Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 26

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 972

USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 26

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FREDERICK FAIINLEY. In Indiana's capital city it is a well recognized fact that the busi- ness career of Frederick Fahnley, president of the Fahnley & McCrea Millinery Com- pany, has been characterized by courage, con- fidence, progressiveness and impregnable in- tegrity of purpose. He has been identified with the wholesale millinery trade in Indian- apolis for nearly half a century, and none has a more secure status as a representative business man and citizen of the city to whose prestige as a commercial center he has con- tributed in no small measure. He has ever shown implicit confidence in the development of the larger and greater Indianapolis, and this confidence has been that of action and definite accomplishment. To offer in a work of the province prescribed for the one at hand an adequate resume of the career of Mr. Fahnley would be impossible, but, with others who have aided in conserving the civic and industrial progress of the capital city, he may well find consideration in the noting here of the more salient points which have marked his life and labors,

Frederick Fahnley is a native of the king- dom of Wurtemburg, Germany, where he was born on the 1st of November, 1839, and his early educational discipline was secured in the schools of his native town. The intrinsic independence and ambition of the man were in evidence while he was still a boy, and he early became dependent upon his own re- sources. In 1854, when fifteen years of age, be made his advent in America, and his first permanent abiding place in the new world was at Medway, a little village in Clark County, Ohio. There he found employment in a general merchandise store, in which he remained engaged for two years, at the ex- piration of which he removed to the City of Dayton, in the adjoining County of Montgom- ery, where he passed the three ensuing years as an attache of a wholesale millinery and dry goods house and where he gained his ini- tial experience in connection with the line of enterprise in which he was destined ultimately to gain so distinctive individual success and precedence. In 1860 he returned to the vil- lage of Medway, where he initiated his inde- pendent business career by opening a general country store, the diversity of whose required

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

stock can be appreciated only by such as have been patrons of "emporiums" of that type. The enterprise proved successful, but Mr. Fahnley had not only the ambition but the capacity for affairs of greater scope and im- portance, and he soon formulated definite plans for entering a wider field of endeavor. Thus, in 1865, he disposed of his business in Medway and came to Indianapolis, where, within the same year, he effected the organiza- tion of the wholesale millinery firm of Stiles. Fahnley & McCrea, in which his colleagues were Daniel Stiles and Rollin McCrea. At that period Indianapolis was most inconspicu- ous as a distributing center, and it has been the privilege of Mr. Fahnley to witness and aid in the development of the wholesale inter- ests of the capital city until it is now recog- nized as one of the most important commer- cial centers in the middle west. The first store of the new firm of Stiles, Fahnley & McCrea was located on South Meridian street, directly opposite from the present fine busi- ness headquarters of the present company. After a period of four years, marked by con- servative and substantial progress, Mr. Stiles retired from the firm and his interest was acquired by his two associates, who continued the enterprise under the title of Fahnley & McCrea.

Early in the year 1875, to meet the de- mands of a constantly expanding business. the firm purchased the ground on which they proceeded to erect what was at that time recognized as the finest building in the whole- sale district. This building occupied the site of the present headquarters, 240-242 South Meridian street, and 8 to 14, inclusive, on Louisiana street. In 1898 Messrs. Fahnley and McCrea reorganized their business, by the incorporation of a stock company, to which were admitted several of their old and valued employes, and the title of the concern was then changed to its present form-the Fahnley & McCrea Millinery Company. In February, 1905, the company suffered the loss of its building and immense stocks in the most disastrons fire that ever visited the wholesale district-a fire which completely wiped out also the large buildings of the Kic- fer Drug Company and the Griffith Brothers, as well as the Sherman House and several smaller buildings. Within the same year the Fahnley & McCrea Millinery Company erect- ed its present substantial and thoroughly modern building, which is a five-story brick structure and which affords an aggregate floor space of fully 63,000 square feet. The business has continued to grow steadily since the formation of the stock company and it

has long represented one of the most im- portant enterprises of its kind in Indiauap- olis. Its trade extends throughout the ever- widening territory made tributary to this city, and the reputation of the company, as of the firm of which it is the lineal successor, has ever been of the highest. From a re- cently published sketch appearing in the In- dianapolis Trade Journal are taken the fol- lowing appreciative statements concerning Mr. Fahnley :

