USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 51
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In addition to his law practice, Mr. Glazebrook is a stockholder and a member of the board of directors of the First State Trust and Savings Bank of Indiana Harbor, one of the strong financial institutions of the Calumet district.
Mr. Glazebrook is a Master and Royal Arch Mason, Knight Templar, and a member of the Mystic Shrine. His church is the Methodist Episco- pal, and he is a democrat of the old school.
On March 26, 1911, he was united in marriage to Viola Summers Baker of Knox, Indiana, and they reside in their own splendid home at No. 3407 Grapevine Street, Indiana Harbor.
FRANK A. SHAW. One of the men who was actively associated with the various undertakings of the United States Steel Corporation since the early history of Gary was Frank Shaw, whose sudden death occurred
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September 24, 1914. He had lived in Gary for the past seven years, and besides his business relations with the Gary Heat, Light and Water Company, a subsidiary company of the Steel Corporation, interested himself in a number of the public and semi-public movements which have been noteworthy in the development of this industrial center.
Born in England in 1870, a son of Henry C. and Harriett Shaw, Frank A. Shaw was brought to the United States by his parents in 1889, and after four years spent in western Canada in the Province of Manitoba they located at Detroit in 1893. The parents moved to Gary in 1913 from Detroit. The early education of Mr. Shaw was acquired at Oxford, England, and at Detroit he was for a time engaged in the life insurance business. In 1907 he entered the employ of the Steel Corporation, and in June of the same year was sent to Gary, where the large developments under the auspices of the corporation were just tak- ing form. Mr. Shaw was chief clerk and cashier of the Gary Heat, Light and Water Company, which is the largest public utility in the city, and was organized with the same capital and by some of the same men who have directed the founding and upbuilding of Gary.
Mr. Shaw in November, 1899, married Selma Berger of Chicago, and their children are, Harriett and Helene. By his first wife Mr. Shaw had a son, George, who was three years old when his mother died, and he was raised by the present Mrs. Shaw. Mr. Shaw's fraternal affilia- tions were with the Masonic Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter and Knights Templar Commandery, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was treasurer and a member of the vestry of the Episcopal Church at Gary. One of the organizers of the splendid Gary Y. M. C. A. was Mr. Shaw, and he served as a member of the board of directors. He was secretary and treasurer of the Lake Country Club, a member of the Gary Commercial Club, and at one time was commissioner of public works in the city. His politics were republican.
ARTHUR GEORGE DEAVER. The public schools of West Hammond have shared in the wonderful growth and development of the Calumet region. Situated as it is in Cook County, Illinois, this growing little city has its own school system, in no way connected with any of the other systems of the region. It is a part of Superintendent Deaver's ereditable record to have taken charge of the West Hammond schools when they were practically in their infancy and to have developed them into a system which compares favorably with the other school organiza- tions of the region. Mr. Deaver has had a long and active career in the educational field, is scholarly, energetic and progressive. His activities are not confined to educational work; but he makes himself felt for good in social and civie circles.
Arthur George Deaver was born in Morgan County, Ohio, December 12, 1873, and eomes of an old Ohio family, the name of which is per- petnated in the village of Deavertown. His parents were George W. and Nancy (Marshall) Deaver, and his father was a United Brethren minister. Mr. Deaver as a boy attended the public schools in Deaver- town, Ohio, and has been a student practically all his life, utilizing the means acquired by his early teaching to continue his education through the higher branches, and frequently attending summer schools since he became well established in educational circles. For a time he was a student in the college at Westerville, Ohio, and graduated from Lima College, Ohio, in 1907. For twelve years he attended summer terms at
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college, and taught during the winter months in district or village schools. In 1910 he was graduated with the degree Ph. B. from the University of Chicago. In 1912 the degree Master of Arts was con- ferred upon him by York College of York, Nebraska. Mr. Deaver is also a well qualified lawyer, having taken up the study of law in even- ing classes at the Lincoln-Jefferson Law School at Hammond until grad- uating with the degree LL. B. in 1913.
Mr. Deaver came to the Calumet region in 1907 to take the super- intendency of the West Hammond schools. At that time the local school system had one building and a faculty of six teachers. Besides the two ward buildings at the present time, there is an efficient high school, with a corps of fifteen teachers. Domestic science, manual training and com- mercial departments have recently been added to the curriculum. A motion picture machine has been installed, and the pupils are given reg- ular instruction by means of educational films.
