USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 37
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Stvarno Ella
J.J. Stearns
.J
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Prison at Richmond, and then taken to Belle Isle in James River and completed six months as a prisoner. He was released on parole April 4, 1864, just half a century ago. Sent to Annapolis and Columbus, Ohio, he spent the last weeks of his term of service on garrison duty in Chatta- nooga, and after completing the three years of his service returned to Hobart in 1864.
A veteran soldier, he readily exchanged the implements of war for the implements of fruitful industry, and for the first three years lived on a farm near Hobart. On coming to the village he engaged in the hotel business, later opened a stock of groceries, sold out and bought a farm and conducted it until 1871, when he moved into Porter County and bought some timber land. A year and a half later saw him back on the farm near Hobart, and in 1878 he moved to Lake Station, buying twenty-one acres of land and opening a general mercantile store, which was conducted under his name and management until 1882. The follow- ing year was spent in Michigan City as a guard at the penitentiary, and he then opened a hotel and managed it for a year and a half at Lake Station. That was followed by a meat market for two years, and finally he traded the twenty-one acres at Lake Station for his present property. Mr. Stearns has prospered as a result of his judgment and strict attention to business, and now owns two lots in Miller, though at one time he had about two hundred lots in that place, and sold them as a subdivision. At East Gary he owns a comfortable two-story residence and fourteen acres of land.
In December, 1864, Mr. Stearns married Elizabeth Caruthers of Lake County. At her death in 1869 she left two children, both now deceased. On February 28, 1871, Mr. Stearns married Ella Stilwell, of Scoharie County, New York. Her father, Smith T. Stilwell, was born in New York July 26, 1808, and died in his native state. Joseph Stearns, the father of Thomas J. Stearns, was born in Rhode Island and settled in Montgomery County, Indiana, in an early day, and died at the age of seventy-eight at Hobart. He fought in the battle of Tippecanoe, at the beginning of the War of 1812. Mrs. Stearns is an active member of the Rebekahs, but is devoted to her home life. Mr. Stearns has been through all the chairs in the Odd Fellows lodge, and is called the father of Hobart Lodge and is one of the oldest Odd Fellows in the county.
A republican in politics, he has had a very useful career in connec- tion with public affairs. He was elected assessor and held the office eighteen years, served three terms as justice of the peace, and for some time was the only justice in his township. He also was a trustee for the Town of East Gary, and is now president of the school board, which is constructing a fine schoolhouse to cost about $20,000. In the cam- paign which was necessary to secure such an appropriation and the official indorsement of the school building, Mr. Stearns had a very active part, and this important improvement in educational facilities is in no small degree a monument to his efforts. Mr. Stearns' name appears on the town hall as one of the trustees at the time of its construction. In looking back over his past Mr. Stearns has many interesting recol- lections. Fifty-six years ago he slept on ground where the Froebel School now stands in Gary, and killed a deer in that vicinity and brought it back through an Indian camp then on the site of Gary. The day he was twenty-one years of age he was with the troops which occupied Hoover Gap, and all day lay in trenches, and says that every time he tried to move or raise his head he became a target for the watchful rebel sharpshooters.
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FIRST CALUMET TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK. The growth and develop- ment of any community depend largely upon its financial interests, and no one institution is so closely connected with the very vitality and welfare of a town or city as its banks. The First Calumet Trust and Savings Bank, since its establishment five years ago, has not only shown a somewhat remarkable record of prosperity and stability, but has been one of the cornerstones upon which the commercial prosperity of the community has rested.
The organization of this bank occurred early in 1909, the charter having been secured in April of that year, and the doors were opened for business on May 9th. With a capital stock of $50,000 a few other figures will suffice to show the growth and strength of the bank. At the statement issued October 31, 1914, the total resources aggregated $385,840.32; at that date the total deposits, both savings and individual, aggregated $308,316.70. When the bank opened for business in May, 1909, the deposits were $3,831.50, and in successive years were, $69,326.36, $115,043.03, $281,537.35, $367,079.85 and $350,741.64. The earned surplus of the bank is now $25,000.00, and there has been a steady growth in this feature of the statement. The First Calumet Trust and Savings Bank is a designated depository of the State of Indiana, and besides its general banking and savings department, it operates a real estate department, deals in insurance, foreign exchange and an agency for ocean steamship tickets, safety deposit vaults, and is equipped for every ordinary commercial service expected of a bank or trust company.
