USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 54
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Mr. J. Floyd Irish was born and reared and has lived all his life in Lake county. He attended the public schools at Brunswick and Crown Point, after
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which he engaged in teaching school for six terms. He clerked in a furni- ture and undertaking establishment in Crown Point for some time, and in 1888 came to Hammond. He taught school and later clerked in a con- fectionery store, after which he returned to Crown Point, and was in the employ of Peter Geisen for two years. He went back to Hammond and was circulator and reporter for the Hammond Tribune until January, 1898, when he entered the real estate and insurance business in connection with his father. In 1899 he bought his father's interest, and has since conducted the business alone, dealing in city and country property on an extensive scale and annually writing large amounts of insurance for the standard companies.
In politics Mr. Irish is a Republican, and is one of the city commis- sioners. He affiliates with Hammond Lodge No. 210, Knights of Pythias. and with Pioneer Council No. 38, Royal League. He and his wife are members of the First Presbyterian church of the city, and he is an elder. He purchased his present good home at 628 May street in 1897. He was married, September 30, 1891, to Miss Eva A. Pierce, and their family circle now contains two daughters, Zella Gertrude and Blanche Marie.
Mrs. Irish is a daughter of Israel R. and Mary C. (Atkin) Pierce, the former a native of Ontario, Canada, and the latter of Ohio. Her paternal grandfather was James Pierce, who came from Canada to the United States, and lived at Valparaiso, Indiana, many years. He died in advanced years. By his wife, Jane (Lane) Pierce, he had three sons and three daughters. Mrs. Irish's maternal grandparents were Major B. and Betsey ( Banks) At- kin, five of whose children are still living; he was a farmer and lived in Crown Point during the last fifteen years of his life, which ended in 1897; he was a Republican. Mrs. Irish's father was a farmer and an early settler in Indiana, having left Canada when he was eight years old. He lived on a farm near Merrillville from before the war until his death, on April 23, 1885. when forty-nine years old. He served as a private in the Civil war for three years. being in many important battles and in Sherman's campaign to the sea. He was a Republican, and he and his wife, who survives him. were both Methodists. They had five children, four of whom are now living : Jennie, wife of Alva Saxton, of Merrillville, Indiana: Carrie, wife of Robert Saxton, of Merrillville: Eva A., wife of Mr. Irish; Ernest L. Pierce, of Crown Point : and one that died in infancy.
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
ARMANIS F. KNOTTS.
Armanis F. Knotts, mayor of Hammond and since 1888 continuously engaged in law practice in this city, is an able, industrious and successful member of the Lake county bar, and deserves all the more credit because he arrived at his present prominent position by diligent application carly and late from the days of boyhood. He has spent nearly all his active career in northwestern Indiana, and for a number of years was a successful school teacher, by which profession he entered upon his broader field of activity in the law and public life. He is one of the influential Republicans of Lake county, and to the social, institutional, professional and political affairs of his community has given a generous share of his time and effort.
Mr. Knotts was born in Highland county, Ohio, February 29, 1860. a son of Frank D. and Margaret (Bell) Knotts, the former a native of Penn- sylvania and the latter of Ohio. His mother was a daughter of an early settler and farmer of Ohio, of Irish descent, and who reared a large family. On the paternal side the family is of Holland Dutch stock, from early settlers in Maryland, and the great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution. The grandfather, a soldier in the war of 1812, moved to Ohio at an early day, and lived there till his death at the age of seventy years, having reared a large family.
Frank D. Knotts, the father of Mayor Knotts, has followed the occupa- tions of carpenter and farmer principally. When he was quite young he moved with his parents to Ohio, and in 1868 came to Indiana. locating first in Tippecanoe county, near Lafayette, and afterward at Medaryville, Pulaski county, where he was engaged in farming, but now lives in the town. He is a Democrat in politics, and has held various township offices. His first wife died in 1870, at the age of twenty-nine years, and he married for his second wife Miss Jennie Yates, who became the mother of two children : Nettie. the wife of Nandis Cox, of Medaryville: and William, of Medaryville.
