USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 29
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HON. NICHOLS SCHERER.
Hon. Nichols Scherer has for many years figured prominently in public affairs and business circles in northwestern Indiana, and his history is a notable one in that he came to this state empty-handed and in humble capacity entered business life. If those who claim that fortune favors certain indi- viduals will but examine into the life record of such men as Mr. Scherer they will learn that it is not circumstance or environment, but indefatigable energy and industry that form the basis of all success. Mr. Scherer, recog- nizing that each day held its duty and its opportunity, worked on steadily, performing to the best of his ability each task that came to him, and now after many years of residence in Indiana he is numbered among the sub- stantial citizens and leaders in Lake county. He makes his home at Scherer- ville, which was named in his honor, and of which town he is the founder and promoter.
Mr. Scherer was born in Prussia, Germany, on the 29th of June, 1830, and came to America with his parents, John and Mary Scherer, in 1846. They landed at New York city, where they remained for about four weeks, and thence proceeded westward by steamer and canal boat to Chicago, and on to St. John township, Lake county, settling in the town of St. John. The father died about 1865, aged one hundred and three years and the mother died about 1870. aged ninety-nine years. The father died in Dyer and the mother died in Schererville, and both parents are interred in St. John's cem- etery in one grave.
Mr. Scherer began working for the state of Indiana as swamp-land ditcher and was afterward appointed land commissioner, which position he
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held until he became connected with railroad interests. Ile went from St. John to Dyer in the capacity of landlord, and in the latter place was engaged in the hotel business, as well as railroading. He remained there for about nine years, or the expiration of which period he was engaged on the con- struction of the Panhandle Railroad, then called the Chicago & Great East- ern. He was head boss on the road from Richmond, Indiana, to Chicago, having charge of the building and the repairing and also running all kinds of trains. He located at what is now Schererville in 1865, being at that time connected with the Great Eastern Railroad, and he remained with the com- pany for twelve years.
In the meantime he purchased the land upon which Schererville now stands, laid out the town, and it was named in his honor. He has been a resident here for almost forty years. He was with the Pan Handle Railroad, which is now a part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system, and during that time he also built a part of the Michigan Central Railroad at Union City, Michigan, and a part of the Eastern Illinois Railroad, of the Wabash Rail- rod, and the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, also constructing what is known as the Joliet cutoff, now a part of the Michigan Central Railroad. At the same time he was engaged in the sand business, shipping sand from Scherer- ville. and in this he still continues. He likewise dealt in real estate, and car- ried on farming, and thus extending his energies to many lines of business activity he conducted important interests, which proved to him lucrative and made him one of the substantial citizens of northwestern Indiana.
Mr." Scherer has been a resident of Lake county for fifty-eight years. and is well known in this part of the state, his labors being of a character that have contributed to the development and improvement of the state, as well as to his individual prosperity. Outside of the strict path of business he has also proved a helpful factor in interests for the general good, and has co- operated in many movements which have for their object the welfare of the general public. His political allegiance has always been given to the Democ- racy, and he has served as road superintendent and as constable. He was also swampland commissioner and for one term represented his district in the state legislature, where he gave loyal support to all bills which he be- lieved contained measures for benefit to the commonwealth.
While residing in St. John Mr. Scherer was united in marriage to Miss
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Francisco Uhlenbrock, who was born in Germany October 10. 1833. They became the parents of seven children, but only three are now living : Anna. the wife of Nicholas Schaefer: Maggie, the wife of Adam Gerlach, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume: and Teressa, the widow of Jacob Aust- gen. There are now thirty-three grandchildren and two great-grandchil- dren. Mr. Scherer and his family are members of the St. Michael's Catho- lic church. No history of this community would be complete without men- tion of Mr. Scherer, for, coming to this section of the state at an early period in its development. he is now numbered among the honored pioneers, his mind bearing the impress of the historic annals of the county. He can relate many interesting incidents of those primitive times as well as of the later-day progress and improvement, and moreover he has played so prom- inent and helpful a part in the substantial upbuilding of the county that his name is inseparably interwoven with its history.
