USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 44
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
June 4, 1896, Mr. Lehman married Miss Bertha Ehret, and two sons have been born to them, Joyce, aged three, and Theodore. Mrs. Leliman was born in Elkhart county. September 16, 1874, a daughter of Jacob and Mary ( Morris) Ehret, and received a common school education. She and her husband are members of the Methodist Epis- copal church of Wakarusa. They have a comfortable and pretty cottage home on Elkhart street, and its interior and exterior show the taste and refinement of both Mr. and Mrs. Lehman. . \ Republican in pol- itics, casting his first vote for McKinley, he has taken considerable interest in party affairs and has been selected as a delegate to county conventions.
J. O. K.ANTZ.
J. O. Kantz, attorney, of the Elkhart county bar and a well known resident of Nappanee, was born in Snyder county, Pennsylvania, No- vember 12, 1857. His paternal grandfather was Philip Kantz, who was likewise born in the old Keystone state and who was of German lineage. Jacob Kantz, the father, was a native of Pennsylvania and
417
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
was a cabinet-maker by trade. He came to Indiana in 1866, locating near Bristol in Elkhart county, and his remaining days were here passed. his death occurring in Bristol in 1904 when he had reached the venerable age of seventy-nine years. His wife bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Ammiller and was also a native of Pennsylvania. She was of English. Swedish and German lineage, and her death occurred in Elkhart county in 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Kantz were the parents of ten chiklren-seven sous and three daughters, of whom two died in childhood.
J. O. Kantz, the sixth in order of birth in this family, was brought to Elkhart county by his parents in 1866 when a lad of eight years. and in 1867 he went to Michigan, where he remained until 1872. He pursued his early education in the graded schools of Bristol and after- ward continued his studies at Goshen and at Hillsdale, Michigan. Having completed his education he engaged in teaching school for ten years in Elkhart county, spending about five years of that time in Nappanee. His leisure hours were devoted to the study of law and when he had largely mastered the principles of the science of jurisprudence he successfully passed the examination which secured his admission to the bar. Since 1887 he has engaged in practice, and a liberal clientage has been accorded him, for the public recognize his ability to handle successfully involved and important litigated interests. He has made a close and earnest study of law, and his knowledge is broad and comprehensive, while his careful preparation of each case well prepares him for practice before the courts, but at all times urges compromise methods rather than litigation.
I11 1881 Mr. Kantz was united in marriage to Miss Flora E. Truex, a daughter of Jesse and Susannah ( Cotner ) Truex. They have become the parents of three children-Thomas E., Grace M. and Pansy B. Mr. Kantz belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and in his political views is independent. He, however, adheres strongly to tem- perance principles and he is well known in the county as a man of honorable motives, sincere and trustworthy, and he well merits the high esteem in which he is uniformly held.
Attorney Kantz is an antiquarian of more than passing notice. Is a conchologist, he has a rare and beautiful collection of shells from different countries. As a numismatist he has one of the most valuable collections of ancient coins, of the foreign lands, as well as the rare coinage of the American mints, to be found in northern Indiana. He has two excellent specimens of Roman coins, during the reign of Julius Caesar, one taken from the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and has a dollar of the United States coinage bearing the date of 1798. which coin he was offered $35 for. He has a few excellent specimens of the old Continental script, which is very rare in the twentieth cen- tury. In pottery he has a few unique pieces of Mexican pottery. In his office will be seen a collection of "ye olden time" relics, which
418
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
would make glad the heart of a connoisseur of such rarities, among them an old flintlock musket, which saw service in the war of 1812- 14 and the Revolutionary war-he has a sworn affidavit to the fact stated. One especial specimen which caught the notice of the writer was a Chinese seimeter, which is enclosed in a carved ivory scabbard, which shows such skill in carving that one is led to think it was of the ancient Japanese or Hindoo skill in difficult carving. As to the stone age, some rare and perfect specimens were seen of battle axes, cleavers. (larts, pestles. etc. This rare collection represents over twenty years' research by Mr. Kantz.
JOSEPH A. FREED.
Joseph AA. Freed, whose business connections in the town of Waka- rusa have given him a prominent position in affairs, is one of the native sons of Elkhart county who, on growing to manhood, have assumed the robe of responsibility and have relieved the older generation from the weight of care and labor connected with the direction of the busi- ness and industrial interests of the county.