Previous to his residence in the Calumet region Mr. Deaver was superintendent two years of the New Straitsville, Ohio, schools, and for five years was superintendent of the township high school at Glenford, Ohio. He is a member of the Illinois State Teachers' Association, and fraternally is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star, is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and a member of the Pythian Sisters. In the Methodist Episcopal Church he takes an active part and is assistant superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Deaver is president of the West Hammond Club, an organization "whose objects are the social, commercial, civic and industrial advancement of West Hammond," to quote from the by-laws of the organization. Mr. Deaver was instrumental in the organization of the club in January, 1914, and under his leadership some of the best men in the city have joined to make the club felt as a very potent factor in the civic and economic affairs of West Hammond.
On November 25, 1896, Mr. Deaver married Miss Mary B. Folk of Deavertown, Ohio, a daughter of Dr. Peter and Pharsalia Folk. To their marriage have been born three children: Nolan M., Udella M., and Maude P.
RAY SEELY. Now giving all his time to his duties as county surveyor of Lake County, with residence at Hammond, Mr. Seely brought to his public duties exceptional qualifications gained through long and varied experience as a civil engineer, in practical construction work with rail- way companies and other important responsibilities of a professional nature.
Ray Seely was born in Guthrie, Iowa, May 10, 1876. His parents were substantial farming people, and gave their son encouragement, a good home training, and a fair amount of education, as his start in life. The parents were Thomas and Mary (Parrish) Seely. After attending the public schools of Des Moines and the Highland Park College, Ray Seely spent two years as an employee of the Adams Express Company. Later he got into active work in the line of his profession, and for three years was under the superintendent of the western division of the Grand Trunk Railway. Later he spent four years in the engineering depart- ment and the maintenance department for the I. I. I. Railway, usually called "the three I's." Later Mr. Seely was connected with the Chicago and Southern Traction Company as resident engineer, and continued with the corporation until the completion of its line. He had charge of
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the construction of the Indiana Harbor Railways between Indiana Har- bor and Dune Park. While with the last named employment he was also superintendent of construction for the Lehigh Stone Company. Mr. Seely spent some time in Southern Indiana, largely in Morgan, Daviess and Greene counties in surveying and engineering professional engagements. Since 1907 his home and business headquarters has been at Hammond, and he built up some profitable professional connections from this city as a center. In 1910 he was elected surveyor of Lake County, and by re-election in 1912 is still serving that office.
Mr. Seely has membership in the Chamber of Commerce, the Ham- mond Country Club, belongs to the Western Society of Civil Engineers and the Indiana Society of Civil Engineers. His fraternities are the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Masons, being a Knight Templar and Shriner. His church is the Presbyterian. Mr. Seely married Ada Josephine Van Druff of Clifton, Illinois. They have one child, Benson Horace.
HOLY TRINITY CROATIAN CHURCH OF GARY. One of the large and important elements of Gary's cosmopolitan population is the Croatians, and their central institution is the Holy Trinity Church at 2260 Adams Street. This church was established in March, 1912, and the handsome edifice which now serves its large membership of 1,500 was finished in April, 1913. Plans have been drawn and work is, already undertaken for the erection of a school and sisters' home, the cost of which is esti- mated at about ten thousand dollars. The church itself cost $25,000.
The efficient head of Holy Trinity is Rev. Father Lucas Terzich, and this was his first pastoral duty after coming to America. Father Ter- zich is forty-seven years of age, was born in Croatia, and had a long experience both as a missionary and pastor in his native land and else- where before coming to this country. His education was acquired in Vienna and Budapest, and for six years he was a missionary at Cairo, Egypt, and in Palestine. Father Terzich came to the United States in 1912, and immediately took up his duties in the establishment and building up of the Holy Trinity parish at Gary. He has one brother living.
