Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 54

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 54

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).

JAMES W. LILLY. Numbered among the es- sentially representative business men and popular citizens of the Indiana metropolis, the business career of James W. Lilly has been marked by consecutive progress, and this advancement is the direct result of the appli- cation of his splendid energies and powers, through which he has gained precedence as one of those sterling "captains of industry" through whose efforts has been brought about the upbuilding of the great industrial and

904

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

commercial City of Indianapolis. He is rec- ognized as an alert and enterprising business man, a capable executive and a loyal and public-spirited citizen. He is senior member of the well known firm of Lilly & Stalnaker, wholesale and retail dealers in hardware, and thus is identified with one of the foremost industrial enterprises of its kind in the capi- tal city.

James W. Lilly was born in Lafayette, Tip- pecanoe County, Indiana, on the 10th of No- vember, 1862, and is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of this favored com- monwealth. He is a son of James W. and Mary (Kerper) Lilly, the former of whom was born in Geneva, New York, on the 10th of November, 1832, and the latter of whom was born at Reading, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of July, 1835: James W. Lilly, Sr., was a son of William and Catherine (Dey) Lilly, of whose fourteen children nine at- tained to years of maturity, namely : Samuel, Benjamin, Phoebe Ann, Jane, Charlotte, Will- iam, John O. D., and James W. John O. D. Lilly became a prominent business man and influential citizen of Indianapolis, and a sketch of his career appears on other pages of this work. The father, William Lilly, was a native of England, where he was born in the year 1789, and in 1794 his father, Rev. William Lilly, immigrated to America and settled in Albany, New York, whence he later. removed to the historic old city of Elizabeth, New Jersey; he was a man of high intellec- tual attainments and in his native land had received holy orders as a clergyman of the Church of England, so that after coming to America he continued in the ministry, as a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, representing the American branch of the established Anglican church.

When James W. Lilly, father of the sub- ject of this review, was a child his parents.re- moved from the State of New York to Parry- ville, Pennsylvania, where his boyhood and early youth were passed and where he re- ceived such advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the period. In Read- ing. Pennsylvania, he learned the machinist's trade, and he followed the same as a journey- man in Pennsylvania for some time. His brother John Ogden Dey, had come to the west in 1849 and had become master mechanic of the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad. He had established his home in Madison, now known as Madison, Indiana, and in the early '50s James W. Lilly joined his brother in the Hoosier state and became a locomotive en- gineer on the railroad mentioned. About 1856 he removed from Madison to Lafayette,

this state, and accepted a position as engineer on the old Lafayette & Indianapolis Railroad, of which his brother John had become super- intendent. In 1865 he became associated with a man named Smith and engaged in the rail- way supply business at Memphis, Tennessee. He established a temporary home for his family in Indianapolis, with the intention of removing permanently to Memphis after his business there had been properly established. He remained in Memphis only a short time, however, when he contracted malarial fever, and for the purpose of recuperating his health he returned to Indianapolis, but he never recovered his health, as his death oc- curred in this city on the 19th of January, 1866, at which time he was in his thirty- fourth year. His wife, to whom he had been married at Reading, Pennsylvania, ever re- mained loyal to his memory and though she survived him by forty years she never con- tracted a second marriage. She died in An- derson, Maryland, on the 18th of January, 1908, at the age of seventy-two years. Both she and her husband were devoted members of the Episcopalian Church. They became the parents of two sons and one daughter, and the latter died in infancy. Of the two sons James W. of this sketch is the younger, and his brother, George, is now a prominent and influential business man of the City of Ander- son, Indiana. After the death of the father the widowed mother continued to maintain her home in Indianapolis, where she carefully reared her sons, both of whom ever accorded to her the deepest filial solicitude and honor in later years, being deeply appreciative of her devotion and self-abnegating efforts in their behalf in their youthful days ..

