USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 51
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WELLINGTON A. CLARK.
Among the real pioneers of Lake county-that is, those settlers who were twenty-one years old before 1840-so far as is known to the Historical Association of Old Settlers, one only is now living, Mr. Wellington A. Clark. A descendant of pioneers from Berkshire, Massachusetts, who formed in Ontario county, New York, the settlement that became Naples in New York, a company of sixty New Englanders making that settlement in 1789. it was very appropriate that W. . 1. Clark should become a pioneer in Indiana.
W. A. Clark was born in Naples, New York, September 2, 1815. He was a son of Benjamin Clark and Thankful Watkins, whose marriage was the first to take place in that early settlement which is now Naples, his father erecting the first grist mill there in 1795 or 1796. The tradition is that his mother's ancestors came over in the Mayflower, but the full line has not been made out. His father was a soldier and became an officer in the Revolu- tionary war. He is of good New England Puritan, perhaps Pilgrim, descent. He entered business life as a clerk in a wholesale grocery store in Albany. An older brother, Sanford D. Clark, was then a thriving merchant
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in Ohio, and as the result of a visit to that brother in 1837 or more probably in 1838 W. A. Clark made a lake voyage to Chicago, and thien made a trip into the new Lake county, where he found some acquaintances and relatives, especially Adin Sanger, also Ephraim Cleveland, and others. Arrange- ments were made for a claim to be entered and bought in his name. He returned to the east, and among the names of settlers in West Creek town- ship for 1839 is found the name Wellington .\. Clark. He came through from the east this time across the country in a buggy, and commenced in the fall of 1839 to improve his West Creek farin where had been entered for him at the land sale "three hundred and eight-four acres." In Decem- ber, 1843, he was married to an estimable young woman, Miss Mary C. Hackley, a member of a family of early settlers residing a little north of the present village of Hanover Center. This marriage was solemnized by Judge Robert Wilkinson, a settler on West Creek in 1835, and who, in true pioneer style, took his rifle with him to go up through the woodland that skirted the west border of Lake Prairie, and with it shot a fine deer when near the home of the bride.
About 1846, leaving farming for a time. W. A. Clark removed with his then young wife to Crown Point, became agent for some large eastern houses. especially Ayers of Lowell, traveled considerably over the state, and made money.
The following paragraph is quoted from a record made in . 1872 and is believed to be thoroughly correct: "At Crown Point he built a good dwelling house : returned to his farm and built an excellent farmhouse ; spent again a few years, including 1864 and 1865, at Crown Point ; and once more returned to the West Creek home. In 1867 he erected and started the first cheese factory in the county ; kept, some of the time, one hundred cows; became owner of a thousand acres north of Crown Point, and made improve- ments at the home place. In 1869 or 1870 he disposed of the thousand acres near Crown Point and now holds ( 1872) his West Creek lands, in amount thirteen hundred and twenty acres." At this time he was considered to be one of the wealthiest citizens of the county and his property, accumulated in some thirty years, was considered to be worth fifty thousand dollars. He at length gave up dairying and farming, and returned to his Crown Point home. He was at this time, 1875, sixty years of age, and for the last period
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of his life, now almost thirty years, he has been a constant resident in Crown Point. He has been content to remain in that "good dwelling house," one of the best in the town when it was erected, while many quite costly men- sions of wood and brick have in these later years gone up around him. His home is a landmark of the earlier years.
In all this period of retirement from farming he has been an active business man, having an office where he may be found almost every day, a dealer in real estate, selling farms and town property, and negotiating loans. During his earlier residence in Crown Point he took large interest in church and school matters, as one of New England descent might be expected to do ; and in 1875 he was largely instrumental in the organization of an associa- tion for the pioneers and early settlers of the county. Of this organization, now called the Old Settler and Historical Association, he was the first presi- dent, delivered the inaugural address at what was then the fair ground. September 25, 1875, at the first annual gathering of the pioneers, and has held the same office for twenty years. He has done much to keep alive the interest in the organization. He has done quite an amount of writing for the papers of Crown Point, dealing, not with the political and social ques- tions of the day, but rather with early AAmerican history, Spanish and French explorers and missionaries, and their early voyages, travels, and settlements. Many of these articles may be found in the Crown Point Register as late as in the year 1904. Few men in their eighty-ninth year do such writing. In 1876 he visited Philadelphia and on his return wrote quite a description of that Centennial. As a political newspaper correspondent may be placed first. Hon. Bartlett Woods; for a writer of long poems. John Underwood ; but as a historical newspaper writer of Lake county. W. A. Clark stands first.
