USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Greater Indianapolis : the history, the industries, the institutions, and the people of a city of homes > Part 77
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He was severely wounded at Knoxville, Tennessee, and on the third day of the Battle of the Wilderness he received an injury which necessitated the amputation of his left leg above the knee.
After receiving his honorable discharge Cap- tain Joss returned to St. Joseph County, where he was elected county clerk, which office he held for fourteen consecutive years. His residence at this time was necessarily at Centerville, the county seat. Then for some years until his death he lived in retirement. He waa -always representative of the highest type of citizen- ship and no man was more highly regarded in his community. He was killed in a railroad accident February 2, 1881.
Frederick A. Joss, whose name initiates this article, passed the first thirteen years of his life in his native village of Centerville, in whose public schools he secured his early educational discipline. After preparatory work in the Ann Arbor high school he was matriculated in the literary department of the University of Mich- igan, as a member of the class of 1889. Im- mediately at the close of his university career he was employed about eighteen months look- ing after his mining interests in the province of Quebec, Canada, and then came to Frank- fort, Indiana, and began reading law under the preceptorship of Hon. Samuel O. Bayless, for many years a prominent railroad lawyer
in Indiana. Mr. Joss was admitted to the bar in 1891 and forthwith engaged in the practice of his profession in Frankfort, where he re- mained until June of the following year, when he came to Indianapolis and accepted a posi- tion in the law office of Hon. Ovid B. Jameson, with whom he formed a partnership in 1894, under the firm name of Jameson & Joss, which. was succeeded by the firm of Jameson, Joss & Hay. The firm controls a large and important professional business and its junior member has come to be considered an able and versatile lawyer, having been connected with much im- portant litigation in both state and federal courts.
In 1901 he was appointed corporation coun- sel of the City of Indianapolis and in this im- portant position made an admirable record for able and public spirited service. It was dur- ing his incumbency of this office and largely through his influence that a settlement was ef- fected between the warring street railroad and interurban interests, which resulted in the ac- quisition to the city of the finest interurban station in the world.
In politics Mr. Joss gives an unqualified al- legiance to the Republican party and has been an influential factor in its local councils and in the maneuvering of its forces in the various campaigns. In 1898 he was elected to the state senate for the district of which Indianapolis is a part, and served with much ability in the general assemblies of 1899 and 1901. Con- cerning his labors in this office and in the field of politics the following pertinent statements have been written :
"While in the senate he introduced the fa- mous Joss Railroad Consolidation Bill, a meas- ure affecting non-competing lines of railroad similar to the measures now recommended to Congress by the Inter-State Commerce Com- mission, ex-President Roosevelt and President Taft amendatory of the Sherman law, and was also author of the Joss Primary Law, which was the initial step in this state toward pri- mary reform and which Mr. Joss believes to contain the correct theory of primary legisla- tion and to which all primary laws will ulti- mately come, viz., a definite legal primary for the organization of parties, an optional legal primary for the selection of candidates, for the reason that an expensive double-election sys- tem is a remedy and not an every day diet.
"In the season of 1899 he was one of the original Beveridge men, was the manager of Mr. Beveridge's interest on the floor of the caucus when the latter became nominee of the Republican party for the office of United States senator and was chosen to make the nominating speech on the floor of the senate. Mr. Joss
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has been prominent in the councils of the Re- publican party leaders during the last decade and has been distinguished by a singular clear- ness of perception and resourcefulness coupled with an unswerving loyalty to the causes and men whom he espoused. He is an intense con- conservative, a believer in existing conditions, but an advocate of change whenever the neces- sity and the method is plain."
His city home is 520 N. Meridian street and he also has a fine summer home near Rome City in Noble County, Indiana. He is a member of the Columbia Club, Marion Club and Uni- versity Club, the German House and the In- dianapolis Maennerchor, Dramatic and Coun- try Clubs, and is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner and a member of the Dutch Re- formed Church of America.
