USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 12
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Mr. Cheyne was born in the City of Toronto, Canada, on the 20th of June, 1865, and is a son of Luther and Mary (Switzer) Cheyne, both of whom were likewise born and reared in the Dominion of Canada, whither the paternal ancestors, of Scotch-Irish lineage, came from County Tyrone, Ireland. The mother's an- cestors came from Holland to Ireland, and family tradition is to the effect that the line is traced back to French-Huguenot origin and that representatives of the name sought hospice and refuge in Ireland to escape the persecutions in- cidental to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. During the youth of the subject of this review his father was engaged in farming, and both of his parents continued to reside in the Province of Ontario, Canada, until their death.
Frederick H. Cheyne passed his boyhood and youth on the home farm, about twenty miles west of Toronto, and in the public schools of the locality he secured his early educational dis- cipline, in the meanwhile contributing his
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quota to the work and management of the farm. At the age of sixteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the trade of mill- wright, which he followed for some time, after which he had charge of the operation of a mill which his father had purchased, at Brampton, Ontario, where he remained about two years. In 1888, Mr. Cheyne went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he assumed a position in the establish- ment of an experimental manufacturing con- cern, with which he remained about two years, at the expiration of which he entered the em- ploy of a company engaged in the manufactur- ing of electrical machinery and appliances, in the same city. In this connection he put forth every effort to master the details and multi- farious scientific and practical principles of applied electricity, and by his close attention to business and his receptive mind he gained a thorough and comprehensive knowledge and be- came an expert mechanician and theorist in this important field, or, as it may well be termed, profession. In 1892 Mr. Cheyne came to In- dianapolis for the purpose of installing the electrical plant in the large building now known as the Imperial Hotel, and this commission led to his making permanent location in this city. In view of the success which he has here at- tained it can well be understood that he has had no reason to regret the choice which he made at the time, and, further than this, it may also be said that the capital city has no more loyal and appreciative admirer than he, while he has implicit faith in the still further industrial and civic progress of "Greater Indianapolis."
In 1894, Mr. Cheyne entered into partnership with C. W. Meikel and engaged in the elec- trical supply and contracting business, with headquarters at New York and Delaware streets, and later at 124 North Pennsylvania street, where was built up a very successful enterprise. The partnership alliance continued until October, 1903, when Mr. Cheyne pur -. chased his partner's interest and, securing the co-operation of others, he effected the organi- zation and incorporation of the F. H. Cheyne Electric Company, of which he has since been the executive head. The well equipped estab- lishment of the company is located at 115-17 East Ohio street, and a large and representative business is controlled-one that is constantly increasing in scope and importance, owing to the effective service given and the able and pro- gressive administration on the part of the founder of the enterprise. The company does a general electrical engineering business and has handled many large contracts, and in con- nection with the contracting feature of the en- terprise electrical supplies and appliances are handled at both wholesale and retail. Mr.
Cheyne is identified with three of the repre- sentative civic organizations of Indianapolis- the Commercial, the Marion and the Columbia Clubs, Mannerchor Hall Society, and is a men- ber of the Knights of Pythias. In politics he supports the principles of the Republican party, having become a naturalized citizen about 1894. He and his wife are members of the Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church.
On the 30th of April, 1895, Mr. Cheyne was united in marriage to Miss Emma Alberta Scott, daughter of Henry Scott, a representa- tive citizen of Brownstown, Indiana, and they have one son, Thomas L. The beautiful fam- ily home, erected by Mr. Cheyne, is located at 526 Woodruff place, West Drive, and is a cen- ter of generous hospitality, under the gracious supervision of Mrs. Cheyne.
CASSIT'S C. SHIRLEY. One of the distinctive functions of this historical compilation is to give consideration to the bench and bar of the Indiana capital, and marked for proper recog- nition on the roster of the representative attor- neys and counselors at law in Indianapolis is Cassius C. Shirley.