JOSEPH WILLIAM WEIS. The Weis family is one of the oldest in' Lake County, having been identified with this section of Indiana nearly seventy years. Joseph William Weis is known everywhere in Hammond as a successful merchant, and his business record indicates the full value of persistence and hard work in the acquisition of success. Mr. Weis began working in a drug store in Hammond in 1892, and for eight years was employed in the same store. In 1900 when he started business for himself he had only thirty-six dollars in cash capital. Since then he has succeeded somewhat rapidly, and now owns the building in which his store is located, carries a large stoek of drugs and druggist merchandise, has one of the substantial homes of the city, and is also vice president of the Lake County Savings & Trust Company, a director in the Champion Potato Machinery Company, and has several other smaller stock holdings.
Joseph William Weis was born November 5, 1868, at Hanover Center in Lake County. His grandparents, John and Catherine Weis, were natives of Germany, who came to this country in 1846 and located at Shererville in Lake County. Mr. Weis' father was Jacob A. Weis, who was born in 1841 in Germany, was reared from the age of five
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years in Lake County, his education was limited to the country schools, and for many years he had a blacksmith shop at Merrillville, Hanover Centre and Crown Point. He was a democrat in politics, and a member of the Catholic Church. He married Julia A. Long in 1865, a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Long, who were of German descent and early settlers at St. Johns, Indiana. Julia Long was born in New York in 1850.
Joseph W. Weis grew up in the country, attended both country and city schools, and his business as a druggist and stationer and in other affairs has been given brief record above. Mr. Weis is a democrat in politics, and has been identified with St. Mary's Catholic Church at Crown Point and St. Joseph's Church in Hammond. He has held various minor positions in fraternal, religious, and social organizations, and has been particularly active in the Catholic Order of Foresters, in which he has had membership since 1890, was for eight years recording secretary, was state secretary seven years, state trustee five years, was chief ranger of Court No. 109 for three years, 1911-13. Mr. Weis has been a member of the Columbia League since 1896, and of the Knights of Columbus since 1901.
At Hammond on August 17, 1897, he married Elizabeth Philipps. She received her education in the country schools of Chariton County, Missouri, and is a daughter of Frank and Catherine (Grantges) Phil- ipps. To their marriage have been born the following children: Gene- vieve, Anthony J., Margaret, Irene, Sylvester, Robert, and Josephine. All the children were born at Hammond.
WILLIAM C. KUNERT. The early history of the little community of Tolleston could not be written without reference to the name "Kunert." The first merchant who ever sold goods to the people of Calumet Town- ship was the late Charles Kunert, who combined in his own person dual official responsibilities, including the duties of station agent and post- master, and in various ways was the chief factor of the little village, which later became an important nucleus of the present City of Gary.
The present survivor of that pioneer merchant is William C. Kunert, who was born at Tolleston, January 3, 1864. His parents, Charles and Augusta Kunert, were natives of Germany and came to Lake County, Indiana, in 1857. It was a raw and almost unsettled district at that time, and Charles Kunert, as the first storekeeper, the first postmaster, and the first depot agent, was not overwhelmed with his responsibilities for a number of years after locating at Tolleston. He was one of the active men in republican politics, though he never ran for any office. Charles Kunert died at Tolleston, March 23, 1881, and his widow sur- vived until October, 1904. All the children were born in Calumet Town- ship, and the survivors are William C., five sisters and three brothers.
After a somewhat irregular attendance at the public schools, Will- iam C. Kunert learned the trade of butcher and was employed a short time in that capacity in Chicago. Subsequently his energies were em- ployed as a spring maker, and for three years he was with the Tuttle Spring factory at Hammond. Railroading was the line of his work from 1884 until 1889, and the Tolleston Hunting Club of Chicago then appointed him superintendent of its large private game preserve, com- prising about two thousand acres in Northern Indiana, stocked with water fowl and operated for the pleasure and recreation of the mem- bers of the club. Mr. Kunert had charge of the club grounds from 1890 Vol. II-24
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to 1897. That was followed by two years of experience as proprietor of a general merchandise store at Tolleston, and on selling out, he was made assistant chief traveling game commissioner for the State of Indiana. His official duties in looking after the wild game of the state continued from 1899 to 1905.
