USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 52
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63
Mr. Wells was born in Crown Point, June 6, 1838, a son of Henry and Adaline ( Witherell) Wells, natives of Massachusetts. Both his grand- fathers were natives of that state, and both served in the war of 1812. Henry Wells followed farming in early life. In 1836 he moved from Michi- gan to Indiana, taking up land at Crown Point and following farming in
549
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
that vicinity for the remainder of his life. He was one of the first sheriffs of Lake county, and afterward filled the office of county treasurer. He always retained and resided on his farm just south of Crown Point. where he died. His wife died about 1861. They both attended the Presbyterian church. There were five children in their family: Susan. widow of Alex- ander Clark, of Crown Point: Rodman H. : Eliza, deceased wife of Samuel R. Pratt: Homer W .. of Crown Point : and Adaline, deceased, who was the wife of John E. Luther.
Mr. Rodman H. Wells was reared on the homestead farm at Crown Point and attended the public schools of the town. Farming was his vocation until some years after the war. In August. 1862. he raised Company A. of the Ninety-ninth Indiana Infantry, and enlisted in the company as a private. although he was offered the second lieutenancy. He served nearly three years, and was compelled to come home on account of ill health. He participated throughout the Vicksburg campaign. After the war he worked his father's place for several years. and at the same time did considerable stock-buying. in one season purchasing eight hundred head of milch cows for the Western Reserve. On leaving the farm he entered the livery business at Crown Point and carried it on most successfully for twenty-five years. In 1899 he sold out his establishment at the county seat and in partnership with his son. Rodman B .. opened the large stables at Hammond. Their outfits have a uniformly excellent reputation throughout the city and county, and their patronage has been built up to large and profitable proportions.
Mr. Wells is an influential Republican. and has always taken an active part in public affairs. Before the war he was deputy sheriff. and after the Rebellion was deputy sheriff under Sheriff Marble for four years. In 1882 he was elected sheriff and served in that office for two terms, or four years. He has also served as chairman of the county central committee and a number of times as precinct committeeman, and has been sent as delegate to a number of state conventions. Mrs. Wells is a member of the Baptist church.
In 1860 Mr. Wells married Miss Nancy J. Van Houten, a daughter of James and Sallie Ann Van Houten. Mrs. Wells died in 1871. leaving no children. In 1872 Mr. Wells married Miss Emily W. Van Houten, a sister of his first wife. They have two children. Jennie M. and Rodman B., the
550
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
latter being unmarried and in partnership with his father. Jennie M. married Herman J. Lehman, and they live at Crown Point and have two children. Hermina and Rodman J.
BENJAMIN F. HAYES.
Benjamin F. Hayes, of 206 Hohman street, Hammond, has been con- nected with business and public affairs in Lake county for a number of years, and is a man of recognized ability and sterling integrity, with an excellent record of successful effort since taking up the active duties of life.
He was born at Muscatine, Iowa. April 4. 1859. a son of Maurice and Julia (Guinea) Hayes, natives of Ireland. His great-grandfather lived to be nearly a hundred years old, and his grandfather also died when well ad- vanced in years. The latter came to America and settled in Connecticut. Maurice Hayes learned the tailor's trade, and from Connecticut moved, about 1856, to Muscatine, Iowa, where he died, when still a young man. in 1860. His wife survived him until 1872, when she was thirty-eight years old, and by her second husband. Philip Myers, she had three children. The family were all Catholics in religious faith. Maurice and Julia Hayes had two sons and two daughters: John, of Sulphur Springs, Ohio; Ella, wife of Edward Rader, of Rapid City, Michigan: Beulah, wife of William J. Wallace, of Chicago Heights, Illinois ; and Benjamin F .. of Hammond.
When Mr. B. F. Hayes was three years old his mother moved to Chi- cago, and he remained there and received his education until after the great fire of 1871. He then went to Crown Point, Indiana, and attended the public schools for a year or so, and that was his principal home for twenty- five years. He learned the butcher's trade and followed it for some years. In 1894 he was elected sheriff of Lake county, being re-elected in 1896, and gave a most efficient administration of that office for four years. Since then his health has been rather poor, and he has traveled a good deal, and in busi- ness his attention has been confined mainly to real estate dealings, he having transacted a number of important transfers in this county. He took up his residence in Hammond in the spring of 1903. He owns property here and also near Crown Point.
