USA > Indiana > Howard County > History of Howard County, Indiana, Vol II > Part 25
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W. A. HATFIELD. M. D.
Success in what are popularly termed the learned professions. is the legtimate result of merit and painstaking endeavor. In com- mercial life one may come into possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift. but professional advancement is gained only by critical study and consecutive research long continued. Proper intellectual discipline. thorough professional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes essen- tial to success have made the subject of this review eminent in his chosen calling and he stands today among the scholarly and enter- prising physicians and surgeons in a community long distinguished for the high order of its medical talent.
Dr. W. A. Hatfield. one of the native sons of which Howard county may well feel proud, was born on the 12th day of July. 186 ;. his parents. William and Mary E. (Jones) Hatfield. moving to this part of Indiana from Ohio in an early day and located in Union township, where the father engaged in farming but later devoted his
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attention principally to the buying and shipping of live stock, a busi- ness in which he was quite successful. Mr. and Mrs. Hatfield were married in Ohio, but spent the greater part of their domestic life in Howard county, where in due time their respective deaths occurred. The early years of Dr. Hatfield amid the bracing airs and whole- some discipline of rural life were conducive to sturdy physical growth, while the rugged duties of the farm with which he early became familiar enabled him to form a proper conception of the dignity of labor and to learn the value of individual effort as a means to an end in every laudable undertaking.
While pursuing his work in the fields or his studies in the dis- trict schools young Hatfield decided to make the most of his oppor- tunities with the object in view of fitting himself for some definite sphere of usefulness. After acquiring a sound practical education hesobtained a teacher's license. but the labors and responsibilities of the school room not being to his taste. he decided to make the med- ical profession his life work, in pursuance of which he entered in due time a college of medicine and surgery in Chicago, where he prosecuted his studies until being well founded in the principles of his profession. after which he attended other institutions of like character until well fitted for the active duties of his profession.
Dr. Hatfield began his professional career in Marion, Indiana, where he practiced with encouraging success until removing to Ko- komo in 1898, since which time he has been actively engaged in the duties of his calling in this city, where he has built up a large and lucrative professional business and won for himself commendable standing among the leading physicians and surgeons of Howard county. A close student, keeping abreast of the times in all matters relating to his noble work, he has never permitted his interest to fag, nor his efforts to abate, consequently he avails himself of every laudable discovery in the domain of medical science and keeps in
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close touch with the recognized authorities by whom, in the main. his course is guided.
In politics he is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and while active and influential in advancing the interests of the party and promoting the success of its candidates, he has never sought nor held public office of any description. As a citizen he stands high in the esteem of his fellow men, being public-spirited and progressive, and at all times willing to lend his aid and influence in behalf of enterprises for the material advancement of his city and county, and for the intellectual. social and moral good of the people.
The doctor has never permitted himself to become narrow or intolerant, as the manner of many professional men is, but being of broad and liberal tendencies he takes wide views of matters and things and is essentially a man of the times and in harmony with the progressive spirit of the age. He manifests a lively interest in things other than his calling, being a great lover of fine live stock, especially the horse, of which he keeps a number of the standard breeds and in the raising of which he is a recognized authority among the horse- men of his city.
Dr. Hatfield was married in 1886 to Mattie Lemon, of Grant county, whose lamented death occurred after a comparatively brief but happy domestic experience, during which she bore him two chil- dren. the older a son by the name of Artie, is a young man twenty- one years of age in 1908, the second being a daughter by the name of Emma, who is the wife of Bert Kink, of Kokomo. Dr. Hatfiekl is identified with secret fraternal and benevolent work in Kokomo. belonging to several different organizations and taking a prominent and influential part in their deliberations. He has been especially active in advancing the interests of the Red Men and the Odd Fel- lows orders, in both of which he has been complimented at various
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times with positions of honor and trust and the success of which is largely due to the efforts he has put forth in their behalf. The doc- tor has spent the greater part of his life in the county of his birth. and is today one of its successful professional men and wide-awake. public-spirited citizens. He is also an honorable representation of one of its oldest and most highly esteemed families, his father moy- ing to this part of the state as early as 1838 and locating in Union township, when the few scattering settlements were but niches in the surrounding forests. He has lived to see the county developed from a wilderness to its present proud position among the leading counties of Indiana and is justly proud of his nativity and citizen- ship in a section so greatly blessed by nature and so signally favored in all that relates to a high and progressive spirit of advancement and civilization.
CAPTAIN GEORGE D. TATE.
In placing the subject of this sketch in the front rank of Ko- komo's business men, simple justice is done to a biographical fact. universally recognized throughout Howard and adjoining counties by men at all familiar with his history. A man of judgment, sound discretion and business ability of a high order, he has managed with tactful success, important enterprises and so impressed his individ uality upon the community as to gain recognition among its leading citizens and public-spirited men of affairs.