James W. Lilly (II). whose name initiates this article, was afforded the advantages of the excellent public schools of the capital city and supplemented this discipline by attending Butler College for one year. Upon leaving this institution he assumed a clerical positiou in the Indianapolis offices of the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad. and he continued to be identified with railroad service about six vears, at the expiration of which he resigned his position to initiate his independent busi- ness career. In 1885 he associated himself with Frank D. Stalnaker, under the firm name of Lilly & Stalnaker, and they effected the purchase of the retail. hardware business of Vajen & New. They have from the be- ginning, maintained their headquarters at their present location, but have expanded the accommodation to meet the demands of the ever increasing business. Their establishment is located at Nos. 114, 116 and 118 East Wash-

905

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

ington street, where they utilize four floors of a building 45 by 195 feet in dimensions. They now do both a wholesale and retail business in the handling of heavy and shelf hardware, builders' supplies, stoves, ranges, etc., and the correct methods brought to bear have re- sulted in the upbuilding of a business whose average annual aggregate is about half a mil- lion dollars. The enterprise was one of modest order when the present firm assumed control, and the establishment is now one of the largest and most important of its kind in the state. Mr. Lilly has had a large part in the management of the business, and has formulated and directed its policy with con- summate discrimination and ability. He is known as an able administrative officer and as a reliable and progressive business man. Both he and his long-time associate maintain an im- mutable hold upon the confidence and esteem of all with whom they have had dealings and occupy positions of security. and prominence as able and honored business men of the capi- tal city.

Mr. Lilly is essentially public-spirited and progressive in his attitude as an appreciative citizen of Indianapolis and none takes a deeper interest in all that touches the mate- rial and civic advancement of the city. Though never an aspirant for political office of any order, he is aligned as a stanch advo- cate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor. He is actively identified with the Indianapolis Board of Trade, and holds membership in the Commercial and Columbia Clubs, two of the representative civic organizations of the capi- tal city, and also in the Country Club. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity Mr. Lilly has completed the circle of each the York and Scottish Rite, having in the former his maximum affiliation with Raper Commandery No. 1, Knights Templar, and having attained to the thirty-third degree in the Ancient Ac- cepted Scottish Rite, in which his affiliation is with Indianapolis Sovereign Consistory, Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. In 1907-8-9 he served as thrice potent master of Adoniram Grand Lodge of Perfection, of the Scottish Rite, and he is also an appreciative member of Murat Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Both he and his wife are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis.

On the 15th of October, 1889, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Lilly to Miss Blanche Dollens, who was born and reared in Indiana and who is a daughter of Robert W. and Nettie W. Dollens, of Indianapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Lilly have two daughters, Julia M.,

born August 6, 1904, and Mary J., born Octo- ber 8, 1906.

WILLIAM F. LANDES. The able and hon- ored secretary of Crown Hill Cemetery is well known in the capital city and has been a potent factor in educational work, to which he devoted his attention for many years, and he rendered especially effective service in the office of superintendent of schools of Marion County, of which position he continued in- cumbent for a period of six years.

Mr. Landes is a native of Charleston, Coles County, Illinois, where he was born on the 15th of April, 1860, and he is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Keyes) Landes, both of whom were born in Ohio, being representatives of stanch pioneer families of the fine old Buck- eye commonwealth. The paternal grandfa- ther, Joseph Landes, Sr., was a native of Germany, where he was reared and educated, and upon coming to America he first located in Pennsylvania, whence he eventually re- moved to Ohio and became one of the pioneer settlers of Licking county. He passed the remainder of his life in that county, where he reclaimed a farm, and he was venerable in years at the time of his death, having reared a large family of children. Abel R. Keyes. the maternal grandfather of the sub- jeet of this review, was of stanch English lineage and was a native of Virginia, where the family was founded in the colonial epoch of our national history. He located in Ohio in an early day and there followed his trade of blacksmith for many years. He was cighty-seven years of age at the time of his death, and he reared six children. Of the same family line Francis S. Key, author of the "Star Spangled Banner", was a repre- sentative, being a member of the branch that adopted a modified orthography of the family name.

Joseph Landes, Jr., father of him whose name initiates this article, was reared to ma- turity in Ohio, where he received the advan- tages of the common schools of the period and where he learned the trade of plasterer. He followed his trade for a number of years at New Philadelphia, Ohio, later removed to Charleston, Illinois, and in 1862 he settled at Lawrence, Marion County, Indiana, where he was engaged in the general merchandise bus- iness until his death, in 1874, at the age of forty-nine years. His cherished and devoted wife survived him by nearly a quarter of a century and passed the closing years of her life in Indianapolis, where she died in 1896, at the age of sixty-five years; both were earnest and devont members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of the two children

906

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

William F. is the elder, and Henry K. is suc- cessfully established in business as a manu- facturers' agent in Indianapolis.