On the 2nd of September, 1891, Mr. Joss was married to Miss Mary Quarrier Hubbard, who was born and reared in West Virginia, being a daughter of John R. and Lucy (Clark) Hubbard of Wheeling, where her father was a prominent business man and influential citizen. Mr. and Mrs. Joss have three children,-Mary Hubbard, Lucyanna Hubbard and John Hub- bard.
Mr. Joss has traveled much abroad where his predilection for political and historical studies has been given great opportunities of which, with his keen observation, he has made full use. At present his children are at school in Switzerland for two years before finishing their education in American schools, during which time he will be with them a greater part of the time.
WILLIAM J. WALLACE. Maintaining his home in Indianapolis for half a century, the late William J. Wallace was for many years identified with its business interests, and he was also called upon to serve in various offices of distinctive public trust, including those of county sheriff and mayor of the city. He was a man who ever commanded the unqualified es- teem of the community and he made his life count for good in all its relations. He enjoyed the highest measure of popularity in the cap- ital city, was loyal and progressive in his at- titude as a citizen and public official, and such was his character and such his career that he is well entitled to a tribute of appreciation and honor in this publication.
William John Wallace was born in County Donegal, Ireland, on the 16th of March, 1814, and died in Indianapolis on the 9th of Jan- uary, 1894. The lineage is traced back from Ireland to the ancient Scottish clan of Wal- lace. When Mr. Wallace was four years of age his parents immigrated to America, and he was reared to maturity under somewhat ad-
verse conditions, having limited educational ad- vantages and early becoming entirely depend- ent upon his own resources, so that to him alone is due such measure of success and prece- dence as came to his portion. His entire ca- reer was marked by invulnerable integrity, and his positive nature and alert mentality enabled him to make good many of the disadvantages which compassed him in his youth. As a young man he came to Madison, Jefferson County, In- diana, where he learned the trade of paper- making, to which he devoted his attention for some time. He served as deputy sheriff of Jef- ferson County for a time. He later took up his residence in Switzerland County. In the early '40s Mr. Wallace came to Indianapolis and here he engaged in the grocery business, at the corner of Washington and Delaware streets. That he soon gained the confidence and esteem of the community is evident when we revert to the fact that in 1858 he was elected mayor of the city, an office of which he remained incumbent until January, 1860, when he resigned the same, after giving an effective administration, and entered upon his duties as sheriff of Marion County. Here also he proved a most capable executive, and he was re-elected as his own successor in 1862, thus serving four years, during the period of great unrest marking the progress of the Civil War. At this time he also served as commissioner for the drafting of soldiers. After his retirement from the office of sheriff Mr. Wallace again engaged in the grocery trade, in which he con- tinued a few years, after which he gave his attention for one year to. the manufacturing of pressed brick. He was by this time well ad- vanced in years and he finally retired from active business, removing to the south part of the city, where he continued to reside until his death. He was a man of great persistence, ambition and industry, and through his well directed efforts he gained a large measure of success, but he never retrieved the large losses he met in the financial panic of 1873 and was virtually a poor man at the time of his death, though rich in the respect that was his by rea- son of probity of character.
Mr. Wallace was a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party and gave effective service in the promotion of its cause. He attained the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Ac- cepted Scottish Rite of Masonry, and was one of the most prominent and honored represen- tatives of the fraternity in his home state. He was one of the seven charter members of the Indiana Sovereign Consistory of the Scottish Rite and was also a prominent factor in the affairs of the various York Rite bodies with which he was affiliated. He was identified with
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the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was a zealous member of the Universalist Church. His memory rests secure in the gracious appreciation of all who knew him, and the record of his life is unblemished by wrong or injustice; on the contrary, it was character- ized by kindliness and deep human sympath. that endeared him to all with whom he came in contact.