George D. Tate is a native of Indiana, born in Lawrenceburg on the uith day of January. 1838. His father, William Tate, of Boston, Massachusetts, was an early settler of Lawrenceburg, and a man of considerable local prominence. He was by trade a carpen- ter, and for a number of years followed his chosen calling in the
22
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above city where, in addition to erecting many private dwellings and public buildings, he also constructed a large ware house on the river bank at Lawrenceburg, where he received large consignments of merchandise for Indianapolis and intermediate Indiana points. Wil- liam Tate was one of the leading spirits in arousing an interest in the matter of constructing a railroad between Lawrenceburg and Indian- apolis, and in the prosecution of his efforts in behalf of the enterprise he made a horseback trip between the two places for the purpose of securing the right of way. In due time the road was surveyed and the right of way secured, after which work on its construction was carried forward as rapidly as circumstances would admit. the leaders in the enterprise being Mr. Tate and George H. Dunn, to whom per- haps more than to any other interested parties, is due the credit of pushing the completion of the road and putting it in successful opera- tion. For many years Mr. Tate's ware house in Lawrenceburg was the distributing place for nearly all the cities and towns of central and southern Indiana and his business grew and prospered as long as he gave it his attention. After becoming interested in railway construction he removed to the city of Indianapolis where his death subsequently occurred at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years.
The early life of George D. Tate was spent in the place of his birth, and while still a young man he turned his attention to business pursuits and for some years was engaged in different lines of enterprise. While in Indianapolis, in the year 1867, he chanced to observe three carloads of very fine poplar lumber, which upon inquiry he ascertained was manufactured near Kokomo and shipped from that place. Being familiar with the business he at once de- cided to investigate the territory from which this consignment came. Accordingly he made a trip to Kokomo in the year indicated and it was not long thereafter until his business was extended to Howard county, where he first began taking the out-put of several mills and
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shipping ash, walnut and poplar. upon quite an extensive scale. By gradually extending the scope of his operations into other parts of the country he became within a few years one of the largest and most successful lumber dealers in northern Indiana, purchasing the out-put of about twenty mills at Kokomo and various other places, from each of which points large shipments were made and a great and growing business built up. At one time he had on hand four and a half million feet of hardwood lumber, which he disposed of at a liberal profit. The better to prosecute and extend his lumber in- terests he employed experts to investigate the wooded territory and make purchases and to such a magnitude did his business grow that for a number of years his sales amounted to considerable in excess of a half million dollars annually, shipping much of the fine walnut to Europe to say nothing of the great demand for his lumber in all the leading cities of the United States. Mr. Tate continued the lun- ber business with marked success until the lumber supply was ex- hausted in 1879-80, at which time he turned his attention to other and more remunerative interests. In company with several other parties, he was instrumental in establishing at Elwood the Plate Glass Works, which was later merged with the Kokomo plant and was subsequently sold to the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company.
He continued to reside at Kokomo and in due time added coal to his other interests and is now and has been for some time past the leader in that line of trade in Howard county. In addition to supplying the great bulk of the local demand, he wholesales vast quantities of coal to other points. Mr. Tate is vice-president and a director of the Indiana Rubber & Insulated Wire Company at Jones- boro, an enterprise of rapid growth, which now does a large annual business and which has not been in the least affected by the recent financial panic. He is also identified with various other business and industrial enterprises and takes an active part in all matters
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relating to the material growth and advancement of the city of Ko- komo and Howard county.
Mr. Tate served twelve years in the city council and during his incumbency introduced many important measures and labored faith- fully and conscientiously for the interests of his constituents and the municipality in general, proving an able leader, whose efforts and influence were ever exerted for the public good. He owns a beautiful farm in Clay township on which he has made a number of valuable improvements and the cultivation of which is carried on under his direction and management.
When the national horizon became overcast with dark and ominous clouds of the Civil war, Mr. Tate was among the first to tend his services to the government in the time of peril. He enlisted in 1861 as a private in Company F, Thirty-seventh Indiana Volun- teer Infantry, and at the end of thirteen months was discharged on account of disability. Two weeks later he was appointed first lieu- tenant and quartermaster of the Eighty-third Indiana Infantry. Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, under the command of General John A. Logan. In this capacity he served until the close of the war, taking part in a number of campaigns and marching with Sherman to the sea, during which experience he had to do a great deal of foraging for his command, this taking him into a few dangerous situations with occasional skirmishes with the enemy. During his term of service he was breveted captain, and as such re- ceived his discharge, having made a creditable record during his army experience, achieved an honorable standing of which any soldier may well feel proud. Captain Tate is the only staff officer of the Eighty-third Indiana now living and of the entire regiment. but few remain to tell the story of the dark and perilous period when treason was rife and the gallant ship of state almost stranded on the rocks of disunion. He was a member of the commission ap-
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pointed to visit Vicksburg and locate the monuments to his regi- ment on that bloody field, which duty he discharged well and faith- fully, and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. Since the war. Captain Tate has kept in close touch with military matters, especially those relating to his comrades of the Eighty-third. the annual re- unions of which he always attends, these meetings with their inter- esting incidents being among his most pleasant and agreeable ex- periences.
