USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 33
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W. B. OWEN.
W. B. Owen, superintendent of the National Fire Roofing Company at Hobart, Indiana, is a young man whose responsible business position indi- cates his marked capability and enterprising spirit. He is numbered among Indiana's native sons, his birth having occurred in Porter county on the 3Ist of October. 1882. His father, William B. Owen, was born in Crown Point, New York, in 1835, and about 1878 became a resident of Porter
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county, Indiana. He was a prominent brick manufacturer of Porter and Lake counties, establishing his home in the latter about 1886. There he founded a brick manufacturing plant, which he conducted until his death in 1901. This became a leading industrial enterprise of the county and was a factor in the business prosperity of the community in which it was located. Mr. Owen's father was well known in temperance circles, took an active part in the work of suppressing the liquor traffic and gave his political allegiance to the Prohibition party. He served as town trustee of Hobart for about twelve years and was greatly interested in the development and progress of the town. He was also a prominent Mason and was an active and zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, his life being in consistent harmony with his professions. He marriedi Miss Annie Pride, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, who came to America with her parents when but six years old. She was a resident of Chicago for some years, and she died in Lake county, Indiana, in November, 1897. Mr. and Mrs. William B. Owen, Sr., were the parents of four children, three sons and a daughter : William L .. who is studying medicine in Chicago; Jessie and Robert, who are de- ceased ; and W. B.
W. B. Owen, the youngest of the family, pursued his early education in the public schools of Hobart and afterward attended the Chicago Manual Training school for three years. He was then associated with his father in business, and in 1902 was made superintendent of the National Fire Roofing Company, which position he now holds. He has a thorough and accurate knowledge of the business in both principle and detail, and combined with his executive force and keen discernment he has been enabled to so control the affairs of the company as to make its interests very profitable. He now has in his employ one hundred and five men. and the enterprise of which he is the head is one of the most important productive industries of the county. Fifteen hundred car-loads of the products were shipped in the year 1903. The company also owns a large plant at Twin Bluff, Illinois, near Ottawa, of which Mr. Owen is superintendent, and there they do about one-half the amount of business transacted at Hobart.
In 1902 Mr. Owen was joined in wedlock to Miss Eva May Kitchem, a daughter of Albert Kitchem. They have one child, Jessie. Like his father, Mr. Owen is a most stalwart advocate of temperance principles and gives his
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political allegiance to the party which embraces his views on this question. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his has been an upright and honorable career. In all of his business life he has never been known to take advantage of the necessities of his fellow men, but places his dependence upon the sure and safe qualities of energy, good workmanship and honorable dealing-which always prove an excellent foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of prosperity.
FRED CASTLE, M. D.
Dr. Fred Castle, who was formerly engaged in the practice of medicine, enjoying a large and lucrative practice and rendering valuable assistance to his fellow-men, is now living retired in Lowell. He is a native of Franklin, Franklin county, Vermont, his natal day being August 9, 1840. His father, Stanley Castle, was also born there and was a farmer by occupation. He left New England, however, in 1847. and made his way westward to Lake county, Indiana, locating in Cedar Creek township, where he secured a tract of land. which he developed into a rich and productive farm. Prospering in his undertakings, he added to his possessions from time to time until his realty holdings aggregated about seven hundred acres.
Dr. Castle is the elder of two children, and was a lad of seven summers when brought by his parents to Lake county. His early education was ac- quired in an old log schoolhouse, such as was common in pioneer days of this portion of the state. He afterward attended Valparaiso College, and, while there pursuing his study, enlisted in response to the country's call, becoming a member of Company G, Twelfth Indiana Cavalry, in 1863. He joined the army as a private, but was made orderly sergeant and did active service until the close of the war, when he received an honorable discharge from the hospital in which he had been for six months on account of rheumatism.
When the country no longer needed his services Dr. Castle returned to Lowell, where he remained for a year and a half, ere he had sufficiently recovered his health to engage in active business. At the end of that time he began teaching in the public schools and also taught vocal and instrumental music. Later he retired from the field of public-school education in order to devote more time and attention to music. He also took up the study of
Mrs Rochil Castle
FRED CASTLE
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medicine, and after pursuing his reading for five years he was graduated from the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor with the class of 1869 He practiced medicine for ten years in Minnesota, being located at Caledonia, Houston county. He was forced to abandon the practice, however, on account of rheumatism, and then returned to In- diana, after which he devoted his time to farming for a number of years. At length lie divided his land among his children, but still continues the supervision of the property. Dr. Castle owned at one time about three hundred and fifty acres, and he still has control of two hundred and fifty acres.
He was married to his present wife in 1878. She bore the maiden name of Rachel Ellingsen, and to them have been born three children : Carrie M., who is now the wife of Cecil M. Johnson, who resides upon one of her father's farms; John; and Nellie M.