Mayor Knotts was eight years old when he came with his parents to Indiana, and he grew to manhood in Pulaski county, being reared on a farm and learning its duties at an early age. He laid the foundation for his larger training while a student in the district schools, and later attended the normal school at Valparaiso. After leaving the home schools he had taught for some time in the country schools and in Medaryville. He spent five years
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at Valparaiso, and graduated in the classical course in 1883. He then taught two years at Ladoga, being principal of the Central Indiana Normal and Business College. He then returned to Valparaiso, where he took the law course and was graduated in 1887. In 1888 he opened his office in Ham- mond, and has been successfully practicing in this city ever since. He was elected county surveyor of Porter county while in school in Valparaiso, and held the office eighteen months, resigning when he came to Hammond. Since coming to Hammond he has been much interested in Republican politics. He was elected and served one term in the state legislature. from 1898. In May, 1902, he was elected mayor of Hammond, and has given a very efficient administration of municipal affairs.
Mr. Knotts resides at 8 Clinton street, where he built a comfortable home in 1892. He affiliates with Garfield Lodge No. 569. F. & A. M., with Hammond Chapter No. 117. R. A. M., and with Hammond Commandery. K. T. His wife and the children are members of the Catholic church. In 1884 he married Miss Mary Hennessy, a daughter of Michael Hennessy. They have had four children : Anna Frances, Eugenia, Leo and Marguerite. Leo died at the age of two years.
JAMES A. GILL.
James A. Gill is well known in the business circles of Whiting, where his keen sagacity, enterprise and well directed efforts have led to his con- nection with important interests and his consecutive progress therein. He is now the superintendent of the wax-pressing department of the Standard Oil Company, is president of the Whiting Electric Light Company and is also a director of the First National Bank of Whiting.
Mr. Gill was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 3d of January, 1865. His father. Isaac Gill, was a native of England and was reared in that country, remaining there until about thirty years of age, when. hoping to enjoy better business opportunities in the new world, he crossed the Atlantic. taking up his abode in Cleveland, Ohio. In that city he was united in mar- riage to Miss Barbara Heck, who was born in Germany and came to the United States after reaching womanhood. Isaac Gill was in the employ of the Standard Oil Company of Cleveland for thirty-eight years, in fact, he was one of the pioneer representatives of the company and was employed
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directly by John D. Rockefeller. After the establishment of the plant at Whiting he came to this city, and here died in his seventieth year, while his wife also died when about seventy years of age.
James A. Gill, their only child, spent the days of his boyhood and youth in the city of his nativity, and came to Whiting in 1889 when the Standard Oil Company located its manufacturing plant at this place. He acted as timekeeper for the brick-layers employed in the construction of the build- ings. was afterward made inspector of oils in the laboratory, filling that position for about three years. He was next appointed superintendent of the acid works. holding this position for about ten years, going from the acid works to the paraffine department, which position he now holds. He is one of the most trusted as well as capable representatives of the corpora- tion, and this department is always managed with excellent executive ability that results in efficient workmanship. As his financial resources have in- creased, owing to the increased wages that have come with promotion, he has been enabled to extend his efforts into other lines of activity and is now the president of the Whiting Electric Light Company and one of the direc- tors and stockholders of the First National Bank of Whiting. He was one of the incorporators of the Petrolene Paint and Roofing Company, and was made its first president, resigning same some time ago, as the duties of the office were getting too great for him to handle in connection with his other business. He is also the owner of valuable real estate here and erected the first three-story brick block built in Whiting.
In 1891 occurred the marriage of James A. Gill and Miss Carrie H. Halsey, a daughter of Charles Halsey. She was born and reared in Cleve- land, Ohio, and by her marriage has become the mother of two children : Jesse MI. and Grace A. Mr. Gill is a stanch Republican who keeps well in- formed on the questions and issues of the day, but has never sought office as a reward for party fealty. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, and he is also a member of the Owls Club, in which he formerly took a very active part. He is deeply interested in the growth and progress of his adopted city, and has witnessed its development from its earliest inception to the present time. For fifteen years he has been connected with the upbuilding of the place, and has just reason to be proud of the fact that to his efforts can be traced several substantial enterprises and achievements contributing greatly
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to the prosperity and progress of Whiting. In every sense of the word he is a representative citizen devoted to the welfare of his chosen state and con- munity and loyal to the government.
