USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 18
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Mr. Keilman is the youngest son of Leonard and Lena (AAustgen) Keilman, who have lived in Lake county for sixty years and whose history, together with other facts concerning this prominent family, will be found on other pages of this volume. John L. Keilman was born in St. John town- ship, Lake county, August 21, 1867, and was reared in his native place. After receiving a common school training he spent two years at the Catholic
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seminary at St. Francis, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he took a busi- ness course. After his return home he engaged in the general mercantile business, in 1890, in partnership with his father. In 1892 he sold out his interest to his father, and spent the following nine months sight-seeing in California and the Pacific coast. He returned once more to engage in busi- ness with his father, under the name of L. Keilman & Son, and this firm is still doing business at the old stand which was established nearly fifty years ago. They have a large stock of general merchandise and do a large busi- ness with the surrounding district. Mr. Keilman was one of the men who organized the First National Bank in Dyer, in 1903, and is now one of its directors.
Mr. Keilman married, October 3. 1895, Miss Emma Schaefer, who was born October 3, 1871, and is also a native of Dyer, St. John township, a daughter of Jacob Schaefer. They have no children.
JOHN J. BRENNAN.
For ten years John J. Brennan has been a resident of Roby, where he has large property interests and where in public circles he is well known, his influence having been a strong element in shaping public policy here during the decade in which he has been identified with the city. He is a typical busi- ness man of the present time, energetic and enterprising, who quickly recog- nizes business possibilities and also is cognizant of the fact that the present and not the future holds his opportunity. He knows that the moment for action is not to come, but uses his powers daily to the best advantage, and his life, therefore, has been crowned with successful accomplishment.
Mr. Brennan is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Urbana, Champaign county, on the 8th of August, 1860. He is a son of Edward and Bridget (Ryan) Brennan both of whom were natives of Ireland, and having crossed the Atlantic to America they became residents of the Buckeye state. Mr. John J. Brennan was reared in the city of his nativity, and pursued his education in the public schools. After putting aside his text books he en- tered upon his business career in a grocery store in the capacity of a shipping clerk and for about a year he remained in that establishment, which business was carried on along both wholesale and retail lines. In 1876 he went south and completed his education in the Southwestern Presbyterian University.
John Brennan
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He afterward became registered letter and money order clerk in the postoffice at Clarksville, Tennessee, where he remained for four years. He then re- turned to Ohio, again locating in his native city, and was engaged in the coal business with his father for about two years. In 1887 he removed to Chicago, where he accepted the position of bookkeeper with the United States Rolling Stock Company, doing business at HIegewisch, Illinois. He continued as accountant with that company for seven years and came to Roby in 1894. since which time he has been a resident of this city. Here he is engaged in the saloon and restaurant business. He is also one of the principal land- holders of Roby, and likewise owns property in Illinois.
Mr. Brennan has been very active and influential in politics and is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party, believing that its principles contain the best elements of good government. In 1901 he was elected a member of the Hammond city council from the Fourth ward. He is one of the active members of that body, progressive and public-spirited in his citizenship and taking an active and helpful interest in everything that pertains to the general welfare. Viewed in a personal light, he is a man of excellent judgment, fair in his views and highly honorable in his relations with his fellow men. His life has been kindly, his actions sincere, his manner unaffected. and his example is well worthy of emulation.
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MICHAEL GRIMMER.
Michael Grimmer, who is serving for the second terin as county auditor of Lake county and is a resident of Crown Point, was born in Ross township, this county, on the 18th of July, 1853, and his entire career has been such as to command the confidence, good will and respect of his fellow-citizens. His father, Michael Grimmer, made his way to Chicago in 1841, and after residing in the embryo city for a number of years took up his abode in Lake county, Indiana, in 1849. He was one of the pioneers of this section of the state, and he devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1853, when his son Michael was but eight weeks old. He left beside his widow four children, two daughters and two sons, the eldest being then but little more than twelve years of age. The mother afterward married again, and Michael Grimmer remained at home with his step-father until about sixteen years of age, assisting in the operation of the
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home farm. He then started out in life on his own account. and though lie had but limited school privileges to equip him for the duties of the business world he possessed energy and determination, and resolved to win advance- ment. By working as a farm hand he earned the money that enabled him to attend school in the winter months, and later he began teaching in the district schools, being connected with that profession for ten years. In 1880 he embarked in general merchandising at Schererville, where he continued for seventeen years. His business was capably conducted, and his enter- prise and fair dealing formed the substantial foundation upon which he builded his success.
In the meantime Mr. Grimmer had been called to public office. He is a stanch Republican in his political views and has taken an active interest in the work of the party throughout the period of his majority. While engaged in merchandising at Schererville he served for eight years as trustee of St. John township, and in 1897 he was elected auditor of Lake county, serving so faithfully during the succeeding three years that ir 1900 he was re-elected and is now the incumbent in that office. He discharges his duties with marked promptness and fidelity, and his public career is one which has gained for him unabating confidence and respect.
