USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
220
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
of less consequence as a hard worker at home, was sent on the ark. We usually carried our own provisions, cooked and ate our own meals, either on the ark or on the bank where we tied up for the night, and in mild weather we slept out doors, or rather in our blankets as best we could. Right here I must relate a joke on myself. We had tied up for the night, a chilly night, near a large farm house, and so after eating our supper we all went up to the house to secure lodging if possible. The people were very kind and accommodating, as people in new countries mostly are, and said they would do the best they could for us. So when bed time came the men were stored away, some in beds and some on the floor. But the writer had made a good impression, and the good man of the house had whispered to me to keep still till the men were stored away and then he would provide for me. The result was a place in the spare bed room and a soft clean bed. But the joke is in the sequel. In the morning when the captain called for his bill it was five cents each for himself and men. The boy boss was not cute enough to let the men get out of hearing first, but at once asked for his bill and was charged ten cents. This gave the jolly men a chance to guy me all the day for having to pay double price for lodging.
"One thing more and I close. The work of dressing the stones. This had to be done about every three days, so that one run of stone out of the five was idle all the time in the process of dressing. To we older men this stone dressing is fresh in our memory, though we have seen little of it in the last ten years of our lives. But to our children and grandchildren it will be something new and strange. The top, a re- volving stone, was lifted by a great crane from the spindle on which it whirled when at work and turned down-side up and placed upon blocks prepared for it, and then both the upper and the bed stone was ready for the dresser. This was first to lay off furrows from the inner to the outer surface. The furrows were picked out and deepened, and the surface between the furrows carefully picked and sharpened for the grinding. When the stone became worn down or smooth it would only mash in- stead of grind the grain. The furrows were for the purpose of carry- ing or working the grain to the outer surface of the stone, where most of the grinding was done. The tool for doing this dressing was quite unique. I will add that for many years no blacksmith could be found near here that could harden and temper the steel points of these picks to stand their severe work, and consequently we had to have many of
221
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
then so that some might be constantly on their way to and returning from Chicago or Buffalo for dressing and sharpening by experts.
"In 1868 this mill was torn down and brought to Goshen and erected on the Hydraulic canal at the foot of what was then Market street, but now Lincoln avenue, to which have been added from time to time, addition after addition, story upon story and improvement upon improvement. both inside and out. until the old mill is lost in the new, and in its place stands the Goshen Milling Company's big plant ; the old five runs of stone out and gone, and twenty-two stands of steel rollers, four rollers to each stand, doing the work of grinding. new processes doing the bolting, the packing by machinery instead of by hand, and much more than I can take your time to tell."
There are considerable data at hand which will afford an insight into the business life of the county-seat town during the thirties and forties. It is interesting to know some of the enterprises which figured in the commercial activity of this city at that time, and this informa- tion is best afforded by giving the advertisers in the first issue of the Goshen Express on January 28, 1837. They are :
T. Harris & Co., drugs and medicines, wines and liquors, and gen- eral merchandise and provisions. Dr. Chamberlain informed the pub- lic that he kept drugs, medicines, paints, oils, dyestuffs, etc., etc .. and assures the public that "he can afford to sell at a much lower rate than they have been hitherto purchasing in this place: also individuals pur- chasing of him will receive genuine articles."
Barns and Defrees offered "at the white corner store" a general assortment of winter and spring gocds to be disposed of cheap for cash or approved country produce, and an interesting postscript adds, "furs and peltries will be received for goods." A notice signed by William Latta, is given to the stockholders of the "Buffalo and Mississippi Rail- road Company" that "whereas five hundred shares have been subscribed for and five dollars paid on each share. an election for choosing of seven directors will be held at South Bend." Thomas Thomas announces the inauguration of a mercantile business, and in "his stock may be found almost every article wanted in this country."
The business enterprise of the village of Benton was also repre- sented in this first Elkhart county paper by William H. Rector and Company, dealers in dry goods, groceries, hardware, cutlery, crockery and glassware.
.A sheriff's notice indicates that the process of justice was as
222
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
regular in fulfillment in those days as now : namely-"by virtue of a writ of venditioni erponas by me directed from the Elkhart circuit court, I will expose to sale at public outcry, at the court house in Goshen, on Saturday, the 25th day of February next between the hours of I and 3 o'clock, in lot 201, in the town of Goshen, taken as the property of Lewis G. Gordon to satisfy a judgment in favor of the State of Indiana. -Joseph Defrees, sheriff Elkhart county."
P. K. and J. R. Price advertise, in this same issue, saddles, bridles, harness, valises, portmanteaus, trunks, etc. T. P. L. Defrees announces himself proprietor of a smithing establishment. The "Cabinet Ware- house" is advertised by W. H. Rector as the place to obtain all kinds of first-class furniture.
