USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 30
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Mr. Boyd and his brother made their own way from an early age. al- though they lived with their mother and step-father for some time. They came out to Michigan and thence settled in Lake county, Indiana, in 1848. working on their step-father's farm about nine months of the year and at- tending school for three months. They were industrious and frugal and enterprising in their habits and methods of management, and were not long in getting started in the world. Farming has always been the work in which they have found the best field for their endeavor, and they are now the owners of six hundred acres of land in Ross and Hobart townships. containing some of as good soil as is to be found in the county. Mr. E. M. Boyd is a member of the advisory board.
Mr. E. M. Boyd was married, January 6, 1874. to Miss Agnes Hyde. and five children were born to them: George, who is married and lives on one of his father's farms: Alexander, single: Warren, who is married and follows farming; Charles, at home: Alice, aged fifteen, at home. Warren was a student at Valparaiso normal. Alice is in the eighth grade in the public school and has taken musical instructions. Mrs. Boyd was born on Wabash avenue. Chicago. September 8. 1850. a daughter of Michael and Mary (McIntoller) Hyde. Her parents are dead. There are six sisters liv- ing at present, of her family. She was educated in the common schools.
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The Boyd brothers are ardent supporters of the Republican party, and have always advocated strongly the principles of the platform. The first presidential vote they cast was for Lincoln, and they cast their votes for Grant, Garfield, Blaine and Mckinley. Mr. Eli Boyd has yet in his pos- session a vest made in the year 1856, the year that General Fremont was the first nominee of the Republican party. The Boyd brothers and wives are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church, and give to the benevolences. and all needy are well remembered.
Mr. and Mrs. Boyd are among the leading people of Ross township, and we are pleased to present this sketch.
DR. H. L. IDDINGS.
Dr. H. L. Iddings, of Merrillville, Ross township, has been the leading medical practitioner of this town for the past twenty years. He had already attained to considerable prominence in his profession before locating here, and since then he has not only found in Merrillville and the surrounding country a large field for his life work, but has also taken an active part in various matters pertaining to the general welfare of the community, filling in all respects the niche of a broad-minded, public-spirited and enterprising citizen.
Dr. Iddings was born in Kendallville, Noble county, Indiana, January 22, 1852. being the eldest of the seven children, four of whom are now de- ceased, born to Warren and Hester (Newman) Iddings. Warren Iddings was a son of Henry Iddings, a native of Pennsylvania and of Scotch and Welsh descent. He was born in Summit county, Ohio, where he remained till he was eleven years old, and during the rest of his life followed agri- cultural pursuits mainly in Noble county, Indiana, where his death occurred in his seventy-ninth year. His wife was also a native of Ohio, and of Irish and German descent.
Dr. Iddings was a student in the high school at Kendallville, Indiana, spent one year in the Fort Wayne Methodist Episcopal College and one year at Ann Arbor in the State University. He gained his early training mostly by his own efforts, and before taking up the study of medicine taught school for three years. He read medicine with Dr. Gunder Erickson at Kendallville, and in 1876 graduated from the Detroit College of Medicine,
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at Detroit. For four years he was located in practice at Swan, Noble county, Indiana, and was then appointed to the office of physician to the state peni- tentiary at Michigan City, discharging the duties of that position for two years. He came to Merrillville in 1883, and has been in constant and suc- cessful practice here ever since. He is examining surgeon for the New York Life Insurance Company, the Equitable Life Insurance Company, and is district examiner for the Catholic Order of Foresters.
Dr. Iddings affiliates with the Knights of Pythias at Crown Point. He is a strong Republican in politics, and on the ticket of that party was elected to the trusteeship of Ross township, which office he held for seven years and a half.
Dr. Iddings married. in 1878. Miss Mary E. Clark, the fourth in num- ber of the seven children of Jonathan and Polly (Skinner) Clark. She was born in Noble county, Indiana. There are six children of this marriage : John. who is a student in the medical department of Northwestern Uni- versity at Chicago : Harold and Harry, twins : Morris, Eva and Fred.
JOSEPH A. BEATTIE.