Captain Tate was married at Versailles, Indiana, to Helen Kin- caid, who has borne him three children, Anna, wife of A. G. Sieber- ing, manager of the Apperson Auto Company, of Kokomo, and Harry F., who is associated with his father in business. William Francis, the first in order of birth. is deceased.
The captain is independent in politics, but has never sought nor held political office. Nevertheless he takes a keen and active interest in public questions and believes it to be the duty of all who exercise the elective franchise, to inform themselves on whatever issue may be before the people for settlement, and to cast their votes in what- ever way their conscience and judgment may dictate. In the af- fairs of the city in which he resided for so many years and with which his interests are still identified, he has been connected with a number of movements which have had their aim in the upbuilding of the town and the welfare of the community. His career, though strenuous and to a marked degree progressive and successful. has al- ways been characterized by honorable dealing and in the prosecution of his large and important interests he has ever been mindful of the sanctity of his obligations and the ethics of business life. Born in the ranks of the common people who fight the battles, pay the taxes. command all the great enterprises and give stability to the body politic, he retains his liking for them which they in turn fully re- ciprocate. Independent, energetic and resourceful in business, a
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notable figure in the public affairs of his city and county and a broad minded citizen with the interests of his fellow men at heart, Captain Tate fills a conspicuous place in the civic life of Kokomo and is destined long to remain one of the leading figures in the history of his adopted city and county.
LOUIS GOODWINE.
The history of Howard county is not a very old one. It is the record of the steady growth of a community planted in the wilder- ness a half century ago and has reached its magnitude of today with- out other aids than those of industry. The people who redeemed its wilderness fastnesses were strong-armed, hardy sons of the soil, who hesitated at no difficulty and for whom hardships had little to appall. There was also other work to be done, work of various kinds. Their efficient efforts have been fully appreciated by those who came at a later period and builded on the foundation which they laid so broad and deep. Among the first class is the prominent citizen of Kokomo whose name introduces this sketch. While his arrival was not as early as some, yet he came in the formative period and has done much to develop the wonderful resources of a county that now occupies a proud position among the most progressive and enlightened sections of Indiana, the subject having lived in this city for over a half century, and not only has he benefited himself by his residence here, but also the community in various ways.
Louis Goodwine was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in February, 1838, and received what education the times afforded in Franklin county, Ohio. But while his early educational advantages in the district schools were not what they should have been, Mr. Goodwine
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is a close observer and has since gained a wide fund of information by coming in contact with the world and by home reading.
Mr. Goodwine began to learn the carpenter's trade when nine- teen years old, in 1858, and he has never worked at anything else, having made a pronounced success at this profession from the first, possessing not only the natural ability, but also the other necessary traits or persistence and fortitude that are prerequisites of such a calling. He came to Kokomo in March, 1855. and located on Syca- more street, which was then a country road. Since that time he has seen the wonderful development of the community and profited by the advance in industrial affairs. At present he owns a substantial, commodious and nicely furnished brick residence at the corner of Market and Mulberry streets, where he has resided for some time.
In June, 1864. our subject began contracting. and since that time he has erected a large number of dwellings and business houses in Kokomo. The first year he launched in this business he built the elevators where C. M. Barlow now does business. Among other important buildings which he has erected may be mentioned the Howard National Bank, half the block on Main street where Vailes' shoe store is located, from the blue-front up, the Schwanger block and several other big buildings, besides numerous dwellings of va- rious types. The subject has long been regarded one of the best architects and foremost contractors of Howard county. He has a reputation for not only having a thorough knowledge of the build- ing business, but his scrupulously honest methods insure him all the work he can attend to.
Our subject has been thrifty ever since he came to Howard county, and he has gotten possession of a valuable and highly pro- ductive farm of seventy acres in Harrison township.
Mr. Goodwine was united in marriage to Frances Jane Light- ner, January 22, 1861. She is a native of Logansport, Indiana, and
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the daughter of George E. and Henrietta ( Orwick ) Lightner, na- tives of Pennsylvania. They were influential people in their native community. Two children have been born to the subject and wife, one of whom is living. Etta, who is the wife of Ralph E. Scora. manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company at Muncie, Indiana. She is a graduate of the Kokomo high school. They have two sons, who are seven and four years oldl in 1908.