Mr. Freed was born October 10, 1864, and was the fifth of seven children. four sons and three daughters, in the family of Andrew and Elizabeth ( Mover) Freed. All the children are living, and resi- dents of Elkhart county. The father was born in Ohio in 1827 and died in 1880, having followed the occupation of a farmer, but the mother is still living. with her home in Wakarusa.
Mr. Freed was reared and educated in this county, and since he has made his own way in life he is justly termed a self-made man. In 1884, at the age of twenty, he went to Ilinois, and hired out to a farmer at the wages of twenty dollars a month. so that his subsequent prosperity has been built up through his industry and good manage- ment. On returning to Wakarusa he began work as a carpenter and continued that four years, was then engaged in threshing and in any line of occupation by which he could gain an honest living. In 1894 he entered the employ of Adam Domer as clerk in his store, and after the store was sold to C. Stutz and Son a month later, he continued with the new firm for nine months, and then for a year was with William Maurer. the next owner of the business, so that Mr. Freed was identified with the same business under three successive owners. In the spring of 1896 Mr. Freed, in partnership with Willis O. Yarian. opened up a general store. Eighteen months Jater A. C. Lehman pur- chased the Yarian interests. and it was Freed and Lehman for four years and a half, at the end of which time .A. C. Lehman became sole proprietor. Mr. Freed then bought the shoe house of Jacob Pletcher, and after remaining in the old building on the west side of Elkhart street eight months the conditions of his business warranted a removal to better quarters. His present location shows one of the neatest and
419
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
most attractive shoe stores in the county, and he has built up a fine trade, which in the gross will amount to eight or ten thousand dollars annually. He is accounted among the successful and progressive busi- ness men of the town, and his public-spirited influence is always felt in movements for the upbuilding of this community. His residence is on Elkhart street, where he has a pleasant cottage home.
October 18, 1888, Mr. Freed married Miss Mattie Freed. Of their four children three are living: Hazel will soon enter high school and has also taken instrumental music; Edgar, who is an all-around student, is in the sixth grade; and Mary, the youngest, is in the fourth grade. Mrs. Freed was born in Elkhart county, May 13, 1872, a daughter of Daniel and Anna ( Nusbaum) Freed, and received her education in the county schools. She is a member of the Mennonite church. Although as a rule he casts the weight of his influence and his ballot for Republican candidates, Mr. Freed maintains an inde- pendent attitude in political matters. He has been sent as a substitute delegate to state conventions. He affiliates with Tent No. 84, K. O. T. M., at Wakarusa, and is sentinel in the local order.
W. F. STANTON.
W. F. Stanton is vice-president and manager of the Warren Hill Company at Elkhart. This company controls the largest dry-goods em- porium between Chicago and Toledo, and since 1900 its business has trebled in amount and value. Mr. Stanton has had almost a lifelong career in mercantile business, and the success with which he has di- rected all his enterprises gave him prestige even among such merchant princes at Charles \. Stephens of Chicago.
Born in LaSalle. LaSalle county, Illinois. April 16, 1857. Mr. Stanton inherits much of his executive ability and energy and enterprise from most worthy Irish parents, John and Bridget ( Ratigan) Stan- ton, who came from their native land and were married in New York state, and in 1850 became early settlers of LaSalle county, Illinois. The father was a very successful jobbing salesman and general business man. He was an officer during the war of the rebellion, and was ap- pointed by the governor of Illinois to look after the bounty-jumpers. He was well known in his community and state.
The fourth of his parents' seven children, Mr. Stanton was reared in LaSalle county and was educated in St. Patrick's College, at LaSalle, an institution under the control of the Christian brothers. Graduating in 1875. he then engaged with the firm of Fellner Brothers, and within two years' time became manager and had full charge of the business until the firm closed out in 1879. He then moved to Galesburg, Illi- nois, and went into partnership with R. Baskerville in the dry-goods business. Starting with a capital stock of forty-four hundred dollars. they did forty-six thousand dollars' worth of business in one year. Mr.