A semi-centennial celebration of the first Masonic lodge of Lake county was held in May, 19044, and he was found to be one of two survivors of the charter members. In 1889 a centennial celebration was held in Naples. New York, and he was named as one of three then known to be living of the children of the first settlers of Naples. He is quite surely the only one According to the dates given in the records, it was fifty years before that centennial, and so fifty years from the time of his father's settlement at Naples. when, in 1839. he became a pioneer settler in Lake county. . And
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now, of all his fellow-pioneers, lie is left alone. Mr. Clark is honorary vice president of the Sons of American Revolution for Indiana.
A few particulars in regard to his family may be added to this sketch. Mrs. Mary Hackley Clark still lives, sixty years older than she was in 1843. but still cheerful and cheery, sprightly in mind, a noble-hearted and a devoted Christian woman. Two sons were given to them. The older one. Henry Clark. married, commenced business in South Chicago, and soon died, leaving two children, of whom one is now Mrs. Claribelle Rockwell, of Crown Point, and the other, a son, is not in this county. The younger of the two sons of Mr. and Mrs. Clark, known as Fred Clark, a promising youth, died of typhoid fever while studying the science of medicine. They have one daughter. Helen, a charming, intelligent, lovely girl, who married, and has three daughters and one son, all married and settled in life, and she herself has returned to the Crown Point home to care, as a dutiful daughter, for her aged father and mother. The family attend and help to keep up the Presbyterian church.
NOTE .- December 7, 1893, soon after the close of the Columbian Exposi- tion. Mr. and Mrs. Clark celebrated the golden anniversary of their mar- riage, when, among other exercises, a paper was read by their friend, T. H. Ball, an acquaintance and friend for fifty years, that paper consisting of ten quite closely written manuscript pages, descriptive and historical, that cele- bration being then considered, as it most probably was, the first "golden wedding" of Lake county.
EDWIN S. GILBERT.
Edwin S. Gilbert, postmaster, editor and business man of Indiana Har- bor, is one of the enterprising citizens of this most enterprising town. When Indiana Harbor began to come into prominence as a commercial center he recognized its opportunities and advantages, and has been identified with its progress ever since. He has been in charge of the postoffice since its estab- lishment, and he issued the first paper in the place. He is eminently public- spirited and truly representative of the energy and business push which are going to make this young trade center of northern Lake county one of the foremost harbor cities about Lake Michigan.
Mr. Gilbert was born in Ash Grove, Iroquois county, Illinois, February
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5. 1862, a son of Theodore Monroe and Hannah (McDonough) Gilbert. the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Delaware. His paternal grandfather was Asa Gilbert, a native of Connecticut and of English descent. He came west to Michigan and owned and operated lumber mills, and in Ohio had some flouring mills and in 1830 built a canal in that state. He rafted the first cargo of lumber from Michigan to Chicago. He later moved to Illinois, and died while on a visit to one of his children in Indiana, when upward of sixty years of age. His wife was named Abigail, and they had five sons and one daughter. Mr. Gilbert's maternal grandfather was John Stidham, a native of Maryland. He was an early settler in Iroquois county, Illinois, where he owned six hundred acres of land, and he died there well advanced in years. He was one of the prominent men of the county. His first wife was named Pennington and his second Bonebrake.
Theodore MI. Gilbert, the father of Edwin S., was a farmer by occupa- tion. He emigrated to Illinois some time in the fifties, and settled at Ash Grove, where he improved and lived on a farm for a time. but later sold and moved into Onarga, where he was engaged in the grocery business for a number of years. He died at Onarga in 1896. aged seventy-two years. He held the office of assessor of his county for a number of terms. His wife still survives him, at the age of eighty-one years. She, as was her husband, is a member of the Methodist church. They were the parents of ten children. five sons and five daughters, eight of whom are now living: John S., of Onarga, Illinois; Erastus P., of the state of Washington: Evaline, wife of Charles H. Pusey, of Oberlin, Kansas: Miss Jennie, of Onarga ; Abigail, wife of John K. Judy, of Goodwin, Illinois: Alice, wife of Wesley Harris, of Oberlin, Kansas: Dwight M .. of Washington state: and Edwin S.