Mr. Shirley finds due satisfaction in revert- ing to the fine old Hoosier commonwealth as the place of his nativity. He was born at Rus- siaville, Howard County, Indiana, on the 2Stlı of November, 1859, and is a son of Dr. D. J. and Waitsel (Seward) Shirley, the former of whom was born in Scott County, Kentucky, and the latter was a native of Ohio. Dr. Shirley was one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons of Howard County, where he was long engaged in the practice of his profession and where he ever maintained a secure hold upon popular confidence and esteem. Both he and his wife continued to reside in Howard County, where his death occurred in 1891, his wife still surviv- ing him and making her home in Howard County.
When Cassius C. Shirley was a child of four years, his parents removed from Russiaville to New London, Howard County, and in the lat- ter place he was reared to maturity. After completing the curriculum of the public schools, he took a short course in Asbury University, now DePauw University, at Greencastle, In- diana, and in 1879 he was matriculated in the law department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which institu- tion he was graduated in the spring of 1881, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Imme- diately after his graduation, Mr. Shirley located in the city of Kokomo, Indiana, where he was duly admitted to the bar of his native state and where he engaged in the practice of his chosen profession under most favorable condi- tions, as he formed a partnership with Judge
CASPER MAUS
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James O'Brien, with whom he continued to be associated in the work of his profession, under the firm name of O'Brien & Shirley, for a period of ten years. Upon the dissolution of this alliance Mr. Shirley formed a professional partnership with J. C. Blacklidge, under the title of Blacklidge & Shirley, and he continued in the successful practice of his profession until 1906. He had gained a position of prior- ity as one of the leading members of the bar of Howard County and his reputation as a trial lawyer had far transcended local limita- tions, as he has appeared in connection with many important litigations in both the State and Federal Courts.
Distinctly eligible for a broader field of en- deavor and realizing opportunities afforded for successful professional work in the capital city of the state, Mr. Shirley removed to Indianap- olis in May of 1906. Here he forthwith be- came a member of the law firm of Miller. Shirley & Miller. The senior member of the firm is Hon. William H. H. Miller, who was attorney-general of the United States under the administration of President Harrison, and the third member of the firm is Mr. Miller's son, one of the able younger members of the bar of the state.
In 1882, Mr. Shirley was elected prosecuting attorney of the judicial circuit composed of Howard and Tipton counties, and he remained incumbent of this office for two years, within which he made an admirable record in the han- dling of many important cases brought for- ward in the name of the people of his circuit. In the autumn of 1884, he was chosen city at- torney of Kokomo, and he continued in tenure of this position for several years-which fact offers effective voucher of public appreciation of his services. As a dialectician and trial law- yer, Mr. Shirley has gained a foremost posi- tion and his success has been the direct result of the application of his natural and technical powers to the work of his exacting profession.
While recognized as a stalwart in the camp of the Republican party and as an effective worker in behalf of its cause, Mr. Shirley has never sought or held public office except in the direct line of his profession. For a number of years he was a valued member of the Repub- lican state central committee, and in 1900 he was a delegate to the national convention of the party, in Chicago. He served as a member of the Indiana commission of the Louisiana Pur- chase Exposition, in St. Louis, and did much to promote the favorable representation of his native state in that notable exposition. In a fraternal way he is identified with Kokomo Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and also the Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons, both
of which are Kokomo bodies of the time-hon- Pred fraternity.
On the 14th of January, 1885, Mr. Shirley was .united in marriage to Miss Blanche Klum, a daughter of Hiram and Mary Klum, of Kokomo, this state, and the only child of this union is Mary, who remains at the parental home.
FRANK MAUS FAUVRE. A representative business man and highly esteemed citizen of Indianapolis, which has been his home front his boyhood days to the present time, is Frank M. Fauvre, who has contributed materially to the industrial and commercial advancement of the capital city, as did also his honored father, and whose capitalistic interests are varied and important. He is a scion of stanch French stock and both his paternal and maternal lines trace back to influential families of what is now the German province of Alsace-Lorraine, wrested from France in the Franco-Prussian war. The family name in the agnatic line is Maus, but in 1900, in accordance with an order issued by the Circuit Court of Marion County, the subject of this review added to the same the name of his paternal grandmother, so that his legal name is now Fauvre.
