USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 65
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a position that it retains today, thus serving as a valuable factor in contributing to the commercial prestige of the capital city. In the meanwhile Mr. Stalnaker had continued to be identified with banking interests, and in June, 1906, he was elected president of the Capital National Bank. As head of this sub- stantial financial institution he has directed its policy ยท along conservative lines and done much to conserve its substantial progress and popularity, and through his association there- with he had become a prominent factor in the banking circles of the state. Enthusiastic and loyal in all that touches the welfare of In- dianapolis, Mr. Stalnaker has given his in- fluence and tangible co-operation in the support of measures and enterprises tending to conserve the civic and material advance- ment of the city, and he is a valued member of various civic organizations that have con- tributed in large degree to such advancement, including the Merchants' Association, of which he is president, and the Indianapolis Board of Trade, of which he served as presi- dent for two years, within which was com- passed the erection of its present fine build- ing. He was one of the charter members of the Commercial Club, served as a member of its first board of directors and is still ac- tively identified with this effective organiza- tion. Of that essentially representative or- ganization, the Columbia Club, he was sec- retary for two years and in 1903 he was president of the same. He is also identified with the University Club and the Country Club. In the time-honored Masonic frater- nity he has completed the circle of both the York and Scottish Rites, in which latter he has attained the thirty-second degree, and is also identified with the adjunct organiza- tion, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Even these brief state- ments indicate how thoroughly and close Mr. Stalnaker is indentified with the best busi- ness and civic interests of "Greater Indian- apolis", where he is looked upon as an es- sentially representative citizen. In politics he accords an unwavering allegiance to the Republican party and he has been a zealous worker in behalf of its cause. For several years he served as treasurer of the Republi- can state central committee of Indiana.
On the 8th of October, 1890, was soleni- nized the marriage of Mr. Stalnaker to Miss Maude Hill, who was born in Indianapolis and reared in Milwaukee and Chicago and who is a daughter of the late James B. Hill, who was general freight agent for the Penn- sylvania Railroad west of Pittsburg. Mr. and Mrs. Stalnaker have one daughter, Marjory.
JOHN R. MAROT
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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
JOHN R. MAROT. For more than a quarter of a century the late John Richards Marot was actively and prominently identified with the industrial and commercial interests of In- diana's capital city, and his standing as an honored and representative citizen well justi- fies the slight memorial tribute that is here entered.
John Richards Marot was born in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of December, 1831, and was a son of Joseph and Mary (Richards) Marot, both of whom were likewise natives of the historic old City of Philadelphia, where the respective families were early founded. The lineage of the Marot family is traced back to remote French origin but the original representatives in America came from France and were members of the Society of Friends. Joseph Marot devoted the major portion of his active career to the printing and book-binding business and both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives in Dayton, Ohio, to which place they removed when the subject of this memoir was a child. John R. Marot was afforded the advantages of the common schools of Dayton and he eventually completed a course in the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio, in which institution he was graduated. As a young man he engaged in the manufacturing of chairs, and for a number of years he suc- cessfully operated a chair factory in Dayton, Ohio. He disposed of this industrial enter- prise in 1864, in which year he removed to Indianapolis, where he forthwith identified himself with local business interests, and for many years he was engaged in the manufac- ture and sale of furniture and show cases, at 87 East Washington street, where he continued in business until about six years prior to the time of his death, which occurred on the 9th of December, 1899.
Mr. Marot was known as a conservative, careful and conscientious business man and as a citizen of unbounded loyalty and public spirit. Through his well directed energies he gained temporal success worthy the name, and his life was ordered upon the loftiest plane of integrity and honor, so that he was never denied the fullest measure of popular confi- dence and esteem. In politics, though never ambitious for office of any description, he gave a stanch allegiance to the Republican party, and he was ever ready to lend his aid and in- fluence in support of measures projected for the general good of the community. He was essentially democratic and cordial in his asso- ciation with his fellow men, and his generous and kindly attributes of character gained to him a wide circle of loyal friends. He was
fond of outdoor sports and found special pleas- ure in his frequent fishing excursions and in traveling in various sections of the country. His interests centered in his home, whose life was of ideal order, and the great loss and be- reavement in the life of his devoted wife was that which came when he was summoned to eternal rest. He was identified with various fraternal and civic organizations in his home city and was a zealous member of the Roberts Park Methodist Episcopal Church, as is also his widow.
