Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 60

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 60

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Mr. Rappaport is the son of Philip and Babette (Oppenheimer) Rappaport. His father was born in Fuerth, Germany, on the 10th of March, 1845, and is now living vir- tually retired in Indianapolis, where he has maintained his home for more than thirty years and where he holds a secure place in public confidence and esteem. He was reared and educated in his native land, and as a

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young man he immigrated to America and located in West Virginia. He took up the study of law and at Wheeling, that state, was finally admitted to the bar. There he was engaged in the practice of his profession for some time, but in 1871 he removed to Indianapolis, where he followed the work of his profession until 1873, when he became editor and publisher of the Indiana Tribune, a German evening paper. He continued ac- tively identified with newspaper work until 1900, since which time he has lived retired. He is known as a man of fine intellectual ability and as one admirably fortified in his views in regard to matters of public policy. In politics he maintains an independent at- titude. In 1868, in the City of Wheeling, West Virginia, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Babette Oppenheimer, who died in Berlin, Germany, on the 17th of December, 1908. having gone abroad for a visit with two of her sisters. She was born in Fuerth, Bavaria, on the 15th of January, 1846. Mrs. Babette Rappaport occupied a position of distinctive prominence in connection with philanthropic and charitable work in the City of Indianapolis and was a woman of most noble and gracious personality. Her intel- lectuality was of a high order, her judgment was mature, and she placed true valuations upon life and its problems. Her sympathy was ever of the most practical order and she extended her benevolences and largesses in such a way as to aid others to help them- selves. Her life was one of signal gentleness and purity, and when she was summoned to the life eternal her loss was deeply deplored in the city which so long represented her home. She was a prominent member of the Local Council of Women in Indianapolis and was most active in the various departments of its work.

Philip and Babette Rappaport became the parents of three children-Emma, who is the wife of Richard Lieber, of Indianapolis; Thekla, who died at the age of fifteen years; and Leo M., who is the immediate subject of this sketch.

In conclusion of this review, there is emi- nent consistency in offering the following ex- tract from a tribute accorded her by Mrs. Grace Julian Clark, of Indianapolis, shortly after the death of Mrs. Rappaport :

"I have just read with deep regret the notice of the death of Mrs. Babette Rappa- port, and the spirit moves me to speak a word of appreciation. Personally, I know that I have lost a friend, and this means much. From my first meeting with her, years ago. to the last good-by, a few months since, T

was conscious of a certain sympathy and un- derstanding that made me always glad when our paths crossed. It was the Local Council of Women that introduced us to each other, and the acquaintance was chiefly confined to that body, both serving on its board of direc- tors for a number of years. I know of no finer basis for friendship than the common service of a worthy cause; indeed, 'cleaving the battles of men', from the time of Achilles down to the present, has been a most active agent in the formation and cultivation of this relation.

"Mrs. Rappaport's two most pronounced characteristics were honesty and sympathy. She hated shams of all kinds and was capa- ble of self-sacrifice to the last degree in the effort to help the unfortunate. She was un- compromising in her loyalty to the cause in which she had enlisted, as well as in her opposition to what seemed to her unworthy, and her fearlessness and outspoken manner were refreshing in these days of sugar-coated antagonism and half-hearted support. Chil- dren made a special appeal to her and she was constantly on the lookout to help them. Her last effort in the local council was a plea for a longer noon hour so that children living far from schoolhouses might eat their dinner in a leisurely manner and not feel obliged to race through the meal and then run all the way back to school. Our last conversation was on the subject of woman's enfranchisement, a cause which she ardently supported and in which she never failed to exert herself when opportunity offered.

"In the death of this good woman Indian- apolis has lost much. She gave meat to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked; the stranger she took in, she visited the sick, and also those who were in prison. The contemplation of such life may well in- spire to renewed exertions in the works to which she so unsparingly dedicated herself."

CHARLES R. MYERS, well known as a suc- cessful practitioner in the civil courts of In- dianapolis and Indiana, for a number of years has held the position of chief claim agent of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company, with head- quarters in Indianapolis. He is a native of the last named city; obtained his literary education at the Northwestern Christian Uni- versity of Indianapolis, and, after studying law with A. C. Harris, of Indianapolis, com- pleted a course at the Indiana Law School, from which he obtained his professional de- gree. Soon after his graduation Mr. Myers was appointed to the position with the Cleve- land, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis road

FrankNaulamp

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

which he still holds. In politics he is a Demo- crat, and in Masonry a member of the Orien- tal Lodge No. 500.