Mr. Hayes affiliates with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His wife is a member of the Methodist
551
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
church. He is a Republican in politics, and has served in the township council, as road supervisor and constable, and for two terms was marshal of Crown Point.
On Christmas day of 1877 he married Miss Nettie L. Maxwell, a daughter of William and Roxanna ( Jarvis) Maxwell. Her father was a native of Ireland and her mother of New York. There were eight children in the family, two sons and six daughters, and six are now living: Carrie Adell, the deceased wife of Samuel R. Smith; Nettie L., Mrs. Hayes; Emma F., wife of William Birkley, of Crown Point ; Douglas, of Deep River, Lake county; Edith M .; Lewis E., of this county: Georgia B., wife of Lafay Wilkie, of Buffalo, New York; and Jennie, deceased. Mrs. Hayes' father, was a farmer, coming from Ireland and settling at Westville, New York. when a young man, thence came west and lived in Wisconsin eight years, moved from there to Illinois, and in 1865 to Indiana. He died in 1876, aged forty-eight years. His father. also William, died in Lake county well ad- vanced in years, having been the father of a good-sized family. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Hayes was Alexander Jarvis, a native of Ireland, whence he came to the United States about 1834 and located at Westville, New York. He was a farmer. His wife was Margaret Henry. and they had eleven children. His father, Joseph Jarvis, died in Ireland.
WILLIAM C. SMITH.
William C. Smith. superintendent of the city schools of East Chicago. has been engaged in educational work during most of his active career, and is a man of exceptional fitness for his calling and of recognized ability in both the instructional and administrative fields of his profession. During the past three years he has done excellent work in raising the standard and creat- ing an educational efficiency in the school system of East Chicago, and is held in high esteem among all the patrons of the public schools.
Mr. Smith was born in New York city, February 2, 1869, a son of John G. and Sarah E. (Chandler) Smith, both natives of Massachusetts. He is of one of the oldest American families, dating back for seven genera- tions. His paternal grandfather, John G. Smith, was shoemaker of Beverly, Massachusetts, where he died at the age of sixty-five. His wife was Hannah Cross, and they had a large family. The maternal grandfather of Superin-
552
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
tendent Smith was Holbrook Chandler, a native of Massachusetts and also of an old American family. He was custodian of buildings of the Phillips Acadamy at Andover. He attained the advanced age of eighty-seven years. By his wife Frances Kimball he had a good-sized family. John G. Smith, the father of William C., was a traveling salesman for thirty-five years. In 1879 he left New York and located at St. Louis, Missouri, where he made his home till his death, in 1896, at the age of fifty-seven years. His wife is still living. They both had membership in the Second Baptist church of St. Louis. He had been a soldier during the Civil war, serving in the Thirty- fifth Massachusetts Infantry, of the Ninth Army Corps. He was wounded at the battle of Antietam, and was at the siege of Knoxville and in many battles under Sherman. He served as a private for two and a half years. He and his wife were parents of four children: Everett H., of St. Louis; William C .: Miss Mattie, of Godfrey, Illinois; and Hannah, of Lincoln, Illinois.
Mr. William C. Smith received his first schooling in Jersey City, and after the family moved to St. Louis he attended the public schools of that city, and later was a student in the manual training school of Washington University, in St. Louis. After school days were over he was employed in various ways in St. Louis until 1887, when he began his career as teacher, having charge of district schools for three years. He then became assistant principal at Albion, Illinois. In 1901 he came to East Chicago to assume the position of superintendent of the city schools, and has served in that capacity ever since.
Superintendent Smith is a member of the Second Baptist church of East Chicago, while his wife is an Episcopalian. Politically he is a Republican. He resides at 4136 Magoun avenue, where he built his good home in 1902. On September 2, 1891, Mr. Smith married Miss Mary Bowman, a daugh- ter of Kemp and Sarah ( Tribe) Bowman. They have one daughter, Sarah Frances.
AARON NORTON HART.