WARREN HENRY HAYWARD.
Perhaps the majority of Lake county families have some visible evidence of Mr. Hayward's artistic work in their homes, and there are certainly very few families in the county that have not some knowledge of who Mr. Hay- ward is and what his life work represents in the way of fine art. For over a quarter of a century he has been the leading photographer of Lake county, and in a profession which, during the last decades of the nineteenth century, made as phonomenal advancement as any other science he kept up with the rapid pace of improvement, and as he stood for the highest type of art in the seventies and eighties so now in the early years of the twentieth century he takes the palm in competition with the masters of the profession. The prob- able secret of Mr. Hayward's success is that he has from his first acquaintance with photography as a profession been enthusiastic and invincibly industrious in its pursuit, and he spared none of the resources of body or mind in his preparation for the work.
Mr. Hayward is a native son of Lake county and the county has been his home and center of activity nearly all his years. He was born in Ross township, June 25, 1852, being the eldest son of Henry and Martha D. (Kronkright) Hayward, the former a native of England and the latter of Vermont. Henry Hayward emigrated with his parents to Canada when he was eight years old, and a few years later the family home was located in Lake county. After his marriage Henry Hayward entered eighty acres of land in Ross township, and his industry and successful management increased this estate to three hundred and twenty acres, on which fine farm he lived until 1897, when he moved into Crown Point. After living there for a few years he moved out to Santa Barbara, California, where he now lives in re- tirement from a career of activity that has been splendidly useful and fruitful.
Warren H. Hayward attended the common schools of his township during the winter seasons, and when summer came he was at home helping on the farm. This routine of boyhood he continued until he was eighteen years old, and he then entered the Valparaiso Male and Female Methodist
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Episcopal College, where he remained two years until his graduation in the commercial department. On his return home he decided to teach dis- trict school during the winter seasons, and was accordingly examined and received a license to engage in pedagogic work. He was hired to teach a winter term in Ross township, but before the term began he had settled upon his definite life occupation. and his resignation was therefore sent in and accepted by the school authority.
It was Mr. Hayward's plan to launch into the photographic business at Valparaiso as a full partner with his uncle, who had had much experience in the profession. In order to learn his part of the work Mr. Hayward at once commenced in what was then the best studio in Chicago, the firm of Copelin and Melander, where he paid ten dollars a week tuition fee, and at the end of six weeks graduated from their printing and finishing rooms. At Valparaiso the partnership of E. J. and W. H. Hayward was carried on for a little over a year, and then the junior partner bought out his uncle's interest on account of the latter's failing health, and for the following two years con- tinued the business alone. He then sold out and returned to Chicago in order to continue his professional training and prepare himself for the ex- tended career in photography which he saw was opening up before him.
On May 10, 1876, Mr. Hayward married Miss Jessie Indiana Bliss, the youngest daughter of Captain H. G. and Louise M. Bliss, of Crown Point. On the day following the marriage they left for Santa Barbara, Cali- fornia. where for a year Mr. Hayward was manager of a large photographic business. He then returned to Crown Point and in September, 1877, started in business for himself. He has made Crown Point his headquarters ever since. and at different times has also conducted branch establishments at Hammond and Lowell.
Many things prove the high estimate in which Mr. Hayward's art is held, not only in Lake county but wherever it has come into competition with other work. He was selected by the G. H. Hammond Company packing house officials to make a set of interior and exterior photographs of their plant, which were to be sent and placed on exhibition at the Paris exposition of 1900. He has likewise taken many prizes on pictures entered in various competitions, and he was awarded a bronze medal at the National Conven- tion of Photographers at St. Louis in 1894.
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From childhood Mr. Hayward has found his greatest recreative pleasure in the rod and gun, and his vacations have usually been spent on the banks of the Kankakee river, whence many times he has brought home a hundred ducks and geese that have fallen before his accurate and practiced marks- manship. When wild game became scarce he interested himself for several years in trap-shooting as a diversion, and won numerous prizes and medals in competition with Chicago's best shooters. Fraternally Mr. Hayward is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters of America, the Knights of Pythias, and the National Union. He is also a member of the Crown Point Commercial Club, and at this writing has the honor of being its president, now serving his second term as such. This club is primarily a social organiza- tion, but at the same time is always looking out for the best interests of the town and has effected much for its welfare in the past.