Joseph A. Beattie, who resides on section 34. Center township, and is filling the position of township trustee, was born in Winfield township, Lake county, Indiana, July 5, 1862. His father was William Beattie, a native of Ireland. in which country he was reared and married. His wife bore the maiden name of Rebecca Ross and was also a native of the Emerald Isle. Crossing the Atlantic, they became residents of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and thence removed to Lake county, Indiana, locating in Winfield township. where Mr. William Beattie carried on agricultural pursuits throughout his remaining days. He passed away April 9. 1899, and his wife also died in Lake county, the date of her death being June 1, 1899. In their family were nine children, three sons and six daughters, of whom three died in infancy, while six reached years of maturity and four are now living.
Joseph A. Beattie, the eighth member of the family and the only sur- viving son, was reared on the old family homestead and is indebted to the district schools for the early educational privileges he enjoyed. He after- ward attended the high school at Crown Point, and when not engaged with the duties of the schoolroom he gave his father the benefit of his services by
bra a Beattie.
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assisting in the cultivation and improvement of the home farm. He remained under the parental roof until his marriage, which important event in his life occurred on the 27th of November. 1890, the lady of his choice being Miss Gertrude C. Holton, a daughter of Charles V. and Margaret Jane (Cochran) Holton, who were early settlers of Lake county. Mrs. Beattie was born in this county and was here reared and educated. . At the time of his marriage Mr. Beattie became a resident of Crown Point, but in 1891 he took charge of the Willowdale stock farm, comprising four hundred and twenty acres. He has since remained as its superintendent. filling the position for twelve years in a most acceptable manner. This is the property of William J. Davis, of Chicago. In 1892, in connection with Mr. Davis, Mr. Beattie purchased three hundred acres of land on section 18, Center township, and this farm is also conducted by Mr. Beattie, it being devoted to pasturage and to the rais- ing of hay for the stock. He handles about one hundred and fifty head of cattle and horses and feeds all of the grain raised. There is a fine creamery upon the place and the cream is shipped principally to the Wellington and the Stratford hotels and the Chicago & Alton Railway for use on dining cars. Mr. Beattie is recognized as a most enterprising and progressive busi- ness man, conducting his farming interests along modern lines, and his capable direction of his business affairs and untiring energy have brought to him a creditable and gratifying measure of success.
In his political views Mr. Beattie is a stanch Republican, and in 1900 he was elected upon that ticket to the position of township trustee of Center township for a term of four years, receiving a majority of more than two hundred, and received sixty-six more votes in the township than were cast for the presidential ticket, a fact which indicates his personal popularity among the people with whom he has been acquainted from early boyhood. He has been the president of the Lake County Agricultural Society for six years and was re-elected in 1903. His efforts as the head of this organization have been effective in promoting the welfare of the farming class of this county. He has taken an active part in all public measures contributing to the general good, and is a most progressive and enterprising citizen. Fra- ternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Foresters. He has never lived outside the borders of Lake county, his interests centering here, and among the residents of this portion of the state he has many warm friends. He is one of the leading and popular men of Lake county.
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
HON. WILLIAM E. WARWICK.
Hon. William E. Warwick, who for a number of years has been one of the forceful and honored factors in public life and business circles in Whiting, has attained to prominence through force of his character, the exercise of his talent and the utilization of opportunities. By education and training he was well qualified for the important position which he is now filling, that of first assistant superintendent for the Standard Oil Company, at Whiting, where is located the largest plant of the kind in the world. He is also the vice-president of the First National Bank of Whiting, and his busi- ness career has won the respect of his contemporaries and excited their warm admiration. It is not this alone, however, that entitles him to rank as one of the foremost men of his city, for his connection with its public interests has been far-reaching and beneficial. He has aided in shaping the municipal policy, and his patriotic citizenship has taken tangible form in his zealous labors for the improvements instituted through aldermanic measures. He is now the mayor of Whiting, and as its chief executive is giving an admin- istration characterized by a business-like spirit and by substantial upbuilding and progress.