Mr. Myers is a son of L. F. and Christina. B. Myers, both natives of Germany. The father died at the age of sixty years and the mother, aged eighty-two, having been the parents of nine children, of whom Charles R. was the seventh. L. F. Myers emigrated to the United States when a young man, and was long engaged in the confectionery busi- ness at Indianapolis. He was an earnest member of the First English Lutheran Church, and a man of moral and sound char- acter.

MERRITT A. POTTER, the treasurer of the E. C. Atkins Company of Indianapolis, was born in Clarkston, Michigan, August 1, 1855, a son of Aaron and Frances A. (Shaw) Pot- ter, the father born in Waterford, New York, April 9, 1820, and the mother in Fort Ed- ward, that state, May 31, 1830. They were married in 1851, and six of their eight chil- dren are now living, namely : Frances Adelia, the wife of Henry S. Reynolds; Merritt A .; Aaron Harris, Pacific Coast sales manager for the Atkins Company and living in Port- land, Oregon; Harriet Amanda, the wife of Jonathan H. Bartlet, living in Thomson, Georgia; Albert Temple, purchasing agent for the Atkins Company and living in In- dianapolis; and Edna Adeline, the wife of Lawrence H. Sinclair, of Helena, Montana. Rev. Aaron Potter, the father, was educated at Union College in Schenectady, New York, and in the theological school at Hamilton, that state, now the Colgate University, and moving to Michigan in 1851 he soon after- ward became a pastor in the Baptist Church. But after spending some years in that state he moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and later to Champaign, Illinois, where he died in 1873. His widow survives him and is living in In- dianapolis with her son Merritt. Rev. Potter was associated with the University of Illinois from the opening of the institution until his retirement to private life. He was very finely educated, as is also his wife, and was loved for his nobility and integrity of char- acter and his promptness in all things.

Merritt A. Potter received his educational training in the public schools of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and in the University of Illinois, and his first business experience was as a bookkeeper with a dry goods house, thus con- tinning from 1869 to 1873, when he became a traveling salesman for a paper house and blank book manufacturers. Coming to In- dianapolis in 1874, he taught school during the winter of 1874-5, and then was employed

as a clerk in a carpet house until engaging with E. C. Atkins and Company in the fall of 1878. In 1881 he became a partner in the business, and since 1885 has served as the treasurer of the association. He is a member of the Columbia and Commercial clubs, of the Board of Trade, of the Republican party and is a member and deacon of the First Baptist Church.

Mr. Potter married Miss Dora A. Butter- field October 17, 1881. She was born in Laporte, Indiana, December 15, 1858, and died on the 26th of June, 1890, the mother of three children : Helen Frances, Justin Al- bert and Laura Agnes. Mr. Potter married Miss Mary Katherine Stemmel June 29, 1909. She was born in Columbus, Ohio.

FRANK VAN CAMP. An able exponent of the progressive spirit and strong initiative power that have caused Indianapolis to forge so rapidly forward as an industrial and com- mercial center, is Frank Van Camp, who is president of the Van Camp Packing . Com- pany. He is a native son of the Indiana capi- tal and has here attained to a position of special prominence and influence as a loyal and public-spirited citizen and as an aggres- sive and resourceful man of affairs. History is made .rapidly in these latter days, repre- senting ceaseless toil and endeavor, the proud- est achievements and the most electrical prog- ress in all normal lines, and thus it is gratify- ing to mark the records of those whose in- fluence has impressed itself along the various channels through which the swelling tide of accomplishment makes its way. As the head of one of the greatest industrial institutions of the Indiana metropolis and as a represen- tative of that class of men who have given an enduring character to the industrial and civic makeup of "Greater Indianapolis", Mr. Van Camp is well worthy of consideration in this publication. He has shown both the power of initiative and that of concentration, and has made for himself a secure place as one of the leaders in local industrial circles.

