USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 42
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H. E. JONES. A resident of the Calumet region for fully a quarter of a century, H. E. Jones is without doubt one of the best known and most popular citizens of Lake County. His name is especially familiar through his long and efficient service as county recorder, and besides his activity in official affairs he has also been a factor in local business circles.
Though his active career has been passed chiefly in the Calumet re- gion, H. E. Jones was born at Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1866, a son of John T. and Mary Jones. His father was long identified with the iron and steel business. In 1872, when H. E. Jones was six years of age, the family removed to Portland, Maine, but in 1880 came to South Chicago, Illinois. H. E. Jones was thirteen years of age when he began working as a boy helper in the South Deering Works, and for a number of years was employed in different lines in the iron and steel business. His home was established in East Chicago in 1889, and as a young man of thor- ough independence and of genial and popular manners he soon became drawn into local politics, and served as city clerk from 1897 to 1905. Then followed his election to the office of county recorder, and from 1905 to 1913 he held that office and in the meantime had removed his residence
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to Crown Point. The important business of the office of county recorder was never handled better than during his administration.
Mr. Jones still retains his residence in Crown Point. Soon after leaving the office of county recorder he became local manager of the Gary office of the Lake County Title and Guaranty Company of Crown Point, but has since retired from that concern.
Mr. Jones was married in 1897 to Mary Jenkins, of Hammond. Their three children are named Agnes, Herbert and Beatrice. Mr. Jones affiliates with the Masonic Order, in which he has taken the Knights Templar degree, is a member of the Mystic Shrine, and also of the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he is a progressive republican, and his church home is the Presbyterian.
MANHATTAN LUMBER COMPANY. The first lumber supplies sold and put on the ground at Gary were handled by the Manhattan Lumber Company in 1906, the consignment being made to the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company. This pioneer place in the lumber trade has since been held by the company, though local offices were not established at Gary until January 1, 1912. The home office of the Manhattan Lum- ber Company is at South Chicago, and this is one of the older concerns in that line in the Calumet region.
Mr. J. G. Hepp is manager of the Gary branch, and is an experienced man in the trade and one of the loyal and progressive citizens of Gary. The company has five acres of ground along the Pennsylvania railway tracks at Twenty-first Street and Massachusetts Avenue. In the sheds and warehouses and yards are carried a varied and abundant assortment of lumber and general builders' materials, together with wood and coal. Mr. Hepp has been in the lumber business for the past twenty-five years, chiefly in the cities of Buffalo and Chicago, having moved to Chicago in 1902. For some time he was manager of all three yards of the company at Gary, East Chicago and South Chicago. The East Chicago branch of the concern has since been sold.
CHARLES PIERCE BURTON was born at Anderson, Indiana, March 7, 1862, a son of Pierce and Ellen Gertrude (Lapham) Burton. They moved to Adams, Massachusetts, where Mrs. Burton died. In 1873 Pierce Burton married again and took his young son to Aurora, Illinois, and the subject of this sketch graduated from the East High School of that city in 1880. For more than thirty years he has been active in his profession as a writer and publisher. In 1882-1900 he was city editor of the Aurora Daily Express, and owned that publication from 1900 to 1903. During 1901-03 he had charge of the Illinois state print- ing. He opened an office in Chicago in 1903 and was chiefly engaged as a writer of business literature for some years, and has always done much lecture work. As an author Mr. Burton is best known through the series of boys' books entitled "The Boys of Bob's Hill," published in 1905; "The Bob's Cave Boys," in 1909; "The Bob's Hill Braves," in 1910; "The Boy Scouts of Bob's Hill," in 1912; and "The Bashful Man and Others," published in 1902. As editor of the Calumet, a weekly magazine which he established, his name and work became familiar throughout this part of Northern Lake County. In April, 1913, Mr. Burton moved from Aurora to Valparaiso and on October 1, 1914, to Gary. He became identified with the Gary and Interurban Railroad Company at the beginning, and has served as a director in
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several of its constituent companies. He had much to do with the creation of this traction system.