Three children have come to bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hayward. Nina Louise was born June 20, 1878. and on Christmas day of 1900 married Frank E. Daily, of Chicago. By this daughter Mr. and Mrs. Hayward have a little grandson, Milton Hayward Daily, who is now three years old, having been born November 21. 1901. Harry Bliss, the only son, was born August 28, 1879. and after spending five years in the study of medicine in Chicago graduated in 1902, and is now located at Valley Mills, Texas, where he is practicing his profession with flattering success. Neva Belle, the youngest of the family, was born April 21, 1881, and on January 12, 1904, married John T. Daily, of Chicago. The two daughters married brothers. This happy family is well known and highly esteemed in the social circles of Crown Point, and both children and parents individually have found and are performing worthy parts in the world's affairs.
JAMES HERVEY BALL. Esq.
James H. Ball, of whom a likeness is here given, youngest son of Judge Hervey Ball, was fifteen months of age when his father settled at Cedar Lake. A student for a time at Franklin College in Indiana, he became a teacher in the public schools of Lake county, and at length school examiner of the county. He held as county examiner the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh county institutes. He made the first official school visitations before they were required by law.
JAMES H. BALL
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HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY.
In 1871 he graduated at the Law School of the University of Chicago. He was in active life in Lake county for several years. He has been for some time a resident in Scott, Kansas, where he has a law office, and he has been for two terms probate judge of Scott county.
Before leaving Crown Point he erected four brick dwelling houses which still remain as memorials of his enterprise, as well as his work for many years in educational lines.
He now holds, in Scott county, quite a tract of land, through which flows a stream of water, making it valuable for grass and for pasturage. On this pasture land he keeps some fine cattle of the Galloway variety. His place is called "Edith Ranch."
JOHN J. WHEELER.
John J. Wheeler, proprietor and publisher of the Lake County Star at Crown Point. the newspaper known as possessing the best equipment and the largest circulation of any paper in northwestern Indiana, is a representative of the journalistic fraternity whose present prosperous and successful posi- tion in life has been won by hard and persevering labor and serious attention to the interests which of his own responsibility he has assumed or which have been intrusted to him through circumstances. His career, like that of many newspaper men, has been varied and concerned with several fields of human activity; and. also, his entire life spent within the bailiwick of Lake county has brought him into most intimate relations with its citizenship and industries,-forming experiences and associations of inestimable value in the conduct of a local journal. The Lake County Star is a conservative journal in that it adheres to the best traditions and policies of the past, whether in political or material affairs, but is also exceedingly progressive in that its point of view broadens with the advance of the decades and it continually advocates the upbuilding of the county and state and a betterment of all the vital conditions of society and the world in general. The Star is an influential organ, contains the best winnowings of the local news, and both as an indi- cator and director of public opinion its strength has long been felt in Lake county.
Mr. Wheeler is a native son of West Creek township, Lake county, and was born in that prosperous agricultural section of the county January II,
37
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1848. The Wheeler family originally came from Connecticut, and this branch is from the same strain as is General Joe Wheeler, the famous little rebel general, but the political associations of the Lake county Wheelers have always adhered to the Union and Republicanism.
Mr. Wheeler's father was John Wheeler, and his mother Ann Wheeler, a daughter of John D. Jones. These parents came from Ohio to Indiana in 1847. The father first engaged in school teaching, later was county sur- veyor of Lake county, and in 1857 founded the Crown Point Register, which he continued to publish until June, 1861. He then entered the Union army as captain of Company B, Twentieth Indiana Infantry, and in the spring of 1863 he was promoted to colonel of the command. He had been in all the Potomac battles up to that time, and on the second day of the great Gettys- burg engagement he was shot from his horse and instantly killed at the "Devil's Den," July 2, 1863. His children are John J .. Edgar C., and Alice M., now Mrs. S. S. Cole, of East Brookfield. Their mother died in the seventies.