"Frederick Fahnley has been a strong fac- tor in the upbuilding of the jobbing distriet of this city, a prominent figure for more than forty years in financial and commercial cir- cles of Indianapolis, which has well been designated as 'no mean city'. Though he has attained to the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, his mental and physical vigor is that of a man twenty years younger. Be- sides giving daily attention to the executive duties of his position as president of the mil- linery company, Mr. Fahnley is an active member of the directorate of the Merchants' National Bank and that of the Indiana Trust Company, in both of which leading financial concerns he holds the office of vice-president. He is a member of the Board of Trade and the Commercial Club, and was one of the or- ganizers of the Columbia Club, of which he is a valued and appreciative member. He is also an active member of the German House and of the Indianapolis Maennerchor So- ciety. He has always refused to accept politi- cal office of any kind, though as a Republican he was often tendered a nomination when such nomination meant election. He con- fesses, however, to having held one political office-that of postmaster of Medway, Ohio, under President Lincoln, but as this was when he was a 'boy' 22 years of age, he says, 'that doesn't count'.

"Frederick Fahnley is counted by his busi- ness associates and personal friends as a man of sterling integrity and upright business and social life. He is a man of notably un- assuming manners, but cordial, courteous and companionable to a marked degree".

Mr. Fahnley married Miss Lena Soehner, a native of Baden, Germany. She came to America with her parents when seven years old and they lived in Dayton, Ohio, where Mrs. Fahnley was reared and educated. She died October 7, 1899, aged fifty-eight years, survived by two daughters, Bertha, who mar- ried Gavin Payne of Indianapolis, and Ada, the wife of William J. Shafer, also of In- dianapolis. Mrs. Fahnley was a woman who was greatly revered and was an active work- er in many charitable organizations.

James Livingston thompson

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

H. ALDEN ADAMS, M. D. For more than a decade Dr. H. Alden Adams has been en- gaged in the general practice of his profes- sion in Indianapolis, and he is known as one of the able physicians and surgeons of the capital city and as one whose devotion to his exacting and humane vocation is of the most insistent order. He enjoys marked personal and professional esteem and is entitled to con- sideration in this publication as one of the representative medical practitioners of "Greater Indianapolis".

Dr. Adams was born in the City of LaSalle, Illinois, on the 15th of December, 1870, and is a son of Kneeland T. and Elizabeth (Brown) Adams, the former of whom was born at Peru, Ohio, and the latter in Zanes- ville, that state. The father of the doctor was a son of Alden Adams, who was a mem- ber of one of the pioneer families of Ohio and who later became one of the early set- tlers of Wisconsin, where he conducted an old-time tavern or hotel and where he also operated a stage line for a number of years. He passed the closing years of his life at Warsaw, Illinois. Mrs. Elizabeth (Brown) Adams, who died April 17, 1909, was a daughter of Dr. James C. Brown, who was born in Vermont and who settled in LaSalle, Illinois, in 1851. He became one of the lead- ing physicians of that section of Illinois, where he was engaged in the active practice of his profession for many years, and he died in 1883, at a venerable age. Kneeland T. Adams was engaged in the banking and the dry goods business in LaSalle, Illinois, where he also became a manufacturer of glass. He disposed of his interests in that place in 1872, when the subject of this review was two years of age, and removed with his family to In- dianapolis, where he engaged in the dry goods business, as a member of the firm of Adams & Hatch. Later he was in the commission trade and at the time of his death, in 1885, he was here engaged in the retail grocery business. He was a man of sterling integrity and much intellectual resource, and he ever commanded the high regard of those with whom he came in contact in the various rela- tions of life. He was a Republican in poli- tics and was a consistent member of the Pres- byterian Church, of which his widow was also a member. Of their four children three are living.

Dr. Adams was reared to maturity in In- dianapolis, where he completed the curricu- lum of the public schools, including the high school. He thereafter assisted in the grocery store of his father until the death of the lat- ter, when the stock and business were sold.