William F. Landes was about two years of age at the time of the family removal to Lawrence, Marion County, Indiana, in 1862. In that village he secured his preliminary educational discipline and there also he served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, at which he became a capable work- man when but a youth. He followed his trade as a journeyman for a short time and then his ambition manifested itself in his de- termination to secure a broader education, with which worthy end in view he entered the Normal School at Danville, in which he continued his studies for two years, after which he was for one year a student in the Ohio Normal School at Zanesville. In 1878 Mr. Landes put his scholastic attainments to practical test and ntilization by engaging as a teacher in the public schools of Marion County. In the pedagogic profession he was most popular and successful, and to the same he continued to devote his attention until 1903, having held various responsible posi- tions in the public schools of Indiana and having gained prestige as an able, discrim- inating and enthusiastic worker in the do- main of popular education. In 1897, at which time he was engaged as supervising principal in Center Township, Marion Coun- ty, he was elected county superintendent of schools of Marion County, in which responsi- ble office he gave an admirable administra- tion. doing mich to harmonize and sys- tematize the work of the schools in his juris- diction and also to raise the standard of the same. He was elected to this position by the connty board of education and by successive re-elections was retained as incumbent of the office of superintendent until June, 1903. He maintained his home in Lawrence, this coun- ty. until 1886, and has been a resident of In- dianapolis since 1886, being held in un- equivocal confidence and esteem in the county that has represented his home from his child- hood days to the present. In 1906 Mr. Landes became bookkeeper in the office of the Crown Hill Cemetery Association, and since 1908 he has been incumbent of the office of secre- tary of the association, to whose affairs he now devotes the major portion of his time and attention, maintaining his official headquar- ters at the beautiful cemetery and being rec- ognized as an able and courteous executive.

In politics Mr. Landes accords a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, and he served for five years as justice of the peace in Lawrence Township. Marion County. He

is affiliated with North Park Lodge, No. 646, Free and Accepted Masons, and also with lo- cal organizations of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and his wife hold mem- bership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The attractive family home, erected by Mr. Landes in 1905, is located at 922 West Thir- ty-first street and is a center of generous and gracious hospitality.

On the 22nd of June, 1886, Mr. Landes was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth W. Pfafflin, who was born at Indianapolis and who is a daughter of Paul and Elizabeth ( Walsh) Pfafflin. Mr. and Mrs. Landes be- came the parents of three children, of whom only one is living. Mabel died at the age of two and one-half years; Ethel is attending the public schools of Indianapolis; and Floyd died at the age of five years.

MERLE N. A. WALKER. An able member of the bar of the Indiana capital is Judge Walker, who had the distinction of being the first incumbent of the office of judge of the probate court of Marion County, a position which he held from the time of the establish- ing of said court, by legislative enactment, in 1907 to 1909.

Merle Newton Allen Walker was born at Winchester, Randolph County, Indiana, on the 4th of April, 1871, and is a son of Rev. Wilbur Fisk Walker and Mary Florence ( Morrison) Walker, the former a native of Pendleton and the latter of Greencastle, In- diana, in which state the respective families were founded in the pioneer days. Wilbur Fisk Walker was born in the year 1846, and was graduated in old Asbury University, now known as DePauw University, at Green- castle, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He later was ordained a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he and his wife have been for thirty years missionaries of this church in China, having been sta- tioned in turn at Peking and Tien-Tsin. The mother is a daughter of Abisha L. and Amanda F. (Demotte) Morrison, who passed the closing years of their lives in Greeneastle, Indiana.