In this copy of the Express are also published a long list of un- called-for letters, notices of stock taken up, the sale of a school section. In the advertisements in these early papers may be found the best index of the business activity of Goshen and surrounding country, and by nothing better than an old newspaper may we rehabilitate the life and times of nearly threescore and ten years ago. Of course it must not be understood that this first Express contained a list of all the business en- terprises in Goshen at that date, for subsequent issues show many others, but our few quotations indicate some phases of history which could not more succinctly be given.
.A few years later, in a copy of the Goshen Democrat dated August 5. 1841, is published a "Goshen Directory," which gives us the names of those in business, professions, trades, etc., who were also subscribers to the Democrat, and while this list naturally lacks completeness, it will tell us certainly a majority of those who at that data were the ener- getic spirits of the town. The "Directory" is as follows: Attorneys- at-law, E. M. Chamberlain and M. C. Dougherty. Physicians and sur- geons, F. W. Taylor and William Dodge. Justices of the peace, Elias Carpenter, George Taylor, George Rumsey. Constables, Jesse Hilbush. John S. Freeman, Daniel S. Howell. Sheriff, Albert Banta. Clerk. William A. Thomas. Recorder, E. G. Chamberlain. Merchants. James Cook, Henry W. Bissell, James Anderson, J. H. Barns, Jackson and Fitzpatrick, Charles Darrow, Chauncey S. Hlascall. John Cook, Milton Mercer, Samuel T. Young (grocer). Tavernkeeper. Edward Bonney. Boarding house, Simeon B. Brown. Ploughmaker and founder, George Rowell. Bedstead-maker, Jacob B. Kinney. Surveyor, James R. McCord. Tailors, George W. Stewart, L. B. Parmeley. Smith Chamberlain. Car-
223
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
penters and joiners, Jacob S. Ramer, Joseph Parks, William Gahan, John Ramer. Caertes B. Dean, Abner Blue, Daniel Dickinson, James Jones. Tanners, Henry Neff, Levi Beck. Shoemaker, Samuel Mur- ray. Goldsmith and jeweler, Abner Stilson. Blacksmiths. Joseph Knox. Michael Basor. Jacob L. Powell. Joseph M. Derry. Wilson McConnell. Wagon maker. John Chamberlain. Mason, Joel Beehymer. School instructor, Nelson Prentiss. Chair maker, Aaron B. Clark. Cooper. Collins Kirkendall. Farmers, etc .. Abram Gallentine, Thomas Miller, Nathan Devine, Jacob Cornell, Daniel Fetters. (In the chapter on Elk- hart will be found a similar list of the early business men of that city.)
Mr. P. M. Henkel speaks of some of the merchants and repre- sentatives of the trades who flourished in Goshen during the middle forties. "James Winder. James and John Cook, Frederick and Leon- ard Harris (the latter the father of Hon. Charles B. Harris). Nelson Marsten, and Barns and Defrees constituted the leading business men of the village. Every department of mechanical trade had its repre- sentative, from house building to shoemaking. George P. Rowell car- ried on a small foundry in which he made the castings for plows, while Daniel Kohler and Frederick Hope, Sr., were the principal builders of wagons." As to hotels in Goshen sixty years ago Mr. Henkel states there were two. "James Cook in part entertained the traveling public. while Samuel T. Clymer kept the American, which was situated on the corner now owned by Mrs. Kindig. This was a frame building and well arranged to accommodate the traveler. The landlord, Mr. Clymer. was a man of fair intelligence, genial in disposition, and ever ready to accommodate his guests. In this respect he never failed to make known his own importance by stating some circumstance that took place just after or during the time he was a member of the legislature. This information invariably left the impression upon his guests that he was a man of some importance."
BUSINESS IN 1905.
Under this heading we speak of business in the broad sense of. including commerce, manufacturing and finance. The Hon. James Bryce, author of that well known work " American Commonwealth." in his more recent impressions of American life speaks of the growing predominance of business among the manifokl interests of the people on this side of the Atlantic. Business is king. Under its broad man-
224
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
tle are now included not only tradesmen and dealers in the domestic necessities, but all whose activity in the way of production or exchange contributes any factor to the sum total of the world's work. Under this broad interpretation it would be manifestly impossible to include in a work of this nature an account of the varied activities of Elkhart county such as to make specific mention of each establishment or firin engaged in any line of business. Even a summary of the persons en- gaged in business such as we have compiled from the records concern- ing Goshen in the thirties and forties would be impracticable, for the two principal cities of the county contain enough of such business repre- sentatives to require a separate directory for their names. Here we will attempt only an imperfect record of some of the representative concerns identified with the large field of business at the present time. And only the three cities of Goshen, Elkhart and Nappanee will be drawn upon for examples, since the business activities of the smaller centers have already been treated under their appropriate title.