Thercafter the doctor served an apprentice- ship at the trade of machinist, to which he gave his attention for a period of about threc years. He then completed a three years' course in the department of mechanical engi- neering in Purdue University, at LaFayette, Indiana, leaving this institution in 1892, in which year he was graduated. In 1892 he was matriculated in the Chicago Homœo- pathic Medical College, in which he completed the prescribed technical and clinical course and in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1895, with the degree of Doc- tor of Medicine. He forthwith initiated the work of his profession in Indianapolis, where he has proved an able and successful exemplar of the beneficent Homoeopathic system of medicine, besides being a thoroughly skilled surgeon. In 1896 Dr. Adams completed a post-graduate course in the New York Oph- thalmic and Auric Institute, and since that time he has been a specialist in the treatment of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, realizing that much is to be gained by con- centration in professional work and by di- recting attention to specific lines of practice. He is a valued member of the Indiana In- stitute of Homeopathy and the American In- stitute of Homeopathy and he continues to be a close student of the best standard and periodical literature of his profession, par- ticularly that touching the special field of practice to which he gives the greater meas- ure of his time and attention. In politics the doctor is aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and both he and his wife hold mem- bership in the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis.

On the 17th of April, 1901, Dr. Adams was united in marriage to Miss Margaret DeMotte, of Franklin, Indiana.

JAMES L. THOMPSON, M. D., has made his high professional reputation by thirty-eight years of special practice in the city of Indian- apolis, preceded by about three years spent in the surgical service of the government dur- ing the Civil War and nine years in private practice at.various points in Indiana. With the exception of his service in the army he is virtually a physician and surgeon whose standing has been attained within the bor- ders of this state. A native of London, Eng- land, born October 5, 1832, he is a son of John and Ann (Rossiter) Thompson.

The doctor was reared in his native city, where he attended various private schools, and when eighteen years of age, in 1850, emi- grated to the United States. The first two years of his residence in this country were

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

spent in "taking his bearings", and in 1852 he directed his course to the state of Indiana, which has since been his home. He com- menced the study of medicine while a resi- dent of Rush County and in 1860 gradu- ated from the Kush Medical College of Chi- cago, being engaged in practice at Moscow at the outbreak of the Civil War. In May, 1863, he was in the service of the Union army as acting assistant surgeon, U. S. A., stationed at Memphis, Tennessee, in the Adams U. S. Hospital, in the summer and later was at Fort Pickering. He passed the examination for a surgeon's certificate and was appointed to that position, being assigned to the Fouth United States Heavy Artillery of colored troops. He was subsequently promoted to the medical directorship of the western district of Kentucky, with headquarters at Paducah, resigning that position in 1865 because of physical disability.

After his professional military service, Dr. Thompson resumed private practice in Rush County and at Harrison, Ohio, but soon went to Cincinnati, where he took a special course in diseases of the eye and ear under Dr. Will- iams and served for a time as his assistant. In 1871 he located in Indianapolis, the first thirty years of his career being devoted to the medical and surgical treatment of eye and ear affections, and the last eight years to those of the eye alone. In these specialties he has always been an acknowledged leader. From 1874 he was professor in the Medical College of Indiana, until 1889 occupying the chair of diseases of the eye and ear. Dr. Thompson is an active member of the Mar- ion County and Indiana State Medical so- cieties and the American Medical Association and is a member of the Indianapolis Literary Club, with which he has long been identified. He is also a member of the Indiana Com- mandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Dr. Thompson went to Milan, Italy, with the International Congress in 1880 as a member and also was a member of Interna- tional Ophthalmic Congress , at Edinburg, Scotland, in 1894. In 1861 Dr. Thompson married Miss Martha J. Tevis, who died in 1898, leaving a son and a daughter: Daniel A., M. D., who died in 1904, being his fa- ther's associate and a physician of great promise; and Emma Louis, who married Dr. .J. H. Oliver, of Indianapolis.