Judge Walker was sent back to America to complete his education, and in 1891 he was graduated in DePauw University, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, having received his preliminary educational discipline in the American colony in China and thereafter continned his studies in the public schools of Greeneastle. Indiana. Judge Walker was ad- mitted to the bar of his native state in 1891, and he has gained success and prestige as one of the well fortified attorneys and counselors

Cortland Panlampo

907

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

of Indianapolis, where he has maintained his residence since 1891. From 1895 to 1898 he served as prosecuting attorney: of Marion County, and in the latter year he became pro- bate commissioner of Marion County. Hc held this position until 1907, when he organ- ized and procured by legislative enactment the first probate court in Indiana-that of Marion County, and Governor Durbin ap- pointed him the first judge of the newly created court. This position he held con- tinuously until 1909, and thus he has had charge of the probate affairs of Marion County for more than a decade, as he suc- ceeded to the position of judge upon retiring from that of probate commissioner. He has given a most admirable administration of the affairs of his court, having systematized the work and brought the same up to the highest standard of efficiency. He is now county at- torney for the City of Indianapolis. In 1907 Judge Walker was the promoter of the In- dianapolis bureau of municipal research, in connection with which he interested the lead- ing commercial bodies of the city in forward- ing the movement for a closer touch of busi- ness men with the civic affairs of the city.

In politics Judge Walker accords an un- swerving allegiance to the Republican party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church. In the time-hon- ored Masonic fraternity Judge Walker has his ancient-craft affiliation with Mystic Tie Lodge No. 398, Free and Accepted Masons, and he has also attained to the. thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which he is identified with Indiana Sover- eign Consistory, Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, besides which he is identified with Murat Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He also holds membership in the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Foresters, and the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity.

On the 15th of June, 1905, was recorded the marriage of Judge Walker to Miss Ellaine Irene Hays, who was educated in DePauw University, and who is a daughter of Lewis D. and Kate B. (Carr) Hays, who now reside in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Hays having formerly been editor of the In- dianapolis Journal. Judge and Mrs. Walker became the parents of two children, Max and Virginia. both of whom died in infancy.

ISAAC N. RICHIE has. attained prominence in Indianapolis as a real estate operator. He was born in New Albany, Indiana, Novem- ber 23, 1849, a son of William H. and Eliza- beth A. (Akin) Richie, natives respectively of Virginia and Kentucky. They were mar-

ried in Indiana, and Isaac N. was the fourth born of their family of five sons. William H. Richie was a steamboat carpenter and captain on the' Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

After a short career in the public schoola Isaac N. Richie at the age of thirteen entered upon a two years' employment in a grocery store, when he engaged in green grocery, fruit, vegetables, meats, poultry, etc. (when 15 years of age) for about two years, and following that period was for seventeen years with a wholesale millinery and fancy goods house in Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincin- nati, Ohio. Before he had attained his eighteenth year he went on the road as a traveling salesman, and coming to Indianapo- lis in 1877 he became associated with Griffith Brothers, wholesale milliners, visiting the large cities as their salesman, and he was the first man to sell their line out of Indian- apolis. In this capacity he visited Louisville, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; Evansville, Indiana, and the larger cities in Illinois and Ohio. In 1882 Mr. Richie assisted in organ- izing the firm of Wocher, Richie and Han- ford, a wholesale millinery company located on South Meridian street, Indianapolis, the co-partnership continuing for five years, or until it expired by limitation in 1887, and Mr. Richie then engaged with S. Strauss and Company of St. Louis, Missouri, selling their goods in Indianapolis, Louisville, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Dayton and Springfield for about six years. During that time he in- vested what money he had in Indianapolis property, and severing his connection with the last named company in 1892 he embarked in the real estate business with offices at 108 East Market street, Indianapolis, and has since built up one of the largest real estate business houses in the city and has made a great many of the most important deals in the city. He is a member of the Commercial Club, the Columbia Club, Pentalpha Lodge No. 564, F. & A. M., Indiana Consistory, Murat Temple, and is a thirty-second de- gree Mason and a Republican.

Mr. Richie married Miss Ella Venemann January 15, 1879. She was born in Evans- ville, Indiana, and is a daughter of Joseph Venemann. A son has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Richie, Claude G. Richie, associated in business with his father.

CORTLAND VAN CAMP. President of the Van Camp Hardware & Iron Company, Cort- land Van Camp stands forth unmistakably as one of the representative business men and influential citizens of Indianapolis, which has been his home from his boyhood days and fo whose commercial and civic advancement he

908

HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

has contributed in liberal measure, through his well directed business enterprises and his loyalty and liberality as a citizen.