420
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Stanton was one of the prosperous business men of Galesburg until 1897, for seventeen years, and then sold out his mercantile interests and became associated with the life insurance business in Chicago, with headquarters in the Ashland block. The Warren Hill Company is a credit to the business activity of Elkhart, carries a stock of one hun- dred and sixty thousand dollars value, does an immense trade with all the surrounding country, and half a million dollars represents the an- mual trade of the firm. One hundred and eight persons are employed in the business, and the goods displayed and sold are of metropolitan variety and quantity. Mr. Stanton is essentially a business man, and has gained his success along substantial lines. He has a wide acquaint- ance among the dry-goods men of the country.
Mr. Stanton is a Democrat in politics, and while a resident of Galesburg served six years on the county board and the same length of time in the city council. He has always been interested in public affairs, and his support has never been refused to any enterprise undertaken for the true public welfare.
Mr. Stanton married, in 1883. Miss Mary E. Sullivan, daughter of Mortimer and Ellen Sullivan, of Kewanee, Illinois. They have six children: W. F., Jr., who graduated from the Elkhart high school and is manager of the cloak and suit department in the Warren Hill Company: Ada May, who is a graduate of St. Mary's school, Monroe, Michigan : Helen, in high school: and Harold, Frances and Warren G.
FRANKLIN MILES, M. D., LL. B.
Dr. Franklin Miles, president of the Dr. Miles Medical Company and proprietor of the Dr. Miles Grand Dispensary, both of which are among the representative institutions of Elkhart, has for many years been prominent before the American public, and his name is not unknown in many foreign countries. He has devoted his entire career to medi- cine ; he began his preparation when a boy. spent many years in training and study before he took up actual practice, and throughout his subse- quent busy years has been an ardent student of the great science of heal- ing. To few men has success come in such abundant measure as to Dr. Miles, and from the restrictions which bound the work of a purely local practitioner he has extended his professional services to thousands all over this country and even to foreign lands.
Born at Olmsted Falls, near Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Miles is descended from ancestors who were not only among the very first settlers of northern Ohio, but belong among the early colonists of the United States. The progenitor of his family in America was Richard Miles, whose connec- tion with New England history dates from 1637. He came from Hert- fordshire. England, and in this country took a prominent part in the affairs of Boston and Milford and New Haven, which were the successive places of his residence. His wife was Katherine Constable. The son
Franklin miles ML)
421
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
of this pioneer was Captain John Miles, whose life history centers about New Haven, Connecticut, and whose wife, Elizabeth Harriman, bore him a son who was also called Captain John Miles, who was the father of John Miles who lived in Wallingford. Connecticut. The John Miles of Wallingford married Sarah Ball, and had a son Daniel, who married Inn Daily. Charles Miles, the son of Daniel and Ann Miles, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. and thus forms another prominent link in the ancestral chain. He married Ruth Thompson, and the line of de- scent from them is through their son Erastus, who married Laura Carter and was the father of Charles J. Miles, who married Electa .\. Lawrence and had three children, Franklin, the subject of this biography, and Katherine and Charles.
In the maternal line Dr. Aliles' ancestry is of equal length. His mother. Electa A. Lawrence, was a daughter of Ralph Lawrence, son of Jonathan, son of Thomas, son of Joseph, son of Peleg, son of John, son of Robert, son of Robert, who lived in Lancastershire about 1150 .\. D. John Lawrence was the progenitor of the family in America, having come from Wisset, Suffolk. England, and settled at Watertown, Massachu- setts. The Lawrence lineage goes back to the dukes of Normandy.
Coming down to more recent times, we find several very prominent characters in Dr. Miles' ancestry. Major Lorenzo Carter, a great-grand- father. arrived at Cleveland, Ohio, as early as 1796, established a trading post there, and built and owned the first hotel, a frame house, in the place. He was also part owner of the first lake vessel owned at that port, and this vessel formed a part of Commodore Perry's fleet which gained the famous naval battle on Lake Erie. Major Carter was a historical figure in the early years of Cleveland, where for a long time his voice had the prestige and authority of written law. He wielded great influence among the Indians, and he captured and held prisoner in his own house the first man, an Indian, to be hanged in the state of Ohio. He was the owner of several hundred acres of land on which has since risen the city of Cleve- land.