On the 15th of November, 1864, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Marot to Miss Rebecca C. Harris, who was born at Goshen, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Henry and Jemima J. (McQuiston) Harris, both of whom were born in the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio. The father was a pioneer manufacturer of saddle-trees at Goshen, that state, and was a member of a family that was founded in Vir- ginia in the colonial era of our national his- tory. The McQuiston family lineage is traced back to Scottish origin. The parents of Mrs. Marot passed the many years of their lives at Dayton, Ohio, leaving there a few years before their death and going to Bloomington, Illinois.
ROBERT H. BRYSON. The popular and effi- cient postmaster of Indianapolis, Robert H. Bryson, who assumed the duties of his office May 12, 1908, is in the prime of early middle life, when the strong man has had the benefit of experience without having suffered a diminution of his energies under the stress of years of monotony. With a thorough busi- ness experience and a sufficient contact with public affairs to give him facility in leading men and movements, Postmaster Bryson is a postal executive admirably fitted to handling the affairs of this vital department of a great metropolis.
A native of Warren County, Ohio, born near Lebanon on the 1st of September, 1864, Mr. Bryson's early home was in Dayton, Ken- tucky, opposite Cincinnati, whither his par- ents removed in his infancy. In 1878, when he was fourteen years old, the family moved to Davenport, Iowa, from whose high school course the youth graduated in 1881. Mr. Bryson entered the employ of the Fleisch- mann Company in 1886, locating as its repre- sentative at Galveston and Dallas, Texas, in the latter city as its state agent. He knew no hours, but only the interests of his house, and in September, 1887, the company trans- ferred him to its important field centering in Indianapolis. In fact, he has served no other private employer than the Fleischmann Company, being recognized as one of its lead- ing promoters when he was appointed to the
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postmastership in 1908. His severance of his long and harmonious connection with the house, at that time, was the cause of deep mutual regret.
In the meantime his activity, ability and popularity in Republican politics and civic matters were bringing him wide influence in the public field. As president of the Marion Club, the most powerful political organiza- tion in the state, he materially advanced his prospects, already bright, and in 1901-3, as a member of the board of public safety under Mayor Bookwalter, he became even more widely appreciated and admired. Since tak- ing charge of the Indianapolis postoffice he has clearly and forcibly demonstrated the value of his business training and also main- tained his old-time.reputation for popularity and for making his employes "hostile good- naturedly", which was one of his strongest traits as a private business promoter. As a loyal body of friends. the letter carriers and their union are solidly behind him, as was evinced by the grand banquet tendered him by Branch 39, in August following his in- duction to office. Upon that occasion not only was there a full attendance of the letter carriers themselves, but three of the national officers of the organization (including the president) were present to heartily toast him and give him their support. The postmaster is an active member of the Columbia Club and of the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen, and is one of the real forward marching citizens of Indianapolis.
WILLIAM H. Fox. The refining and ideal- istic influences which mark Indianapolis as a metropolitan center have an emphatic ex- emplification in the John Herron Art Insti- tute, of which finely equipped and valued in- stitution the subject of this sketch is the able and popular director. He is widely known in the art circles of the country and it is largely due to his well directed efforts that the insti- tution of which he has charge has gained so high standing and so much popular apprecia- tion.
William Henry Fox was born in the City of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, on the 10th of November, 1858, and is a son of Daniel M. and Elizabeth Caroline (Korn) Fox. He is a scion of stanch Revolutionary stock and by reason of this fact is eligible for and holds membership in the Society of the Sons of the Revolution. The Fox family traces its lineage to English origin and in the ma- ternal line the father of the subject of this review was descended from the Miller family, of German lineage. the name having origi- nally been spelled Mueller. This family was
prominently identified with the settlement of what is still known as Germantown, near the City of Philadelphia, the name itself bearing its own significance. Mr. Fox traces his an- cestry in the maternal line to Henry Korn, who came to this country from England in 1809 and who became a prominent manufac- turer and influential citizen of Philadelphia.