LINNAES C. BOYD. A native son of the fine old Hoosier state who has here attained to pronounced success and prestige as a busi- ness man of distinctive initiative and execu- tive talent, is Linnaes C. Boyd, president of the Indianapolis Water Company, whose ef-

fective service represents one of the more im- portant of the fine public utilities of the capi- tal city. Mr. Boyd is one of those alert and progressive spirits whose influence finds mani- fold ramifications, and it has been through his own energy and efforts that he has achieved distinctive success in connection with the practical affairs of life, while he has so or- dered his course as to merit and receive the unequivocal confidence and regard of his fel- low men.

Mr. Boyd was born near the village of Mid- dleborough, Wayne County, Indiana, on the 18th of January, 1864, and in both the pater- nal and maternal lines he is a scion of old and honored families of that county, known as the headquarters for the settlement of the sterling representatives of the Society of Friends in the early days of the history of the state. The first addition to the original plat of the City of Richmond, the judicial center and metropolis of the county, was laid out by Mr. Boyd's maternal great-grand-

father, Jeremiah Cox, who was one of the honored and influential pioneers of the county and a devout member of the religious organization commonly designated as Quak- ers but properly known as the Society of Friends. In his home was held the first church meeting of the Friends in Indiana. He came to this state from North Carolina at an early date in the history of the former commonwealth, and was prominent among the worthy Friends who brought Wayne County forward to a position much in advance of other sections of the pioneer commonwealth in points of educational advantages and civic progress.

Mr. Boyd is in the fourth generation of direct descent from Jonathan Boyd, who was born and reared in Scotland and who figures as the founder of the family in America. This sturdy, virile and honest ancestor settled in North Carolina and from that state his son Adam, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came to Indiana and numbered him- self among the pioneers of Wayne County, where he had the distinction of being the first person to be elected justice of the peace. He was a man of prominence and influence in the community and the major portion of his active career was one of close identification with agricultural pursuits. He also was a member of the Society of Friends.

John C. Boyd, father of the president of the Indianapolis Water Company, was born and reared in Wayne County, Indiana, and there became a prominent and successful farmer and business man and an influential and honored citizen. He married Miss Celia

Leroy

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

C. Cox, daughter of Robert Cox, who was a son of the previously mentioned pioneer, Jere- miah Cox. John C. and Celia C. (Cox) Boyd became the parents of four children, of whom Linnaes C. of this review is the eldest. The parents are now both deeeased and both were birthright members of the Society of Friends. The mother died in 1899 and was interred at Earlham Cemetery, Richmond, and the father died in 1902, and is also interred in Earlham Cemetery.

Linnaes C. Boyd secured his early educa- tional diseipline in the publie schools of his native village, and thereafter he continued his studies for two years in Earlham College, in the City of Richmond. That he made good use of his seholastie advantages is evident when recognition is taken of the fact that when but sixteen years of age he secured a teacher's license in his home county, where he turned his attention to the pedagogie pro- fession, as. a teacher in the village sehools of his home town of Millersborough. He was engaged in teaching for four years, within which period he also was a student for two terms in the Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute, which institution he entered when seventeen years of age. Mr. Boyd early formulated plans for his future eareer and after having decided to prepare himself for the legal profession he began reading law during his leisure hours during the last two years of his work as a teacher. He continued his technical study under the preceptorship of the law firm of Stafford & Boyd, of Nobles- ville, this state, where he was admitted to the bar in the year 1885. He there beeame a member of the firm under whose direction he had prosecuted his studies, and he soon proved his mettle as a forceful, versatile and successful trial lawyer and well fortified eoun- selor. After leaving the law firm

he went with the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany, where he was tendered the position of claim adjuster. This offiee he filled with marked ability and diserimination, safeguard- ing the interests of the company in many eases that came before its legal department for adjustment, and he retained the office for a period of years, resigning the same in 1892. During his incumbency of this posi- tion his work took him throughout the ter- ritory traversed by the lines of the great Pennsylvania system west of the City of Pittsburg, and in the meanwhile his business aeumen and judgment led him to make in- vestments in connection with oil and natural gas operations at various points in the region thus covered by him. In fact, from the time he entered the service of the legal department

