Biographical memoirs of Wells County, Indiana : embracing a comprehensive compendium of local biography, memoirs of representative men and women of the county whose works of merit have made their names imperishable, and special articles by Hugh Dougherty [et al.], Part 75

Author: Dougherty, Hugh
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Logansport, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 732


USA > Indiana > Wells County > Biographical memoirs of Wells County, Indiana : embracing a comprehensive compendium of local biography, memoirs of representative men and women of the county whose works of merit have made their names imperishable, and special articles by Hugh Dougherty [et al.] > Part 75


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Mr. Oppenheim was married at Bluffton


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in 1854 to Miss Mary J. Niblack, who was born in Harrison county, Ohio, January 31, 1833, and was a daughter of James Niblack. Of this union were born three children, con- cerning whom we offer the following brief data : Albert is the immediate subject of this sketch ; William S. is a representative mem- ber of the bar of the city of Chicago; and Addie is the wife of Amos Cole, who is en- gaged in the hardware business in Bluffton. Mrs. Oppenheim still retains her home in Bluffton, where she has resided the major portion of her life, but she passes a portion of each year in the state of California.


Albert Oppenheim was reared to maturity in his native city of Bluffton, where he com- pleted the course of study in the high school, and at the age of fifteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the printer's trade, to which he devoted his attention for a period of three years, when his health became so im- paired as to necessitate his withdrawal from this line of business. He then learned the art of telegraphy, becoming an expert operator and being employed by various railroad com- panies in different towns in Indiana and Ohio. He later became an operator in the offices of the Western Union Telegraph Company in the city of Cincinnati, where he remained until 1883, when he returned to Bluffton and opened a Western Union office, of which he was made manager, while in connection with the duties of the same he also became local agent for the American Ex- press Company. He continued to be identi- fied with these two concerns until 1890, when he resigned both positions, and in the same year was elected to the office of clerk of the Wells circuit court, of which he re- mained incumbent for a period of four years, giving a most capable and satisfactory ad-


ministration of the affairs of the office. Upon his retirement from this position Mr. Oppen- heim was made general manager of the Unit- ed Telephone Company, having charge of the installation and operation of various plants in Indiana and maintaining his headquarters in Bluffton. He resigned this office in 1897, when he accepted his present position as as- sistant general manager of the Empire & American Glycerine Company. In 1892 Mr. Oppenheim became associated with P. A. Al- len in the ownership of the Bluffton Banner, which is one of the oldest Democratic news- papers in the state, and he still retains his interest in this enterprise. In 1900 he was elected a member of the directorate of the Marietta Torpedo Company at Marietta, Ohio, and was simultaneously chosen treas- urer of the company, and he is still incumbent of these positions, while in 1901 he was elect- ed treasurer of the Scio Glycerine Company, of Scio, Ohio. He is distinctively a man of affairs, and his marked executive and admin- istrative ability makes his interposition in any undertaking a practical voucher for the success of the enterprise, and no better mark of the objective appreciation of his powers can be had than that afforded in the import- ant offices of which he is incumbent.


In politics Mr. Oppenheim accords an un- qualified allegiance to the Democratic party, in whose cause he takes an active interest. He has held no office save that of clerk of the courts, and his personal political ambi- tion was satisfied with the one position and he desires no further preferment in the line. Fraternally Mr. Oppenheim is an appreciative member of the time-honored order of Free- masons, in which he has completed the circle of the York Rite and also advanced to the seventeenth degree in the Scottish Rite


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bodies, being identified with the consistory of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret in the city of Fort Wayne. He is also identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks.


While employed as a telegraphist in the city of Muncie, Indiana, on Christmas day of the year 1876, Mr. Oppenheim was united in marriage to Miss Alice O. Davis, who was born at Harrison, Dearborn county, Indiana, on the 29th of February, 1856, being a daughter of Jared and Eliza (Jaquish) Davis. Mr. and Mrs. Oppenheim became the parents of three children, namely : Sigmund, who was born on the 8th of October, 1877, and who died in infancy ; Blanche, who was born July 6, 1879, and Ethel, who was born on the Ist of July, 1882. The Misses Op- penheim have received excellent educational advantages and are numbered among the gracious and popular young ladies of Bluff- ton, being prominent in the social life of the city and having the privilege of extending the hospitalities of a cultured and refined home.