But before entering into the consideration of some specific enter- prises which are at the foundation of Elkhart county's material wealth and prosperity it will be well to show what the county in the aggregate is worth, in so far as that may be reckoned from the only available sources, namely, the property assessment. The total assessed valua- tion of real and personal property in Elkhart county in 1904 amounted to $23,666,350. The assessed value is conservatively estimated as twen- ty-five per cent of the real value, computing on which basis we can place a very low figure on the worth of Elkhart county in stating it to be a hundred million dollars. And this is mainly vital wealth, by which is meant, conferring constant benefit upon its possessors,-not potential or fictitious. For wealth of material resources or otherwise is true wealth only as it can be made useful in its relation to mankind, in some of the manifold economic machinery of civilization. Considered from this point of view, the wealth of Elkhart county at the beginning of its history could be reckoned as naught, for its virgin soil, its forests, its "water power were, as we have said in a previous chapter, potential and not active resources. But now a hundred million dollars could not buy Elkhart county, although it is a comparatively insignificant spot on the total surface of the globe.
The following table gives the assessment figures for 1004 by town- ships and cities :
225
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Townships-
Assessed Property Valuation
111 1904.
Elkhart
$ 1,186,170
Clinton
1,089,580
Benton
1,013.640
Jackson
1,231,830
Harrison
1,026,390
Concord
1,554,415
Baugo
638.470
Olive
507,435
Jeffers011
615,665
York
322,215
Washington
411.955
Osolo
332,365
Cleveland
310.775
Union
1,003,950
Locke
558,435
Middlebury
721,055
Cities --
Goshen
3.551,155
Millersburg
113.700
Elkhart
Concord Township
5,917,840
Osolo Township
148,230
Wakarusa
320.975
Middlebury
216,215
Nappanee
625,820
Total
$23,666.350
ELKHART COUNTY BANKS.
Elkhart county in 1905 has ten banks, besides the Elkhart Loan and Trust Company of Goshen. In point of age, since it has been open for business throughout a period of over half a century, the Salem Bank, of Goshen, deserves prior consideration. The Salem Bank was estab- lished in 1854, and has opened its doors every business day from then until now, and for thirty-five years has been practically under the same management. Mr. Frank A. Hascall, the cashier, has been behind its counters since 1866, which long service is itself very noteworthy. The Salem Bank is a private bank, under the proprietorship of the John W. Irwin estate. (See sketch of John W. Irwin.) Mr. Frank J. Ir- win is vice-president, F. A. Hascall is cashier, and William Nymeyer, assistant cashier. The capital stock is $60,000: surplus and profits, $101,305 : deposits, $246,197 ; loans and discounts, $301,830. and cash on hand and in banks, $114,378.
The State Bank of Goshen has the following officers :
Charles W. Miller, president; F. P. Abbott, vice president; David W .. Neidig, cashier ; Alfred Lowry, assistant cashier. Directors: Charles W. Miller, F. P. Abbott, Joe H. Lesh, Harry M. Sanders, Alfred Lowry, D. W. Neidig, Lou W. Vail.
Report of the condition of the State Bank of Goshen at the close of its business on May 29, 1905, shows the following :
Bristol
168,810
226
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
RESOURCES.
Loans and Discounts $ 155,767.84
Overdrafts 51.75
Due from Banks and Bankers 46,505.62
Other Real Estate
10, 100.00
Furniture and Fixtures
2,519.86
Premiums 250.00
Cash Items
20,565.94
Total
LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock paid in $ 60,000.00
Surplus Fund
5,000.00
Undivided Profits, less Expenses
1,27I.IO
Individual Deposits on Demand
169,580.91
Total
.$235,852.01
The City National Bank of Goshen, the only national bank at the county seat, has the following officials :
F. G. Ilubbell, president; F. E. C. Hawks, vice president; C. J. Garvin, cashier ; LaMar Gillette, assistant cashier. Directors: F. G. Hubbell, F. E. C. Hawks, D. A. Sanders, Haines Egbert, C. J. Garvin.
The report of the condition of the City National Bank, May 29, 1905 :
Loans, Discounts and Bonds
$ 332,979.49 815.00
Overdrafts
U. S. Bonds 18,000.00
Furniture and Fixtures
2,500.00
Cash and Due from Banks
190,558.83
Due from U. S. Treas.