of the Pennsylvania . Company, Mr. Boyd has been identified, in one capacity or another, with common-carrier and public-service cor- porations. He became president of the Manu- facturers' Natural Gas Company of Indian- apolis, to which city he removed with his family from Richmond in 1905, and in 1904 he was elected a member of the directorate of the Indianapolis Water Company, of which he became vice-president in the following year, and of which he has been president since May 1, 1909. Mr. Boyd has shown dis- tinctive initiative and constructive ability as a business man, and he now gives the major portion of his time and attention to his cap- italistic and executive affairs, though it is eonceded by all who know him that his equip- ment for gaining still greater distinction in his profession was of the best. He has never sought or desired the honors or emoluments of politieal office, though he is a stanch sup- porter of the cause of the Republican party. He has risen to a high position as a financier and business man and his large and important capitalistie interests represent the concrete results of his own mature judgment, acumen and well directed endeavors along normal and legitimate lines of enterprise. Mr. Boyd is held in high esteem in the business circles of the capital city and is identified with such representative eivie organizations as the Mar- ion, Columbia, University and Commercial Clubs and the German House.

On the 19th of June, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Boyd to Miss Mary Thomas Spencer, who was born in Cincin- nati and reared in Wayne County, In- diana, being the daughter of William F. Spencer, a prominent manufacturer and in- fluential eitizen of Richmond, that county. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd have three children- Helen, William Speneer and Philip Linnaes.

AUGUSTUS LYNCH MASON. To have been for nearly thirty years a representative mem- her of the bar of Indianapolis, in itself bears evidence of unmistakable ability and power of leadership. This is true of Augustus Lynch Mason, who has dignified his profes- sion by his character and services and who is now one of the leading corporation lawyers of the State of Indiana. Of fine intellectual and professional attainments, he has used his powers to the best purpose, has directed his energies along legitimate channels, and his eareer has been based upon the assumption that nothing save industry, perseverance, in- tegrity and fidelity to duty will lead to suc- cess, which, indeed, is the prerogative of only valiant souls. The profession of law offers no indueements or opportunities except to

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

such determined spirits. It is an arduous, exacting, discouraging vocation to one who is unwilling to subordinate other interests to its demands, but to the true and earnest clevotee it offers a sphere of action whose at- tractions are unrivaled and whose rewards are unstinted. The name of Mr. Mason is familiar in connection with the general prac- tice of his profession and especially in the department of commercial and corporation law, and as a citizen he typified the utmost loyalty and publie spirit.

Augustus Lynch Mason is a native of In- diana and a scion of one of its honored pio- neer families. He was born at Bloomington, Monroe County, this state, on the 10th of February, 1859, and is a son of Rev. William F. and Amanda (Lynch) Mason, the former of whom was born in Indiana and the latter in Ohio. The father was afforded excellent educational advantages in his youth and pre- pared himself for the ministry of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, in which he was duly ordained when a young man. For a number of years he was engaged in the work of the ministry, in Ohio and Indiana, and his entire life has been marked by conse- erated effort in the aiding and uplifting of his fellow men, though he has for many years been retired from the active work of the min- istry and has attained to marked success in connection with practical business activities. He finally became one of the interested prin- cipals in an extensive building and loan asso- ciation in the City of Denver, Colorado, to which city he removed from Indianapolis in 1883. There both he and his wife still main- tain their home. Of Rev. William F. Mason the following words have been written, in connection with a statement regarding the early training of the son. Augustus L., sub- ject of this review : "Augustus L. Mason not only ranks high in his chosen profession but also among his social companions and in the literary circles of the capital city, where his classical learning and attainments have won general recognition. His father is a gentle- man of the old school, universally loved and respected and an excellent scholar, and thus during his youth Mr. Mason had the advan- tage of judicious advice and coaching in ad- dition to superior educational opportunities outside of his home. His naturally broad and optimistic disposition has been developed along the most intelligent lines and he is uni- formly regarded as a high-minded gentleman and an altruist in the best sense of the word".

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 26

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 972

Author: Dunn, Jacob Piatt, 1855-1924. cn
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 972