Frank Van Camp was born in the City of Indianapolis, on the 21st of January, 1863, and is a son of Gilbert C. and Hester J. (Raymond) Van Camp. In the sketch of the career of his brother, Cortland Van Camp, president of the Van Camp Hardware & Iron Company, appearing on other pages of this work, is given a resumé of the family history, so that a repetition of the data is not de- manded in the article at hand. Frank Van Camp is indebted to the public schools of his native city for his early educational disci- pline, which included a course in the Short- ridge high school. When sixteen years of age

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

he found employment in connection with the packing and canning business established by his honored father, and with this important line of industrial enterprise he has been ac- tively identified during his entire business career, being familiar with every detail and thus being especially well fortified for the exercising of his executive and administrative functions as head of one of the great packing and canning institutions of the United States, one whose products find sale in the most di- verse sections of the world and whose facili- ties are of the highest order. The name Van Camp represents in this line the highest standard of excellence, and it may well be un- derstood that the name has borne the fame of Indianapolis far and wide and has thus contributed in large measure to the city'a prestige as an industrial and commercial cen- ter.

The Van Camp Packing Company has an immense plant in Indianapolis and nine branch plants are maintained,-in Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin and Vermont-to fa- cilitate the handling of the immense business of the corporation, whose headquarters has ever been maintained in Indianapolis. It is not necessary in this personal sketch to make reference in detail to the extent and variety of the products of this great concern, but it should be observed that the company unmis- takably constitutes one of the most important of the industrial corporations of "Greater Indianapolis".

Frank Van Camp is essentially liberal, progressive and public-spirited as a citizen and business man, and his aid and influence have been freely extended in the promotion and support of enterprises and measures through which the advancement of his home city has been conserved. He was prominently associated with his brother, Cortland Van Camp, and other representative citizens in the projection and building of the Indianapolis Southern Railway, which affords to the capi- tal city direct transportation communication with south, the line extending from Indian- apolis to Effingham, Illinois, at which latter point conjunction is made with the Illinois Central lines. Mr. Van Camp is an active member of the Indianapolis Board of Trade, is a valued member of the Columbia Club, of which he served as president in 1908 and 1909, and is identified with various other civic organizations of representative order. He is a dominating factor in connection with local business affairs and his enterprise and defi- nite achievement have redounded greatly to his own credit and to the benefit of the city

that has ever been his home and the center of his interests.

On the 27th of October, 1886, was solemn- nized the marriage of Mr. Van Camp to Miss Clara E. Lintner, who likewise was born and reared in Indianapolis and who is a daugh- ter of Christian and Anna E. (Bombarger) Lintner. Her father, who is now deceased, was for many years a representative merchant in Indianapolis, where he was engaged in the retail dry goods and shoe business, and in this city the venerable mother still main- tains her home. Mr. and 'Mrs. Van Camp have two children, Gilbert C. and Marguerite.

AMOS K. HOLLOWELL. It has been the por- tion of Amos K. Hollowell of this sketch to attain to a large measure of success and prominence in connection with industrial enterprises of important order, and he has made a definite impress upon the business activities of the capital city of Indiana, where he holds prestige as a leal and loyal citizen and as a business man whose record has been one marked by inflexible integrity and honor in all the relations of life. He is a native of Indiana and a scion of one of its early pio- neer families. He has well upheld the pres- tige of the honored name which he bears and is well entitled to consideration in this pub- lication as one of the representative business men of Indianapolis, where he is president and treasurer of the Harris Air Pump Com- pany, and where he was formerly president of the Indiana Lumber & Veneer Company, of which he was the founder and which is the most extensive concern of its kind in the world. He has various capitalistic interests of importance in Indianapolis, and his pro- nounced success in connection with material affairs represents the direct results of his own ability and well ordered endeavors.