On May 25, 1887, Mr. Burton married Cora L. Vreeland, of Aurora, Illinois.
WILLIAM J. MURRAY. One of the forceful and influential public leaders at Indiana Harbor is William J. Murray, a young attorney who has been closely identified with public affairs ever since reaching his majority, and had considerable political experience in his native state of Wisconsin previous to his removal to the Calumet region.
The City of Waukesha, Wisconsin, is his native town, where he was born December 4, 1879, a son of John and Julia (Crowley) Murray. His father followed the business of stone cutter. With a public school education William J. Murray started out to make his own way in the world, and at Waukesha began the reading of law in the offices of Senator Lockney and Judge C. E. Armin. For four years he served as clerk of court and was justice of the peace two years, and at the same time carried on his studies for the law. In 1912 Mr. Murray entered Valparaiso University law department, and after finishing his course there was admitted to the Indiana bar in June, 1913. Since then he has been in active practice at Indiana Harbor and has already done much to prove his ability and his value as a lawyer and public leader.
He has always been active in democratic politics, and during his resi- dence in Wisconsin in 1910 made the race for Congress from the Fifth Wisconsin District. His fraternal relations are with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of Columbus, and his church home is the Catholic.
EMPLOYES REAL ESTATE & INVESTMENT COMPANY. One of the most important and best conducted agencies for the handling of real estate, rentals, investment bonds, and general insurance and brokerage is the Employees Real Estate and Investment Company, which was organized in Indiana Harbor November 4, 1912. The original personnel of its officers were : John M. Stinson, president; H. W. Milner, vice president and treasurer ; J. M. Osman, secretary. Since then Mr. Milner has sold his interests, and in June, 1913, Mr. Osman sold out and was succeeded in the office of secretary by E. V. Walton. The company has earned its right to the confidence and patronage of the people and handles a large volume of real estate; insurance, bonds, renting, etc.
The secretary of the company is one of the veteran business men of Indiana Harbor, and his prominence and standing in business affairs are equaled by his performance and activity in the public life of his community.
E. V. Walton was born at Newark, New Jersey, April 17, 1872, a son of W. N. and Elma B. (Palmer) Walton, his mother being a cousin of Potter Palmer, formerly of Chicago. His father is now retired, having for many years been identified with the glass manufacturing business. After his education in the public schools Mr. E. V. Walton learned the trade of painter, and was employed for seven years in many parts of the country in that line. He finally engaged in the contracting business at Wanatah, Indiana, and was the leading man in his line of business at that place for twelve years. Since 1902 his home has been in Indiana Harbor, and he was one of the first to establish a business
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as a painting and decorating contractor in that new center of population and industry. For a number of years he conducted a store for paint and decorating supplies on Block Avenue, but finally sold out and went on the road in 1910 representing the Central Westrumite Company for two years. On leaving the road Mr. Walton engaged in the insurance business until June 15, 1913, and then bought into and became an officer of the Employees Real Estate & Investment Company as already noted.
An important factor in the municipal history of Indiana Harbor was Mr. Walton's service from 1905 to 1909 as councilman at large, since it was he who took the energetic lead in inaugurating a series of public improvements which more than anything else have raised the standards of Indiana Harbor's municipal appearance and public facilities. In 1894 Mr. Walton married Antoinette Lake of Dowagiac, Michigan. At her death on May 5, 1911, she left one child, William Rex. On June 7, 1913, Mr. Walton married Therese Hartwig of Wanatah, Indiana. In politics Mr. Walton is a democrat, and his fraternal affiliations are with the Knights of Pythias.
CHARLES W. CHASE. Some of the men most prominent in business affairs are lawyers by profession, and it has been almost a characteristic of the American legal profession during the last quarter of a century that men of legal training have been drawn into executive affairs and have reached some of the most coveted places in the business world. For a young man of his years, Charles W. Chase has had a remarkably suc- cessful career as a lawyer, and has proved equal to many large respon- sibilities. Mr. Chase has confined his attention entirely to corporation practice, and though his home has been in Gary for only about a year, has practice brought him into relations with the affairs of the Calumet region a number of years ago.