Daniel Miller Fox, father of him whose name initiates this sketch, was born in Phila- delphia, as was also his wife. He was a rep- resentative member of the bar of the old Keystone state and controlled a large practice in Philadelphia, of which city he had the dis- tinction of serving as mayor, having been the first Democrat to be chosen for that office after the close of the Civil War. He was a commissioner of the Centennial Exposition of 1876, in his native city, and later became a member of the United States Postal Commis- sion, this appointment having been conferred by President Grant. At a later period he be- came superintendent of the United States mint in Philadelphia. Both he and his wife continued to reside in that city until their death. Of their five children four are now living.
William Henry Fox is indebted to the pub- lic schools of his native city for his early edu- cational privileges, which were. effectively supplemented by a course in the University of Pennsylvania, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1881 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1883 he was graduated in the law department of the same institution, which conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Lawa. In the same year he was admitted to the bar of his native state and instituted the active practice of his profession in Phila- delphia, where he became associated in prac- tice with his brother Henry K. Fox. Having marked artistic talent in an appreciative way and having given considerable attention to productive work as a painter, though not in a professional way, his predilections finally led him to assume the position of art critic in connection with newspaper work in Phila- delphia. He greatly developed his talent as a critic and connoisseur and finally recogni- tion of distinctive order came to him in 1903, when he was appointed secretary of the de- partment of fine arts at the Louisiana Pur- chase Exposition, in the City of St. Louis, besides receiving appointment as representa- tive of Russia on the international jury of awards, composed of sixty-two members. He also organized the art representation of Penn- sylvania and the east-southern states for the exposition mentioned, and through these as-
La Wallingford
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HISTORY OF GREATER INDIANAPOLIS.
sociations he gained marked prestige in art affairs, with which he has since been promi- nently identified. In April, 1905, he accepted his present executive ' position of director of the John Herron Art Institute, and he is giving to his work the utmost enthusiasm and zeal, having done much to popularize the in- stitution and to make it assume rank among the leading art institutes of the Union. He gives much time to instructive work and one of his noteworthy and recent efforts was in securing to the institute the temporary ex- hibition of the magnificent sculptural works of St. Gaudens, in the early part of the year 1910. He is a member of the Philadelphia Art Club and of the National Art Club, in New York City.
In 1903 Mr. Fox was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Thomas Dobbins, daughter of L. Russell Dobbins, of Philadelphia, and they are prominent and popular in the best social life of the Indiana capital.
CHARLES A. WALLINGFORD. It was given the late Charles Augustus Wallingford to achieve marked distinction in his profession and his effective efforts as an architect are shown in many of the fine buildings in In- diana and other states of the Union. He also brought to bear much constructive and ad- ministrative ability and all of the resources of a strong and worthy manhood. He was known as one of the leading representatives of his profession in Indiana at the time of his death, which occurred at the Methodist hos- pital, in his home City of Indianapolis, March 21, 1909, following a surgical operation. He gave to the world the best of an essentially virile, loyal and noble nature and his standard of integrity and honor was ever inflexible. He was a citizen of high civic ideals, and ever manifested his liberality in connection with measures and enterprises tending to advance the general welfare of the community. He lived and labored to worthy ends and as one of the sterling citizens and representative busi- ness men of Indianapolis he merits a tribute of honor in this publication.
Charles Augustus Wallingford was born in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, on the 3d of February, 1854, and was a son of Estes and Catherine (McCurdv) Wallingford, represen- tatives of families founded in America many generations ago. The father was a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil War, in which he served as adjutant in the .Thirty-third In- diana Volunteer Infantry, and he sacrificed his life in behalf of his country, as he was cap- tured hv the enemy and confined in historic Libby prison, at Richmond, Virginia, where he died. His widow long survived him and
passed the closing years of her life in Indian- apolis. Of the children two are still living: Mrs. J. N. Rogers, of Indianapolis, and Mrs. Constantine Rieger, of New York City.