DR. SAMUEL R. TURNER.
Dr. Samuel R. Turner, a leading physician and surgeon at 107 First National Bank Building. Hammond, has gained a good practice and taken a foremost position among the medical fraternity of this city and Lake county since taking up his residence here about three years ago. He is a man of ability both in his profession and in the performance of his duties as a man and citizen, and his career has been most creditable from his early years, during which he had to make his own way and earn the means for his professional education.
Dr. Turner was born in Stephenson county, Illinois, near Freeport, May 13, 1858. a son of Samuel and Jane E. (McGlashon) Turner. natives, re- spectively, of Trumbull county, Ohio, and of the state of Vermont. His paternal grandfather. Samuel Turner, was a native of Ireland, though of Scotch descent, and a son of a life-long Irish citizen. He came to America about 1797 and located near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was a carpen- ter and cabinet-maker by trade. He came to Indiana about 1833 and set- tled in LaPorte county, and four years later came to Lake county, where he settled on a land claim and to which he brought his family in 1838. He improved a farm, and was both a prosperous and influential citizen. He died there in 1846 at the age of sixty-four. His wife was Jane Dinwiddie, who
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was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, January 18, 1783. and died in 1870, aged eighty-seven years. They had seven children who grew to maturity.
Samuel Turner, the father of Dr. Turner, was a farmer by occupation, and was a young man at the time of his removal to Indiana in 1833. He followed farming there up to the breaking out of the Mexican war, and then enlisted and served as quartermaster in the American army. He returned to his Indiana farm, then moved to Illinois and lived in Stephenson county for a few years. In January or February of 1859 he returned to Lake county, and lived on a farm in Eagle Creek township from then until his death, which occurred April 24, 1864. when he was forty-six years old. His wife survived him until October, 1884. when she was fifty years old. They were members of the United Presbyterian church. They had two sons, Dr. Turner, and William M., of Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Jane E. Turner's father was WV. G. McGlashon, a native of Canada and of Scotch parents who moved to Vermont from Canada. He was a tailor in his younger years, and after coming to Indiana among the early settlers engaged in merchandising in Crown Point for several years. He afterward lived on a farm near Crown Point. In 1876 he moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, and died there in 1897, when eighty-one years old. His wife was Ann Duffy, a native of Ireland and still living. They had five children.
Dr. Samuel R. Turner was brought to Lake county when about a year old, and was reared on a farm in Eagle Creek township. He attended the district school, and later the high school in Hebron, Porter county. For several years he was engaged in teaching during the winter and farming during the rest of the year. He then took up the study of medicine, and in 1888 graduated from the medical department of the University of Louis- ville. Kentucky. He has since been engaged in practice for varying periods of time at Dyer. Hobart, in Lake county. in Wheatfield, Jasper county, in Lansing. Illinois, and about three years ago took up his residence in Ham- mond, where he has enjoyed an increasing practice to the present time.
December 13, 1883. Dr. Turner married Miss Henrietta Burgess, a daughter of Henry and Eliza (McCay) Burgess. Six children have been born of this union, three sons and three daughters: Albert, who died at the age of two years and three months: Susan E .; Mary Edna; Harold B .; James Samuel, who died aged five years nine months : and Wilma Jane.
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Dr. Turner affiliates with Garfield Lodge No. 569. F. & A. M., and also with the Maccabees and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a mem- ber of the Lake County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society, the Kankakee Valley Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and has served four years as county coroner, his term expiring January 1, 1904.
COLONEL REDMOND D. WALSH.