Judge Erastus Miles, the doctor's paternal grandfather, moved to Newburg, now a part of Cleveland, about 1814. A successful merchant. then postmaster and later associate judge, he was another figure that loomed large in the affairs of Cleveland during the early half of the last century.
Charles Julius Miles, the father of Dr. Miles, at the age of twenty- three was appointed clerk of the Ohio legislature, later entered merchan- dising, and after pursuing this vocation some years was appointed super- visor or chief customs officer for the port of Honolulu, Sandwich Islands. a position which he honored for many years.
Dr. Miles is deservedly proud of such distinguished ancestry, espe- cially since his own career has been in keeping with the records of those who have gone before him, and the facts of his own very successful life may well be set down at this point.
422
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
At the age of seventeen a student in the well known Williston Semi- nary at East Hampton, Massachusetts, later within the walls of the equally famed Phillips Academy at Andover, his higher education was obtained in Yale University, from which he graduated in the scien- tific course, and in Columbia College, New York, where he graduated with the degree of LL. B. Though his preparation up to this point had been for a career in the law. predilection led him to the study of medicine, his studies along that line being begun in the University of Michigan. He later matriculated in Rush Medical College at Chicago, from which, after his graduation, he entered the Chicago Medical Col- lege. Determined to go to the limit of thoroughness in preparation for the greatest vocation to which man can turn his energies, he was next pursuing his investigations in the Illinois State Eye and Ear Infirm- ary of Chicago.
.After having spent the first twenty-seven years of his life in prep- aration for his life work Dr. Miles began the practice of medicine in Chicago, where he soon gained a large and lucrative practice and rose to first rank among the physicians of that city. Since entering upon active work in his profession his constant devotion to all phases of his calling has never ceased, he has always been an ardent student and equally enthusiastic investigator along original lines. Soon after com- mencing the practice of medicine he was led to believe that derange- ments of the brain and nervous system exerted a much more important part in the production of disease, both acute and chronic, than was usually supposed. Impressed with this idea, he began a series of orig- inal investigations which resulted in many important discoveries and brought him an immense practice in chronic diseases. Day and night. year in and year out, alike regardless of the allurements of pleasure or the laws of health, he applied himself to his ever increasing prac- tice and the prosecution of research into the mysteries of the nervous system. In 1873 he began a special study of the relations existing be- tween the eve and the brain, and the brain and the heart, stomach and other organs, and his investigations enabled him to effect many re- markable cures. Meanwhile, having developed the wonderful discov- eries in medicine which have made his name famous, he decided to establish a medical laboratory for the preparation of his remedies.
In the year 1887 he founded the Dr. Miles Medical Company at Elkhart. Prior to this date his great remedies blessed only the people whose physician he was. Since then his remedies have become known throughout the United States, Canada, and many foreign countries. Tens of thousands of suffering humanity have been benefited by his marvelons discoveries in medical science. The medical laboratory of the Dr. Miles Medical Company, at Elkhart, is one of the finest and largest in the country. The success and broad usefulness of this insti- tution led to another. In order to extend economical treatment of patients at their homes. Dr. Miles established, also at Elkhart, the Dr.
423
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Miles Grand Dispensary. Here skilled specialists sift evidence of dis- ease and prescribe treatment by mail according to the science of Neu- ropathy-the latest and most successful development of the healing art. Dr. Miles is the originator of the neuropathic method. His Grand Dispensary has won a world-wide reputation for curing difficult and obscure classes of disease.
Dr. Miles has also enriched the medical literature of his time, among his valuable contributions being the following: "Nervous and Chronic Diseases:" "Diseases of the Heart, Stomach, Liver and Kid- neys:" "Cure of Dropsy, Epilepsy, Hysteria, Insanity, etc .: " "Neur- opathy, or Curing Diseases Through the Nerve Centers: " " Headache and other Nervous Diseases; " "The Cure of Headache Without Change of Occupation:" "The Use of Spectacles in the Treatment of Brain, Nerves, Head. Lungs and Stomach," and many other articles.
Pre-eminently a specialist, and as such a notable figure in medi- cal circles, at the same time Dr. Miles has that breadth of character and catholicity of sympathies which draw men to him from every walk of life and enable him to wield great influence in diverse spheres of activity. With all his great success and ample learning he is kindly and simple in tastes, without a touch of aloofness, and has his friends by the thousands. He is the ideal physician, and his life work has spread its beneficent power to all classes and degrees of mankind.