Mr. Wallingford was indebted to the public schools of Indianapolis for his early educa- tional training, and he next entered the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis. After the completion of his naval service Mr. Wallingford returned to Indianapolis and here began the study of architecture in the office and under the able direction of the late Edwin May, who was architect of the magnificent state capitol of Indiana. The subject of this memoir showed marked predilection for the science and art of architecture, the most an- cient and enduring of all, and after initiating the active practice of his profession his suc- cess was of the most unequivocal order. He began his work as an architect in Indian- apolis, and this city represented his home dur- ing the major part of his life. For about eleven years he resided in the City of St. Paul, Minnesota, and there he was architect of a number of important business buildings and private residences, as well as of the splendid ice palace which proved so great an attraction in that city in 1887. He was the architect of the fine court house of Lewis and Clarke County, Montana, in Helena, the capital city of that state, and within his period of opera- tions in the northwest he was also architect for a large and substantial bank building at Bismarck, North Dakota.
Mr. Wallingford returned to Indianapolis in 1896, and here he continued his effective professional endeavors during the remainder of his active career, within which he not only furnished the plans and working specifications for many residences, apartment houses and business blocks in the capital city, but also for important buildings erected elsewhere in the state. He was earnest and zealous in seeing to it that all of his plans were faithfully car- ried out in the constructive work, much of which he personally supervised, and upon his reputation as a business man there rests no blemish or mark of equivocal dealing. He was signally true in all the relations of life. and his generous attributes of character gained him stanch friends and admirers. He was en- dowed with specially artistic tastes, shown not only in his professional work but also in his home, his study and his suggestions relative to civic improvements. He was an appre- ciative student of the best in literature and was especially well informed in ancient and modern history. He was a delegate to the World's Congress of Architects in the City of London, England, was a director of the Com-
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inercial Club of St. Paul, Minnesota, at the time of his residence in that city, and in In- dianapolis he was identified with various rep- resentative civic organizations, including the Indiana Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and the Civic League. His political allegiance, never indicated by am- bition for public office, was given to the Re- publican party, and he was a member of the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, as is also his widow, who still maintains her home in the attractive family residence at 1629 Tal- bott avenue.
On the 4th of May, 1881, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wallingford to Miss Min- nie Coffin, a daughter of Zachariah and Caro- line (Armfield) Coffin, of Bloomington, In- diana. Both the Coffin and Armfield families were founded in Indiana in the pioneer epoch of its history, and the mother of Mrs. Walling- ford was a niece of Governor Dunning of this state. The Coffin family was founded in New England in the early colonial days and Tristam Coffin, pioneer of Nantucket, Massachusetts, traced his ancestry back to the year 1066, A. D. He came from England to. America and figured as the founder of the line in which Mrs. Wallingford is a descendant. The honored subject of this memoir is survived by one son, Daniel, who is now a student in the historic old academy at Andover, Massachusetts, where he is preparing for entrance to Yale Univer- sity. Mrs. Wallingford was born and reared in Indiana and in its capital city she is ac- tively concerned in religious and social affairs of a representative order.
CHARLES E. KREGELO. A native son of the Indiana capital and a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of the state, Charles Edward Kregelo passed his entire life in In- dianapolis, where he ever stood exponent of that personal integrity and civic loyalty that invariably beget popular confidence and esteem and where he attained to success and prominence in business circles. At the time of his death, which occurred at St. Vincent's Infirmary, Indianapolis, on the 22nd of August, 1905, Mr. Kregelo held prestige as the pioneer funeral director of the capital city, even as he was known as one of the oldest representatives of this line of business in the entire state. In a genuine and kindly and eminently unostentatious way Mr. Kregelo literally "went about doing good", and bis practical benevolences were the direct expression of his deep and abiding human sympathy, which made him ever ready to do all that he could for the succor and the up- lifting of his fellow men.
