USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 62
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After the close of the war Mr. Lieber be- came private secretary to Governor Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, a position which he re- tained for some time, and he ever afterward held the friendship of the distinguished war governor of the Hoosier state. While a resi-
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dent of New Ulm, Minnesota, he formed the acquaintance of Miss Sophia Andre, who was born at Freiburg, Germany, of French lineage, and their marriage was solemnized in 1860. While he was in service in the Civil War his wife came to Indianapolis, where his brother Herman had established his home, and the presence of his wife in the Indiana capital is the cause that led to his making a permanent location in this city. At New Ulm he had built up a prosperous business and accumulated a good estate, but through the failure of a bank in St. Paul he met with serions financial re- verses, so that after the war he was practically compelled to make an entirely new start, but his inherent courage and ambition were equal to the facing of all emergencies encountered at this time, as ever afterward in his career ..
After retiring from the position of private secretary to the governor, Mr. Lieber became associated with his brother Herman and with Charles Mayer in the purchase of the old Gack brewery, in Indianapolis, and operation of the same was continued for some time under the title of P. Lieber & Company. The enter- prise was handled with much di-crimination and ability and, with the installation of im- proved facilities and the general expansion of the plant, the business increased rapidly in scope and importance, so that finally a stock company was formed, the same being incorpo- rated under the title of the P. Licher Brewing Company. The subject of this review became president of the company and continued the chief executive officer of the concern under varions changes for about twenty years. He was president at the time the present title, the Indianapolis Brewing Company, was adopted, and the upbuilding of the business was in large measure due to his energy, discretion and able administration. Impaired health finally led Mr. Lieber to retire from active business, in 1888, and he returned, in company with his devoted wife, to his native city of Dusseldorf, where. he has since maintained his home. In 1893, President Cleveland appointedl him United States consul for that city, and he held this important consular post until 1908, when the office was abolished. He made an admirable record as a representative of the interests of the United States in his jurisdic- tion and his retention of office for so long a period and under varying political regimes, of- fers adequate evidence of the estimate placed upon his services by the governmental officials of his adopted country, in which his interest has never flagged, though he has long been absent therefrom.
Originally a supporter of the cause of the Republican party, in 1882 Mr. Lieber trans-
ferred his allegiance from the same to the Democratic party, in whose ranks he became a zealous worker and a valued counselor. He was a delegate to the Democratie national con- vention of 1884, and in the same was a valiant supporter of the candidacy of Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, for the presidency, but when it became evident that Mr. Hen- dricks could not be selected as the head of the ticket he gave a hearty support to Cleve- land, who was nominated and elected. Mr. Lieber is a man of alert mentality and strong convictions, in the courage of which he has never been found lacking, and while a resident of the United States he kept in close touch with the questions and issues of the hour. He held a secure place in the confidence and regard of the citizens of Indianapolis and here was spe- cially prominent in fostering the interests of the various German social organizations. while he was ever liberal and public-spirited as a citizen and business man.
Of the five children of Mr. and Mrs. Lieber it may be recorded that Caroline is the wife of Frederick Francke. of Indianapolis; Albert is a representative citizen of the Indiana capital and is individually mentioned on other page- of this work: Laura is with her parents in Germany; Rudolph. though a native of In - dianapolis, has until recently held a commis- sion as lieutenant in the German army; and Emma is the wife of Lieutenant Ervin Herber. a member of the German army, with residence in Dusseldorf.
ALBERT LIEBER. is a native son of Indian- apolis and is one of its representative business men, having shown a distinctive interest in the promotion of all interests and projects which make for the upbuilding of the larger and greater industrial city. He is a son of Hon. Peter Lieber. who was long one of the influential and honored citizens of Indian - apolis and who served for full a decade and a half as United States consul in his native city of Dusseldorf. Germany, where he still main- tains his home. Of him individual mention is made on other pages of this volume, so that further review of his career or the family gene- alogy is not demanded in the present sketch. Albert Licher has been for twenty years presi- dent of the Indianapolis Brewing Company, representing one of the most important indns- trial enterprises of its kind in the state, and he also has other important capitalistic inter- ests in the Indiana metropolis.