Prior to the Civil war Dr. Castle was a Democrat. but at that time he joined the Republican party and has since been unfaltering in support of the party and its platform. He is a member of Burnham Post, G. A. R., and is a Royal Arch Mason. Coming to Lake county in early boyhood days, he has witnesed the greater part of its growth and improvement as it has emerged from pioneer conditions to take its place among the leading counties of this great commonwealth. Whatever has been accomplished here in the way of progress and improvement has been to him a matter of deep interest, and inasfar as possible he has co-operated in the work for the general good.
WILLIAM M. FOSTER.
William M. Foster is the efficient and popular agent of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad at Hobart, and his relations in a business and personal way with this city have been most pleasant and profitable. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, September 16, 1861. His father, James Foster, was a native of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. He followed the occupation of farming in early life, and at one time was engaged in the operation of a sawmill and the manu- facture of lumber. At the time of his death, however, he was connected with the steel industry in Pittsburg, where he died in 1880. His wife and the mother of Mr. Foster was Charlotte Benton, also a native of the Keystone
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state, where much of her life has been passed, but she is now living in Hobart, Indiana, at the age of seventy-five years. Her parents were English born, and some of their children were also born in England. James and Charlotte Foster had five sons and two daughters: Sarah Antoinette, who died in December, 1897; John Benton, who is a foreman in the Edgar Thompson Steel Works at Braddock, Pennsylvania; Henry Albert, who was engaged with a publishing company at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and was formerly train dispatcher at Fort Wayne for the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad; William M., who is the fourth child and third son; Marian A., who died in infancy; James Alexander, who is a foreman in the machine shops of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he entered as an apprentice, in 1886, and has occupied posi- tions in several other machine shops since then, returning to the Pennsylvania Company's shops in 1901, and was promoted to his present position of fore- man in 1903; and Richard Franklin, a telegraph operator at Liverpool, In- diana, with the Pennsylvania system, who was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1871. This son, the youngest of the family, is an especially proficient musician and performer on the mandolin, possessed of much artistic skill, besides being so capable in his serious line of work.
Mr. William M. Foster was reared and educated in Pennsylvania, at- tending school at Pittsburg for one year. He was a traveling man for four years. representing different lines of business. In 1887 he took up the study of telegraphy at Fort Wayne in the office of the Pittsburg. Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad. He had completed his term of apprenticeship in one year. and then served a year as extra operator. In December, 1889. he was given a regular position, and in 1892 was appointed relief agent. In 1895 he was transferred from the latter capacity to the post of station agent at Hobart. which position he is still filling to the entire satisfaction of his company. Ile is a very capable man, and his courtesy in the treatment of the patrons of the road has won him high commendation and been a chief factor in his success. Mr. Foster is a true-blue Republican, and fraternally is affiliated with Camp No. 5202, M. W. A .. and with the M. L. McClelland Lodge No. 357. of the Masonic order at Hobart. He and his wife are members of the Unitarian church at Hobart.
Mr. Foster's wife, to whom he was married on June 24, 1896, was
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Miss Julia C. Butler, a daughter of William M. and Elizabeth (Johnson) Butler. The history of her father, a pioneer of Chicago and of Lake county, is detailed below. Mrs. Foster was born in Chicago, July 4. 1871, and she spent some of her girlhood days in Hobart. She received her education in the grammar schools and in the Hobart high school, and she completed her education in the Valparaiso Normal College. Her own educational qualifica- tions led her into teaching, and before her marriage she was known as one of the successful teachers in the public schools of Hobart and Liverpool. Her interests are still afforded as far as possible to literary affairs, and she is a member of the Woman's Reading Club of Hobart. She is among the most higlily esteemed ladies of Hobart, and her social relations are with the best people of the city. Mr. and Mrs. Foster have two children: The son, James Moulton, was born July 8. 1897. and Helen Virginia was born April 30, 1900.
Shortly after their marriage Mr. Foster purchased a comfortable and commodious modern residence on Cleveland avenue in Hobart, really ex- changing for it his residence property in Fort Wayne. Mr. Foster takes great pride in his nice home, and gives attention to the adornment of the nice grounds about the house, while Mrs. Foster does her part so well for interior comfort and beauty.
There follows the obituary of Mrs. Foster's father, as clipped from an issue of the local press dated in December. 1895.
Died. December 1. William M. Butler, Sr .. one of Hobart's oldest residents. He was a native of Watertown, New York, where he was born January 22. 1824. He came to Chicago in 1837, and was one of the far- siglited pioneers who watched the frontier trading post develop, like the fairy castles of a single night, into the representative commercial metropolis of a continent. Mr. Butler was engaged in the hardware business there until the great fire. He then moved to Hobart, where he has ever since resided. He leaves a wife and ten children, an interesting family, to whom the sincere sympathy of this community is extended in their bereavement. The funeral services were held Wednesday forenoon from the home.