Mr. Edwin S. Gilbert lived on his father's farm until he was fourteen years old. getting his schooling in the district schools. He then went to school in Onarga for a time, after which he learned the printer's trade, which with its allied profession has been his principal occupation throughout his active career. For one year he published the Onarga Review, and for the following three years conducted a paper in North Dakota. On his return to Onarga he established the Leader and published it for three years. After his marriage. in 1888, he lived in the Dakotas for several years, and on January 17, 1891, established the Globe at East Chicago, Indiana. He con-
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ducted this paper until August, 1899. when he sold the plant to the present owner. A. P. Brown. For a short time following he was employed at his printing trade. and then bought the Whiting News, which he still publishes in addition to the Saturday issue of the Indiana Harbor News, the first jour- nal to make its appearance in this town.
When the postoffice was established at Indiana Harbor on February 17. 1902. MIr. Gilbert became the first postmaster. and on its becoming a presi- dential office, January 1, 1904, he was reappointed postmaster. He was city clerk of East Chicago for two terms. He owns a residence in East Chicago, and is now building a double store building with five flats in Indiana Harbor. He is a Republican in politics. He affiliates with the Knights of Pythias. and has been keeper of records and seals since the lodge was insti- tuted in East Chicago four years ago. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
June 21. 1888. Mr. Gilbert married Miss Kate A. Lowe. a daughter of Samuel and Eliza (Beattie) Lowe.
DR. ROBERT AUSLEY.
Dr. Robert Ausley, physician and surgeon of Indiana Harbor. has been there almost as long as the town itself. and besides taking a foremost position in his professional work is also a man of influence in all that pertains to the development and welfare of this harbor city of Lake county. His life of less than a third of a century has been filled with activity, and besides the full complement of school days and the last two or three years devoted to his profession he had much experience in different parts of the country en- gaged in civil engineering. and is also one of the veterans of the Spanish- American war.
Dr. Ausley was born in Waldron, Illinois. November 4, 1872, a son of Elmon and Elizabeth ( Kibbons) Ausley. the former a native of Michigan and the latter of Illinois. He has two brothers. Howard and Charles. the latter of Valparaiso, Indiana. He is descended on his paternal side from one of three brothers who came from Scotland to America many years ago. His grandfather was a native of New York state. a farmer by occupation, and died in middle life, having been the father of two children. Dr. Ausley's father was a soldier during the Civil war. enlisting from Michigan, and after
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the war he settled near Waldron, Illinois, and later in Westville, LaPorte county, Indiana. He now spends his winters in the south and the summers in the north. He is a Mason and in politics a Republican, and his wife is a Methodist. His wife's father was a native of Virginia, and settled in Illinois in 1831, dying in that state at the age of sixty years. He was a prominent farmer and justice of the peace. By his wife, Catherine Custer, he had a large family.
Dr. Ausley spent his boyhood days in Westville, Indiana, where he attended the public schools and graduated from the well known high school in 1887. He then entered Valparaiso College, from which he graduated in 1889. For about a year he was in Wyoming as civil engineer for the B. & M. Railroad. He returned home in 1890 and obtained election as county sur- veyor and drainage commissioner of LaPorte county, being elected at the age of twenty-one years to that important office, and he was re-elected and served in all four years. He then entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, but before he had completed his course the war with Spain broke out, and he at once enlisted. He was made quartermaster sergeant of Company L. One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana Infantry, was sent to Cuba, and remained in the service till the close of the war. On his return he resumed his studies at Rush Medical College, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1902. In the following fall he established his office and practice in Indiana Harbor, and has built up a very satisfactory and profitable patronage in town and the surrounding country.