Mr. Wallace was twice married, having first been united to Miss Susana Cotton, who died while he was serving as sheriff of Marion Coun- ty and who was survived by six children,- Andrew, William, Anna, Sarah, Margaret and Mary. Of the number only two are now liv- ing,-William and Anna. In 1863 was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Wallace to Miss Sarah J. Wallace, who bore the same name but was not of kin. She, like himself, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and the date of her nativity was January 29, 1837. She was fourteen years of age at the time of her parents' immigration to America, and they lived for a time in New York City, whence they came to Indianapolis about the year 1860. Here her parents, James and Elizabeth Wallace, passed the remainder of their lives, the mother hav- ing attained to the venerable age of ninety- seven years. William J. and Sarah J. (Wal- lace) Wallace became the parents of three chil- dren, all of whom are living, namely: Samuel N., Sannah and Harry R. Of the last men- tioned, individual mention is made elsewhere. Mrs. Wallace was a woman of fine spirituality and gentle and gracious character, gaining to herself the affectionate regard of those about her. She was a devout member of the Presby- terian Church, in whose faith she passed to the life eternal on the 12th of January, 1909.
HARRY R. WALLACE. In the governmental history of Marion County there has been no incumbent of the office of county recorder who has given more effective service and enlisted greater popular commendation than has Mr. Wallace, who is in tenure of this important and exacting position at the time of this writ- ing. His administration has been marked by signal care and discrimination in the handling of the manifold details of the office, and its exactions may be understood when it is taken into consideration that in this county is located the capital city,-the metropolis of the state and the center of its commercial as well as its governmental interests.
Harry R. Wallace is a native of Indian- apolis, and this city has represented his home from the time of his birth to the present. He has been in public service for many years and has ever commanded a secure vantage-ground in the esteem and confidence of the community.
He is a son of that honored pioneer, the late William J. Wallace, and as a memoir to his father is incorporated on other pages of this publication it is not necessary to repeat the data in the present article. Harry R. Wallace was born in the family home on East Market street, this city, on the 16th of February, 1869, and to the public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, which included a course in the high school. When about eighteen years of age he left school and initiated his business career, engaging in the teaming business and continuing to be identified with the same for several years. At the age of twenty-three years he became a member of the police department of his native city, initiating his service in the capacity of licensed inspector and serving as such for two years, at the ex- piration of which there was a change in the administration of the city government and he was reduced to the rank of patrolman. He continued in service in this capacity until the organization of the corps of bieycle patrolmen, when he was assigned to duty as one of the three original members of this arm of the police department. When the force of police sergeants was increased from eight to ten mem- bers he was promoted to the office of sergeant, and after holding this position for three and one-half years he was promoted to membership
in the detective corps of the department, mak- ing here, as in prior positions, a record" for faithful and efficient service. In January, 1903, Mr. Wallace resigned the position of detective and assumed that of deputy county recorder, of which office he continued incumbent until 1906. when he resigned the same to become a candidate for the office of county recorder. He received nomination in the county convention of the Republican party and was elected re- corder in November of the year mentioned. He assumed the duties of his new office in Jan- uary, 1907, and came to the same admirably fortified by prior experience in connection with its affairs as well as by pronounced capacity for detail work. His able administration stands as the best voucher for his scrupulous attention to his executive duties, and he made many improvements in the system of handling the large volume of business in his department. He continued incumbent of the office until the expiration of his term of four years.
Mr. Wallace has ever given an unqualified allegiance to the Republican party and has been an active worker in its local ranks. In the Ma- sonic fraternity he has not only completed the circle of the York Rite, Knights Templar, but he has also attained to the thirty-second de- gree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. in which he is a popular member of Indiana Sov-
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creign 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. and Indianapolis Lodge No. 13, Benevolent and Protective Or- der of Elks, in which latter he has served as exalted ruler. He is also affiliated with local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Wal- lace has never been swerved from the course along which the sturdy bachelors move in state- ly dignity, and he seems measurably content with a life of celibacy. His circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances, and few of the younger generation are better known in Indianapolis than this native son.