The first officers of the institution were : John B. Peterson, president; Samuel W. Ogden, vice-president; Walter J. Riley, vice-president and acting president; and Frank T. Maloney, cashier. At the resignation of Mr. Maloney on May 1, 1910, Mr. J. Kalman Reppa was elected cashier and acted in that capacity until March 17, 1914, when he was succeeded by C. H. Wells, who is the present cashier. Some of the best known business men in the Calumet region are represented in the list of directors. Among them Mr. Peterson, the president, is well known in public affairs and is a resident of Crown Point; Samuel W. Ogden is manager of the Grasselli Chemical Company at East Chicago; Walter J. Riley is president of the First State Trust and Savings Bank, Indiana Harbor, Indiana; Lawrence Becker is judge of the Superior Court at Hammond, and there are several other well known business men on the board.
EDMUND C. SCHEIDT. A pioneer family of Lake County, one that shared in all the labors and hardships of the early period of develop- ment, Edmund C. Seleidt has himself for many years been closely identified with the business of Hobart. The "Bee Hive" store is well known, not only in the city but over the country for miles around, and it is only necessary to allude to Mr. Scheidt's relation with it to indicate his exceptional success as a prosperous merchant.
Edmund C. Scheidt was born at Dyer, Indiana. June 11, 1870. His parents were both natives of France, his father born in 1831 and his mother in 1833, and his father was one of the pioneers of Lake County. At one time he was offered land in the central section of Chicago at a dollar and a quarter an acre, and he afterwards said that he did not desire to buy a marsh, but wanted good land that would grow things. The early education of Edmund C. Scheidt was acquired in the schools at Dyer, and also in the St. Joseph School at Teutopolis, Illinois. He is
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liberally educated, having taken the collegiate course and graduating in 1890. On returning to Dyer, Mr. Scheidt engaged in the milling busi- ness with his father, and remained there until 1893. His next location was at Elnora, Indiana, where his enterprise was directed to general merchandising for two years, and then, moving to Hobart, he engaged in business with Mr. Stommel under the firm name of Stommel & Scheidt. After three years Mr. Scheidt opened a store for himself across the street, and at the close of the first year took in as a partner his nephew, H. E. Keilman. That was the beginning of the splendid establishment now known as the Bee Hive, which occupies a large frontage on Main Street, and is one of the best patronized and most prosperous centers for all kinds of goods in Lake County.
On October 17, 1892, Mr. Scheidt married Mary Schuetz, of Cedar Lake, Indiana. She was educated in the country schools of Cedar Lake. They are the parents of six children, four daughters and two sons.
Mr. Scheidt has membership in the Knights of Columbus, the Cath- olic Order of Foresters, is a member of the Catholic Church, belongs to the Hobart Commercial Club, and is independent in politics. He is fond of hunting and fishing as his diversions from business, belongs to the Hobart Hunting Club and is regarded as one of the expert trap shots in this section.
HENRY BRAND. Though one of the recent additions to the mer- cantile enterprise of Hobart, Henry Brand has been known in this com- munity for many years, and his wife belongs to one of the pioneer families.
Henry Brand, who was born in Germany, February 4, 1869, has had an active and varied career. Coming to the United States with his parents at the age of sixteen, his early schooling was acquired in Ger- many, and after one year on a farm in Ohio he went to Chicago in 1886. He had the capacity for hard work and faithful service, and was em- ployed with various firms in that city until coming to Hobart. Arnold Bros. on Randolph Street had him for seven years; he was then with the Weinberg Bros. until that firm sold out, and after that for 41% years was in the employ of the South Side Elevated Railroad. Coming to Hobart in August, 1913, Mr. Brand engaged in a new line of business for him, opening a store with a full stock of delicatessen and fancy groceries and meats, and has built up a flourishing trade in less than a year.