John J. Wheeler received a very meager education in the country schools of this county, nor did his opportunities of school attendance long continue, since he was obliged to make his own way from the time he was fourteen years old. For several years he clerked in a store. He entered the army when he was fifteen years old, and he now possesses two honorable dis- charges, showing that his youth did not hinder him from performing a full meed of patriotic service to his country. His field of life work has always been in Lake county, and he was twice elected to the office of county sur- veyor. While in the second term of this office he resigned in order to enter the newspaper business, which he has followed since 1872. He lias owned his present fine newspaper plant for twenty-four years, and is among the oldest as he is one of the most successful publishers in northwest Indiana. During Harrison's term of president he served Crown Point as postmaster, and it is needless to state that he has always been a stanch Republican in political faith. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for thirty- three years, and also a Forester, and has been identified with the Grand Army of the Republic since its organization. He is eclectic in his religious views.
Mr. Wheeler was married to Miss Belle Holton, October 27, 1870, at
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Crown Point. She was a granddaughter of Solon Robinson, who figures so prominently in this history as the founder of Crown Point ; he was a remark- able man in many other ways, was the author of numerous books, and for many years was agricultural editor of the New York Tribune. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler have two sons and two daughters. Harold H., the eldest, is now serving his second term as county clerk, and when his time expires he will have been connected with that office for twenty-two years, he having been deputy fourteen years. Fred, the second son, is foreman in the Star office. Jennie A., the older daughter. is now Mrs. W. P. Tice, and Josephine C .. aged fifteen, is still at home.
Mr. Wheeler's career is its own best justification, and he has every reason to be satisfied with the outcome of the battle of life as he has fought it. He is prosperous and a highly esteemed man of affairs in his county, and a conscientious and diligent devotion to the work of the present world makes him content with what his lot will be when he is called upon to cross the great unknown.
DR. JAMES GILBERT VAN DEWALKER.
Dr. James Gilbert Van DeWalker, a prominent and well known physi- cian and surgeon residing at 712 Johnson street, Hammond, Indiana, lias been numbered among the popular practitioners of this city for over twenty years, and has been engaged in professional work for nearly a half century. His long life has been full of useful activity, and he has been identified with many enterprises both public and private during his career. He is a man of breadth and harmony of character, and his energetic disposition and large intelligence have brought him into relationship with all kinds of people and with various activities. He is one of the veteran soldiers of the republic, and has also been a lawyer of no mean ability, and has taken his full share in the social, fraternal, political and public affairs of the various communities where he has had his home.
Dr. Van DeWalker was born in Otsego county, New York. January 31. 1831. He is a descendant of one of three brothers who settled in New York during the early Dutch colonization of that state, and the family has been numbered among the Knickerbocker houses of New York. Martin Van DeWalker, the grandfather of Dr. Van DeWalker, was a native New
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York farmer. and several of his brothers were Revolutionary soldiers. He- and the same has been true of the family in general-lived to an advanced age, dying when he was ninety-five years old, and his wife, whose maiden name was Christina Flansbury, lived to be still older.
John Van DeWalker, the father of Dr. DeWalker, was a native of New York state, was a farmer there, and about 1842 came west and settled in Pleasant township. LaPorte county. Indiana, where he bought a farm and lived until his death, in 1889, at the age of eighty-one years. He and his wife, who died in 1880. at the age of seventy-seven, were both members of the Methodist Protestant church. His wife's maiden name was Nancy Thompson, a native of New York and a daughter of Robert Thompson. The latter was a New York farmer, and for a short time was a soldier in the war of 1812. He married Elizabeth Hull, an own cousin of General Hull, who surrendered at Detroit, and also a cousin of General Stark, who fought at the battle of Bennington, Vermont, where she was born. Robert Thomp- son died at the age of forty-five, and his wife lived to be eighty years old. They had three sons and three daughters. Robert Thompson's father was known as Colonel Thompson. He was the founder of the family in America. having come from the north of Ireland and settled in Cherry Valley, New York, a short time before the Indian massacre. John and Nancy Van De- Walker had six sons and three daughters, and the three now living are Dr. James G .; Emma Jane, the widow of W. T. Horine, of Washington, D. C .; and Elizabeth, the wife of Preston Green, of Lapaz, Indiana.
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