Dr. Ausley is a member of the Lake County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Association, the Kankakee Valley Medical Association and the American Medical Association. In politics he is a Republican, and his fra- ternal affiliations are with the Masons, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Independent Order of Foresters. He resides and owns a good home at 3515 Grapevine street. December 28, 1897, he was married to Miss Pearl Gardner, a daughter of Jared Gardner.
OZRO METCALF.
Ozro Metcalf, now deceased, was born in Cataraugus county, New York. and when sixteen years of age came to Lake county, Indiana, being among its early settlers. He found that pioneer conditions existed here at the time of
MRS. OZRO METCALF
MRS. FRED M. BUCKLEY
OZRO METCALF
1
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his arrival, for much of the land was still unclaimed and uncultivated, and the homes of the settlers were widely scattered, save that here and there a little village had sprung up and population was more congested in those districts. Mr. Metcalf came to Indiana with his uncle and settled in Eagle Creek town- ship. In 1855 he removed to Cedar Creek township, where he was continu- ously engaged in agricultural pursuits up to the time of his death, covering a period of forty-five years.
Mr. Metcalf was united in marriage to Miss Clarissa M. Haskin, who was born in Geauga county, Ohio, May 22. 1837. Her father, Abile Haskin, was a native of New York, and became one of the early settlers of the Buck- eye state. His last days, however, were passed in Michigan, where he died at the age of fifty-six years. He had married Clarissa Custer, a native of New York, who died in Lake county, Indiana, in her seventy-seventh year. They were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters. all of whom reached mature years, while only two of the family are now living. the brother of Mrs. Metcalf being Nichols Haskin, who resides in Kansas. Mrs. Metcalf was the youngest of these children, and came to Lake county when but five years old, with her mother. Here she has since lived. She was married in 1855. and this union has been blessed with two daughters and twc sons : Clarissa L. is now the wife of William Northrup, their marriage being celebrated February 14, 1878, and their children are Loris; Morton O., who died October 29, 1889; Ora ; Lulu ; and John O. Byron Metcalf is a resident farmer of Center Creek township. Lottie is the deceased wife of Fred M. Buckley. Ordel died in infancy.
Politically Mr. Metcalf was a life-long Republican, and belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church, exemplifying in his life its teachings and belief. He was long a resident of Lake county. and was widely known as a man of unfaltering honor and inflexible integrity. He died at the age of seventy- one years, respected by all who knew him. Mrs. Metcalf still owns a farm of thirty-two acres in Cedar Creek township, also another tract containing forty- three acres. She likewise has fifteen acres at Lowell. In the management of her property she displays good business ability, and it returns to her a gratifying income. Her father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in that faith she was reared. She has long been identified with the denomination and is a most earnest Christian woman, whose many excel-
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lent traits of character have won for her the esteem and friendship of all with whom she has been associated.
DR. HARRY E. SHARRER.
Dr. Harry E. Sharrer, for nearly a decade a leading physician and sur- geon of Hammond, Indiana, is a man of striking personality and high profes- sional ability, and has made his mark in this thriving Lake county town in many different ways. He took up the practice of medicine in Hammond almost immediately after his graduation at an early age from college, and in the few years that have since elapsed has risen to a foremost place in the ranks of the medical fraternity. Dr. Sharrer is a young man of great versa- tility of talents, and while he has done well to reach his present prominence as a physician and surgeon, his accomplishments and value as a citizen are not measured by his professional skill and ability. He is a popular member of social and fraternal circles, and a leader in many of the social functions and entertainments. He takes an active part in practical politics, especially those of his town and county, and in many ways has served his fellow citizens and his fellow partisans. He is also a talented musician. He is highly deserv- ing of honor for his true manhood and many-sided and upright character. While giving a due share of his energies and enthusiasm to the life work whereby he intends to prove his greatest usefulness in the world and provide for his own material needs, he has also recognized the multifarious interests which engage human society on every hand and which likewise lay claim to man's endeavor, and thus has arrived at the happy mean in which he can best serve himself and his fellow men.
Dr. Sharrer was born in Bowen, Illinois, June 11, 1873, and may be said to have inherited the profession of medicine from his father. He is a grandson of an early Illinois pioneer, who was born in Pennsylvania and was a general merchant in Bowen, Illinois, where he died at the age of sixty years : his wife died at the age of seventy-nine years, and they were the parents of three daughters and two sons.