2,400.00
Total
$ 577,253.32
Capital $ 100,000.00
Surplus 50,000.00
Undivided Profits, less Expenses 14,061.20
Circulation
48,000.00
Deposits
365,072.12
Dividends Unpaid
120.00
Total
$ 577.253.32
The report of the condition of The First National Bank, at Elkhart, at the close of business, May 29, 1905 :
RESOURCES.
Loans and discounts. . $326,027.04
Overdrafts, secured and unsecured. 955.22
U. S. bonds to secure circulation. 100,000.00
Stocks, securities, etc ...
85,693.83
Banking-house furniture and fixtures. 12,842.44
Other real estate owned.
1,746.25
Due from approved reserve agents.
210.439.97
Checks and other cash items.
232.28
Notes of other National Banks.
3.955.00
Fractional paper currency, nickels and cents.
37.05
Specie .64,001.00
Legal tender notes. . 10,000.00
74.001.00
Redemption fund with U. S. Treasurer (5 per cent of cir-
culation )
5,000.00
Total
$820,930.08
$ 235.852.01
227
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
LIABILITIES.
Capital stock paid in.
$100,000.00
Surplus fund
40,000.00
Undivided profits less expenses and taxes paid. 4,523.79
National bank notes outstanding.
100,000.00
Individual deposits subject to check.
573,016.13
Demand certificates of deposit. 2,432.64
Cashier's checks outstanding. 957.52
Total
$820,930.08
C. H. Winchester, president; J. A. Cook, vice-president; W. H. Knickerbocker, cashier. Directors: C. H. Winchester, J. A. Cook, W. H. Knickerbocker, A. R. Beardsley. F. G. Davenport.
The St. Joseph Valley Bank at Elkhart, which was established in 1872, and is "State Bank No. 12" in the official report, shows its splendid condition in the following recent report :
RESOURCES.
Loans and Discounts
$410,496.51
Bonds
559.85
Overdraft
964.06
Bank Building, Furniture and Fixtures.
16,000.00
Other Real Estate Owned ...
1,200.00
Cash on Hand and Due from Reserve Agents.
223.785.28
Total
$653.005.70
Capital Stock
$100,000.00
Surplus
45,000.00
Undivided Profits. "Net'
7.592.97
Deposits
500,412.73
Total
$653.005.70
The directors are: John W. Fieldhouse. Herman Borneman, Wal- 1er S. Hazelton. Thomas Snell. T. T. Snell. Officers: Thomas Snell. president ; T. T. Snell, vice-president : Walter S. Hazelton, cashier.
The Farmers and Traders Bank of Nappanee is a private institu- tion, backed by the prestige and capital of the Coppes family. Mr. S. D. Coppes is president, 11. E. Coppes cashier. H. D. Greene assistant cashier, and F. E. Coppes second assistant cashier.
In the town of Bristol Mr. Thomas Hilbish commenced the bank- ing business in 1891 in connection with his store: in 1901 separated theni, and in 1905 capitalized the bank for $10.000. The officers are Thomas Hilbish, president, and C. W. Hilbish, cashier.
The banks of Middlebury, Wakarusa and New Paris are spoken of in connection with the histories of those towns. ( See Chapter IN.)
The First State Bank of Elkhart, which was incorporated January -4, 1905. by its reports of business since that time indicates a remarkable
LIABILITIES.
228
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
and steadily successful progress, due to the close and careful attention paid to all its patronage and its financial management. The following items are suggestive of the strength of this institution :
Deposits, January 11, 1905 $ 68,550.17
Deposits, March 15, 1905 188,655.44
Deposits, May 29, 1905 253.683.17
Deposits, August 25, 1905
292.154.03
Its report of August 25. 1905, reveals the following :
RESOURCES.
Loans and Discounts
.$159,265.35
Bonds
10,000.00
Over Drafts
216.42
Furniture and Fixtures 1,677.12
Cash and Due from Banks
173,904-47
Total
$345.063.36
LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock Paid i
$ 50,000.00
Undivided Profits
2,909.33
Deposits
292, 154.03
Total
$345.003.36
The officers of the First State Bank are men of known integrity and financial ability in Elkhart county, and their names are guarantee of the character of their undertaking, for they have been actively iden- tified with banking in Elkhart since 1880. Norman Sage is president, J. Goldberg, vice-president, Charles T. Greene, cashier, and Frank A. Sage, assistant cashier.
MANUFACTURING.
GOSHEN.
The milling industry of Elkhart county justly receives much atten- tion in this work, for it has been of vital importance to the people from the pioneer times to the present. . \s representative of the modern sci- ence of flour-making in contrast with the primitive methods and mills elsewhere described, a few facts concerning the Goshen Milling Com- pany will be of interest at this point.