Aaron Norton Hart is a figure of the past, whose career came to a close over two decades ago, but whose acts survive as an enduring monument of human energy. Count that man well starred, indeed, who accomplishes aught in this hurrying world that is destined to continuance and en-
٠
Martha OG Heart-
Aaron A Heart
553
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
durance. for most men's deeds seldom outlive their mortal years. But A. N. Hart (always called .A. N. Hart) was a character of such force and originality that it was inevitable he should leave an impress on some phase of human endeavor, and this will be found in what he did for the advancement of agriculture, and reclamation of the swamps of Lake county to lasting cultiva- tion and crop-production. IIe was one of the pioneers and most successful promoters of this work, and as his task at the start was a stupendous one, so the happy solution of its difficulties brought him proportionate rewards, and at his death he was one of the wealthy men of Lake county. And rich not alone in this world's goods, but in the esteem of his fellow citizens and in his own worth as a spirit of action. of energizing power, of virile manhood and no- bility of character.
Mr. Hart was well on toward seventy years of age when he was sud- denly deprived of life, but he was an active force in affairs and at the moment of his death was employed in the work which will stand as his most important enterprise. He met his death on January 12, 1883. under the following cir- cumstances as related by the local press :
"Friday morning about 11 :30 o'clock Mr. Hart was superintending the construction of a ditch cutting off a large bend in Plum creek, which flows through his farm at Dyer. The ditch had already been cut through, and a current was flowing. The bottom of the ditch was about two feet wide, aud the banks some ten or twelve feet high. A man was working just ahead of him, cutting off clods and frozen earth, while Mr. Hart was standing at the bottom of the ditch, pulling the loosened clods down into the ditch that they might float off. Suddenly, without warning, the left-hand bank caved, the sharp, frozen edge of the falling bank striking him in the region of the heart. Death was instantaneous. He was thrown against the opposite bank and buried to the waist. The man nearest him states that Mr. Hart did not utter a word, and simply threw up one hand; but whether it was an involuntary motion or a gesture, he cannot tell. It required the exertions of ten men to extricate the body, which was at once taken to the residence of the family near by. It is supposed that the bank had become loosened by the blasting. which had been previously done to open the ditch, and that it was ready to fall at the slightest touch." Funeral services were held at his late residence at Dyer and also at Crown Point, where the remains were interred.
554
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
This once so well-known figure in real estate and commercial circles was born at Akron, Ohio. April 16, 1816, being a son of William J. and Flora (Norton) Hart, of New England. His grandfather was a sea captain of Nova Scotia, and William J. Hart's early home before coming west was in Connectieut.
Mr. Hart was well educated in the schools of Ohio, and throughout life was noted for his strong intelligence and keen, alert mind. In the fall of 1850 he went to Philadelphia, where he soon became engaged in the book publishing business, under the firm name of Rice & Hart, Book Publishers. This firm published such works as "National Portrait Gallery," "American Sylva," and "North American Indians." and shortly after the issue of the first named Mr. Hart came west to the territory about Chicago and engaged in selling the work. On July 4, 1861, he located permanently at Dyer in this county, where he had previously made extensive investments in land. After- wards he engaged in the real estate business in Chicago, where the firm of Hart & Biggs continued for some years before the fire.
Mr. Hart was one of the large land-owners in Lake county, and it is in connection with his real estate interests that the forceful elements of his life are best manifested. He owned eight thousand acres in one body in St. John township, and at the time of his death possessed altogether seventeen thousand acres in the county. The Hartsdale farm of eight thousand acres was one of the first of the fertile and inestimably valuable tracts to be rescued from the dominion of swamp and fen, which had been its state for centuries. It was about 1857, when he was traveling through this state and Illinois in the interests of his publications, that Mr. Hart saw the immense Cady's marsh, then covered by water, and realized at once that it could be drained. He bought several thousand aeres at various prices ranging from seventy- five cents to a dollar and a quarter per aere. He executed an ingenious and thorough system of drainage by which the water was drawn off into the Calumet river, and Mr. Hart found that he had thousands of acres of rich alluvial soil, whose depth of fertility could never be impoverished by cultiva- tion, and where crops have grown through all the successive years in abund- ance and ever increasing value. A few months before his death Mr. Hart was offered two hundred thousand dollars for his farm. but refused, since it was worth twice that princely sum.
555
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
Mr. Hart was energetic and enterprising in many affairs looking to per- manent improvement and development of his county, and no feasible plan for public progress could be presented to him without arousing his interest and co-operation. His pioneer efforts in making the fertile farming tracts from the original swamps did more for the permanent growth and prosperity of the town of Dyer than any other one cause, and that town and community lost a great force for good in the death of Mr. Hart. He was very much interested in a ship canal from the southern end of Lake Michigan to Toledo. effecting the saving of the long passage to the north through the straits of Mackinac. He was not a dreamer, but a practical man of affairs, and the solution of hard problems and the undertaking of great enterprises were the natural element for his mind and energies to work in.