Frank M. Fauvre was born in the town of New Alsace, Dearborn County, Indiana, on the 24th of January, 1851, and is a son of Casper and Magdalena (Dietrich) Maus. Casper Maus was born in Eberbach, near the city of Metz, in Lorraine, France, and his wife was born near the city of Kohlmer, in the adjoin- ing province of Alsace. He came to America in 1835, and his wife came with her parents about two years later, their marriage having been solemnized in the city of Cincinnati. Casper Maus was a miller by trade, and the family name has been identified with this im- portant line of industry for many centuries. Authentic data determine that an ancestor in the direct line erected a mill at Eberbach, Lorraine France, in the year 1550, and the property remained in possession of the family until its representatives left their native land to come to America. Jacob Maus, father of Casper, was a gallant soldier under the great Napoleon and was wounded in the battle of Eckmuhl, from the effects of which injury he died, in the early '20s. His wife later joined her son Casper in America and she passed the closing years of her life in Indiana.
Casper Maus merits' recognition as having been one of the sterling pioneers of Dearborn County, Indiana, and he had the distinction of there erecting, in 1842, the first steam grist- mill in the eastern part of the state. He was a man of inflexible integrity and honor in all the relations of life and ever evinced the utmost
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loyalty to the land of his adoption. In 1863 he rendered effective service as enrolling officer for the drafting of soldiers for service in the Union armies, and in the same year his mill was destroyed by fire. It is practically an his- torical certainty that the property was burned by the organization which was known as the Knights of the Golden Circle and which was in sympathy with the Confederate cause, or, at least, radically opposed to drafting men for the Union service. In 1864 Casper Maus re- moved with his family to Indianapolis, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1876, at the age of sixty years. His wife survived him by many years and was eighty-two years of age at the time of her death, which occurred in 1900. Casper Maus erected in Indianapolis the Maus brewery, and the same was operated by him until his death, after which the business was continued by members of the family until 1889, when the property and business were sold. Since that time the family name has not been identified with that line of industry. Casper Maus was a man of much business acumen and of indefatigable energy, and he attained to a large measure of success through his own well directed efforts after coming as a stranger to a strange land. He was generous and hos- pitable, tolerant and kindly in his relations with his fellow men, and he left the heritage of a good name. His wife came with her father, Jacob Deitricli, to America about the vear 1837 and the family established their home in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she continued to reside until her marriage. Of the six sons and three daughters, only the one son, Frank M., of this review, and two of the daughters are now living. Two of the sons, Albert and Joseph, rendered valiant service in defense of the Union in the Civil War, having been num- bered among the early volunteers from Indiana.
Frank Maus Fauvre was thirteen years of age at the time of the family removal from Dearborn County to Indianapolis, and in this city he was reared to maturity and here has constantly maintained his home during the intervening years. He duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools of the day, and in 1867 he was graduated in a local commercial college. He was thereafter asso- ciated with his father in the brewery business until the death of the latter, after which he had the general management of the business until the same was sold, in 1889, as has already been stated in this context. Since that time Mr. Fauvre has been prominently identified with the manufacturing of artificial ice, in Indianapolis and other cities, and to his enter- prise is due the founding of a number of large and modern ice-manufacturing plants which
give to the public the most effective service and insure in the same the utmost purity of product. He is also prominently concerned with coal-mining operations in various parts of Indiana and has accomplished much in connection with the promotion of public util- ities of important order.
In 1902 Mr. Fauvre was associated with others in the purchase of the electric inter- urban line extending between Indianapolis and Greenfield, and the lines were thereafter ex- tended to New Castle and Dublin, this state. Mr. Fauvre was a stockholder and executive officer of the company at the time these note- worthy improvements were made. He sold his interest in 1905, prior to which time he had ably administered the affairs of the corporation, in the office of president. He is at the present time president of the Vigo Electric Company, of Terre Haute, Indiana, and a director of the People's Light & Heat Company, of Indian- apolis. In 1881, in connection with the busi- ness of the Maus brewery, he built and placed in operation the first artificial-ice plant in the city of Indianapolis.