The Goshen Milling Company commenced business in April, 1883. It was formed by a union of two milling firms, C. & E. Hawks, and W. . 1. & H. K. Thomas, who were in business right across the street from one another. Both were very old firms, Messrs. C. & E. Hawks in particular having operated a flouring mill in Waterford, a village
229
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
three miles south of Goshen on the same river, the Elkhart, since 1837. In 1868 upon the completion of the Hydraulic Canal this mill was moved to Goshen and very much enlarged. The capacity has been in- creased since that time and now seven hundred barrels of flour are turned out by the Hawks mill daily, while the other mill is used to manufacture rye and buckwheat flour, corn meal and chop feed. Be- sides manufacturing. The Goshen Milling Company does an extensive business in buying and shipping corn and oats and rye. A large part of the flour made is exported to England. Scotland, Ireland and Nor- way. Their leading brands of flour are the Blended Patent Gerbelle and the Roller Straight. Never Fail and the Family Flour. Cooks' Delight. The capital stock and surplus of the firm amounts to $100,- 000. The president and general manager is Frank E. C. Hawks, vice- president. E. W. Hawks, secretary and treasurer, Herbert H. Gortner, while the general superintendent is George D. Hawks. The main office of the company is on Lincoln avenue in the new Metropolitan block. About fifty men are employed and the value of the flour and feed manu- factured amounts to fully a million dollars per annum. The company uses mostly water power, but has a coupled compound, condensing Corliss engine to fall back upon in case of accident. The company fur- ยท nishes power for the operating of four large dynamos belonging to the Hawks Electric Company. This company furnishes the current for power as well as for lighting, and does a very large business.
One of the manufacturing enterprises which concern closely the every day life of Goshen citizens is the Goshen Gas Light Company. This was organized on December 17, 1875. by Charles B. Alderman, La Porte Heefner. C. P. Noland and J. Desha Patton, with a capital stock of $20.000. On the 26th day of May. 1899, the Goshen Gas Light Company was acquired by the Goshen Gas Company, a corpora- tion organized by J. T. Lynn, Chas. J. Garvin. C. W. Miller, F. H. Shelton and F. K. Pelton, with a capital stock of $60,000. The offi- cers of the company are now as follows: President, J. T. Lynn ; vice- president. Chas. J. Garvin : secretary and treasurer. A. L. Wilkinson. The company now has about fifteen hundred consumers and is sending out about 25.000,000 C. F. of gas per annum.
The Goshen Rubber Works, located on North Seventh street, was established in 1899 and incorporated in 1901, and from a small busi- ness furnishing employment to sixteen persons has increased until over one hundred and fifty are now on the payrolls. At this plant are manu-
.
230
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
factured all kinds of mechanical rubber goods-bicycle tires, automo- bile tires, inner tubes, soft rubber specialties and insulated wire. The Goshen Rubber Works was incorporated by W. M. Page, H. H. Nill, Benj. Johnson. Alex. McDonnell, H. C. Zeigler, Jerry Hayes, all of Montpelier, Indiana, and F. D. Zeigler, of Goshen, Indiana. The above parties compose the present board of directors, with the addition of Mr. A. J. Whisler. The officers are: H. C. Zeigler, of Montpelier, Indiana, president ; H. H. Nill, of Montpelier, Indiana, vice-president : Jerry Hayes, of Montpelier, Indiana, treasurer ; C. W. Kinnan, of Mont- pelier, Indiana, secretary: A. J. Whisler, of Goshen, Indiana, superin- tendent : F. D. Zeigler, of Goshen. Indiana, manager and assistant treasurer.
The company is capitalized at $200,000, and an annual output of not less than $250,000. The capacity is conservatively estimated at $500,000. From 100 to 160 people are employed.
The Sanders and Egbert Company conduct one of the big manu- facturing industries of the county. They are wholesale manufacturers of hardwood lumber of all kinds, making a specialty of walnut and thin lumber. The plant and yards of the industry at Goshen cover about forty acres, the great area of logs and lumber at once attracting the attention of strangers to this as one of the important institutions of Goshen. Several hundred men are employed in the various depart- ments of the business, and about twenty million feet of hardwood lum- ber is put on the market each year by this firm. The business was or- ganized in 1880 as John H. Lesh & Co., later was known as Lesh, San- ders & Egbert Co., and for some years has been conducted under the present name. D. A. Sanders is president and general manager, Haines Egbert is vice-president and secretary, and Jolin W. Egbert is treas- urer.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.