Dr. Wilbur F. Sharrer, the father of Dr. Sharrer, was born in Juniata county, Pennsylvania. He was living in that state at the time of the Civil war, and during that conflict served in both the cavalry and infantry arms of the military, being in the Twenty-second and Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania
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regiments. He was twice wounded, and entered as a private and was pro- moted through the different grades to lieutenant. Right after the war he moved to Bowen, Illinois, and taught school, and also studied medicine in the Keokuk (Iowa) Medical College. He began practice in Bowen, and in the spring of 1874 came to Indiana and located at Rockfield, where he re- mained until 1881, when he moved to Delphi, where he has practiced ever since. He has been on the pension examining board for about twenty years. He and his wife are Presbyterians, and are both of Scotch-Irish stock. He married Catharine E. Moore, a native of Juniata county, Pennsylvania, and one of the two sons and three daughters of a native farmer of Juniata county. who died when about sixty-six years old. Five children were born to Wilbur F. and Catharine Sharrer, two sons and three daughters, and the two now living are Ella B. and Dr. Sharrer.
Harry E. Sharrer was reared in Rockfield and Delphi, Indiana, and attended the public schools of those places. In 1888 he entered Purdue Uni- versity, and was graduated from the School of Pharmacy in 1891. For a time he held the position of manager and chemist of the Hoyt Chemical Company at Terre Haute, but in the same year entered the drug business at Delphi in partnership with M. M. Murphy, which they carried on for several years. In 1894 Mr. Sharrer entered the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, and remained until his graduation on April 9, 1896. On the 12th of the same month he opened his office in Hammond, and has been engaged in successful practice ever since.
April 12, 1898, Dr. Sharrer was married to Miss Lottie M. Weaver, of Burr Oak, Michigan, a daughter of Edward M. and Mabel Weaver. One daughter was born of this marriage, Anna Kathryn. Mrs. Sharrer died November 25, 1901, aged twenty-six years. She was a member of the Pres- byterian church. On June 16, 1903, Dr. Sharrer married Miss Katharine Tracy, of St. Joseph, Missouri. They are both members of the Presbyterian church.
Dr. Sharrer affiliates with Garfield Lodge No. 569. F. & A. M., and was made a Mason in Delphi Lodge No. 516. He also belongs to Ham- mond Chapter No. 117, R. A. M., and Hammond Commandery No. 41. K. T. His further fraternal connections are with Hammond Lodge No. 210, K. of P., and with the Royal League and the Knights of Khorassan. He
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is a member and secretary of the Lake County Medical Society, is a member of the Kankakee Valley Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Associa- tion and the American Medical Association, and is also a member of the executive committee of the National Association of Pension Examining Surgeons. He is president of the Hammond Club and a member of the Commercial Club of Hammond. He is a member of the Hammond Saenger- bund. a German singing society, and an honorary member of Barnie G. Young's Concert Band of Hammond.
A stanch Republican in politics, Dr. Sharrer has been precinct com- mitteeman, and is now a member of the county executive committee; is treasurer of the city Republican committee and president of the Hammond Young Men's Republican Club. He has been a delegate to the state Repub- lican conventions for the past eight years. He also belongs to the Chicago Indiana Club. He lives at the corner of Hohman and Doty streets, where in 1897. 1898 and 1899 he built three residences, which he still owns. He is surgeon for five factories in the city of Hammond and is surgeon for the Monon Railroad.
RODMAN H. WELLS.
Rodman H. Wells, a prominent resident of Crown Point, is senior member of the well known firm of R. H. Wells and Son, proprietors of the large livery. sale and boarding stables at 240 Truman avenue in Hammond. He is one of the oldest native sons of Crown Point, and has made that his home throughout the sixty-five and more years of his life. He has thus known the county from its earliest times, has at various periods held impor- tant county and other local offices, and for a quarter of a century had the leading livery establishment of Crown Point. He is a fine type of business man and citizen, energetic, progressive and public-spirited, and has lived in the enjoyment of esteem from his fellow men during all his career in Lake county.
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