Mr. Fauvre is essentially a progressive and far-sighted business man, and his loyalty to his home city has been manifested not only in the capitalistic and executive support he has given to enterprises that have conserved industrial and commercial advancement, but also in his ready co-operation in the promotion of mease ures and public enterprises projected for the general welfare of the community. He is a valued member of the Indianapolis Board of Trade and also of the Commercial and Uni- versity Clubs. He is affiliated with Veritas Lodge. No. 602, Free & Accepted Masons, and he and his wife are members of the Christian Science Church, to which they transferred their membership from the Plymouth Congregational Church of Indianapolis.
In the year 1880, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Fauvre, at that time Mr. Maus, to Miss Lilian Scholl, of Indianapolis, and they have three sons and three daughters, namely: Lilian M., Madeleine M., Francis M., Julian M., Irving M., and Elizabeth M., all of whom remain at the parental home ex- cept Lilian M., who is now the wife of Mr. Arthur Vonnegut, of Indianapolis.
JOHN SANDERS DUNCAN is a member of the oldest law firm of Indianapolis, and through his father represents the oldest and best traditions of the law and official affairs in Indianapolis and the County of Marion.
His father was the late Robert B. Duncan, for several years a prominent official of Marion Countv. He was born in Ontario County. New York, June 15, 1810. In his fourteenth
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year the family moved to Pike Township in Marion County, Indiana. About the same time Indianapolis was selected for the permanent capital of the state, and in 1827, having spent three years in clearing and developing his father's farm, Robert Boyles Duncan identified himself with the new town. Before his death, in March, 1897, he had witnessed the rise and development of one of America's great cities from the capital town where he had begun his career seventy years before. For a number of years prior to his death he enjoyed the distinc- tion of being the oldest continuous resident of Indianapolis.
On coming to Indianapolis, he bound him- self under a contract to Mr. James M. Ray, who became county clerk of Marion County, with Duncan as his deputy. In March, 1834, he was promoted by election from deputy to county clerk, and continued to hold that office sixteen consecutive years. Through practically the first quarter century of Marion County's existence he administered the office of county clerk.
When he retired from the office of county clerk, he became a member of the bar, and for many years thereafter engaged in practice as a probate lawyer. Early in life he was a Whig in politics, but became a Republican on the organization of that party. He was a plain, unpretentious man, firm of conviction and di- rect in statement, and honored everywhere for his strict probity and just dealing. He was competent as a public official, business man and lawyer, and public-spirited as a citizen.
He was reared a Scotch Presbyterian, but his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary E. Sanders (a daughter of Dr. John H. Sanders, of Indianapolis), was a member of the Chris- tian Church, which he attended with her. He -erved as a trustee of the Northwestern Chris- tian University, now Butler College. He mar- ried Miss Sanders in 1843. Their children were: John Sanders, Robert P., Anna B. (de- ceased), and Nellie G.
The Duncan family, originally Scotch, has resided in America over a hundred and fifty years, since Robert Duncan emigrated in 1754. He was born in Scotland in 1726 and married Agnes Singleton, also of Scotch parentage. Their first home was in Pennsylvania, where their son Robert was born, September 28. 1772. their other children being James and John and three daughters. Some years later the family home was moved to western New York, and in 181: Robert Duncan. the second, settled near Sandusky. Ohio. Robert (the second) had mar- ried Anna Bovles, and their son Robert Boyles was seven years old when taken to Ohio. and at the age of ten. in the spring of 1820. the family
located at Connertown, Hamilton County (then a part of Marion County).