By his marriage in 1892 to Mary Boldt, Mr. Brand becomes con- nected with one of the oldest and most honored Lake County families. She was born in Hobart, and was educated in the schools of that town. She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Boldt, the former now seventy-six and the latter seventy-five years of age. Both were born in Pomern, Germany, and Charles Boldt at the age of thirty-one came to the United States, and became one of the early settlers in the vicinity of Tolleston, now incorporated in the larger City of Gary. For some time he was employed on the Fort Wayne Railroad while locomotive engines were still burning wood as fuel. Charles Boldt paid $20 an acre for land which is now worth $150, and for a number of years lived in practically a wilderness; the wolves howled at night in his back yard, and such game as deer was abundant in the woods. He and his wife passed through all the vicissitudes of frontier life, have lived to
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the honor and esteem of old age. Charles Boldt is still owner of 120 acres of fine land in the vicinity of Hobart. Besides their three sons and four daughters, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Boldt have many grand- children and three great-grandchildren.
Mr. and Mrs. Brand have two daughters and one son living. Clarice, the oldest, is the wife of H. T. Stratton; Mamie and Maximillian both attend school at Hobart; Frank, the other son, was accidentally killed while in the employ of the South Side Elevated Railway Company, being electrocuted while in the performance of his duties. Mr. Brand has membership in the Masonic order, being affiliated with the lodge, chapter and commandery and Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is one of the live members of the Hobart Commercial Club, and it was his faith in the future possibilities of Hobart as a fine commercial center for a progressive community that impelled him to engage in business there. Mr. Brand takes great pleasure in the sports of hunting and fishing. Of his own family there is a brother and four sisters, one in Chicago, two in New York State, and two in Dayton, Ohio.
F. F. FRANK. A substantial and useful citizenship of Lake County has included the Frank family since pioneer times. It was nearly sixty years ago that the family established itself in this section of Northern Indiana, not long after the first railroads were built, and before the modern era of development had fairly begun. Mr. F. F. Frank, whose home has been at Hobart and vicinity for many years, has applied him- self to the activities of farm life, has won his prosperity and stood well in the estimation of the entire community.
Born in Hobart Township of Lake County, April 22, 1859, F. F. Frank is a son of the late William Frank, whose native country was Germany, where he was born May 8, 1818. A young man of twenty- eight, he crossed the ocean, in 1846, and from New York came west to Michigan, locating first in Washtenaw County, and after seven years transferred his residence to Lake County. He settled on land which was still in a virgin state, was a factor in early developments, and pro- vided comfortably for his family and left property to his descendants. In 1851 William Frank married Celinda Kern, who died August 13, 1913. They were the parents of six children. Mr. F. F. Frank had his early schooling in the country, attended the sessions of school until he was fifteen, and after that learned to be a skillful farmer on his father's place. His entire career has been passed in the vicinity of his birthplace, and he owns the old homestead on which he was reared. His own place comprises 160 acres, and a mile east is the original farm of 132 acres. The old home still stands, but was rebuilt seven years ago. This place is now operated under tenant. Mr. Frank's own dwelling is a two-story brick house, with all the modern conveniences. His success has come through the general lines of farming, and while looking after his own interests he has not neglected those which the progress of the community imposes upon each individual.
On September 18, 1890, Mr. Frank married Lydia Bach of Ross Township. She was educated chiefly in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Frank have no children. In politics he is an independent republican, and is a member of the German Methodist Church. As a boy he knew Hobart when it was a village with only a few houses, and there were only two railroads through this section of Indiana, whereas now Lake County is a network of rail lines leading in all directions.
a.M. Hazelgreen,
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D. D. MELIN. A young banker and aggressive factor in Hobart's commercial circles, D. D. Melin is a member of a substantial family of that city, and through his own career has met successive responsibilities in such a way as to make him a useful and dependable citizen, and from what he has already accomplished his career in the future is likely to be one of prominence and great value.