Mr. Warwick was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the 13th of January, 1862. His father, William P. Warwick, was born in Dahlonega, Georgia. but was partially reared in New York city. He became a lumberman of Wisconsin, where he has resided for many years. still making his home in that state. He wedded Miss Mary Palmer, a native of Waukegan, Illinois, but her death occurred when she was thirty-five years of age. In the family were two daughters, but one is now deceased.
Hon. William E. Warwick, the only son, was reared in the place of his nativity until seventeen years of age, and from the age of six years he attended the public schools, thus acquiring a good practical education. On leaving Wisconsin he went to Bedford, Iowa, where he lived two years with an uncle, who was engaged in farming there. Then he began teaching in the country schools of Iowa, and in the meantime he had begun preparation for college, wishing to gain a more advanced education, the value of which he realized. He attended the Iowa State Agricultural College, and during the periods of vacation engaged in teaching school in order to meet the expenses
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of his college course. He was graduated in 1888, and the following year he came to Whiting, where he accepted the position of mechanical draftsman for the Standard Oil Company, acting in that capacity for about two years. He was then made assistant master mechanic, and thus served until the Ist of December, 1893, when he was transferred to the paraffine department as its superintendent. For almost ten years he acted in that capacity, and in November, 1903, he was made first assistant superintendent of the works. which position he is now filling. This plant is the largest in the world of its kind, two thousand men being employed, and the position of Mr. War- wick is therefore a most important and responsible one. He is yet a com- paratively young man, his thorough practical training, his close application and his sound business judgment well qualify him for the onerous duties that devolve upon him. He is likewise the vice-president of the First Na- tional Bank of Whiting.
In October, 1902, Mr. Warwick was united in marriage to Miss Ella Fredenberg. They have a pleasant home in Wheeling which is noted for its gracious and warm-hearted hospitality. Fraternally he is a Mason. having taken the three degrees of the blue lodge. In his political views Mr. War- wick is a gold Democrat, and after the incorporation of Whiting as a city in 1903 he was elected its first mayor and is still its chief executive. He came to Whiting when the town was being laid out by the Standard Oil Company, which built its extensive works here, and with the growth and progress of the place he has since been identified, doing all in his power for its substantial improvement and upbuilding. He is a public-spirited citizen, has wrought along modern lines of progress, both in his business and his public life, and in Whiting he commands the respect and confidence of the great majority of those with whom he has come in contact.
CYRUS E. SMITH.
Cyrus E. Smith, a prominent farmer on section 18. Ross township, and ex-county commissioner. has been identified with the various interests of Lake county for over forty years, and is a representative citizen in every sense of the word. He has found in farming a profitable and pleasant vocation. which at the age of sixty-five has surrounded him with comfortable circum- stances for approaching old age, and his interest and work for the public
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welfare and his high personal integrity and character have gained him the esteem and well thinking of his fellow citizens and business associates throughout the county.
Mr. Smith was born September 29, 1839, in Springfield township, Erie county, Pennsylvania, on the farm which his grandfather settled in 1801, and on which his father, Amos Smith, was also born and reared. His father followed farming, and dies at a young age, in 1852. He married Harriet Ellis. a native of Massachusetts, and who died in 1858, leaving four children. one daughter and three sons.
Mr. Smith, the eldest of the children, was reared and educated in his native place, growing up on the old homestead farm. He continued farming in Pennsylvania for two years after his marriage, and in 1863 came out to Lake county and located on the farm which he has ever since cultivated and owned. He placed countless improvements on the place during the subse- quent years, and his farm of one hundred and sixty-five acres will now com- pare favorably with any in the township. He carries on a general farming. stock-raising and dairy business, and has made his operations pay steady profits. For about eight years he taught school during the winter seasons in Ross township.
Mr. Smith was married in Erie county, Pennsylvania, October 6, 1861, to Miss Ellen Harper, a native of Ashtabula county, Ohio, and a daughter of Benjamin and Ruth (Underwood) Harper. The son born of this marriage is deceased, and they have an adopted daughter, Pearl. Mr. Smith, as a stanch Republican, first voted for Lincoln, and has taken an active part in public affairs. He was elected county commissioner in 1884 and held that important county office from 1885 to 1891. He was also appointed trustee of Ross township to fill out a vacancy.