Much of his career has been taken up with official duties and Mr. Kunert has proved as faithful to his obligations in behalf of the public welfare as in directing his own private interests. After leaving his office as game commissioner, he was appointed trustee of Calumet Town- ship to fill the unexpired term of three years of August Conrad. Since 1908 Mr. Kunert has been one of the important factors in the real estate business at Tolleston and Gary. In 1908, and again in 1912, he was a candidate for the office of sheriff of Lake County. The Sixth Ward of Gary, comprising the old town of Tolleston, in 1914, elected him a member of the city council, and he now has an important part in the city government.
On December 4, 1887, occurred his marriage with Anna Delmuth. She was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Carl and Mary ( Algier) Delmuth, her father now deceased, and after his death, her mother married John Diedel, who brought the entire family west to Lake County, in 1883. The six children of Mr. and Mrs. Kunert are Ger- trude, who married George Behnke, of Tolleston, William, who died at the age of eleven months, Ruth, Karl and Florence, at home, and Willard, deceased. Mr. Kunert has fraternal affiliations with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and in politics is a republican. His home church is the German Lutheran.
JOHN WESLEY REED has been identified with Hammond and the Calumet region most of the time for the last two decades, and is particu- larly well known in contracting and building circles. His work is especially familiar as the constructor of the Hammond Public Library, the Superior Court House, the Minas department store in Hammond, the LaPorte Masonic Temple, the Methodist Episcopal Church at East Chicago, and many other public and private buildings.
Mr. Reed comes of a substantial English family, originally Quakers. His grandfather Thomas Reed was born in England, November 22, 1790. The place of his birth was probably in St. Agnes Parish, Corn- wall County, since he owned two farms there. His ancestors were Quakers, and his father was Joseph Reed and his grandfather William Reed. William Reed was born in England in 1728 and was a devout member of the Quaker religion. Thomas Reed came to America in 1836 with his son John Reed, father of John W., and later all the children except one named Thomas came to this country with their mother. They settled in Strongsville, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where Thomas Reed owned a mill, but later turned his attention to farming. There were twelve children who came to this country. Thomas Reed was a man of good education, and while his father and uncles had the speech of the Quakers he himself was a Methodist and talked without any English accent. He was a man of quiet reserve, a useful citizen, and devoted to his family. He died at Strongsville, Ohio, at the age of eighty-seven years. The maiden name of his wife was Hitchens, and she was born September 16, 1796, probably in Cornwall. Thomas Reed and wife had the following children: Thomas, born April 30,
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1815; John, born March 7, 1817; Joseph, born December 7, 1818; Mary, born November 6, 1820; Amy, born July 6, 1822; Edward, born October 22, 1823; Anne, born July 25, 1825; Thirza, born May 11, 1827; Mahala, born November 24, 1829; Nicholas, born November 25, 1830; Frederick, born July 22, 1832; Lydia, born July 28, 1834; and Edwin, born May 27, 1836.
John Reed, who was born in Cornwall, England, March 7, 1817, came to America in 1836, when nineteen years of age. In England he had no special schooling beyond his tenth year, and learned the trades of cabinet maker and stair builder. He was very well read, spoke without any English accent, and had good business ability. About fourteen years before Wisconsin Territory was admitted to the Union he went to that section as a pioneer, took up a homestead, and by purchase added two other claims, making 480 acres of land. This was subsequently traded for a farm in Strongsville, Ohio, where he lived until about 1880. Having sold out, he next went out to Iowa, spending one summer there, then lived for some time in Cleveland, Ohio, and later located at Ridgeville, Ohio. His last years were spent in Iowa, and he died at Fontanelle in that state February 2, 1897, when nearly eighty years of age. During the latter part of slavery days he was an abolitionist, and made himself useful in the conduct of the "underground railway," assisting slaves to freedom on the Canadian border along the route through Oberlin, Ohio. Later he became a republican, and his son Harmon was a Union soldier and died while in Andersonville prison. John Reed married Harriett Cole, the daughter of Wheeler Cole, who came from Plainfield, New Hampshire, to Strongsville, Ohio, in 1817. She was born in Strongsville, and died in August, 1867. For a time she taught school, and was a member of the Congregational Church. Her mother's maiden name was Lyman, a daughter of Elijah Lyman of Strongsville.