In 1879 MIr. Grimmer was united in marriage to Miss Lena Newman, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Newman, and they have two children : Frances, who is in the office with her father: and Fred, who is attending school. Mr. Grimmer is one of the leading citizens of Lake county, where he has spent his entire life. He is a self-educated as well as a self-made man. Starting out in life for himself ere he had attended school to any extent. he became imbued with a laudable ambition to attain something better. and has steadily advanced in those walks of life demanding intellectuality, business ability and fidelity. To-day he commands the respect and esteem not only of his community but of people throughout the state. Over the record of his public career and his private life there falls no shadow of wrong, for he has ever been most loyal to the duties of friendship and of citizenship, and his history well deserves a place in the annals of his native county.
JOHN G. BOHLING.
John G. Bohling, a prominent farmer of St. John township, has resided
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in this part of Lake county all his life and carries on his extensive agricult- ural operations on the same farm on which he was born, and which his father settled in the early days of the county's existence. He has always been known among his neighbors and fellow-citizens as a man of ability and energy and progressive spirit, and he has so managed his affairs as to gain a substantial place in the world and surround himself with comfortable circumstances.
Mr. Bohling was born in St. John township. Lake county, October 11, 1855. a grandson of Andrew and a son of John Bohling, both well known men in the early settlement of Lake county. His father was born in Ger- many. November 26, 1823, and was reared there to the age of fifteen, when he was brought by his father to America. They lived in Joliet, Illinois, for two years, and in 1841 came to Lake county. Indiana. Here Jolin Bohling married. in 1843. Anna Mary Shillo, who was also born in Germany and came to America in 1842. She died at the age of seventy years After their marriage they located on a tract of unimproved land in St. John township, and he gave his attention to its improvement and cultivation for many years, and still resides on it, with his son John. He is now past eighty years of age, and is revered as one of the sterling pioneers of Lake county. Of his seven children only four are now living, as follows: Magdalen, wife of Bart Schaefer, of Center township, Lake county: Susanna, wife of Nick Maginot. of St. John township; Joseph P., of Hammond ; and John G.
Mr. Bohling, the youngest of the family, was reared on the farin where he still lives, and received his early education in the schools of St. John township. On his fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres he raises general crops and stock, and has been able to extract more than a good living from his fertile soil, so that he ranks among the progressive and representative farmers of the township. In national affairs he has always given his alle- giance to the Democratic party, but votes for the man in local affairs. He and his family are members of the Catholic church in St. John, the patron saint St. John's.
April 27. 1880. Mr. Bohling married Miss Lillosa Schmal, who was born in the village of St. John. Lake county. February 4. 1857, and is a daughter of Adam Schmal. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bohling : Clara, the wife of Frank A. Beiker, of Crown Point : William, at home: Eleanor : Norbert ; and Joseph A., deceased.
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
LEVI E. BAILEY.
On the roster of county officials of Lake county appears the name of Levi E. Bailey, who is the present treasurer and is a most faithful custodian of the public exchequer. He is living at present in Crown Point. and through- out this portion of the state he is widely and favorably known. By birth. training and preference he is a western man, imbued with the spirit of enter- prise and advancement which is characteristic of the middle west and has led to its rapid growth and development.
Mr. Bailey was born in Yellowhead township. Kankakee county. Illi- nois, January 9. 1858. It is known that his ancestors lived at one time in North Carolina. afterward in Pennsylvania and still later in Ohio. His paternal grandfather. John Bailey, became one of the pioneer settlers of LaPorte county, Indiana, locating there during the early boyhood of Josiah B. Bailey. On leaving LaPorte county Josiah B. Bailey took up his abode in Lake county with his parents, and was here reared. He was also married here. the lady of his choice being Miss Nancy Kile, who was born in Lake county. Indiana. Immediately after their marriage they removed to Kanka- kee county, Illinois, where the father followed the occupation of farming until 1866 He then returned with his family to Lake county, locating in West Creek township, where he spent his remaining days, his death occurring when he was sixty-seven years of age. He was a very public-spirited man, took an active and helpful interest in the building of roads and gave a generous and zealous support to the measures for the public good. In politics he was a very stanch Republican. His wife died at the age of thirty-eight years. In the family were four children. three sons and a daughter. all of whom are now residents of West Creek township. Lake county.