D. D. Melin was born in Hobart, September 10, 1892. His parents, Andrew and Emma Melin, were both natives of Sweden, his father born fifty-one years ago and brought to the United States when ten years of age, while his mother came to this country when three years of age. The father is now general superintendent of the Kulage Brick Company. Besides D. D. Melin there are two other sons: Arthur, who is twenty- five years of age and a mason by trade, while Ralph is fifteen and still in school.
D. D. Melin was educated in the Hobart High School, graduating in 1909, and after one year of experience in Chicago in the employ of the Wells, Fargo & Company's Express, returned to Hobart and took a place with the Hobart Bank, which he is now serving as assistant cashier. As a member of the Commercial Club Mr. Melin was elected secretary on March 4, 1914. He is a republican in politics and favors good govern- ment and local improvements, and is ready to work for them whenever possible. During his high school days he was captain of the baseball team two years and of the track team one year, and still retains his keen interest in outdoor sports.
A. M. HAZELGREEN. For thirty or forty years a large amount of the railway construction work and of other similar types of contracting in this county has been performed through the Hazelgreen family. While the representative above named is one of the aggressive young business men and contractors, with his home in East Gary, it was his father who inaugurated that line of business in this county.
A. M. Hazelgreen was born in Chicago, January 14, 1879, but has lived in Lake County since infancy. His father, H. S. Hazelgreen, born in Sweden, January 20, 1838, and who died June 26, 1913, came to the United States at the age of thirty years, spent one year in New York, went west to Chicago, engaged in contracting, and did a large amount of pioneer railway construction in Northern Indiana. He had charge of the grading for the Baltimore & Ohio through this section, and also for the Wabash company. The mother's maiden name was Chris- tina C. Blank, born in Sweden, June 26, 1849, and coming to the United States in 1863. She lived at Miller, Indiana, and she and her husband were married in 1873. Of their family there are four daughters and three sons still living. Mrs. Jeannette Ahlberg and Clara E. both reside in Seattle, Washington; Mrs. A. Esther Anderson lives at Laporte; and Elna J. lives at home. The other two sons are J. William and H. Albin, both of whom are unmarried and have their home in Seattle, Washington, and H. Albin is one of the leaders in the Luther League on the Northwest coast. The daughter Clara a number of years ago predicted the founding of the town and the development of the indus- trial center at East Gary, and just about twelve years ago drew a map on which the town was depicted, and since then East Gary has been growing rapidly up to the anticipations of Miss Hazelgreen.
When A. M. Hazelgreen was a year and a half old his parents located at Lake Station, and he lived at home, attending schools at East Gary
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and the high school at Hobart, until he was sixteen years of age. Since then his career has been almost entirely taken up with railway con- tracting, and he was with his father until his death. Mr. Hazelgreen is now president of the town board of East Gary, and has been instru- mental in effecting many improvements for this community. He has led the way in getting the people to indorse and to vote the necessary bonds to establish a lighting plant. Mr. Hazelgreen was chiefly con- cerned in having the dedication celebration at the opening of the town hall, at which time a very elaborate program was held. Mr. Hazelgreen is fond of outdoor life, of baseball and fishing, is a republican in politics, and a member of the Swedish Lutheran Church.
JAMES MUNDELL. While Lake County has been more especially a manufacturing and industrial community, its agricultural interests have not been insignificant, and in the production of grain and stock and other necessities of life there are a large number of enterprises which should not escape notice in a review of the county. One of Hobart's best known citizens is James Mundell, and in the course of his lifetime he has prospered by utilizing the resources of the soil in Lake County, and has been a valuable factor in local civic affairs.
James Mundell was born near Hobart, February 28, 1844, and is consequently one of the oldest native sons of the county. His father, Joseph Mundell, was born in Green County, Pennsylvania, October 13, 1800, and died August 20, 1888. As another interesting fact in the family genealogy, it should be mentioned that Mr. Mundell's grand- father lived to be 103 years of age. The Mundells were pioneers in Lake County, near Hobart, and on the farm that his father had developed from the wilderness Mr. Mundell grew to manhood, obtaining an edu- cation in the country schools of the '40s and '50s. Practically his entire active career was spent on the farm, with the exception of one year in the grocery business in Chicago during 1881, but after that brief experience he was well content to return to Hobart and resume the management of his large dairy and other farm interests. At the present time Mr. Mundell is the owner of 101 aeres, and he recently deeded about twenty acres to his son. For a number of years he made a spe- cialty of dairying, had fine barns, a fine herd of milch cows, supplied milk products of a high grade. His son now is making a success of beekeeping, and his stands produce for the market more than twenty- five thousand pounds every year, that being the figure for last season.