Mr. Hollowell was born at Paoli, Orange County, Indiana, on the 19th of August, 1844, and is a son of James and Celia (Thomas) Hollowell, both of whom were likewise born and reared in the fine old Hoosier state. James Hollowell was a son of Nathan Hollo- well, who was a native of North Carolina and a son of Robert Hollowell, who also was born in North Carolina and who was, in turn, a son of Thomas Hollowell, a native of Eng- land and the founder of the family in Amer- ica. Nathan Hollowell was a child at the time of his parents' removal from the old North state to Indiana, and the family be- came early settlers in Orange County, where Nathan was reared to manhood and where he continued to maintain his home until past middle life, when he removed to New Lon- don, Howard County, where he passed the

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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.

residue of his life, having been more than seventy years of age at the time of his death During the major portion of his active career he was engaged in the general merchandise business, and he was a man of influence in his community, standing exponent of the loftiest principles of integrity. He reared a large family of children and many of his descendants are residents of Indiana at the present time.

Stephen Thomas, the maternal grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was a native of North Carolina, was a zealous and devout member of the Society of Friends and was of stanch Welsh lineage. He likewise was numbered among the very early settlers of Orange County, Indiana, where he died when venerable in years, having reared a large family of children.

James Hollowell was born in the year 1821, in Orange County, this state, where he was reared and educated and where he was en- gaged in agricultural pursuits until his re- moval to Washington County, where he con- tinued to be identified with the same basic line of industry during the residue of his long, active and honorable career as one of the world's noble army of productive work- ers. He died on his homestead farm, near Salem, that county, in 1896, at the age of seventy-five years, and his name is held in lasting honor in that part of the state, where he lived and labored to goodly ends. His first wife was summoned to the life eternal in 1858, at the age of forty-one years. She was a woman of gentle and noble character, was birthright member of the Society of a Friends, whose simple and .exalted faith she well exemplified in her daily life. Her hus- band was also a birthright member of the Society of Friends. James and Celia . (Thomas) Hollowell became the parents of four song and one daughter, and of the two now living the subject of this sketch is the elder; James S. is a representative citizen of Montezuma, this state. For his second wife James Hollowell married Mrs. Amanda Lind- ley, who died in 1900, and of their four chi !- dren two are now living, John J., of Farmer City, Illinois, and Mary, who is the wife of Ora M. Morris, with whom she lives on the old homestead of her father, near Salem, Washington County.

Amos K. Hollowell secured his early educa- tional training in the common schools of Orange County and was fourteen years of age at the time of the death of his loved and devoted mother. Thereafter he lived for a time in, Hendricks County, where he con- tinued to attend school, and later he was

afforded the advantages of Bloomingdale Academy. After leaving school he was em- ployed about four years as a clerk in a dry goods store at Paoli and Kokomo, this state, and in 1865 he came to Indianapolis, where he entered upon a clerkship in a wholesale house and where later he held the position of bookkeeper in a wholesale hardware estab- lishment, retaining this incumbency for a period of four years. After his marriage, in 1870, Mr. Hollowell located at Newport, Wayne County, Indiana, which place is now known as Fountain City, and there he con- ducted a general store for a period of about five years. Thereafter he took up his resi- dence in the City of Richmond, Wayne County, where he became associated with Nor- dyke, Marmon & Company in the manufac- turing of flour milling machinery. He was one of the interested principals in this con- cern from 1875 until 1895, and during this interval continuously. held the office of treas- urer of the company. He disposed of his in- terest in the business in 1895. In 1876 the company removed to Indianapolis, where it has since continued operations and where it represents one of the important industrial enterprises of the city.

Mr. Hollowell took up his residence in the capital city in 1876, and in 1892 he estab- lished the Indiana Lumber & Veneer Com- pany, of which he continued president for many years and in which he is still a stock- holder. The concern is the largest of the kind in the world and its products are sold in all parts of the United States and com- mand a large trade in Europe and other foreign countries. Mr. Hollowell was presi- dent and one of the principal stockholders of the Jenney Electric Motor Company until the destruction of its plant by fire, in 1897. He was one of the heavy stockholders in the New Long Distance Telephone Company, and in 1904, he effected the organization and in- corporation of the Harris Air Pump Com- pany, of which he has since been president and treasurer. This company, whose business has attained to wide scope and importance, is engaged in the manufacturing of pumps. devised for the raising of water from artesian and other deep wells, and also air pumpa for pumping water from open cisterns, lakes or streams, All of the pumps are operated by compressed air and the products of the- fac- tory are finding large and appreciative de- mand in affording the necessary facilities for supplying large quantities of water. . They are thus utilized by cities, towns and irrigat- ing companies, and the business has within the short period of its existence grown to be

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one offering an important contribution to the industrial and commercial activities of In- dianapolis.