Canada has furnished to the United States many bright, enterprising young men, who have left that country to enter the business circles of the United States with its more progressive methods, livelier competition and advancement more quickly secured. Among this number is Colonel Walsh. He has somewhat of the strong, rugged and persevering characteristics de- veloped by his earlier environments, which, coupled with the livelier impulses of the Celtic blood of his ancestors, made him at an early day to seek wider fields in which to give full scope to his ambition and industry-his dominant qualities. He found the opportunities he sought in the freedom and appre- ciation of the growing western portion of this country. Though born across the border he is thoroughly American in thought and feeling, and is patriotic and sincere in his love for the stars and stripes. His career is largely identified with the history of railroad building in the middle west, and in more recent years he has been a prominent and influential citizen of East Chicago, where he is now engaged in real estate operations.
Colonel Walsh was born in the county of Peterboro, Ontario, Canada, and is of Irish descent. His paternal grandfather, William Walsh, was born on the Emerald Isle and died there at an advanced age. He married a Miss Murphy and they had a large family, including Richard Walsh, whose birth occurred in county Cork, Ireland. He was a farmer by occupation and in 1818 he emigrated to Canada, spending his remaining days in that country with the exception of a brief period which was passed in the United States. He always engaged in the tilling of the soil, making that a source of income whereby he provided for his family. Ile served in the Patriot war in Canada in 1837 and died there at the age of sixty-six years. In early manhood he had married Elizabeth Ford, likewise a native of county Cork, Ireland. Her father, Dennis Ford, was born in Ireland and died in that country at an
R & Walen.
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advanced age. He reared a large family upon his home farm, where his industry and enterprise in the cultivation of the fields brought to him a com- fortable living. His grandson, Ted Ford, now lives upon the old home place, which comprises two hundred acres of rich land and which has continuously been in possession of the family from the eleventh century. It was at one time a very extensive tract, but during the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was confiscated, although two hundred acres were afterward restored to the family. By the marriage of Richard Walsh and Elizabeth Ford thirteen children were born, twelve of whom reached adult age, while six are now living : Colonel Redmond D .: Richard, of the Soldiers' Home; Bridget L .. the widow of James Haynes, of Corry, Pennsylvania : John, who lives on the old homestead in Ontario: Elizabeth, the wife of James Fyfe, also of On- tario ; and Ann. the wife of David Kelley, of the same place.
Colonel Walsh was reared on the old homestead farm in Canada and also followed lumbering in his early life. His business career has been charac- terized by intelligent and well-directed efforts, and he may well be called a self-made man. a representative of the progress and advancement which have been a manifest factor in the history of America in the nineteenth century. His success has not been the result of genius but of individual and continued effort. He acquired a common school education and also received instruction from a private teacher for some time. While in Canada he followed lum- bering. taking his timber to the Quebec market. He made several trips to the United States in search of a location which he regarded as favorable, and in 1862, accompanied by his wife, he went to Corry, Pennsylvania. There he entered upon a contract to build the Oil Creek Railroad, which he completed in 1862, and afterward entered the services of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, assisting in the construction of its line from Franklin to Meadville. Pennsylvania. He was superintendent of construction and for some time held that position after the completion of the road. Subsequently he built the Allegheny Valley Railroad from Warren to Pittsburg, and was thus engaged in railroad construction work at the time the Confederate army made its way into Pennsylvania. He then enlisted in order to defend this state and after participating in the battle of Gettysburg, following which time the rebels were forced to retreat, he resumed the pursuits of private life.