John Sanders Duncan, son of the late Rob- ert B. Duncan, was born at Indianapolis, Jan- itary 11, 1846, and his happy boyhood and suc- cessful manhood have both been passed in this city. From the public schools he entered the Northwestern Christian University (now Butler College), and was graduated in 1865 with the degree of B. S. In 1867, he was graduated in the Howard Law School with the degree of LL. B. The day following his twenty-first birthday he was admitted to the bar, and in November, 1867, he was appointed prosecutor of the Criminal Court of Marion County, and a year later was elected to that office. Since serving out the terms of one year by appoint- ment and two years by election, Mr. Duncan has neither sought nor accepted political office, but has made the practice of the law the absorb- ing activity of his life. However, he has al- ways been a stanch Republican.
On June 15, 1877, he and Charles W. Smith formed a legal partnership. The firm has con- tinued unbroken for thirty-three years, and be- sides being the oldest law firm in the city, it is a matter of additional interest that its offices have always remained the same, at 128 East Washington street.
In 1864, when eighteen years old, he enlisted as a private in the One Hundred and Thirty- second Indiana Infantry, in the hundred days' service, and received an honorable discharge at its close. He is a member of George H. Thomas Post No. 17, G. A. R., and of the Cen- tral Christian Church of Indianapolis.
In 1861, Mr. Duncan married Miss Esther Wallace, a daughter of William Wallace. She died in 1892. Mr. Duncan married, in 1897, Mrs. Perlie Haines, of Richmond, Indiana.
JOHN J. COOPER. The life record of the late John J. Cooper, of Indianapolis, constitutes the most worthy and significant monument to his memory. For many years he wielded large and beneficent influence in public affairs in the state; he was concerned with important busi- ness and industrial enterprises which conserved the progress and material prosperity of the com- munity: he served with distinction as treas- urer of the State of Indiana: and in all the relations of life he exemplified the highest principles of honor and integrity, thereby gain- ing and retaining the inviolable confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He was largely self-educated and was a man of broad mental ken and distinct individuality-one well equipped for leadership in thought and action. His character and his accomplishments were such that his name merits a place on the roll of the distinguished native sons of the Hoosier
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commonwealth, where he held prestige as a scion of an honored pioneer family. He was long one of the prominent and influential citi- zens of the capital city, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred on the 18th of January, 1906.
John J. Cooper was born on a farm in Ripley County, Indiana, on the 20th of January, 1830, and was a son of James and Virginia Cooper, the former of whom was a native of Virginia and of English lineage, and the latter of whom was born in Ohio, a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of the Buckeye com- monwealth, and one whose' agnatic ' ancestral line is traced "back to French origin. James Cooper was married in Ohio, whence he immi- grated to Indiana in the second decade of the nineteenth century, becoming one of the early settlers of Ripley County, where he became the owner of a large tract of land, a considerable portion of which he reclaimed from the virgin forest, besides which he built and operated a saw mill and a grist mill. He was one of the influential pioneers of that county and there both he and his wife continued to reside until their death.
Owing to the conditions and exigencies of time and place the subject of this memoir re- ceived in his youth only such advantages as were afforded in the pioneer schools of Ripley County, but to such valiant souls advancement is certain, no matter what the handicap. Under the direction of that wisest of all head-masters. experience, he gained a broad and exact fund of knowledge, and his alert mentality and es- sential appreciation led him to read and study along effective lines, so that his intellectual powers were of high order, as was his judgment made mature and his poise secure through his long and active association with men and af- fairs.
When twenty-one years of age Mr. Cooper established a general store at Zenas, Jennings County, Indiana, where he remained until 1858. when he removed to Kokomo, this state, where he engaged in the livery business and also built up a most successful enterprise as a dealer in horses and mules. During the Civil War he purchased and sold to the government thou- sands of horses and mules, and through his op- erations in this period he realized substantial financial returns. In 1864, Mr. Cooper re- moved from Kokomo to Indianapolis, where he continued to deal in stock upon a large seale, in connection with farming. He became the owner of a farm of 750 acres a few miles northwest of the city, and developed the same into one of the most valuable properties of the kind in the state. To the supervision of this farm he continued to give his personal atten-
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