Mr. Hart was married at Philadelphia in 1844 to Miss Martha Reed Dyre. who was born in New Bedford. Massachusetts, in 1824, and died at Crown Point. January 4. 1897, a companionable and much loved old lady of seventy-three years. She was the niece of Father Taylor, the famous Boston . divine. A. N. Hart and wife had the following children: James W., de- ceased : Milton R .: Malcolm T., deceased; and Mrs. Flora Norton Biggs. Mr. Hart was an uncompromising Republican after that party came into exist- ence, and before that his political alignment had been with the Whig element.
Mrs. Flora Norton Biggs, the only daughter of Mr. Hart, was born in Akron, Ohio, and was educated in Mrs. Cary's private school in Philadelphia. She was united in marriage in 1865 to Mr. James H. Biggs, of Cincinnati, now deceased, and who for some time was engaged in the real estate business.
LOUIS BARKER.
Louis Barker, proprietor of the leading clothing and men's furnishing goods store in Indiana Harbor, will, as a matter of record for all present and future history, have the distinction of being the pioneer merchant of this town, the one who recognized an opportunity and opened a place of business before ever the present work of exploitation and development of the townsite had been begun. His fortunate selection of a location and his fine business ability and reliable methods of dealing have all combined to give him a prosperous trade and an influential position among the men of affairs in whose keeping lies the greatness of Indiana Harbor.
556
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
Mr. Barker was born in Russian Poland. December 25, 1850, being a son of Herman and Goldie (Barnett ) Barker. His family name was orig- inally Barkawfski, but for business reasons he had it changed after coming to the United States. His paternal grandfather was Jacob Barkawfski. who was a native of Poland and was engaged in buying horses for the gov- ernment. He had a small family, and he lived to be eighty years of age. Mr. Barker's maternal grandparents were Samuel and Sarah Barnett, both natives of Russia, where the former was a grain dealer and died at the age of eighty-five. Herman Barker, the father of Mr. Barker, was a fruit dealer. and in 1865 emigrated to America. Sickness soon caused him to return to the old country, where he died in 1869, aged sixty-nine years. His wife died in 1890, when about seventy-eight years old. They were both of the Hebrew faith. There were eight children born to them, three sons and five daughters, and the six now living are Simon, Louis, Meier, Pearl, Sarah and Rebecca.
Mr. Louis Barker received his school advantages in his native land. He came to America with his father in 1865, and after living in New York city . two years came west to Chicago, where for a number of years he was in the grocery business. In November, 1901, he came out to Indiana Harbor and built a small store building as the first business enterprise of a coming town. He transacted a general merchandise business for some time, and a year later his family moved to the place. In the summer of 1903, after the full tide of prosperity and industrial development had struck the place, he put up a fine brick store and residence, and he also owns other real estate in the city, besides a building in East Chicago. ITis son Harry was the second person to open a business establishment here, a restaurant, and he later organized the Indiana Harbor Yacht Club. Mr. Barker is a Republican in politics, and the family remain true to the religious faith of their ancestors.
June 26, 1869, Mr. Barker married Miss Rebecca Moses, a daughter of Max and Lillie Moses. Eight children were born of their marriage, as follows: Annie, who married Mr. A. Frank, of Chicago, and they have two sons. Benjamin and Lester; Isaac; Fannie, who married I. Bergson, of Chi- cago, and has two daughters, Dorothy and Sadie Belle: Harry: Heiman, who married Belle Cohn and lives in Indiana Harbor, and has one son, Earl: Samuel : David; and Sadic.
1
557
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
WILLIAM H. HERSHMAN.
William H. Hershman, superintendent of the city schools of Hammond, is a well known educator of Lake county and the state of Indiana, and during the past three years has made a splendid record through his connection with the public schools of Hammond. He has devoted the best years of his life to his profession, and from first to last has been in the front rank of educa- tional progress. The field has been vastly broadened, standards of efficiency have been raised and ideals have changed since he taught his first school, but to-day as well as twenty years ago Professor Hershman is a dominant and influential spirit both as a school manager and an instructor of the young.