As a citizen Mr. Hollowell has not hedged himself in with selfish interests, but has stood exponent of broad, liberal and generous pub- lie spirit. He has never sought the honors or emoluments of public office but is aligned as a stanch supported of the cause of the Republican party. He is a birthright mem- ber of the Society of Friends and has been most zealous in its work and in the support of its variona benevolences. His cherished and devoted wife, who was summoned to the life eternal on April 21, 1900, was likewise a most zealous worker in the same religious or- ganization.

On the 19th of October, 1870, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Hollowell to Miss Adaline H. Parker, who was born and reared in Wayne County, this state, and who was a daughter of the late Joel and Mary (Maris) Parker. Mr. and Mrs. Hollowell became the parents of one son, Lynden P., who is now one of the representative business men of the younger generation in Indianapolis. On July 22, 1901, Mr. Hollowell was married to Mary I. Nordyke Kramer, a daughter of Thomas Nordykė of New Vienna, Ohio.

CHARLES T. HANNA. Numbered among the practitioners at the bar of Indianapolis is Charles T. Hanna, a lawyer of high attain- ments and a member of a distinguished fam- ily in the United States. General Robert Hanna, his paternal great-great-grandfather, was a valiant soldier in the Revolutionary War, and was a personal friend and class- mate of Thomas Jefferson. He was born in Virginia and moving to South Carolina he was made the surveyor general of the state. He had a son Robert Hanna, who in 1816 was a member of the constitutional body which organized the State of Indiana and served as United States senator from Indiana. while another son, John Hanna, was also a Revolu- tionary War soldier and was later associate judge of the Circuit Court at Brookville, In- diana. Henry Clay Hanna, a grandson of General Robert Hanna, was also a judge of that court. and. the latter's brother. Samuel McClean Hanna, was judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana. John Hanna, a son of James P. Hanna. and the great-grandson of General Robert Hanna, was United States at- torney under Abraham Lincoln and a con- gressman from Indiana. The parents of Charles T. Hanna were George A. and Eliza (Springsteen) Hanna. the former born in Franklin County, Indiana. snd the latter in Indianapolis. George A. Hanna is deceased,

dying in 1901, but his wife is yet living. Their family numbered four children, two sons and two daughters-Enoch B., Anna M., Ida and Charles T. George A. Hanna was a farmer and stock dealer at Fortville, Indiana.

Charles T. Hanna was born at Fortville, this state, December 27, 1869, and following his literary training in the public schools and the state university he matriculated in the Indiana Law School and was graduated at the head of its class of 1897. He began the practice of his profession in association with John R. Wilson, and in 1899 formed a part- nership with Thomas A. Daily. In April, 1907, he was honored with the appointment of judge of the Superior Court, and served in that office for one year and seven months, and has since followed the general practice of law, a member of the well-known firm of Hanna and Daily. Mr. Hanna is a member of the Marion County Bar Association, of the State Bar Association, of the Lawyers' Club of Indianapolis, of the Commercial and Marion Cluba, and of many other of the prominent organizations of this city. He up- holds the principles of the Republican party.

Mr. Hanna married on the 28th of October, 1903, May L. Coots, born in Indianapolis and a daughter of Charles E. and Sarah (Mor- ton) Coots. Charles E.Coots is the chief of the Indianapolis fire department.

JOSEPH F. FLACK is a member of a family whose history touches the pioneer epoch of the . City of Indianapolis. Moses Flack, his father, born in Ohio, was a contractor and builder of prominence in Indianapolis during the period of its early development, and among other structures which he erected may be mentioned the first railroad depot and the first planing mill, which was built on Massa- chusetts avenue. He took up his abode here in 1842, and soon became the leading con- tractor of the city, but death claimed him when he was but thirty-seven years of age. His first wife, nee Frances Starrett, was born in Virginia, and died in June of 1843, Joseph F. being the last born of their three children. For his second wife Mr. Flack married Mary Ann Linconfelter, and a son Moses was born to them. Mr. Flack was a member of Roberts Park Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics was allied with the Democratic party.

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Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes, Part 60

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