Mr. Lieber was born in Indianapolis on the 16th day of Angust. 1863. and here he was afforded the advantages of German-American schools and the high school, after which he completed a course in the Indianapolis Busi-
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ness College. After leaving school he became identified with the affairs of the brewery of which his father had been the founder, and with this line of enterprise he has been continuously identified during the intervening years, marked by definite accomplishment and by the final at- tainment of prestige as one of the substantial and influential business men of his native city, where he has ever enjoyed the most unequiv- oral popular confidence and esteem. For more than twenty years he has been president of the Indianapolis Brewing Company, whose plant is the largest and best equipped in the city, and he is interested in various other industrial. commercial and financial concerns which are conservators of the high prestige of the capital city as a business center and as one of the im- portant manufacturing and commercial cen- ters of the country. He is a stockholder in the Merchants' National Bank and the Indiana Trust Company, as well as other financial in- stitutions of the city.
Mr. Lieber has, from the time of attaining to his legal majority, been a zealous and effective worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, and in 1892 he was presidential elector from Indiana on the party ticket, in which connection he was further honored in being chosen mes- senger to deliver the Indiana vote for Presi- dent Cleveland at the national capital. He was a member of the Indianapolis park board for one year, and has ever given his influence and tangible co-operation in support of all meas- ures and enterprises which have tended to pro- mote the civic and industrial advancement of his native city, though he has never been a seeker of public office. He holds membership in the Columbia Club, the University Club, the Indianapolis Maennerchor, the German House, and the Social Turnverein.
In 1887 Mr. Lieber was united in marriage to Miss Alice Barus, daughter of Professor Carl Barus, of Indianapolis, and her death occurred in 1897. She is survived by three children-Edith, Peter Carl. and Rudolph. In 1900 Mr. Lieber contracted a second mar- riage. being then united to Miss Ora Lane, of Zanesville, Ohio, who presides most graciously over the attractive home, which is known for its generous hospitality.
JOHN MCFADYEN. In enlisting the efforts and energies of men of distinctive resource- fulness and ability has Indianapolis made so great advancement along industrial and com- mercial lines with the last decade, and a typical representative of this class was John McFadyen, who at the time of his death on May 7, 1910, at Atlantic City. New Jersey, was vice-president of the Vandalia Coal Com- pany. In February he suffered from an at-
tack of quinsy, from, which blood poisoning developed later, resulting in his death. De. pending upon his own energies and powers for his advancement, Mr. McFadyen had been prominently identified with the coal, iron and steel industries, and in connection therewith he won his way from positions of obscurity to those of high administrative and executive order, so that he merited consideration not only as the architect of his own fortunes, but also as a veritable "captain of industry."
John McFadyen is a scion of stanch Scot- tish stock in both paternal and maternal lines, and is himself a native of the land of hills and heather, as he was born in Kil- burnie, Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 18th of October, 1849. He is the youngest child of Michael and Margaret (Craig) McFadyen and his father was a skilled and successful mining engineer. When John McFadyen was a lad of about seven years his widowed moth- er came with her five children to the United States, settling in the State of Maryland, where she remained until after the close of the Civil War. She then removed to Penn- sylvania, where she passed the remainder of her life. She died at the age of sixty-five years and her memory is revered by her chil- dren, to whose welfare she was ever devoted. Of the five children two are now living.