JOHN Y. HOWER.


Among the highly respected and well known residents of Bluffton is John Y. Hower, a brief record of whose career through life is here given. He is a son of Jacob and Hannah (Kimball) Hower, was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, April 22, 1841, and was there reared to manhood on his father's farm. During his boyhood years he attended the district schools and acquired what was considered a good education for that day. He was possessed of an iron will and great determination and was ever ready


to defend himself and friends from encroach- ment upon their rights. At the age of twen- ty years he moved with his parents to Branch county, Michigan, and after there attaining his majority came to Indiana, where he met and married Miss Ethelinda Chalfant, Sep- tember 21, 1865. This union resulted in the birth of one daughter, now Mrs. Zeffa Brineman. Shortly after his marriage he moved to Michigan, but on account of the ill health of his wife Mr. Hower again brought his family to Indiana and was later employed as foreman and timber buyer for E. H. Montgomery, which firm had located in Bluffton, and with whom he remained for over sixteen years.


Mr. Hower was bereft of his wife June 16, 1895, and in May, 1900, he chose for his second companion Mrs. Mary Wanamaker, of Warren, Ohio. Mr. Hower is at present employed as a timber buyer and is consid- ered by the trade as one of the best posted men in his line and the best judge of timber of any one in this section of the country. In political matters Mr. Hower is a Democrat, and since becoming a resident of Bluffton has served as street commissioner of the city one term and three terms as a member of the common council, and at one time was most favorably spoken of as a candidate for sheriff of Wells county. In religion he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Bluff- ton, and for several years was a teacher in its Sunday school. He is a liberal contributor of his means to the support of the church and active in promoting its good work, is a strict observer of its teachings and fully exempli- fies by his walk through life the sincerity of his profession of faith.


Mr. Hower, as has been intimated above, is a man of inflexible determination, and a


.


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resolution once formed by him is as un- changeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians, when his conscience tells him he is right. He is greatly respected for his in- tegrity and all who know him consider his word as good as his bond.


HON. M. C. BLUE.


Gratifying indeed must it be to the good wife and mother, as she descends the latter half of life's slope, to know that the man she loves, the husband of her youth and father of her children attributed to her every success that has come to him in life. The more ex- alted the station he holds, the higher the hon- ors that are his, the more brilliant his suc- cess, the greater the joy that thrills her heart in knowing that to her wifely care and solici- tude much, indeed if not all of it, is attribut- able, and that the lover of her girlhood, whose love has only intensified with the elapse of time, accords to her the full praise and credit for having made him what he is. Such a wife and mother is Mrs. Rhoda Richey Blue, wife of Hon. M. C. Blue, of Lancaster township, Wells county, Indiana. Beginning life heavily handicapped by pov- erty, unable to read or write at the age of fifteen, he managed to acquire a lib- eral education, particularly in mathematics, served his county as surveyor, afterwards as auditor, and later his state in the halls of leg- islation. All of this he credits to his wife. It is not that he lacked the material in him- self to accomplish it, but without her to guide, direct and inspire him with the un- alterable purpose to dare and do, he would have been swerved from his course many a


time and might have relinquished the strug- gle in discouragement.


Hon. M. C. Blue was born in Miami county, Ohio, April 16, 1836, and is the son of Uriah and Rachael (Moore) Blue. The family originally came from Virginia, set- tled in Kentucky and after a brief residence there moved to Ohio and later to Wells county, Indiana. At the time of the latter removal the subject of this sketch was a boy less than four years old. In those days gov- ernment land was not scarce in that region. Lancaster township possessed some advan- tages over its neighbors, and Uriah Blue de- cided to establish a home for his family on section 15, so he entered upon and took pos- session of one hundred and sixty acres of government land in the midst of the dense forest. Five paltry dollars was all the money he had left after establishing his home, but he had a superabundance of pluck and en- ergy. He had a good occupation that could now be turned to advantage and the habits of industry and thrift that had been his all his life were in themselves a superior species of capital with which to "stake" any man. All his life he had been handy with tools and in early manhood he had followed coopering and wagonmaking. A general repair shop was opened convenient to his forest home. His services were soon in demand by neigh- bors for miles around and gradually his in- come grew until soon the family found themselves quite comfortable. When work was slack in the shop the time was occupied in the clearing and thus, by the practice of unflagging industry and the most rigid econ- omy, the Blue family were nicely getting on in the world.