"We see but dimly through the mists and vapors."-AAnd perhaps most dimly on this earth can we penetrate the veil which covers the inmost heart and impulses of our fellow men. We see the puppets play upon the boards ;
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but of the hand behind the curtain which controls and impels them. we know nothing.
Mr. Butler's was a unique character-rugged, and strong of purpose and will. All-sufficient unto himself. he possessed his hopes and his ambi- tions, and he fought and struggled for them with a silent determination which was only the stronger because its ordinary indications were repressed. He had many acquaintances, yet the number of men who really knew him was very few. Those who were permitted to see beneath the stern and rugged exterior found something. within the inner self of the man, to under- stand and look upon with no little admiration. He had had his troubles and his disappointments : and out of them he had brought one strong desire to provide for the children whose happiness and worldly welfare was. as a matter of fact. his highest wish. Taciturn he was, and not given to revealing his inner emotions to those about him. And yet he had moments when he unbent, when his grim silence seemed to relax ; and in those moments, which were seldom seen by any except his family, there could be read the better nature which dominated his life's hard and really unselfish struggle.
He possessed in an exceptional degree the refined education and deep mental grasp which might have made him a highly known student and thinker had he chosen. His ideal of life was a plain and far from idyllic one. He was faithful to his religious tenets to the end, and in accordance with a prevously expressed desire, the funeral address was made by the eloquent Cora L. V. Richmond, of Chicago, one of the most brilliant leaders of the Spiritualistic exponents in America. Appropriate music was pleasingly ren- dered by the quartette choir of the Unitarian church.
AUGUST CONRAD.
Perhaps no one business enterprise or industry indicates more clearly the commercial and social status of a town than its hotels. The wide-awake. enterprising villages and cities must have pleasant accommodations for vis- itors and traveling men, and the foreign public judges of a community by the entertainment afforded to the strangers. In this regard the Conrad Hotel. of which Mr. Conrad is proprietor, is an index of the character and advan- tages of Tolleston, for the hostelry will rank favorably with those of many a larger place, and its genial proprietor neglects nothing that can add to the comfort of his guests.
Anz Conrad
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Mr. Conrad is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred in the fatherland on the 9th of September, 1841. He was there reared, his boyhood days being quietly passed, and the public schools of Germany afforded him his educational privileges. After putting aside his text-books he began preparation for life's practical duties by serving an apprenticeship to the cabinet-maker's trade. Ile began when fourteen years of age and worked on that way until twenty years of age, when, in accordance with the laws of the fatherland demanding military service from every able-bodied son. he joined the German army and served for three years.
Desirous of benefiting his financial condition Mr. Conrad resolved to come to America, having heard much of its superior business opportunities and possibilities. Accordingly he bade adieu to home and friends and in 1866 sailed for the new world, landing eventually at New York. He did not tarry in the eastern metropolis, however, but made his way at once into the interior of the country, locating in Chicago, where he followed his trade as an employe until 1870. In that year he removed to Clarke Station, where he entered the employ of the Washington Ice Company, but later returned to Chicago, although he still remained in the service of the Washington Ice Company. In 1879 he came to Tolleston, where he embarked in the hotel business, in which he has continued to the present time, covering a period of twenty-five consecutive years. As hotel proprietor he is well known. being a genial landlord, and has made it his study to understand the needs and wishes of his guests and to meet these inasfar as is possible. He has obtained a good patronage and has made the Conrad Hotel a credit to the town.
In 1870 was celebrated the marriage of August Conrad and Miss Harmena Ratzlow, who died in 1898 leaving four children, namely: Otto. Emma, Minnie and Paul, all of whom are yet under the parental roof.
Mr. Conrad has been quite active and influential in public affairs in his community and is a recognized leader of public thought and action in Tolles- ton, where his worth and ability have been recognized by election to public office. In 1892 he was chosen by popular suffrage to the position of town- ship trustee, in which capacity he served in a most acceptable manner for four years. He then was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Seegers in the office of trustee. He was also supervisor for two
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terms, or four years. Mr. Conrad cast his first presidential vote for General Grant, but since that time has been a Democrat and is a stanch advocate of the party, believing that its platform contains the best elements of good government. Mr. Conrad is well known in his part of the county and has been identified with its upbuilding and progress through a quarter of a century. In every office that he has been called upon to fill he has discharged his duties with promptness and fidelity so that over the record of his public career as well as his private life there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil. He came to America empty-handed, but the strong and salient characteristics of the German people have been manifested in his career, and the hope that led him to come to the United States has therefore been more than realized. As time has passed he has made financial progress and has also gained in addition to his material success the good will and confidence of those with whom he has been associated.
ALEXANDER C. THOMPSON.