John McFadyen gained his earlier educa- tional discipline in the public schools of Maryland, and at the age of eighteen years he was matriculated in the Johns Hopkins University, from which celebrated institution he received the degree of Bachelor of Sci- ences. Mr. McFadyen's father had been a mining engineer, as has already been noted in this context, and this fact undoubtedly had much to do in influencing the son when he formulated plans for his future career. After leaving the university Mr. McFadyen identified himself with practical operations in connection with the coal and coke indus- try in Pennsylvania, beginning at the bottom and working his way upward through the va- rious grades of promotion. He thus gained a technical knowledge of all details of the in- dustry and his keen business acumen soon marked him as eligible for positions of dis- tinctive trust and responsibility. In 1875, when twenty-five years of age, he became manager of the fuel department of the busi- ness of the Cambria Iron Company, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and later he was promoted to the office of general agent for this company, with which he continued to be identified about fourteen years. He then be- came general manager of the. Keystone Man- ganese Iron Company, of Pennsylvania, re-
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taining this incumbency two years and main- taining his residence in the City of Pitts- burg, whither he had removed from Johns- town. At the expiration of the period noted Mr. McFadyen became one of the organizers and incorporators of the Hostetter Coke Com- pany and the Puritan Coke Company, both of which were incorporated under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania, and later he was an influential factor in connection with the organization of the American Steel & Wire Company, which controlled large and impor- tant interests, and he was vice-president of three of the subsidiary companies represent- ed in this syndicate, which eventually became a part of the great United Steel Company, with which latter Mr. McFadyen continued in an executive capacity of importance until impaired health rendered it practically im- perative to make a change, as his incidental responsibilities placed exacting demands upon his time and attention. He then organized the Fort Pitt Coke & Coal Company, of which he became one of the principal stockholders and of which he was president until 1905, and of which his son Rush is now secretary and treasurer. In 1905 Mr. McFadyen re- moved from Pittsburg to Indianapolis, in which latter city he since maintained his home and with whose industrial and commer- cial activities he identified himself in a prom- inent and prolific way.
Mr. McFadyen was interested in the devel- opment of several coal fields in Ohio, and upon coming to the Indiana capital he pro- moted and effected the organization of the Vandalia Coal Company, of which he was vice-president and general manager at the time of his death, and in which office he had active supervision of the administration of the large and important business controlled by the corporation. The offices of the com- pany are located in the State Life building and its business comprises the handling of coal at wholesale and upon a large scale. The business career of Mr. McFadyen was one marked by cumulative success and prece- dence, and by untiring energy and close ap- plication. The great coke plants of Hostet- ter, Whitney, Baggaley and Dorothy, near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, stand as proof of his business foresight and sagacity. He was a promoter, but in the true sense of the word and not as the world interprets it, being a maker of wealth for others, not for himself. He had broad capacity for the conducting of large business affairs, and he proved such a valuable acquisition to the business con- munity of Indianapolis, where he was known and honored as a progressive and reliable bus-
iness man and loyal and public-spirited citi- zen, that his death was of more than passing moment. He was a Scottish Rite Mason, first becoming a member of the Masons in 1876 at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He was a member of Cambria Lodge, No. 278, of Portage Royal Arch Chapter No. 195 and Oriental Commandery, No. 61, Knights Tem- plar, all of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He was also a member of the Commercial, Co- lumbia and Country clubs, leading civic or- ganizations of the capital city, and a stanch Republican in politics. As he was essentially a business man he has had naught of ambi- tion for public office and never entered the arena of practical politics.