The subject and wife are members of the Main street Christian church, being liberal givers to the same and taking a great interest in the affairs of that congregation.
Politically Mr. Goodwine is a Republican, but he does not find time to take an active part in political affairs.
Mr. and Mrs. Goodwine are well and favorably known to the major part of the residents of Kokomo, where most of their well ordered lives have been spent and where their hospitality, kindness. uprightness and loyality to the church and the government have made them popular and won them scores of admiring friends.
KOKOMO, MARION & WESTERN TRACTION COMPANY.
Enterprise, sound business judgment, and well directed energy combined, have developed the Kokomo, Marion & Western Trac- tion Company, of Kokomo, Indiana, to the front rank among the interurban companies of the state. Its present position of import- ance in the business and commercial world has been attained as the result of a steady growth from a modest beginning. The Ko- komo Street Railway Company was organized by Attorney J. F. Morrison. Shortly afterwards the company was reorganized and known as the Kokomo City Railway & Light Company. In the
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start there were two companies, separate and distinct, that known as the Citizens' Light & Power Company and the Kokomo City Railway Company. Under this consolidation great practical an- vantages were attained, both for the new company and the public. which the latter was not slow to recognize and appreciate. The original owners of the street railway property were Frank E. Snow. W. E. Avery, William H. Stevens, and J. E. Jackson, of Detroit Michigan, and J. E. MeGetting, of Indianapolis.
In 1890 tracks were laid from Markland avenue to the junction, and a year later the line was extended to the plate glass factory over Sycamore street. The active and capable manager of the prop- erty at this period of its operation was W. E. Avery, now deceased. It is to him, perhaps more than to any one person, that the Kokomo public is indebted for the procurement of the beautiful city park for which Kokomo is tamed throughout Indiana. Mr. Avery, both for the benefit of the city, and the company with which he was iden- tified. perceived the benefits to be derived from the establishment of a city park. Rebuffed at first he was not to be discouraged, and approaching J. R. Hall, of Indianapolis, with the proposition, Mr. Hall was taken with the idea at once. Being a former resident of Kokomo and interested in her people, he adopted Mr. Avery's sug- gestion and deeded the original park land to the city. The Street Railway Company at once constructed a line to the park along Markland and Courtland avenues.
The company made money the first year of its organization, and was increasing its business steadily in full ignorance that it was soon to face a financial storm which would shake the enterprise from center to circumference. Thus far the financial wisdom of its e- tablishment had been proven, and extensions were planned which were of a promising character. The panie of 1893 came on, and for months the company dragged empty cars through the streets. But
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it was to be seen that the enterprise was founded upon a rock that the waves of financial storm could not dislodge, and a reorganiza- tion was effected, resulting in a sale of the railway and light prop- erties to W. E. Stevens and Freemont Woodsworth, of Detroit.
The company added the line of track running from Main street to the Cloverleaf Railroad. During the time of the ownership of the properties by Detroit capitalists about three and one half miles of track were utilized. It was not until 1902 that very extensive im- provements were undertaken. T. C. McReynolds had assumed the management of the business, and he had in mind plans for develop- ing the enterprise, which contemplated a systematic growth. He was confident of the bright future of the company and time has vin- dicated the correctness of his judgment. In 1902 the Kokomo Railway & Light Company, under his direction, laid four and one half miles of track in the city. The northwest and southwest loops were constructed and from that hour the company took a step for- ward to the vital moment to its profit and welfare. The traffic was trebled, because the very heart of important territory had been touched and people could go somewhere. The light plant was im- proved to a state of efficiency. But in 1903 all that Mr. McRey- nolds had hoped for and believed would be accomplished was real- ized in the organization of the present company, the Kokomo, Marion & Western Traction Company. Old things had passed away, and new blood was to surprise the most conservative of the company's well wishers. In 1903 the company was organized with George J. Marrott, of Indianapolis, president; L. J. Kirkpatrick. vice-president, and T. C. McReynolds, secretary-treasurer and gen- eral manager. Mr. McReynolds was now enabled to see that ac- complished which long before he had planned and upon which he had determined. An interurban line was to be constructed con- necting Kokomo and Marion. Mr. McReynolds was backed by
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sufficient capital and supported by business capability of successful business men. Twenty-eight miles of track east of Kokomo were laid and the line from the start proved a good investment. Then the power plant was improved, the latest improvements installed and the plant brought to its highest efficiency, so that it cares for all requirements and much more. In 1900 this plant represented but three hundred and fifty horse power. Today it represents four thou- sand five hundred horse power. The company is the owner of four electric light plants, located at Kokomo. Swayzee, Greentown and Converse. The company's properties are constantly increasing in value, and are so situated that an increase in value must be the in- evitable result from each passing year.
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