Levi E. Bailey is the eldest and was but six years of age when the family returned to Lake county, so that he was reared here. He attended the com- mon schools, worked on the home farm and remained under the parental roof tintil twenty-two years of age. when he started out in life on his own account. He engaged in farming in Kankakee county, Illinois, where he remained for three years, and then again came to Lake county, settling in West Creek town- ship. There he carried on general agricultural pursuits until November. 1902. when he was elected county treasurer. On the Ist of September. 1903. he
L & Bailey
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took up his abode in Crown Point. He took possession of the office on the Ist of January, 1903, and is now capably discharging the duties thereof. IIe owns a farm of four hundred and twenty acres in West Creek township, which is now rented. He is also a stockholder in the Lowell National Bank. March 19, 1904, Mr. Bailey was re-nominated for a second term as treasurer.
In 1880 occurred the marriage of Mr. Bailey and Miss Emma Hayden. a native of West Creek township, Lake county, and a daughter of Daniel and Louisa Hayden. who were pioneer settlers of this county. Four children graced this marriage : Nancy, the wife of Loren Love, of West Creek town- ship: Murray: Merritt ; and Bennett.
Mr. Bailey takes a very active interest in local political affairs and is an unfaltering advocate of Republican principles, believing firmly in the prin- ciples of the party and endorsing the various planks of its platform. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias fraternity and the Independent Order of Foresters, at Lowell, and he is well known in fraternal, political and agri- cultural circles throughout the county.
RICHARD FULLER.
Richard Fuller was for some years one of the extensive farmers of Lake county, operating one thousand acres, and his name has been a prom- inent and honored one in connection with agricultural interests and with the dealing in hay. grain and stock. He is now proprietor of the Fuller House at Shelby, and few men of this part of the state have a wider or more favorable acquaintance than has Richard Fuller. Moreover, he is entitled to distinc- tion as a self-made man. whose success is attributable directly to his own efforts
Mr. Fuller was born in Athens county, Ohio, February 12, 1829, and has, therefore, passed the seventy-fifth milestone on life's journey. His parents were James and Lydia ( Dodge) Fuller, both of whom were natives of Maine. His maternal grandmother, however, was born in Scotland and was brought to America when a little maiden ot seven summers. The paternal grandfather was born in Maine and was of English descent, the family having been founded in America in early colonial days. When the colonists attempted to throw off the yoke of British oppression he joined the continental army and fought for the independence of the nation. Both
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
wife of James Block, at prosperous stock farmer of Orchard Grove, Indiana. Agnes Deborah, the youngest of the children, is the wife of John Borg, who is editor of the Notes Reviews at Thayer, Indiana.
At the time of the Civil war Mr. Fuller served for six months as a member of Company E. Fifty fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was then honorably discharged by reason of the cessation of hostilities, July 27, 1865. He is a Democrat in his political views and a supporter of W. J. Bryan. He has been a resident of Lake county for sixty-five years, and few of its citizens have longer witnessed its progress and improvement. Ilis life has been characterized by untiring activity and perseverance and he is well known and highly respected because of his many sterling traits of character.
ORLANDO V. SERVIS.
Orlando V. Servis, a prominent and well-known farmer of Section 25. Eagle Creek township, has made Lake county the scene of his quiet and successful endeavors ever since beginning his active career, and the township where he now resides is also his birthplace, so that sixty odd years of resi- dence has made Lake county the most particular and dearest spot of the inhab- ited globe to him. The most strenuous part of Mr. Servis's life, however, was passed away from the peaceful limits of Lake county, in the daily marches and battles of the great Rebellion, in which he was one of the faithful soldiers of the Union and gave over four years' of conscientious service for its integrity.
This veteran soldier and successful farmer was born in Eagle Creek township, Lake county. September 12. 1843. being the sixth of the eight children, four sons and four daughters, Forn to Orlando V. and Eliza ( Flint) Servis, both natives of New York state. His father came to Lake county in the thirties, and located on a tract of land near Southeast Grove in Eagle Greek township, where he improved and developed a fine farm. He died at Hebron, in Porter county, when about seventy-five years old. He was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, for some years being the most influential supporter of his church. He was a Whig and Repub- lican in politics, and held various local offices, such as township trustee, etc. His wife also died at Hebron at the age of seventy-five. Four of their chil- dien died when young.
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
Mr. Servis was reared in his native township, receiving his schooling at Southeast Grove. In 1861 he enlisted in Company E. Ninth Indiana Infantry, and served two years as private and was then made first duty sergeant of his company. At the end of his first term of three years' enlist- ment he re-enlisted in the same company and served till the end of the war. He participated at the siege of Corinth, at Pittsburg Landing, Stone River and Chickamauga, and was with Sherman until wounded at Pine Mountain, Georgia, a gunshot wound keeping him in Hospital No. I at Nashville for three months, after which he was sent home for thirty days, and rejomed his regiment at Pulaski, Tennessee. He was under Thomas at the battles of Nashville and Franklin. He had also been wounded at the battle of Resaca. a cannon ball passing between his knees and inflicting a severe injury to his left knee. In all he served four years and two months, and received his honorable discharge at Camp Stanley, Texas, and was mustered out at Indianapolis, Indiana.