He was born in White county, Indiana, July 20, 1851, being a son of Jacob and Mary (Edmondson) Hershman, natives of Ohio and Tennessee respectively. In the paternal line he is of German descent, and his grand- father came from Virginia to Ohio in an early day, and thence became a pioneer of Hamilton county, Indiana, at a time when that portion of the state was the haunt of wild animals and Indians. Many of his descendants still live in Hamilton county. He was a farmer, and lived to be eighty-five years of age. His wife was Mary Cartmill, and she was about the same age at the time of her death. They had a large family. eight sons and several daughters, but all are now deceased but two daughters, Mrs. Sarah Smith, a widow, of Lafayette, Indiana, and Mrs. Mary Strong, in Nebraska.
Jacob Hershman, the father of Professor Hershman, also followed farming. He came to Indiana when fifteen years old, and resided in Hamil- ton county till after his marriage, when he moved to Benton county and later to White county, and in 1868 to Newton county, where he lived until his death, in Brook in March, 1903, when about eighty-two years old. He was one of the stanchest supporters by faith and works of the Methodist church, as is his widow, who is now seventy-nine years of age. Her father was Thomas Edmondson, who was born in Ireland and came to this country and settled near Knoxville, Tennessee, where he followed his trade of mill- wright. He died in young manhood, but his wife, whose name was Nancy Box, lived to the age of sixty-three years, having been the mother of seven children, all of the sons but one becoming preachers. Jacob and Mary Hersh- man were the parents of seven children, five of whom are now living: George died while a soldier in the Civil war : John R. lives in Brook. Indiana : William
55>
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
H .. of Hammond; Jennie is the wife of Newton Lyons, of Jasper county, Indiana ; Frank is deceased: Sarah and Linnie are twins. the former the wife of James Hoach, of Chicago Heights, Illinois, and the latter the wife of Thomas Gratner. of the same place.
Mr. William H. Hershman lived in White county, Indiana, until he was seventeen, spending his youth on a farm. From the district schools he went to the National Normal School at Lebannon. Ohio, and later to the Indiana State University, at Bloomington, where he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1898. He then took a course in the University of Chicago and in the Cook County Normal School. These periods of higher training were interspersed in longer periods of teaching. and except when in college he has been teaching practically ever since he was eighteen years old. His first school was in Newton county. He was president of the Vincennes University one year. He came to Hammond on October 1, 1901, and has held the posi- tion of superintendent ever since. There are eight school buildings under his supervision, and the enrollment of pupils is about 2,670. The superin- tendency is a responsible and arduous incumbency, but he has given eminent satisfaction and done a fine work for the cause of public education in this city. Mr. Hershman served as county superintendent of schools of Newton county for ten years, being elected five successive times with unanimous consent except the first time. He has also concerned himself to some extent with newspaper work, and is one of the proprietors of the Brook Reporter.
Mr. Hershman in politics is independent. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Methodist church, and he is one of the church stewards. He af- filiates with Garfield Lodge No. 596, F. & A. M., with Hammond Chapter. R. A. M .. and with Hammond Commandery No. 41, K. T., and also with Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Indianapolis; with Delphi Lodge No. 28 and with Carroll Encampment No. 17, I. O. O. F., and with the Patriarchs Militant at New Albany, Indiana. He resides and owns a nice home at 39 Webb street.
July 3, 1873, Mr. Hershman married Miss Jennie Lyons, a daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Smith) Lyons. They have two children. Ara Ethel is a teacher in the Hammond public schools, and George is attending Armour Institute of Technology.
Mrs. Hershman's father was a native of Virginia and her mother of
559
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
New Jersey, and she was the only daughter of five children. Her father. a son of Morris Lyons, also a native of Virginia, was a blacksmith in early life, later a farmer, and now lives with his daughter at the great age of ninety years. His wife died in August. 1903. aged seventy-eight years. Her father was named Joseph Smith, and he was truly a hardy and venerable old pioneer. He lacked only two months of being ninety-eight years old at the time of his death. He helped build the breastworks around New York dur- ing the war of 1812. His birthplace was Hoboken, New Jersey. He was one of the first settlers of Jasper county. Indiana, and was one of the first county commissioners of Jasper and Newton counties, serving for several terms. He left Indiana and went to Kansas in the fifties, where he took part in the border warfare of that state. He died at Brook, Indiana. He had been left an orphan, and been bound out as apprentice to a tanner, and his long life was filled with honorable and useful effort.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.