During the boyhood of M. C. Blue In- diana's superb school system had not yet been


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conceived. What few seats of learning there were were widely scattered, poorly equipped with books and furniture and wretchedly conducted, so that by the time the subject of this sketch arrived at the age of fifteen he knew little of books or schools or learning. He knew the letters of the alpha- bet and might have been able to do a little spelling, but was wholly unable to read. Up to that time work on his father's farm or in the clearing occupied every moment at his disposal; there was no time for study. As he grew older, however, he began to realize the advantages a man of education pos- sessed over the one who was illiterate. It was this that first inspired in him a thirst for knowledge. It grew and developed until it became almost insatiable. The result might have been easily foreseen. By the time he arrived at the age of manhood M. C. Blue had acquired an education equal to that of any young man in Wells county and far su- perior to many. By teaching he had secured the means to attend school at Murray and later took a course at the Roanoke Seminary. In mathematics he especially excelled, which led him to undertake the higher branches, algebra, geometry and trigonometry, which he soon mastered and was before long reck- oned one of the most accomplished civil en- gineers in the northern half of the state.


The brothers and sisters of Hon. M. C. Blue are Mary, widow of McCoy Smith ; Lu- cinda, wife of David McKinsey, of Okla- homa ; James, deceased ; Catharine, deceased ; Uriah, a citizen of Oklahoma; John, deceased; Malissa, wife of J. O. Kun- kle. Their parents died many years ago, the father until then residing upon land he had entered more than sixty-six years ago. He died firm in the faith of the Bap-


tist church, of which he had been a member many years. He was an affectionate husband and father, a good, quiet neighbor and a citi- zen who was honored and respected far and wide.


May 1, 1866, M. C. Blue was united in marriage to Miss Rhoda A. Richey, the daughter of William S. Richey, one of the early pioneers of Wells county. She is a lady of many accomplishments, of refinement and education, a woman of splendid intelligence and sound discernment who is never deceived by blandishments and sophistry. To her pen- etration, good judgment and expedition in arriving at correct conclusions her husband says he is indebted for all that he has been since he met her, all that he now is or ever hopes to be. This is a very high tribute to the sagacity and virtues of the good lady, but it is one that is verified by all her friends and acquaintances and friends in Wells coun- ty, and their name is legion.


Six children, five of whom are living, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Blue. They are George C., November 15, 1867; Dr. C. L., December 16, 1868; Ulvin A., January 21, 1870; Lola Z., July 3, 1871; Fred P., April 10, 1875, and Don I., September 23, 1882. George C. is a graduate of Valparaiso, having taken the commercial course. He married some time ago a very accomplished young lady, Miss Dora Wisner. The Doctor graduated from the Fort Wayne Medical College with high honors and is now located at Tocsin, where he has built up a large and lucrative practice. In 1901 he took a post- graduate course in medicine and surgery in Chicago. He is wedded only to his profes- sion, not having yet married. Each of the other children have received a good common school education.


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Mr. and Mrs. Blue are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he for many years has been a class leader. He has also been superintendent of the Sunday school, takes a deep interest in charitable work and all that relates to religion. He is recognized, and very justly so, as one of the pillars of the church. In politics he has always been a thorough-going, consistent Democrat. In other years, while the ardor of youth was still upon him, he was an un- tiring worker in the ranks of those who are derisively termed "the unterrified" and it is chiefly through the labors of such men as Hon. M. C. Blue that Wells county has been held so steadily in the Democratic columns. Without any solicitation on his part, he was nominated for the office of county surveyor and was elected by more than the normal ma- jority. Later he was nominated and elected to the office of county auditor and discharged the duties of the office four years. Since then he has been twice elected to the legislature, where he served his county with distinction. A careful examination of the records of that body will disclose him as the author of and to have been instrumental in the passage of many valuable laws now on the statutes, the benefits of which all the people of Indiana are now enjoying.


