lafayette and Elizabeth Pyatt, his father now seventy-two and his mother seventy-four years of age. When he was an infant his parents moved to Lake County, and from the public schools he perfected himself in a mechanical trade, and was engaged in the wagon and carriage building business until 1905. In that year he established a shop as a building contractor, and has since developed a fine plant of his own, equipped with machinery and with all the facilities for producing the best kind of work in the finer grade of buildings. A great deal of his work has been done in Gary, though the examples of building constructions in Hobart and vicinity are very numerous. More than one hundred and twenty-five structures of different kinds bear the impress of the Pyatt name, and he has the distinction of having constructed the first bungalow at Hobart, and some of the finest buildings of that type in Gary. Besides a factory for the manufacture of much of his woodwork, he also handles builders' hardware. Mr. Pyatt affiliates with the Masonic Order, is a charter member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and has held offices in both lodges. In politics a republican, some years ago when William Mckinley was the candidate for president, he contributed substantially
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to the success of that statesman through his membership in a campaign quartette, headed by G. W. Scholler, and the quartette proved not only an effective campaign instrument, but gained a great reputation over a broad seetion of the country as singers. Mr. Pyatt has been an ardent sportsman, both fisherman and hunter, and in the early days was accus- tomed to kill ducks and quail by the hundred in this part of Indiana. His collection of relies comprises too many specimens for any individual mention. Among them are many tools and remains of Indian work- manship, and that part of his collection is said to be especially valuable. A part of what was ealled "the bridge of death" from the Iroquois Theater, destroyed by fire some eleven years ago, with a loss of about six hundred souls, also has a place in his collection. There is a fiint- lock rifle handed down from the French and Indian war. A relie from the Lady Elgin, a Lake Michigan vessel that went down in 1869, is also found among a large number of other articles comprising a museum of great interest and souree of valuable information and instruction.
ANDREW J. SMITH. For nearly thirty years A. J. Smith has been one of the "forward-looking" and hard-working, practical-minded citi- zens of Hobart. Whether as a teacher, engaged in the work which gave Hobart its first graded school, or as editor or business man, it has always been his part to lead rather than to follow, and as editor and co-pub- lisher of the Gazette he has wielded an influence probably second to that of no other citizen of the town. There has never been a publie improve- ment of any consequence inaugurated in this part of Lake County which has not first been advocated and insistently boosted by the Gazette. The Gazette proposed and kept at the proposition until it was realized, the building of gravel roads, and has also been in the van of such movements as those for the construction of sewer systems, waterworks, and other improvements which are at the basis of modern twentieth century municipalities.
The Hobart Gazette is now one of the oldest newspapers with a continuous history in Lake County. For many years it was the only newspaper in the town, though several attempts were made to publish other papers, but all went down before the substantial competition of the Gazette. The Gazette was founded at Hobart in 1898 by George Narpass and A. Bender, but was soon in financial difficulties and was practically at the end of its usefulness when in the following December the plant was bought by Mr. Smith under foreclosure, a number of citi- zens having persuaded him to take up the enterprise in order that the village might have proper representation in the newspaper field. P. S. Gristy was Mr. Smith's associate in the business for a few months, but sold out and in 1891 Mr. Smith took as a partner Nevin B. White, and the two have been proprietors and editors of the Gazette ever since. The Gazette has always been conducted on independent lines politically, Mr. Smith being a democrat and his partner a republican, and while thus regarding national polities from a bipartisan and impartial attitude, they have been unanimous on all questions of community and county concern, and have made their paper an exponent of everything that would help the substantial welfare of the eity and tributary country.
Andrew J. Smith was born at Mottville, in St. Joseph County, Michigan, March 20, 1861, a son of John A. and Emeline (Shellenberger) Smith. His father died in 1900, and there were two sons and three daughters in the family. In 1866 the family moved to a farm in Elk-
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hart County, Indiana, and his early youth up to eighteen was spent in the wholesome atmosphere of country life, with an education in the country schools. At Goshen during 1878-79 he prepared for teaching, and taught one term before he was eighteen. Farm work and other employment helped him to advance his education, and from 1879 until he graduated with the degree of B. S. in 1885 he was a student in the Valparaiso University as regularly as his means would permit. The first year after completing his college education was spent in Grant Park, Illinois, as a teacher, and in 1886 he came to Hobart, in August, and was placed in charge of the Hobart schools. The schools were then ungraded, and there were four teachers. He went to work to introduce many improvements, grading the schools, and inaugurated a two-year course in the high school. The first class graduated in 1899 consisted of only one graduate, Miss Carrie Banks, now deceased. Another year was added to the school curriculum, and the four years Mr. Smith spent at Hobart as an educator were the most fruitful of results and did more towards laying a good foundation for the future than any similar period either before or since. He has always continued a keen interest in edu- cational matters, and now has the satisfaction of seeing twenty-three teachers in the public schools of the town, with an enrollment of about five hundred scholars. Besides instituting the graded system, he also introduced the first school library.