Charles W. Chase was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1877, but during his childhood his parents, S. W. and Sarah V. Chase, moved out to Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a commission merchant. Mr. Chase was liberally educated, and from the public schools entered the University of Chicago, graduating from the academic department with the class of 1899, and then went East for his law studies, which were pursued in the Harvard Law School until 1901. His practice as a lawyer was in Chicago from 1902 until 1913, and since September of the latter year his home has been in Gary. Mr. Chase has been general counsel for the Cooperative Construction Company and the Gary and Interurban Railroad Company since 1905. He has also organized and is president of the Calumet Electric Company, supplying various trac- tion lines, municipalities and plants with electric power as far east as Laporte. It was Mr. Chase who perfected the organization as a com- pany, and its various subsidiary organizations. The history of this system of electric railways in the Calumet region is told elsewhere in this work. For five years Mr. Chase was associated with the counsel for the late John R. Walsh of Chicago. His friends claim that Mr. Chase is one of the most forcible lawyers of the entire Calumet district, and his success has been one of increasing importance from the time he tried his first case more than ten years ago.
In 1903 Mr. Chase married Julia Adele Mathias of Chicago. They have three sons. Mr. Chase has membership in the University Club of Chicago and is a democrat in politics.
Charles elthere
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H. C. FRANCIS. One of the important members of the present munici- pal government of Gary is H. C. Francis, city clerk. Mr. Francis has been identified with Gary almost from the beginning of the city, having come in as one of the subordinate officials of the Steel Company, and several years later entering the fire insurance business. He has known Gary from its foundation, understands its needs as an industrial and social center, and has brought unusual qualifications to his present official position.
H. C. Francis was born in the City of Indianapolis January 14, 1875, a son of Thomas S. and Rose E. Francis. His father, now deceased, was for twenty-five years a member of the Chicago Board of Trade. It was in Chicago that H. C. Francis spent his boyhood and early youth, and after finishing his education in the public schools found his first regular employment as an office boy in a fire insurance office. At the time of the Spanish-American war Mr. Francis was a member of the Illinois Naval Reserve, and a few weeks after the outbreak of hostilities went out with that organization and served with it on the U. S. vessel Fern until honorably discharged. After the war his employment was with the American Steel and Wire Company of Chicago as cost clerk, the company subsequently sent him to Joliet as assistant chief clerk, and on January 23, 1907, Mr. Francis came to Gary as general clerk for the steel corporation, and was later made cost clerk.
Since May, 1911, Mr. Francis has conducted an insurance business and represents several of the larger fire companies and has built up a large business over the city. He has been interested in politics, especially in connection with municipal affairs, for several years, and since January, 1912, has been chairman of the republican township committee. In the fall of 1913 he was elected city clerk, and entered upon his duties in that office January 5, 1914. Mr. Francis was married in July, 1904, to Catherine McClelland of Joliet. They have one son, Robert, and a daughter is now deceased. Mr. Francis is a charter member of the Gary Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and also affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Loyal Order of Moose.
A. E. HALSTED. A retired farmer and business man of Hobart who has seen practically all the development of this section of Lake County, and who recollects the time when only seven or eight buildings comprised the village, A. E. Halsted represents one of the pioneer families of this section, and his own career has been characterized by success in business and an influential part in the community. Born in Lake county Sep- tember 22, 1862, A. E. Halsted is a son of the late James M. and Mary C. (Woodhouse) Halsted. His father, who was born in New York state, came to Lake County in 1849, an early year in local history, and bought land and acquired considerable possessions before his death. He passed away at the venerable age of eighty-six, while his wife died at Hobart, aged eighty-two. Of their children, there are three sons besides A. E. living in Hobart, and a daughter in Gary.
A. E. Halsted grew up in Lake County, had a common school educa- tion in such institutions of learning as were maintained during the six- ties and seventies, and at the age of eighteen took up the practical work of the farm. He lived on his father's place and inherited one hundred and sixty acres from the elder Halsted. He still owns that farm, but retired from its active management about 1901, and now leases his land. He owns a comfortable home in Hobart, and has some interests in other city property.