While generous and liberal almost to pro- digality, Mr. Blue, by the practice of self- denial and economy in matters pertaining to his own tastes, has saved much of the money he acquired by his labors and by judicious investments. The early years of his life were years of privation and they taught him many a lesson as to the value of money. To the education thus acquired he owes much for the provident habits of his life. They have enabled him to accumulate considerable val-


uable property. Four hundred acres of his real estate is alone valued at thirty thousand dollars. He is still active in business, man- aging his farms, raising stock and buying and shipping hogs. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having at one time held membership in Lodge No. 145, Bluffton.


Although upwards of sixty-six years of age, Hon. M. C. Blue is a man who is vigor- ous and well preserved. His mental faculties are unimpaired. He has traveled much and read deeply, and is possessed of good mem- ory and a most commendable habit of obser- vation which has stored his mind with facts ever convenient to be drawn upon. He is a fluent speaker, who on occasions rises even to eloquence. In private conversation he is delightfully companionable, a man whom the most casual acquaintance would treat with deference and whom the stranger would readily mark as a personage of deserved prominence.


WILLIAM WARREN McBRIDE.


The subject of this review is one of the honored pioneer citizens of Bluffton and bears a name which has been intimately iden- tified with the annals of the city and Wells county since the initiative period of their de- velopment. His father was one of the first to engage in business in the little hamlet, which has developed into a prosperous and attractive city, the capital of one of the or- ganic divisions of a great commonwealth, and was otherwise concerned in the indus- trial progress of this favored section of the state of Indiana; while the subject himself has passed essentially his entire life in Bluff-


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ton, succeeding his honored father in busi- ness, and has contributed to its material prog- ress and prosperity in no insignificant de- gree. He has been an important factor in commercial, public and civic affairs for a long term of years, and thus has done much to advance the general welfare. His private and business life is pregnant with interest and incentive, no matter how lacking in dra- matic action, for in the connection we find the record of an honorable and useful life, consistent with itself and its possibilities in every particular, so that there has not been denied to him the full measure of popular confidence and regard in the community where he has lived and labored to so goodly ends. Of him it has been well said: "His history is a part of the history of the county and his career as a business man has been long and honorable. He has seen the city of Bluffton grow from a veritable frontier ham- let of a half dozen primitive houses to its present position as one of the most attractive little cities of the state and has had his part in its upbuilding, even as had his father be- fore him."


William Warren McBride is a native son of the old Buckeye state, with whose pioneer history the name was concerned, even as was it later with that of the contiguous state of Indiana. He was born in the town of Salem, Montgomery county, Ohio, on the 24th of December, 1838, being a son of William and Barbara (Harbaugh) McBride. When he was less than three years of age his father, who was a cabinetmaker by trade, removed with his family from Ohio to Indiana, tak- ing up his abode in Bluffton on the 22d of February, 1841, "almost before this now flourishing city had attained the dignity of a frontier village." Here he established the


pioneer furniture and undertaking business, his place also being equipped for cabinetmak- ing and repair work, thus meeting in these lines the requirements of the people of the place and period. He built up a flourishing business, was known as an exemplary man in all the relations of life, and here he con- tinued to make his home until he was sum- moned to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns," his death occurring on the 15th of May, 1871, at the age of sixty-six years. He was a Democrat in politics and was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church and active in its work. His wife died on the 3d of Novem- ber, 1853, in her fortieth year, having been a woman of noble and gracious character and one whose influence was marked in the social and religious life of the early days, she like- wise having been a devout adherent of the Methodist Episcopal church.