In 1865 Mr. Walsh took a prominent part in organizing the Fenian
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Brotherhood. The following year he went west and was engaged as a con- tractor and superintendent of work on the Union Pacific Railroad, his time being thus occupied until the completion of the line in 1869. In 1870 he entered into business relations with the Central Pacific Railroad Company, with which he continued for a year, after which he went to Kansas, where he was superintendent of the work for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Rail- road. The period of his connection with that company covered three years, during which time the line was constructed to connect with the Houston & Texas Central road. He afterward became associated with the latter com- pany, with which he continued for three years, and then he returned to Penn- sylvania, where he built a coal road from Larabee to Bunker Hill. Subse- quently he went to the Buckeye state, where he assisted in the building of the Scioto Valley Railroad and later he was engaged in the construction work of the Springfield, Jacksonville & Pomeroy Railroad, then the St. Clairsville & Bellaire Railroad, and afterwards a railroad extending from Youngstown, Ohio, to Pittsburg. Pennsylvania. Returning to Ohio he built the valley railroad from Canton to Cleveland, and then went to Colorado, where he engaged in the construction of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad over Mar- shall Pass, connecting it with the Denver. Rio Grande & Western Railroad at Junction City. Another important contract which was awarded him and which he faithfully and capably executed was the building of the Alpine tunnel, a work which covered two years. He then embarked in mining in Colorado, being interested in several diggings. Returning to St. Louis he was associated with a partner, Michael Coffey, in the construction of the standard gauge road from East St. Louis to Cairo, and later he went to Nebraska and built the approach to the United Railroad bridge at Rulo, Nebraska. There he moved more dirt than any other contractor in the same length of time, three hundred thousand yards being taken away in ninety days. His next work was the construction of twenty miles of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad from Galesburg west. He built the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad, and then came to East Chicago, Indiana, where he built the Chicago, Calumet & Terminal Railroad, the contract being awarded him by General Joseph T. Torrence, now deceased. At that time General Torrence promised to make a present of a town lot to the first child born in the town. Not long afterward there were born to Mr. and Mrs.
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R. W. O'Brien, the former a nephew of Colonel Walsh, twin boys. It seemed necessary that two lots should be given. one to each child, and General Tor- rence gave one lot, while Colonel Walsh gave the other. The boys are now young men.
During his railroad construction work on the site of the present city of East Chicago Colonel Walsh became convinced of the advantages which might be derived from establishing a home here, and he took up his abode here in 1888. It was he who first used an ax in cutting down a tree on the present site of the city. He assisted in laying out the town, being the con- tractor for all the street work. He also erected ten of the first buildings of this city, and he has continued an active factor in the work of improvement and progress to the present time.
In the year 1893 East Chicago was changed from town to a city government. The city council of that date made a contract with a contract- ing company to build water and light plants. The city council accepted the plants before they were half completed and issued the city bonds for the full amount of the contract. The water works were useless and cost more to keep it in repair than it was worth. Three hundred and thirty thousand dollars of bonds were turned over by the city council to the company. R. D. Walsh took the company into the courts and knocked out two hundred and ninety- six thousand dollars of bonds, and the supreme court of the state of Indiana granted a perpetual injunction against ever collecting either interest or prin- cipal on these two hundred and ninety-six thousand dollars of bonds. Then the city council sold, or rather gave the plants back to the bogus bondholders. R. D. Walsh again went into court and took the plants away from the bond- holders for the city. All this at his own expense. The plants are now in the city's possession.
In 1889 the residents of the town had an election and incorporated East Chicago, and Colonel Walsh at that time was elected the first president of the town board. He has also been treasurer of the city and trustee, and he is a well known and representative resident of this thriving place. Perhaps no man is better known in the county than he, because of his great activity in business. By his strength of character and mental power he has acquired a handsome competence and by his genial social manner has won many warm friends.
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Colonel Walsh was married in Ontario, Canada. to Miss Hanna Curtain, who died in 1871. They became the parents of eight children, but all have passed away.