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On January 26, 1888, Mr. Halsted married Allie Nelson of Hebron, Indiana. Mrs. Halsted was educated in the public schools of Hebron, and is a member of the Eastern Star, though her chief interests lie in her own home. They have one son, Ray N., who was born December 26, 1888, and is now living in Hobart. Ray Halsted married Pearl Demmon of Maryville, Indiana, and they are the parents of two sons, Kenneth and Malcolm.
Mr. Halsted is a democrat in politics, and such interests as he has given to public questions have always been on the progressive side and for the improvement of conditions and the betterment of society. He is an enthusiastic hunter and fisher, a member of the Hunting Club, and in his earlier days spent much time on the marshes and woods when they were filled with prairie chicken and quails and ducks, and under his own eyes a large part of northern Indiana has been reclaimed from an unproductive wilderness.
GEORGE W. DICKEY. While the industrial development in northern Lake County has been the most conspicuous economic change in this section, another of only less importance has been that of the transforma- tion of the low wet lands from a waste region into some of the most fertile agricultural fields found in all Indiana, and accompanying this develop- ment has come increased population, the establishment of village centers, the growth of schools and other social conveniences. Though one of the youngest business men of Lake County, George W. Dickey is in reality a pioneer and as a merchant has witnessed and assisted in the rise of the little community of Shelby from the swamps to a highly prosperous community. Ile was one of the men who had sufficient faith and far- sight to estimate correctly what the years would bring, and has since realized on his capital of confidence and is the leading merchant and most influential citizen.
George W. Dickey was born at Monon, Indiana, February 22, 1884. With a common school education at Monon, at the age of fifteen he left his books and found employment and experience that has been useful subsequently in a grocery store at Monon, and after three years there worked for his father two years in handling merchandise. In the fall of 1904 his father appointed him manager of a small store at Shelby, and at the end of two years he bought out the stock and has since increased it, with the general development of that section, until it is now valued at about six thousand dollars, and the store is housed in a building 36x80 feet, two stories high, this, too, being the individual property of Mr. Dickey. He has both his store and home on the first floor, and the upper floor is used for an opera house. His trade in general merchandise extends about Shelby for a radius of six miles, and two clerks assist him in handling the business.
Mr. Dickey was married June 27, 1906, to Edith Sills of Shelby, who grew up in this community and was educated in the local schools. She is active in the work of the Christian Church. Their two children are Emma Virginia and Donald George, aged respectively five and three years. Mr. Dickey has affiliations with the Masonic Lodge at Rose Lawn, and with the local lodge of Odd Fellows, is precinct committeeman in the progressive party, and belongs to the Christian Church.
Mr. Dickey's brother, Guy Dickey, is now principal of the Shelby High School. He was born in Monon March 31, 1888, and is a graduate of the University of Indiana with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
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O. G. FIFIELD. The development of the swamp lands in the Calumet and Kankakee valleys has required not only capital and enterprise but technical ability, and O. G. Fifield, who is now prominent as a farmer on land that has been reclaimed, is a young man of thorough technical equip- ment, who was employed his ability as a civil engineer in this important reclamation work, and has charge of one of the largest estates in the valley of the Kankakee.
O. G. Fifield was born in Laporte County, Indiana, November 9, 1885, a son of Z. H. and Harrietta Fifield. His father was born in Porter County, Indiana, in 1862, was a farmer until he retired in 1909, and has since been engaged in the real estate business at Hobart, having put on the market several important subdivisions in that town. His mother was also a native of Porter County, born in 1866.
O. G. Fifield acquired his education in the Crown Point public schools, finishing at the high school at the age of seventeen, graduating in 1909 in the civil engineering and sanitary engineering departments of Purdue University. For two years he was employed by the Sanitary District of Chicago, and has since been employed in the reclamation work in the Kankakee marsh. His own part in this has been of importance, since he acquired four hundred acres, and was given six hundred and fifty acres by his father-in-law, and since 1911 has employed most of his time in farming on land which a few years ago was practically worthless except for a meager crop of marsh hay. He has raised some splendid yields of corn and other staples, and feeds a large number of cattle and sheep. His home place is one of the modern houses found in this section of the Kankakee Valley, a two-story residence with all the modern con- veniences.