Mr. Mundell was at Hobart when it hardly deserved the name of village, and has seen it grow from an inconsiderable start in the wilder- ness when Indians often camped here into a thriving and flourishing city. His own residence is a mile out of town on the Ridge Road, and comprises a two-story home, with a water system and all the modern convenienees. A number of years ago Mr. Mundell bought a parcel of land in the Calumet region for $480, and after development had started sold a portion of it for over a thousand dollars an acre. He still has thirty-five aeres that will in the course of a few years un- doubtedly be taken up by the great industrial extension now in process there.
On August 1, 1881. Mr. Mundell married Mary Knothe. She was born in Chicago in 1853. Her family was the third to locate at Tolleston. and they afterwards moved to Liverpool, now known as the Town of
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East Gary. Mr. and Mrs. James Mundell were married at East Gary by Squire Clarke, of Crown Point. They are the parents of two chil- dren of their own and one adopted child. The son, Joseph N., married Ethel Gearhart, of Hamlet, and has two children. The daughter, Edna M., lives at home. Mr. Mundell is independent in politics, and wherever possible has favored good government and supported movements for the development of his community.
FRANK H. DAVIS. The public-spirited citizenship of Hobart has no better and more devoted leader than Frank H. Davis, cashier of the First State Bank of that city. Next to providing for his own material welfare, Mr. Davis believes that it is the duty of every man to have a part in community affairs, and so far as possible contribute to the civic, moral and general upbuilding of his home town. Mr. Davis is one of the younger men of Hobart, has made his own way in the world, and for a number of years was identified with railroading, and was at Hobart in the railroad service until he accepted his present duties with the bank.
Frank H. Davis was born at North Vernon, Indiana, June 15, 1877, received his early education in the grade and high schools of his native city, attending high school for three years, and his education was fol- lowed by seven years' practical experience on a farm with his brother at Blackstone, Illinois. He learned telegraphy, went to Alton and was employed as a telegrapher with the Chicago & Alton Railroad five years, and in the latter part of 1904 transferred his service to the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad at West Chicago. A few months later, on June 1, 1905, he came to Hobart, and for seven years was agent at that city. He began his career as a banker as cashier of the First State Bank on July 1, 1912.
Mr. Davis affiliates with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America, is a republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Church. His father was a veteran of the Civil war, having served three years with the Army of the Cumberland in the Fourteenth Army Corps, and was with Sherman on the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea. He married Miss Lillian Mereness, who was born in Hobart in 1887. They have one daughter, born in December, 1913, and named Elizabeth Margaret. Outside of business Mr. Davis finds his recreation in the sport of tennis, and in the varied activities of a growing and prosperous community like Hobart.
His chief enthusiasm is Hobart as a community, and he was the first president of the Hobart Commercial Club and served in that office for the second year.
B. G. THOMPSON. The mercantile enterprise of B. G. Thompson is reflected in one of the largest and best conducted establishments at Hobart and also at Crown Point and Valparaiso. One of the big ideas of modern trade is the consolidated management of several stores under one head, and Mr. Thompson has developed his original enterprise in Hobart and extended it to two other thriving communities in this sec- tion. A merchant of broad and varied experience, Mr. Thompson has not relied exclusively upon the routine methods of handling his store, but has combined original ideas and is one of the most aggressive cam- paigners for trade in Lake County. He began his career a number of years ago as a candy manufacturer, was identified with various localities
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in Canada, in the Northwest section of the United States, in Michigan and Minnesota, and after a residence of a number of years in Chicago came to Hobart about three years ago, and since that time has set an example of progressive merchandising.
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