ARTHUR T. CON.
Arthur T. Cox, treasurer and manager of the Wisconsin Lumber and Coal Company, at East Chicago, is an enterprising young man who in his active career has followed modern business methods and wrought along lines which have resulted in gaining for him a very desirable position in the busi- ness world, one that brings to him a good financial return.
He was born near Westfield in Hamilton county, Indiana, December
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9: 1863, and is the oldest of four living children of Stephen and Julia A. (Rich) Cox. In the family, however, were seven children, four sons and three daughters. The family was established in the south at an early day, and the grandfather, Hugh Cox, was a native of North Carolina, where he always made his home, passing away in that state when in middle life. Through his business career he followed the occupations of farming and mill- ing. His wife, Mrs. Rebecca Cox, has also been called to her final rest. They were the parents of two sons and four daughters. They held membership in the Friends church, and their lives were in harmony with their religious faith.
Stephen Cox, father of Mr. Cox, was born in North Carolina, was reared to the occupation of farming and followed that pursuit throughout his active business career. Ile came to Indiana in the spring of 1861 and settled near Westfield, where he continued to engage in the tilling of the soil until 1901. In that year he retired from business life and is now enjoying a well-earned rest in Westfield. He married Miss Julia A. Rich, who was born in Indiana and was a daughter of Peter Rich, also a native of this state. Her father was a farmer by occupation, and lived at Westfield, where he died at a ripe old age. He was very prominent and influential in his community, and various local positions were conferred upon him. His wife, who hore the maiden name of Amy Jessup. also died at an advanced age. In their family were a son and three daughters. Mr. Rich was a most earnest and untiring worker in the Friends church, and he and his wife were recognized as leaders in the congregation of their home locality. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stephien Cox were also ardent workers in the Friends church, likewise took an active interest in the temperance cause and did all in their power to promote tem- perance legislation. In the year 1899 Stephen Cox was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died in the month of July when about sixty years of age. Of their family of four sons and three daughters, those now living are Arthur T. : Erwin. who makes his home near Westfield. Indiana ; Nietha. the wife of E. L. Foulke, of Kansas City, Missouri; and Elsie, who is the wife of Charles Baldwin, of Westfield.
In retrospect one can see Arthur T. Cox as a farm boy, working in the fields as he assisted his father in the cultivation of the crops, or attending the district schools. After he had largely mastered the branches of study taught in the local school he entered the Union high school, and subsequently pur-
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sted a collegiate course and was graduated on the completion of the scien- tific course in Earlham College, at Richmond, Indiana, with the class of 1890, at which time the Bachelor of Science degree was conferred upon him. The following year he entered upon his business career in connection with the lumber trade. He was employed first in his home town and afterwards in the county seat at Noblesville, Indiana, where he remained for two years. On the expiration of that period he entered the employ of the Nordyke and Marmon Company, of Indianapolis, being in their office for a few months. Later he was sent out by the firm as collector to different towns in Indiana. A year later he entered the employ of the Paxton Lumber Company of Ham- mond, in 1894, and was located there until 1897, when he went to Rensselaer, where he continued for about a year. He next secured a position in Morocco, Indiana, and afterwards went to Lowell, where he accepted the management of the Wilbur Lumber Company, of Milwaukee, filling that position in a manner entirely satisfactory to the company for three years. He was next offered and accepted the position with the Greer-Wilkinson Company at Russellville, Indiana, and in February, 1903, he came to East Chicago to act as manager of the lumber yards of the same company at this place. In February, 1904, the Greer-Wilkinson Lumber Company sold its interests in East Chicago to the Wisconsin Lumber and Coal Company, of which concern Mr. Cox became treasurer and manager and one of the stockholders and lias continued in these relationships up to the present time. In 1904 the company erected a two-story lumber warehouse, sixty by one hundred and fifty feet, in which is carried an extensive and varied line of building ma- terials, and the establishment is one of the flourishing business enterprises of East Chicago.