Mr. Fifield was married September 15, 1910, to Mary Eva Brown, of Crown Point, where she was educated, finishing her education in the Western College for Women and at the University of Chicago. They are the parents of two children : Elwood Brown and Harrietta Caroline. Mr. Fifield is a member of the Phi Kappa Psi, and of the Chicago Ath- letic Club. During his university career he made a name for himself in inter-collegiate sport, and in 1908 carried off some of the senior honors at the track meet between Purdue and the University of Illinois. He is one of the champion hurdle runners in the country and in 1911 tied the indoor world's record at Milwaukee. Mr. Fifield is a republican, takes much interest in local affairs and is township committeeman for Eagle Creek Township. Besides his individual work as a farmer Mr. Fifield is interested in securing men and capital for the further development of the marsh country. He employs a motor car both for pleasure and for business, and still keeps up his interest in outdoor sports and is a well known young business man both in his home community and in Chicago and elsewhere.
HARRY W. MILNER. It is as an insurance underwriter that Mr. Milner has been chiefly known to the community of Hammond, but for a number of years previous to beginning his connection in that line he was a minister of the Christian Church, and had he continued in that line would doubtless have attained to some of the best distinctions of the profession. Mr. Milner has done a large volume of business in Hammond and vicinity, and his reputation is based on reliable dealings and high- class methods.
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Harry W. Milner is a native of Kentucky, born in that state in 1875, a son of Lafayette and Evaline (Coombs) Milner. His father, a farmer by occupation, was very prominent in his section of Kentucky both in democratic politics and in public affairs, having served in the office of assessor, sheriff, and other relations. He was a veteran of the Mexican war, and during the Civil war was a recruiting officer for the Confed- erate army.
Harry W. Milner graduated from the Kimberlin Heights College, studied for the ministry, and was given his first charge as a pastor of the Christian Church at Harrison, Ohio. Subsequently his services were required for missionary work in the South, and he also was stationed as pastor at Greenwood and Delphi, Indiana. His career as a minister of the Gospel covered seven years, and in May, 1911, having given up the ministry, he established himself at Hammond in the insurance business. Mr. Milner was the first district manager in the Hammond district for the Public Savings Insurance Co, after which he served as field manager for the Northern State Life, finally associating himself with the Empire Health & Accident Insurance Co. as district manager.
On March 7, 1900, he married May Owens, of Indianapolis. Their two children are Hugh and Elizabeth. Mr. Milner has Blue Lodge affili- ations with the Masonic order, also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, is a member of the Commercial Club at Hammond, is an active worker in the Christian Church, and in politics a democrat.
WILLIAM J. FULTON. As chief engineer of the Gary Land Company from 1907 until he entered upon his duties as city engineer in January, 1914, William J. Fulton had a very important connection with the plan- ning and development of Gary during its first stages. As is told on other pages in a history of the Gary Land Company's work, that company undertook the laying out of a city on a broad and splendid scale, and in his capacity as chief engineer Mr. Fulton had the planning of streets, sewers and other public improvements, and there is no other man in the city who has a closer or more technical familiarity with the material growth of Gary as a municipality than this young Scotch engineer.
William J. Fulton was born in Scotland, September 5, 1885, a son of William and Jane Fulton. His education and his early experience in engineering were in his native land. After a common school education, he was trained for his profession in the Science and Art School at Glas- gow, where he graduated in 1899, and followed this with post-graduate studies during 1900. His services were employed on various engineering enterprises, both public and private, in Scotland until January, 1907, when he came to America and located at Gary in the interest of the Gary Land Company. In the fall of 1913 he was induced to accept the office of city engineer at Gary for which his previous experience had so well equipped him, and he took office in January of the present year.
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