Alexander C. Thompson, formerly identified with agricultural interests in Hobart and now living a retired life, was born in the town of Streetsboro, Portage county, Ohio, on the Ioth of July, 1838, and is the third son in a family of eleven children, whose parents were John and Elizabeth (Cock- burn) Thompson. The father was a native of Edinburg, Scotland, and the mother was born in Dalkeith, Scotland. They were married in that country, and two of their children were born there, but the others were born in Ohio.
Alexander C. Thompson was reared in the county of his nativity, pur- sued a common school education, and afterward spent one year in Hiram College when General James A. Garfield was a teacher there. He was reared to farm labor and continued upon the old homestead until 1861, when he left the plow and donned the blue uniform in defense of the stars and stripes. He enlisted in Company E, First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private, in response to President Lincoln's first call for troops. He served for one year and then returned to Portage county, Ohio. Later he visited different states of the Union and finally located in Ford county, Illinois, at Paxton. There he was engaged in farming for four years, after which he came to Lake county, Indiana, in 1865. Ile then bought a farm in Ross township of partly improved land, and devoted his attention to its further cultivation and
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development until 1897. He placed the fields in excellent condition so that they returned to him large crops. He made substantial improvements upon his land and conducted his farm interests according to the most approved plans and progressive ideas. Year by year his financial resources were in- creased through the sale of his harvests, and in 1897, with a very desirable competence. he retired from business life and took up his abode in Hobart.
In 1862 Mr. Thompson was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Wat- son, a native of Lorain county, Ohio, and a daughter of John and Elizabeth Watson. This marriage has been blessed with three children: Frederick, William and Hugh. The family is widely and favorably known in Hobart. and their circle of friends is extensive. Mr." Thompson has figured quite prominently in public affairs, and his worth and ability have been recognized by his fellow citizens, who have frequently called upon him to serve in public office. He was county assessor for two years, previously he was assessor of Ross township for eighteen years, and in all matters of citizenship has been progressive and helpful. His political allegiance is given the Democracy, and he is a Mason, belonging to the Hobart Lodge. He has a pleasant home in Hobart and other property there, and in addition he owns his valuable farm of two hundred acres in Ross township, which he now rents. He has one of the old deeds executed by President Fillmore, which is a rare docu- ment.
JOHN HILLMAN.
In the field of political and commercial life in Hobart John Hillman is well known and is numbered among the leading and influential citizens of the town. A young man. he possesses the enterprising spirit of the west. which has been the dominant factor in producing the wonderful development of this section of the country. He is the chief executive officer of Hobart and is giving to the town a progressive and business-like administration.
Mr. Hillman was born in Elgin, Illinois, on the 7th of May, 1870, and is a son of Frederick and Hannah (Moss) Hillman, both of whom were natives of Germany, where they spent their childhood days and were mar- ried. John Hillman is their youngest son. His mother was twice married and has one daughter and two sons by her last marriage.
In his early boyhood Mr. Hillman was brought to Lake county and was reared upon the home farm in Hobart township, pursuing his education in the
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common schools. He remained with his step-father until he started out in life on his own account, and then engaged in the saloon business, which he conducted continuously since 1889. He is also a stockholder and director in the First State Bank of Hobart, and is thus connected with financial in- terests in his part of the county. He has also taken an active part in public affairs, and is now serving for the third year as a member of the town board and at this writing is president of that body. In fact, he has continued as its chief executive officer throughout his connection therewith, and his efforts in behalf of Hobart have been practical, effective and far-reaching. IIe is chairman of the township central committee of the Republican party, and does all in liis power to secure Republican successes. Fraternally he is con- nected with the Independent Order of Foresters of America. September 27, 1889, Mr. Hillman was united in marriage to Miss Mary Neiman, and to them has been born a son, Fred. They have many warm friends in Hobart and throughout the surrounding district, and their own home is noted for its gracious hospitality.
JAMES BRANNON.
James Brannon, now deceased, was a well-known and highly respected citizen of Lake county, and his life record should form a place in the history of this section of the state. He was born in Boston, Summit county, Ohio, July 31, 1819, and was a son of William Brannon, a native of Pennsylvania and of Irish descent. The father died in Boston, Summit county. Ohio, when his son James was but nine years of age. The boy afterward lived with an uncle until sixteen years of age, when he started out in life on his own account. He worked by the month for two years and never lost a day during that time. When living in Ohio he belonged to an independent mili- tary company and took part in the drills which were common at that time. Although he earned but eight dollars per month at farm labor, he managed to save most of the amount, and with the money which he had acquired he came to Indiana in 1843, establishing his home in Lake county. Here he preempted a tract of land, first owning a farm of eighty acres, to which he afterward added forty acres. Later he sold that property and bought a soldier's land warrant, wherewith he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land in West Creek township, becoming owner of this property in 1850. As a farmer he was energetic, practical and progressive. He worked hard
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