Of some points in the life history of Dr. Miles apart from his professional career, it will be of interest in this work to state that he has been identified, more or less closely, with Elkhart since 1861. His father was a merchant in Elkhart in the early days, and died here in 1864. Dr. Miles is a Master Mason, and is an ex-president of the Cen- tury Club of Elkhart. He has been twice married, and has one son and two daughters.
I. O. WOOD.
I. O. Wood, who has been closely identified with the business and civic activities of Goshen for the past fifteen years, who twice in that time has held the office of county treasurer, who has been presi- dlent of the Carnegie Goshen Library since its founding, and whose public-spirited citizenship is acknowledged throughout his city and county, was born on his father's farm in Wabash county, this state, April 17, 1855. His parents were John J. and Elizabeth ( Penrod ) Wood, both natives of Ohio, and who were married in Indiana and spent many years as farmers of Kosciusko county, where the father (lied ; the mother is now living in Saginaw, Michigan. Of the family ancestry, Mr. Wood's great-grandfather. William Wood, was born in England, emigrated to this country and settled in Kentucky and later in Ohio, where was born his son William, the grandfather.
Mr. Wood, who was one of seven children, was reared on the home farm near Warsaw, attending the district schools and those at Leesburg.
424
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Ile attended the normal school at Warsaw and at the age of nineteen taught school, which he continued two years. He was then in a drug store in Leesburg, after which he went on the road as a commercial salesman for a wholesale grocery firm in Toledo, and for nine years sold goeds over Indiana and Ohio. In 1800 he came to Goshen and purchased an interest in the lumber firm of Lesh, Penrod and Company, which was a reorganization of the John H. Lesh and Company. . \ short time afterward he sold his interest and formed a partnership with John Penrod under the firm name of Penrod and Wood, who soon built up an extensive trade in hardwood lumber, selling and shipping to all parts of the world.
In 1898 Mr. Wood was elected to the office of county treasurer. entering upon his duties January 1. 1899, and in 1900 he was re-elected to this office, each time being a candidate on the Republican ticket. A.s has been told in other parts of this history. Mr. Wood was a prime mover in the efforts which brought about the founding of the Goshen public library, was one of the committee which went to New York and induced Mr. Carnegie to donate twenty-five thousand dollars for the enterprise, and since then, as president of the library board for five years, has been very active in making the institution one of wide-reaching in- fluence to his city. He is president of the Home Telephone Company. and is vice president of the Elkhart County Trust and Loan Company. He has received thirty-two degrees in the Masonic order, being a mem- ber of the Mystic Shrine and Knights Templar, and his local affiliation is with Goshen Lodge No. 12, F. & A. M.
January 2, 1881. Mr. Wood married Miss Effie Roberds, of War- saw. and their one child. Elsie, is the wife of T. M. Hatch.
WALTER S. HAZELTON.
Walter S. Hazelton, known throughout the county for his promi- nence in connection with business and financial affairs, was born in Straf- ford, Vermont. December 1, 1840. He is a member of one of the old American families. John Hazelton, the progenitor of the family in America, came from Bradford. England, and was one of the founders of the town of the same name in Massachusetts. The farm on which Mr. Hazelton was reared had for five generations been occupied by his flirect ancestors. His father. Thomas Hazelton, was born on the old homestead and followed farming as his vocation. He married Silva Kilbling, who was born on an adjoining farm, and by her he became the father of thirteen children.
Walter S. Hazelton, who was the youngest of these children, began his education in the country schools of Vermont, and at the age of eighteen entered Norwich University, spending the fall and spring terms there for two years, teaching during the winters and doing farm work in the summer, which was the process by which he gained his advanced
425
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
education. lle soon laid aside his books to enter the service of his coun- try. enlisting in May. 1862, in the Rhode Island Squadron of Cavalry. He was in the army about a year, and saw some eventful experiences. At Martinsburg. Virginia. he was part of a detachment which inter- cepted Longstreet's ammunition train and also captured one hundred and twenty-five men besides large quantities of arms. He participated at the battle of Antietam, and skirmishes and scouting expeditions were almost daily routine duties.
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.