Many and eventful have been the experiences which have come to Mr. Walsh in the course of his active business career. While executing his con- tract in connection with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad he at one time became engaged in battle with the Indians on Rock Creek. Wyoming, and sustained a gunshot wound in the instep, which forced him to go upon crutches for two years. He is now living a retired life in East Chicago. To him there has come the attainment of a distinguished position in connection with the great material industries of the country, especially in the line of rail- road construction-a work the value of which cannot be over-estimated. He is a man of distinct and forceful individuality, of broad mentality and mature judgment, and he has left an impress for good upon the industrial world. He earned for himself an enviable reputation as a careful man of business and in his dealings became known for his prompt and honorable methods, which win for him the deserved and unbounded confidence of his fellow men. For the entire length of his life he has been in sympathy with the indepen- dence of Ireland and has always taken an active part in all movements tend- ing toward lessening the oppressed sons of Erin.
MICHAEL KOZACIK.
Michael Kozacik is a self-made man who is now the possessor of valu- able property interests and who at the outset of his business career was empty-handed. He had no inheritance or influential friends to aid him, but by determined purpose and perseverance he has gradually accumulated a handsome competence. He is now engaged in business as a retail liquor dealer at Whiting. A native of Austria, he was born on the 29thi of Sep- temler, 1873. and was reared in his native country until more than eigh- teen years of age, during which period he acquired his education in attend- ance at the public schools. He entered upon his business career as a day laborer in Austria, receiving but twenty-five cents per day. Not content with business conditions, however, in that country, he resolved to test the favorable reports which he had heard concerning opportunities in the new world. and making arrangements to leave Europe when about eighteen years
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of age he sailed for America and came from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi valley, establishing his home at Blue Island, Illinois. There he remained for but two months, but not succeeding in finding work there he removed to Whiting and entered the employ of the Knickerbocker Ice Com- pany. His position necessitated his working ten hours per day at a salary of one dollar and a quarter. Strong resolution and untiring purpose, however, were numbered among his salient characteristics, and he continued to work through the ice-cutting period. He afterward entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company at a salary of one dollar and a half per day, and continued in the service of that corporation for seven and a half years. He was fireman and did various other kinds of work, and during the period of his service with the company he managed to save from his earnings the sum of thirteen hundred dollars. In the meantime he had also married and furnished his home. With the capital he had acquired through his labor and economy he invested his money in Whiting property and also established a small saloon in a little frame building, where he conducted a retail liquor business for a few years. During that period he erected a building at In- diana Harbor at a cost of six thousand dollars, but becoming convinced of the fact that Indiana Harbor was not a desirable place he sold his property there, and erected the building in Whiting that he now occupies, at a cost of ten thousand dollars.
Although Mr. Kozacik had but six dollars when he landed in the United States he is to-day in good circumstances. He is a liberal man, who has given generous assistance to the poor, and he is a public-spirited citizen, who takes a deep and active interest in general progress and in the material development of Whiting. The hope that led him to leave his native country has been more than realized for in the new world he has won prosperity, gained a comfortable home and has also found many friends. In politics, he is a strong Democrat and always does all in his power for the interests of that party, and. May 3rd, 1904. he was elected to represent the first ward in the Whiting city council.
To the union of Mr. Kozacik and wife have been born four sons, viz : Michael. Peter. John and Paul.
ELI M. BOYD.
Eli M. Boyd, prominent farmer of Ross township, is one of the very
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oldest living settlers of Lake county, where he and his well known twin brother located over fifty-five years ago, when the country was largely wild and much of it still belonging to the government. Their subsequent career is a part of the agricultural history of the county, for in time they became and still are ranked among the largest farmers of the county. Furthermore. they are men of eminent public spirit, interested in the welfare of the county. and their efforts and influence have been felt in diverse ways for the benefit and unbuilding of industrial and social institutions.
Mr. E. M. Boyd was born in Lucus county, Ohio. September 10. 1837. so that he is now near the limit of threescore and ten. His father, Alexander Boyd, a native of Pennsylvania, died when Eli was seven years old. and little is known of his history. He married Elizabeth Kelley, a native of West- moreland county. Pennsylvania, and she lived to be seventy-six years old and was married a second time. They had three children, a daughter and the twin sons. Eli M. and Levi, who are the principal characters with whom this sketch is concerned.
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