On July 7, 1884, Mr. Smith married Miss Elva L. Stiwald of Ohio, who died February 2, 1904. On December 30, 1905, he married Mrs. Ara Adella (Spray) Stroupe. Mr. Smith is active in Masonry, having served as secretary of the lodge for eight years and worshipful master for seven years, his home lodge being McClelland Lodge No. 357, A. F. & A. M. He is also affiliated with Valparaiso Chapter No. 79, R. A. M .; Valparaiso Council, R. & S. M .; Gary Commandery No. 57, K. T .; is high priest of the Orak Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Hammond; has recently retired from a service of seven years as patron of the Eastern Star Chapter at Hobart, and during the years 1914-15 was grand patron for the state. Other fraternal affiliations are with the Knights of Pythias and the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a charter member of the Hobart Commercial Club, and has always been a loyal democrat in his political affiliations so far as national affairs are concerned. He is an enthusiastic fisherman and hunter, and has been an official of the Hobart Gun Club. Religiously he was reared in the faith of the Dutch Re- formed Church. Besides his important position as an editor, Mr. Smith is also one of Hobart's bankers, being president of the American Trust & Savings Bank. He is secretary of the Gary, Hobart & Eastern Traction Company, which, in 1913-14, constructed a line from Hobart to Gary.
A. M. BLANK. The commercial history of the little Town of Miller could not be written without reference to the name Blank, as the father of the present merchant was the founder of a store there forty years ago, and the people of that vicinity have bought goods from Blanks through all those years, and have known them as reliable business men, and the prosperity of earlier years has been marked by increasing volume during the twentieth century, since the remarkable development of the lake shore region at Gary and eastward has been under way.
A. M. Blank was born at Miller, January 28, 1886. He was educated in the common schools, was one year in the Hobart High School, a year in the commercial department of the Valparaiso University. Finishing
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his studies in 1902, shortly thereafter he became manager of the mes- senger department for the Western Electric Company. Returning to Miller in 1906, Mr. Blank bought the store of his brother, which was then located one block from the present large and well-equipped store building. The business was founded by Mr. Blank's father, Charles F. Blank, about forty years ago, and it has always been regarded as one of the cornerstones of Miller's importance as a trading center. In 1910 Mr. Blank built the present store structure, a two-story brick building, costing about eight thousand dollars. It has a full-sized basement used for the storage of goods. Above the store is an eight-room flat. The store is equipped with all modern fixtures, is heated by furnace and lighted by electricity, and a perfection refrigerator has been built in on dimensions 8 by 10 feet with a capacity for ice of five tons. Mr. Blank carries a full line of meats and groceries, also dry goods, boots, shoes and notions, and has a trade not only in the Village of Miller, but as far as Gary and his custom comes from all over the township. There are six employees, with two wagons, and in its present prosperous condition the business is a monument to the enterprise of Mr. Blank.
On February 1, 1905, he married Cora E. Gillett, who was born in Chicago and educated in that city. Her birth occurred September 28, 1884. She has also had special musical training. She is a member of the Episcopal Church in Gary. There are two children : Mildred L., aged eight; and Gillett A., aged five years. The oldest child is now attending school at Miller. Mr. Blank owns a good car and takes great pleasure in motoring about the country, and has always been willing to put his shoulder to the wheel in connection with any cooperative enterprise for the development of this section. He foresees in the near future a great growth which will comprehend Miller and all the vicinity, since its unrivaled railway facilities make this entire region one which cannot be overlooked by capital. Mr. Blank is one of the parties who control a franchise for the construction of a street car line from Miller north to the lake shore, and as the lake front at the north is already a resort of growing popularity, the construction of such a road will do a great deal for Miller.
J. O. NELSON. One of the oldest residents of the Town of Miller is J. O. Nelson, whose earliest recollections cover this locality as it was more than forty years ago, and whose individual enterprise has con- tributed to things as they are, and who is one of the honored public officials of the town.
J. O. Nelson was born in Sweden, June 29, 1863, and came with his parents to the United States in 1869. They settled at once at Miller, and were among the pioneers of that portion of Lake County. J. O. Nelson acquired his education in the Miller schools, and has been a hard worker and has made all the prosperity which he now enjoys, in- cluding a good home, and the satisfaction of having provided well for his growing family. For the past three terms he has served as town marshal of Miller ..
On December 31, 1892, Mr. Nelson married Annie W. Nelson, who was born in Sweden. They are the parents of six children: Geneva Maria; Florence ; Helen, attending the Gary High School; Edward and Emily, aged, respectively, twelve and six, and in the Miller schools; Robert, aged four. Mr. Nelson owns a comfortable dwelling in Miller and has always been able to provide liberally for his family. He is a
Shu a North
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republican in politics, is a Scottishi Rite Mason, and his church is the Lutheran.