PAUL H. KRAUSS. To the self-made class belongs Paul H. Krauss, one of the leading merchants of Indianapolis. He was born in Stuttgart, Germany. October 9, 1853, to the marriage union of Karl and Lesetta (Rauh) Krauss, from the same place. and the father died in his native land, but the mother came to the United States and passed away in In- dianapolis. Of their four children two are now living, the elder son being Charles Krauss, president of the Capital Brewing Company in Indianapolis. The father was a prominent contractor and builder in Germany.
Paul H. Krauss came to this country when about ten, locating for six months in Butler County, Ohio, then in 1863 he came to Indian- apolis. He received both German and English schooling. His first work was selling news- papers on the street, and from a newsboy he rose to the position of messenger boy for the Indiana National Bank of Indianapolis, and climbing higher and higher on the ladder of success, gradually but persistently, he has he- come a merchant, a shirt maker, haberdasher and hatter, dealing only in high grade "ready- to-wear" clothing. After three years as a mes- senger boy Mr. Krauss became associated with the firm of Eddie & West, shirt manufac- turers, and in December of 1882 he bought Mr. Eddie's interest in the business, the firm name then becoming West & Krauss. At the death of the senior partner nine months later Mr. Krauss bought the interest of heirs in the busi- ness, thus becoming the sole owner, and during all these years thev had occupied quarters at 16 N. Pennsylvania street. He remained at that location three years after taking over the business, and then moved to 28 N. Pennsylva- nia street, in 1889 to 44 .E. Washington street, and in January, 1909, to his present location, 26 N. Pennsylvania street. His sons are with him in business, and in addition to their large store. the leader of its kind in Indianapolis, they have one of the finest laundries in the city,
the eldest son, Frederick, being in charge of this department, and the second son, Paul H., Jr., is the manager of the store, while the third son, Otto, also assists in the store.
Mr. Krauss married Miss Anna Goepper Oc- tober 4, 1876. She was born in Indianapolis, a daughter of Fred Goepper, until his death one of the prominent business men of this city. The five children of this union, three sons and two daughters, are: Frederick, Paul H., Jr., Otto, Lisette and Edna. Mr. Krauss is a member of Ancient Landmarks Lodge No. 319, F. & A. M., which he has served for twen- ty-five years as treasurer, and is also connected with Indiana Consistory, S. P. R. S., and is a charter member of Murat Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is one of the few remaining hon- orary members of the Maennerchor Club and one of its active workers, and is also associated with many other clubs and societies of the city. In politics he is an independent voter.
GEORGE GORDON TANNER. As one who stands as a splendid type of the progressive and loyal citizens who have caused the City of Indian- apolis to make such magnificent industrial and civic progress within the past two decades, Mr. Tanner is entitled to special recognition in this history of the capital city of his native state. He has realized a large and substantial suc- cess in the business world and this represents the result of his own well ordered endeavors, for he has been in a significant sense the archi- tect of his own fortunes. He occupies today a large place in the commercial life of Indian- apolis, the city in which he was born, and here his capitalistic interests are varied and im- portant. He is head and virtually sole owner of the wholesale house of Tanner & Company, dealing in tinners' supplies, sheet iron and metals, and under his effective direction this concern has been developed into one of the most important of its kind in the middle west. Hc has played a leading part in civic affairs and through his persistent efforts he has made for himself a place in connection with the pro- ductive energies and activities of life, so that his career offers botli lesson and incentive.