He is a scion of one of the old and honored families of America, and, as the name implies, he is a representative of that sturdy Holland Dutch stock so admirably described by Wash- ington Irving in his "Knickerbocker's New York". The original orthography of the name was Van Capen and the family was one of ancient lineage in the Netherlands, whence came the original progenitors in America, settling in New York and New Jer- sey in the seventeenth century. The prefix "Van" indicates the patrician status of the family in Holland. To those familiar with the history of New Amsterdam, the quaint Dutch village which was the nucleus of our national metropolis, there comes at the men- tion of these sterling old names a mental pic- ture in which sturdy figures seem to leap forth from the midst of centuries, instinct with hearty, vigorous life, and representative of stalwart Christianity and sovereign integ- rity of character. The Van Camps were ag- gressive and liberty-loving, and their names are found enrolled as patriot soldiers in the Continental line during the War of the Revo- !ution. The name has ever stood symbolical of courage, fortitude and indomitable energy, and these sterling attributes have been signifi- cantly manifested in the career of Cortland Van Camp, who has wrought well under con- ditions almost incomparably different from those that compassed his early ancestors in America.

Records extant show that Charles Van Camp, whose father had been a captain of volunteers in the War of the Revolution, came from 'Trenton, New Jersey, to the territory of Indiana as early as 1804. He was among the first permanent settlers of the present County of Dearborn, and there he married Mary Halstead, danghter of James Halstead. who had brought his family overland fron! New York and settled at North Bend, Ohio. On Christmas day of the year 1817 there was born to Charles and Mary (Halstead) Van Camp a son. to whom was given the name of Gilbert C. Van Camp. He was reared under the conditions obtaining in the early pioneer epoch and concerning him the following pertinent statements have been written : "He possessed the very best traits for meeting successfully the difficult condi- tions of a new and undeveloped country. Economical, industrions and resourceful, he shaped to his own will the possibilities about him." He married Miss Hester Jane Ray- mond, whose birth occurred July 19, 1828,

in the State of New York, Westchester County, and whose parents were early set- tlers of Franklin County, Indiana, which was her home at the time of her marriage. In that county Gilbert C. Van Camp continued to reside, devoting his attention principally to milling and merchandising, until 1853, when he removed with his family to Greens- burg, Indiana, continuing there until 1860, when he moved to Indianapolis, with whose business and civic life he became prominently identified. His life was one of signal useful- ness and honor and he stood exponent of the highest type of loyal citizenship. He con- tinned to reside in Indianapolis until his death, which occurred April 4, 1900. The mother is still living in Indianapolis. Of their children three sons and two daughters are now living.

Cortland Van Camp, the subject of this article, was born in Franklin County, In- diana, on the 25th of May, 1852, and was about eight years of age at the time of the family removal to Indianapolis, where he was reared to manhood and where he has con- tinued to reside during the long intervening years, marked by worthy accomplishment and consecutive progress as one of the world's sterling workers. In the capital city he se- cured his earlier education in the public and private schools, after which he completed a course in a business college, having early manifested a predilection for active commer- cial life. At the age of sixteen years he be- came bookkeeper for George G. Holman, a prominent commission merchant of Indian -. apolis but he soon relinquished his position to. take up an independent business career that has been marked by indefatigable application, pronounced discrimination and acumen, vig- orous initiative and inflexible integrity of purpose. In 1869, when but seventeen years of age, Mr. Van Camp formed a partnership with his father and engaged in the fruit and vegetable commission business. the firm hav- ing originally been known as Van Camp & Jackson and later as G. C. Van Camp & Son. In 1876, after having been identified with this line of enterprise for a period of about seven years, Cortland Van Camp retired from the same, having determined to seek a field of business operations offering wider oppor- tunities and less hazard than the commission. trade, which involves the handling of perish- able products. Upon mature reflection Mr. Van Camp decided upon the hardware busı . ness as opening encouraging avenues for the accomplishment of desired results. although he had no intimate knowledge of the details of the same as a branch of trade. In June,

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.

Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 54

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