In the year 1875 was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. McFadyen to Miss Mary A. Rush, who was born and reared in Pennsyl- vania, and they had six children, namely : John W., attorney of Latrobe, Pennsylvania ; Rush, secretary and treasurer of Fort Pitt Coal Company, Pittsburg; Craig, member of Allen Exchange Insurance Company, La- trobe; Father Bertrand, O. S. B., of St. Vin- cent's Archabbey, Beatty, Pennsylvania; and Misses Louise and Regina, at home. Mr. Mc Fadyen was twice married, the second mar- riage being solemnized in 1900 with Miss Anna R. Walsh, who was born and reared in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
JOHN LAMOTT KRING came to Indianapolis many years ago, and since then both as a business man and citizen he has been highly esteemed and sincerely respected. He was horn at Thorntown, in Boone County, Indiana, January 26, 1844, a son of Phillip B. and a grandson of Henry Kring, a physician who died at Troy, Ohio. Phillip B. Kring, born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Decem- ber 24, 1815, spent the first sixteen years of his life in that state, and then going to Troy, Ohio, with his parents, he was bound out to James Adams. a wagon maker, with whom he lived for about two years. Running away from that home he made his way to Madison, Indiana, and obtained work with William Dunn. a wagon maker. This was in the year of 1833, and in 1839 he came to Indianapolis and was offered by old Mr. Huggins an acre of ground where the city now stands for one hundred and fifty dollars. Mr. Huggins oc- cupied a blacksmith shop where the present Claypool Hotel now stands. and in those early days Mr. Kring shot squirrel in what is now the very heart of this prosperous city. But after a few months he went from here to Thorntown and was engaged in the wagon making business there until 1860. He opened a general wagon shop, and in 1855 was one
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of the organizers' and founders of the Thorn- town Academy, he having received the con- tract to erect the academy building, which he completed in 1856. He continued his con- tracting and building operations until 1861, transferring his operations then to the lum- ber business, and in 1865 he moved to In- dianapolis and resumed the work of a con- tractor and builder. Going in the fall of 1866 to Atlanta, Indiana, Mr. Kring became identified with saw milling and the furniture business, but in 1879 he was obliged to lay ยท aside all business considerations on account of the loss of his eyesight and he died in 1900, after almost a life-long membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He also served his religious home as a class leader, and was an active and earnest church worker. He advocated Whig principles until within the last fifteen years of his life, transferring then his political allegiance to the Prohibi- tion party. . Phillip B. Kring married in 1840, in Thorntown, Josinah Miller, who was born in Pennsylvania April 26, 1816, and she died in 1894. Eight children were born of their marriage union, four sons and four daugh- ters, but only four are now living: John L., mentioned below; Sarah K., the wife of Will- iam Good and a resident of Atlanta, Indiana ; Laura E., the widow of Sylvester Essig; and Mary, the wife of Austin B. Cochian and liv- ing at Atlanta, this state ..
John L. Kring received his educational training in Thorntown Academy, and when eleven years of age he began work for his father at the carpenter's trade. Before reaching the age of twenty-one his father gave him a year's time, and continuing at the car- penter's trade he erected him a home in Thorntown, but on the 9th of March, 1865, he came from that city to Indianapolis. His first work here was with his father, and after the latter's removal to Atlanta in the fall of 1866 he continued on as a contractor and builder until 1881, in the meantime erecting many buildings in Indianapolis, including the Martindale Block, where the Lemeke building now stands, the Hubbard building, where the L. S. Ayres store now stands, and many homes and apartment buildings. In 1881 he ac- cepted the foremanship of the business of MI. S. Hney and Sons, and was with them as fore- man until becoming general superintendent of their plant in 1890. From 1898 until 1904 he was in business for himself, during the following year was estimator for Huey and Sons. and in 1905 began building apartment buildings. On the 1st of May. 1908, he ac- cepted the superintendency of the Capital
Lumber Company's plant No. 3, and is the present incumbent of that office.
Mr. Kring was made an Odd Fellow in Osceola Lodge No. 178 at Thorntown, Indi- ana, in 1865, and demitting from that order in 1875 he became a member of Center Lodge, No. 18, I. O. O. F., at Indianapolis, and is now identified with Metropolitan Camp, the Order of Rebekahs, and has been deputy grand master of the state of Indiana, district deputy, and state representative to the Grand Lodge. He is also prominently associated with the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and has served in the principal offices of the or- der. He married Sarah L. Taylor on Decem- ber 26, 1864. She was born on a farm ad- joining that of ex-Governor Mount's in Mont- gomery County, Indiana, May 23, 1846, and she died on the 8th of February, 1908. Will- iam Taylor, her father, spent his days as a farmer in Montgomery County, Indiana, prominently identified with the life of that community and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died on his farm in 1854, and his wife passed away in 1866 in Thorntown, this state. She was before mar- riage Sarah Wilson, born in Kentucky, and she came from that state to Indiana on horse- back during the early history of this com- monwealth, her parents having been among the Kentucky pioneers. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor only one, William Taylor, is now living, and he is a resident of Potomac, Illinois. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kring, Jessie Jasinah and Grace Lamott. The elder daughter is the wife of John B. Wood, of Indianapolis, and the younger daughter is the wife of Joseph W. Selvage, also of this city. Mr. Kring has five grandchildren, and he has reared a fam- ily of which he may well be proud. He is a representative citizen of Indianapolis, hon- ored and respected by all who have the pleas- ure of his acquaintance.