JOHN A. NORTH. When John A. North settled at Miller in 1873, it was a location hardly deserving the name of a village, since it contained only three houses. Forty years of residence have made him one of the pioneers, and in proportion to the length of his abode he has enjoyed the esteem of a community which recognizes him as one of the most active factors in business affairs and in the improvements and introduction of modern means of living.
John A. North is a native of Sweden, born November 15, 1849, and coming to the United States at the age of twenty-one in 1870. The schools of his native country had given him his early training, and he arrived in this country with no knowledge of the English language, and with only his industry and ambition to depend upon to advance him to fortune. Locating at Miller in 1873, he was a foreman in the construc- tion of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway through this section of Lake County. Later he engaged in the contracting business for himself, and for twenty years was superintendent of the Lake Shore Sand Company. The honor of the office of postmaster was given him, and after he had administered the office commendably for three years, he was succeeded by his daughter, Emma L., who was the capable head of the local office for twelve years. The first postmistress, Emma L. North, was succeeded by Marie Elizabeth. Mr. North also owns a farm of eighty acres in Southern Minnesota, land which he acquired some twenty-seven years ago, and rented out.
His public service has been especially noteworthy. He was elected a member of the town board three times, and during that time some of the most important improvements were inaugurated and many of them completed. That of the greatest importance was the construction of a drainage ditch costing $19,000. Improvement of the highways in the town was also an important item of progress. The schoolhouse costing $16,000 and town hall costing $4,000, besides the installation of an electric lighting plant at a cost of $12,000, were all undertaken and completed during his administration. Mr. North deserves a great deal of credit for having led the way in the construction of durable sidewalks in the town. He put down an excellent walk in front of his own home, and his example was followed by others. His residence is one of the best in town, a nine-room dwelling with all modern improvements. Mr. North has sold a good deal of real estate in Miller, and is one of the active and aggressive business men.
In May, 1874, he was married, and Mrs. North was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and educated in the schools of that city. They are the parents of seven daughters and one son-Gertrude, born in January, 1876; Thomas, born December 25, 1878; Marie Elizabeth, born September, 1882; Emma, born August, 1884; Ellen, deceased; Agnes, born April, 1886; Clara, born May, 1890; Ethel, born January, 1894; and Grace, born November, 1896. Gertrude is now the wife of Emil Nelson, living at Porter, Indiana, and the mother of seven children; Thomas is married and living in Chicago; Marie Elizabeth is the wife of Dwight Carpenter and has two children; Emma married W. D. Carroll of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, and has one child; Agnes is the wife of Al Johnson of Hobart and the mother of one child. Mr. North is a republican in
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politics, was for a number of years a deacon of the Lutheran church, and is known and esteemed throughout the country around Miller.
WILLIAM KOSTBADE. The people of Hobart feel that the local post- office was never under better management than at the present time, with William Kostbade as postmaster. Mr. Kostbade has been long identified with Hobart town and vicinity, has witnessed the village grow into one of the best resident towns of Indiana, and as a farmer and business man has enjoyed success and has been liberal of his means and influence in promoting the public good.
William Kostbade was born in Germany in 1866, and when four years of age came with his parents to the United States. They lived one year in the State of Delaware, and moved to Chicago, just after the great fire. That city remained his home until he was seventeen, and in the meantime he attended the public schools, being in the old Clark School for two years and then in the Pickett School until finishing in 1879. Mr. Kostbade's father died at the age of seventy-six and his mother at the age of sixty-five. The son learned the moulder's trade in Chicago, and came with his parents to Lake County on March 1, 1883. During most of the time until his marriage in 1889 he was employed at his trade in Chicago, and subsequently spent one year in the grocery busi- ness in that city. On returning to Hobart he was engaged in farming for two years. His wife owned sixty-five acres, and he increased that tract to 105 acres. After two years in personal supervision of his farm, he moved into Hobart and established an express and draying business, which at the end of three years was sold and he spent one summer on the police force at Robey. That was during the time when the Robey races were at their height, and were closed down by Governor Mathews. Mr. Kostbade afterwards bought some land at Waverly, Tennessee, moved from there to Johnsonville in the same state, and sold his first land to his brother. After one year in Tennessee and after selling out, Mr. Kostbade returned to Hobart in 1896 and was closely identified with the management of his farm until 1913.
In that year Mr. Kostbade received appointment as postmaster of Hobart, and was one of the first, if not the first, postmasters appointed by President Wilson. He has brought the affairs of his office into excel- lent order and is doing all in his power to improve the service.
At Hobart in 1889 Mr. Kostbade married Emma Passow. She was educated in the common schools of Hobart, and since her marriage has devoted her time to her family. They are the parents of eight living children, five sons and three daughters. The oldest son, Louis, is twenty- two years of age, has finished school and is now engaged in farming. The second son is Clarence; William, Jr., took special training in busi- ness, and three, Raymond, Rose and Edward, are in school. The daughter, Mable, is assistant in the postoffice, and Helen, the youngest daughter, is still at home.
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