On his return from the army he bought the farm of one hundred and sixty acres where he now resides, and where he carries on general farming, being one of the most progressive and successful men of his class in the vicinity. He affiliates with Burnham Post. G. A. R., at Lowell, and is a stanch Republican, although he never allows his name to be presented for office. He married, in 1870. Miss Nancy A. Pearce, a daughter of Michael and Mary J. Pearce, extended mention of which worthy couple will be found in the biography of their son. John Pearce. Mr. and Mrs. Servis have one child, Mabel. at home, who has completed the eighth grade of the public schools and has taken instruction in music.
FRED J. SMITH.
Varied and extensive business interests have claimed the attention, en- ergy and business foresight of Fred J. Smith, who is now the senior member of the firm of Smith & Bader, real estate and land agents of Whiting. He is also identified with other financial and commercial interests here, and his labors have contributed in no small degree to the upbuilding of the town. for the advancement of any community is dependent in large measure upon its business men. Mr. Smith is a native son of Indiana, his birth having occurred in LaPorte county on the 25th of March, 1862.
Fred & Smith.
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His father, Louis Smith, was born in Europe, and when a young man crossed the Atlantic to the new world. He married Miss Sophia Hider, who was also of European birth, but was brought to the new world when but two years old. Mr. and Mrs. Louis Smith became residents of LaPorte county, Indiana, at an early period in the development of that portion of the state, and the subject of this review is their eldest son and second child. He was reared under the parental roof and is indebted to the public schools of LaPorte, Indiana, for the educational privileges he enjoyed. After putting aside his text books he learned the baker's trade and subsequently, in 1890, he caine to Whiting, where he became a member of the firm of Smith & Bader as pro- prietors of a bakery and restaurant. While in that business they began pur- chasing real estate and laid out several additions to the town, the first being what is known as the Smith & Bader Addition. They afterward laid out the Sheridan Park addition, and in this way have contributed much to the im- provement and substantial upbuilding of the place. They organized the Whiting Land Company, formed under the state laws of Indiana, Mr. Smith becoming its president. This company now owns and controls much of the best residence property of Whiting in the western part of the city. This has been greatly improved, involving the investment of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The first addition has all been sold. Sheridan Park has also been improved. some of the best streets of the city have been laid there and many of the finest residences have been there built. The lots are forty feet front, and some of the houses have been erected at a cost of forty-five hundred dollars. Mr. Smith has perhaps been more closely identified with the upbuilding and improvement of Whiting than any other man, and while conducting his private business affairs he has also contributed in full measure to the general welfare. He is one of the directors of the First National Bank and is now treasurer of the Petrolene, Paint & Roofing Company of Whiting. He is continually studying so as to introduce improved methods for the bene- fit of the town. and is now president of the Business Men's Association.
In 1888 Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Helen Maas, and to them have been born three sons. Russell, Walter and Lawrence. In his political views Mr. Smith is a Democrat and was one of the first aldermen of Whiting and one of the first trustees of the town after its organization. He has also been president of the board of education, and he is a trustee of the Lutheran
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church, in which he holds membership. He belongs to the little group of distinctively representative business men who have been the pioneers in inau- gurating and building up the chief industries of this section of the country. He early had the sagacity and prescience to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this great and growing city, and, acting in accordance with the dictates of his faith and judgment, he has garnered in the fullness of time the generous harvest which is the just recompense of indomitable indus- try, spotless integrity and marvelous enterprise. He is now connected with many extensive and important business interests.
MATHEW J. BROWN.
Mathew J. Brown, who is popularly and extensively known throughout Lake and Porter counties as "Matt" Brown, has agricultural. live-stock and commercial interests perhaps as important as those of any other man in the county of Lake. He resides on section 19 of Eagle Creek township, where he has one of the beautiful homes of the vicinity. He has spent his life since birth mainly in this township, and has made himself by capacity for business transactions and integrity of personal character one of the influential factors of industrial and social activity.
Mr. Brown was born in Eagle Creek township, October 31, 1857, being the third child of William and Mary J. (Wallace) Brown, whose individual history will be found on other pages of this work. He was reared and edit- cated in his native township, attending first the country schools and after- ward the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. He began his career of activity by teaching in the winter and farming in the summer, continuing this manner of living until he was twenty-nine years old and meanwhile making his home with his father. At that time he took unto himself a wife, and then located on a farm about one mile east of his present residence. He rented eleven hundred and twenty acres for ten years, and carried on very extensive operations in general farming and stock-raising. At the same time he bought and sold much land, his transactions involving over two thousand acres altogether. At one time in his career he was engaged in farming two thousand acres. In 1900 he built his present residence at a cost of about eight thousand dollars. it being one of the model country homes of Lake county. He owns about a thousand acres, not a foot of which does
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