WALTER S. BALLENGER. One of the loyal and progressive business men of the younger generation in Greater Indianapolis is Walter S. Ballenger, who stands distinctively expo- nent of that aggressive and vital spirit that has been so potent in forwarding the progress of the capital city as a commercial and in- dustrial center, and he is president of the Holt Ice & Cold Storage Company, which rep- resents one of the most important enterprises of its kind in Indianapolis.
Walter Sylvester Ballenger is a native son of the fine old Hoosier commonwealth, as he was born at Williamsburg, Wayne County, In- diana. on the 12th of August, 1871. He is a son of Charles and Jennie (Lamb) Ballenger,
Vol. II-20
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the former of whom died in 1881, at the age of thirty-eight years, and the latter of whom now maintains her home in the city of Port Huron, Michigan. Of the two children of this union the subject of this sketch was the first-born, and Earl died at the age of two and one-half years. The father was a law- yer of marked ability, having been graduated in the law department of the celebrated Uni- versity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and for a time he was engaged in practice in Cam- bridge City, Indiana, whence he removed to Indianapolis in 1876, here continuing in the active work of his profession until his death. In politics he was a stanch Republican and he was an active worker in its local ranks, He held membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his widow also has long been a devoted member.
Walter S. Ballenger was about five years of age at the time of the family removal to Indianapolis, in whose public schools he gained his early education. Upon initiating his career as one of the world's workers he secured employment in a grocery store in this city, and later he became messenger boy in the old Bank of Commerce, in which he was later promoted to the position of bookkeeper. He remained with this institution for two and one-half years, and for the ensuing three years he was bookkeeper in the State Bank of Indian& At the expiration of the period noted he became secretary in the office of Sterling R. Holt, long recognized as one of the representative business men and influen- tial citizens of Indianapolis. This incum- bency he retained for two years, and he then identified himself in an executive capacity with the Holt Ice & Cold Storage Company, with the management of whose large and im- portant interests he has since been actively concerned and of which company he has been president since 1905. His success represents the diametrical result of his own well directed efforts and he is one of the substantial and popular business men of the city that has been his home from his childhood days. He is a stalwart Republican in his political pro- clivities, is identified with the Columbia and Commercial Clubs, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Central Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.
On the 11th of December, 1896, Mr. Bal- lenger was united in marriage to Miss Ber- tha Bedford, who was born in Indianapolis, on the 10th of November, 1875, and who is the only survivor of the four children of Dr. Collins T. and Narina (Fink) Bedford, both of whom were born and reared in In- diana. Dr. Bedford is one of the able and
prominent physicians and surgeons of this city, where he has been engaged in the prac- tice of his profession for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Ballenger have one child, Nancy A.
GEORGE J. COOK, M. D. An honored and distinguished representative of the medical pro- fession in the City of Indianapolis is Dr. George Jameson Cook, who is incumbent of the professorship of gastro-intestinal and rectal surgery in the Indiana University College of Medicine. In the special department of prac- tice designated in his official connection with this institution he has gained a reputation that places him among the leaders in the same, and he is a recognized authority in surgical treat- ments of diseases of this type. His well di- rected and original research and his develop- ment of original methods in this connection have brought him into prominence as one of the best known representatives in his special field of practice in the civilized world, and his unselfish zeal in his profession has been fecund in results of great and permanent value. The marked prestige which is his and the splendid scope of his service in his chosen vocation ren- der specially consonant a review of his career in this publication, devoted to the city that has so long represented his home and been the field of his earnest and fruitful endeavors in his responsible and exacting profession.
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