George G. Tanner was born in Indianapolis on the 19th of March, 1854, and is a son of Major Gordon Tanner, who was the first regi- mental officer from Indiana to sacrifice his life in defense of the Union when its integrity was thrown into jeopardy through armed rebellion. He was killed in an engagement near Glasgow, Missouri, on the 30th of September, 1861. He was major of the Twenty-second Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry, and. with signal propriety and appreciation, the post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Brownstown, Indiana, is named in his honor. Two of his brothers also enlisted
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in the same regiment and both lost their lives while serving as gallant soldiers of the republic. Colonel Thomas H. B. Tanner was in com- mand of the Twenty-second Indiana Infantry at the time of his death, and in the same regi- ment his younger brother, John F. C., was a lieutenant. Major Gordon Tanner had also served with gallantry as a soldier in the Mex- ican war, having enlisted when a youth of eighteen years. He was thirty-two years of age at the time of his demise. Major Tanner was a native of Indiana and was a scion of a distinguished and patrician family early founded in the historic Old Dominion, the orig- inal American progenitor, of English lineage, having settled in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1640. Major Tanner was a direct descendant of Josiah Tanner, who was a valiant soldier in the Continental line in the War of the Revo- lution, in which he was a member of the Vir- ginia troops. In the battle of King's Moun- tain, North Carolina, he received a wound that necessitated the amputation of one of his arms, and while still suffering from his wound he carried to Colonel Washington the dispatch that resulted in the precipitation of the battle of Cowpens. He was a member of Washing- ton's famous White Horse Cavalry.
Major Gordon Tanner was reared and edu- cated in Bloomington, Indiana. His vocation during the major portion of his active business career was that of an attorney-at-law. He ar- rayed himself with the Democratic party at the time of its organization. As a young man he was united in marriage to Miss Maria Golds- berry, who was born and reared in Indiana and who is a daughter of Samuel Goldsberry, who was one of the sterling pioneers and prom- inent business men of Indianapolis. Her ma- ternal grandfather, George Smith, was editor and publisher of the first newspaper issued in the capital city of the state, and here she now maintains her home, being seventy-six years of age at the time of this writing, in 1910. The subject of this review is the only child.
George G. Tanner, whose name initiates this review, was a lad of seven years at the time of his father's death, and his rudimentary edu- cation was gained in the public schools of In- dianapolis. When fourteen years of age he went to the City of Washington, D. C., where he secured employment in one of the govern- ment offices, devoting himself to his assigned duties during the days and showing his ap- preciative ambition by well directed study at night. Through this means he acquired a good common-school education, and his ability and faithfulness in his work finally secured to him the position of secretary to the United States commissioner of pensions. He had de-
termined to amplify his education, however, and finally resigned his position and with the money he had saved from his salary he de- frayed the expenses of a year of assiduous and effective study in Georgetown University. The caliber and ambition of the young man were shown in a significant way at this time, as he completed the regular three years' course in this one year of application.
After leaving college, in 1872, Mr. Tanner returned to Indianapolis, where he secured a clerical position in the office of Mooney, Tay- lor & Smith, wholesale leather dealers. Recog- nition of his ability was shown within a short time, as he was soon assigned to duty as one of the traveling salesmen of the concern, in which capacity he continued to serve most ef- fectively until 1875, when he resigned the po- sition to aeeept one offering better opportuni- ties, becoming manager of an Indianapolis house dealing in tinners' supplies and here gaining his initial experience in connection with the line of industry in which he was destined ultimately to attain so marked success and prestige. Of his next step the following words have been written: "In the spring of 1878 he 'burned his bridges behind him' and without a cent of capital, but with a elear mind, a good reputation and a thorough knowledge of his business, threw out his sign.as a metal broker. Six months later, in November, 1878, he or- ganized the firm of Tanner, Sullivan & Talbott. which engaged in the wholesale business of handling tin plate and other metals, with head- quarters on South Meridian street. The firm name later became Tanner & Sullivan, and this was retained until the 1st of January, 1904, when Mr. Tanner purchased Mr. Sullivan's interests, since which time he has individually condneted the enterprise under the title of Tan- ner & Company". The intervening years were marked by earnest devotion to business and the employment of progressive and honorable poli- eies on the part of Mr. Tanner, as well as his associate, and the house of Tanner & Company today stands upon the most substantial basis, controlling a large and appreciative trade throughout the middle west, -- the section nor- mally tributary to Indianapolis as a distribut- ing center. Of the concern the following per- tinent statement has been made and is amply justified : "No concern in this line in the country is better or more favorably known,- not only on account of the large and varied stock carried, but also on account of the many years of honorable dealing with customers".
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