Mr. Kregelo was born in a small frame house that stood on the northwest corner of Indiana avenue and New York street, and the date of his nativity was October 16, 1843. His father, David Kregelo, was a native of the State of - Maryland, whence he came to Indianapolis in an early day, taking up his residence in the future metropolis of the state when the same was a mere village. David Kregelo left his native state when eighteen years of age and made his way on foot from the City of Baltimore to Chicago and thence to Joliet, Illinois. He finally re- turned to Baltimore, and upon coming to In- dianapolis he made the trip on horseback, as this was before the era of railroad develop- ment or other effective means of transporta- tion into the inland sections of the middle west. In Indianapolis' he finally engaged in business for himself, and he thus initiated his independent career by borrowing two thousand dollars from John L. Ketcham, to whom he was able to give no security other than his promise that the money would be repaid. He established a lumber yard and later began the operation of a planing mill in connection therewith. In 1858 the little frame house in which was born the subject of this memoir, as noted in this paragraph, was replaced by a three story brick building, which is still standing. It was in this build- ing that Charles E. Kregelo first began busi- ness, after he had duly availed himself of the advantages of the common schools of his na- tive city. When he was eighteen years of age he became associated with his father in the opening of a grocery store in the building just mentioned, and he assumed charge of the enterprise, which was conducted under the firm name of Kregelo & Son and of which he made a distinctive success, as he brought to bear the energy, determination, integrity of purpose and keen discrimination that so significantly' marked his entire business career. Concerning the progressive atages in the activities of Mr. Kregelo the following record is substantially that which appeared in the Indianapolis News at the time of his death, and the appreciative statements from such local authority are well worthy of pres- ervation in this memoir.
Five years after the initiation of the buai- ness just noted the father and son, under the same firm title, engaged in the undertaking business, which they conducted for the first eight years in a building on East Market street. For the ensuing decade headquarters was maintained in a building erected by Charles E. Kregelo just north of Tomlinson Hall. After his father's retirement from
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business Mr. Kregelo conducted the enter- prise individually for some years.
In 1893 Mr. Kregelo sold his interest in the establishment and business and went to California, where he expected to retire from active business and enjoy the attractions of ranch life. The inactivity; however, soon palled upon him, and he purchased an inter- est in the undertaking business of the firm of Breese Brothers, in the City of Los An- geles. Five years later he determined to re- turn to Indianapolis, and he accordingly sold his interest in the business mentioned. He owned considerable property in California, including a fine ranch and a residence in Los Angeles. On his return to Indianapolis he again identified himself with the undertak- ing business.
Mr. Kregelo was always interested in movements for the improvement of the city. When he alighted from the train on his re- turn from California he said to his wife: "Well, we are again back in the best country on earth." and this statement well expressed his loyalty to and affection for the city and state in which he was born and reared. He always took a deep interest in his profession. From the crude methods employed by under- takers when he entered the business he watched and assisted in the development of its facilities and methods. Two of his inci- dental inventions are in general use. He was the inventor of the funeral card, by means of which those properly to be supplied with carriages on the occasion of funerals are as- signed to their respective vehicles, thereby doing away with the old and unfortunate cus- tom of providing for "professional funeral- goers". Another important invention which Mr. Kregelo originated is the wheeled truck, on which caskets are moved down narrow church aisles and through doorways. He was one of the first to introduce embalming in In- dianapolis. As a funeral director he had charge of the interment of more than twenty- three thousand persons, and he was the first undertaker in Indianapolis to utilize a white hearse. None has more fully appreciated the delicacy of the business than did he, and his punctilious care and actuating sympathy did much to lighten the burdens of those bc- reaved at the time when the loved ones were laid to rest. In his business his attitude was one far too seldom emulated, even in a minor degree, by those associated with the same line of enterprise. Many burials were made by him and full equipment and provisions made therefor in cases where he never rendered a bill for services or caskets furnished, as he felt that the circumstances of the families Vol. II-21
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