June 20, 1901, occurred the marriage of Mr. Cox and Miss Laura LuElla Fuller. Mr. Cox is a member of the Society of Friends, while his wife is identified through membership relations with the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally he is connected with Colfax Lodge No. 378, F. & A. M., at Lowell, Indiana, and belongs to Renssalaer Lodge No. 82, Knights of Pythias. His political endorsement is given to the Republican party, but the honors and emoluments of office have had no attraction for him, as he has preferred to give his time and attention to his business interests and to the enjoyment of home life. The Cox household is noted for its hospitality;
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which is generous and cordial, and both Mr. and Mrs. Cox have won many friends during their residence in East Chicago.
GEORGE F. GERLACH.
George F. Gerlach, the prominent and well-known merchant of St. John, Lake county, is a self-made and successful business man. He began life for himself at an early age, finding in school teaching the first stepping stone of progress, and at the same time acquainted himself with the details of mer- cantile affairs. He is and has been for some years an important factor in business circies of St. John township, and is always found identified with the side of progress and general advancement in material, social and educa- tional movements.
Mr. Gerlach was born in Bavaria, Germany, January 24, 1841. His father, Michael Gerlach, was a native of the same country, and in 1846 emigrated with his family to America. He settled at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, where he followed his trade of carpenter for about eleven years. In 1857 he emigrated further west, locating in St. John township, Lake county, Indiana, where he turned his attention to farming pursuits. He bought eighty acres of land, improved it, and for the remainder of his life made farming a successful enterprise. He died at the age of seventy-four years. His wife was Agnes Catherine Wartheim, a native of Germany, and who also attained the age of seventy-four years. They were highly respected in Lake county, and are to be counted among the early settlers who opened up and developed the farming regions. They were the parents of seven children, one of whom died young, but the others, four sons and two daugh- ters, are still living.
Mr. George F. Gerlach, the eldest of the family, was about five years old when he crossed the ocean to America, and about sixteen when the family came to Lake county. He began his education in Virginia, and later attended the St. Vincent's College in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. After coming to Lake county he began his independent career by teaching school, beginning at the age of seventeen and continuing the profession for about three months of the year during the following ten years, in St. John and Hanover townships. What time he was not teaching he employed by acting as clerk in the store of Henry and F. P. Keilmann. at St. John. In
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1867 he married and in the same year began business in partnership with Mr. F. P. Keilmann. They carried on a general merchandise business until 1885, when the partnership was dissolved, and since then Mr. Gerlach has been conducting his store alone and at his present location. He has a long established and prosperous business, carrying a stock valued at about sixteen thousand dollars, and is recognized as one of the foremost business men of the county. He also buys and ships grain and live-stock. This position in the world of affairs is the more creditable when it is remembered that Mr. Gerlach commenced his career with nothing except his own ambition and industrious habits.
He has also performed his part in public affairs. He has been a Demo- crat since the casting of his first vote, but maintains an independent attitude in local affairs, voting for the best man. He has been a justice of the peace. and is now a notary public. He is also interested in the agricultural develop- ment of Lake county, for he owns about nine hundred acres of land in dif- ferent parts of the county.
Mr. Gerlach married, in 1867, Miss Margaret Keilmann, and they are the parents of nine children: Katie, wife of Peter Schmidt: Frank, in his father's store: Joseph M., also in the store: Maggie, wife of John Stoltz. who is employed in Mr. Gerlach's store: Lizzie, wife of Michael Weis, of Ross township: George and Charles, who are in their father's store: and Lena and Clara, who are still in school. The children were all born in St. John township, Lake county.
WILLIAM J. GLOVER.
William J. Glover has almost completed his second term as recorder of Lake county, and during an eight years' incumbency of that office has set a standard of efficiency and administrative ability which is a matter for pride to himself and for profit and good to the county. Like most of the worthy citizens of Lake county, Mr. Glover has spent his years in labor providing for the material wants of himself and family, and is therefore a popular man in the true sense of that word. He first became known to Lake county as an employe of the iron mills of East Chicago, and for the past fifteen or more years has been an upright, public-spirited and hard-working citizen, always steadily progressing toward a higher goal of endeavor. As a public official
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