William Warren McBride, as already in- timated, grew up in the little pioneer town, and the exigencies of time and place imply that his early educational advantages were limited in scope, being confined to an attend- ance in the subscriptions schools during the three winter months of each year. At an early age he entered his father's store, where he applied himself diligently to learning the details of a business to which he was destined to devote his attention as a vocation through- out his active business career. Under the careful and effective direction of his father he soon attained proficiency in the art of cabi- netmaking and in the general repair work which came to the establishment, and this was of varied character, transcending lines specifically assigned. On the death of his father the subject came into sole possession of the business, which has expanded in scope


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and importance with the growth of the city and which is, as it has ever been, one of the representative mercantile enterprises of the county. The aim has ever been to keep in touch with the demands and requirements of the people of the community, and even to anticipate them, so that the business has nat- urally been cumulative, while the fair and honorable policy maintained from the start has resulted in the consecutive retention of public confidence and consequent supporting patronage. At the present time the estab- lishment shows an exceptionally large and comprehensive stock of furniture, including not only the grades of more moderate price, but also the finest products of the great man- ufactories whose advancement in this im- portant field of art industry, if the expres- sion be permitted, has been almost phenome- nal, the capacity of the spacious building be- ing practically tested, while the equipment in the undertaking department has ever been maintained at the highest standard. Mr. McBride's only son is now associated with him in the conduct of the business, with which three generations of the family have thus been identified, and the subject still maintains an active supervision of the enter- prise, though he finds release from many of the more arduous and exacting duties through the able interposition of his son and coadjutor, who is one of the progressive and representative young business men of his na- tive city. The store is located on Main street, south of Washington, and stands nearly on the site of the original building occupied by the subject's father in the early days, said building having been destroyed by fire. It was the first furniture store established in the town and the present building, erected in 1863, is a familiar landmark and one


around which cluster many interesting mem- ories of the pioneer days. In the little room at the rear of the store assembled the first Sunday school ever organized in Bluffton, and it is of interest to note in the connection that of those in attendance at its first session Mr. McBride is the only one now living.


In politics Mr. McBride is a stanch ad- herent of the Democratic party and has taken an active interest in party affairs. In 1890 he was elected coroner of the county and has served consecutively in this office to the pres- ent time. He has ever been known as a pro- gressive and public spirited citizen, and his influence and support have been extended in favor of every enterprise and undertaking tending to conserve the material prosperity of the city and the general welfare of the community. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, and both he and his wife have long been active members of the church of this denomination in Bluffton. Fraternally he is identified with Bluffton Lodge No. 114, I. O. O. F., in which he has held membership for twenty-eight years. In business he has achieved success through honorable effort, untiring application and capable management, and in private life he has gained that warm personal regard which arises from true nobility of character, defer- ence for the opinions of others and from un- varying kindliness and courtesy. The family home is one of the attractive residence prop- erties of the city and is a center of refined hospitality.


On the 5th of December, 1861, Mr. Mc- Bride was united in marriage to Miss Mary Miller, daughter of Adam and Eliza (Sim- mison) Miller, the former of whom was one of the sterling pioneer farmers of Wells county, owning land southeast of Bluffton,


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where the Six-mile church now stands. Mr. and Mrs. McBride became the parents of three children, namely: Mary Ellen, who was born January 8, 1863, became the wife of Herbert H. Deam, of Bluffton, where she died on the 30th of September, 1902; James Alfred, born December 13, 1869, is associat- ed with his father in business, as previously noted; and Maud Miller, born April 22, 1876, remains at the parental home.


SAMUEL A. HAFLICH.


Among the conspicuous residents of Rock Creek township, Wells county, Indiana, is Samuel Al. Haflich, of whose ancestors men- tion is made on another page of this volume. Samuel A. Haflich is a son of Jacob and Anna (Hoover ) Haflich. Jacob Haflich was born in Pennsylvania, from which state he migrated to Ohio, where he married. Sam- uel A. Haflich was born in Rock Creek town- ship, Wells county, Indiana, January 23, 1849, his parents having moved here some time previously. The father purchased one hundred and seventy-five acres of wild wood- land, with but two houses between his place and Huntington. He had a capital of eigh- teen dollars in cash when he came here, but managed to build a log house, which an- swered his purpose until 1862, when he erect- ed a fine brick dwelling and here reared his family, but in 1880 moved to Markle, where his death occurred.




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