Of such family and ancestry, John Wesley Reed was born at Strongs- ville, Ohio, May 15, 1867. His education until fourteen years of age was acquired in country schools, he graduated from the common schools of Cleveland, and subsequently received a diploma from the Spencerian Business College at Cleveland. The first fourteen years of his life were spent on a stock farm at Strongsville, then one summer in Web- ster City, Iowa, and after that most of the time in Cleveland until about nineteen years of age. After graduating from business college Mr. Reed worked in the Kaylor and Kilpatrick wholesale and retail dry goods store on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. After that while living on his father's fruit farm in North Ridgeville he met Miss Elfa Blain, and soon after he was twenty years of age was married. After living one summer at his father's home they moved out to California, locating at San Jose. San Jose was their home from January 15th to March 23, 1888, and he then moved to Redding in Shasta County. Mr. Reed worked at the carpenter trade until the death of his wife on November 27, 1888. He brought her body back to Ohio with their baby daughter, and was accompanied by his sister Hattie and family, who were also with him in California. The following spring Mr. Reed went out to Superior, Nebraska, with his sister and husband Dr. and Mrs. Butler, worked at the carpenter trade there, and also took an active part in the affairs of the Methodist Church, singing in the choir and helping in the Y. M. C. A.
Just before Christmas of 1890 Mr. Reed came from Superior, Nebras-
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ka, to Hammond, Indiana, in response to a letter from E. E. Snodgrass, who wanted help in the building business. For one or two seasons he contracted with Mr. Snodgrass, also worked in the ship yards in South Chicago a short time, and during one fall and winter was employed on the World's Fair buildings in Chicago. He was foreman on the con- struction of a residence in Lake Forest, Illinois, for Dudley Winston, and returning to Hammond opened up an office as architect and con- tractor with Edward Bump. On May 15, 1894, Mr. Reed married Miss Bertha C. Bump. After that he engaged in contracting for himself, for one year worked in the offices of the G. H. Hammond Company's packing houses at Hammond, but finally on account of ill health found employment with a surveying party engaged in laying out the Chicago Belt Line Railway. He became superintendent of bridge work for the construction department of this road, but finally returned to the con- tracting business, which he has followed for a number of years and has a long record of successful work, only the most notable items of which have been mentioned above.
Politically Mr. Reed has usually acted with the republican party, has assisted his friends to office, but has never but once sought any public responsibility for himself, when he was nominated on the repub- lican ticket as councilman at large, the ticket being defeated. He be- longs to a religious family and has always been interested in the Metho- dist Episcopal Church himself. On first coming to Hammond he served as librarian for the church Sunday school and later became a member of the official board, acting as such to the present time. Mr. Reed was a member of the first Epworth League organized in Hammond, served as treasurer of his church about five years, and for a like period was superintendent of the Sunday school. He was elected president of the official board just before the present church was built, and as a member of the Building Committee had an important work to perform in con- nection with the erection of the present church home. He is now presi- dent of the official board and is teaching a class of boys in the Sunday school. Mr. Reed in fraternal matters is active in the Knights of Pythias Lodge, a member of the Royal League at Hammond, was the first past commander of Drexel Tent of the Maccabees in Chicago, Illinois.
While his marriages have already been mentioned, some repetition may be used to state these facts in a paragraph to themselves. Mr. Reed was married May 25, 1887, to Elfa Blain, a daughter of W. W. and Elizabeth (Watson) Blain of North Ridgeville, Ohio. The one daugh- ter born is named Olive, and is the wife of Arthur Andrews, living in Cleveland, Ohio, where her husband is employed with the George Worth- ington & Company's wholesale hardware house. The first Mrs. Reed died at Redding, California, November 27, 1888. On May 15, 1894, Mr. Reed married Bertha C. Bump of Hammond. She was educated in the public schools. Her father, B. F. Bump, of Hammond, who is now about seventy-one years of age, was born at Bloom, in Cook County, Illinois, his parents having come to Illinois from New York, though his father was a native of Vermont, the founder of the family in this country was originally from Holland according to the best informa- tion on that subject. Mr. B. F. Bump came to Hammond, Indiana, from Thornton, Illinois, May 13, 1882, and built a home on State Street, Hammond, which was at the time the fourth house east of the Erie railroad tracks on that street. Mrs. Reed's mother was born in Wash- ington County, New York, near Malone, and her maiden name was
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