USA > Indiana > Howard County > History of Howard County, Indiana, Vol II > Part 40
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
manufacturing enterprise which he established in a modest way and which owing to limited capital proved a struggle against many obstacles and discouragements, during the several years following. His object being the manufacture of wire and its utilization in the making of nails and various other articles and devices to supplant those which had long been used in nearly all lines of industry, he labored assiduously and faithfully to that end and after some years of critical research and painstaking effort, succeeded in interesting others in the enterprise, with the result that a company was duly organized, the success of which more than realized his most san- guine expectations and the history of which is briefly outlined in the sketch of the Kokomo Steel and Wire industry which is found else- where in this volume.
Mr. Fredrick being a man of fine mind, keen practical intelli- gence and possessing mechanical ingenuity of a high order and a familiarity with every detail of the wire industry, it followed as a matter of course that his studies and investigations should result in great practical value and prove a decided stimulus to a line of manu- facture which until developed by his company was only in its incip- iency. As the leading spirit in the Kokomo Steel & Wire Com- pany he has been enabled to reduce his theories to practical tests and to retain those of value, since which time he has made other dis- coveries and improvements and is today one of the best informed men as well as one of the most skillful and scientific artisans in the important field of endeavor to which his attention and talents are being devoted. Aside from his official position and important busi- ness interests Mr. Fredrick manifests a lively regard in whatever makes for the advancement of the city in which he resides, being interested in all movements and enterprises to this end, besides tak- ing an active part in public matters and co-operating with his fellow citizens in promoting the social and moral welfare of the commu-
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nity. Since becoming a citizen of Kokomo, he has won a high place in the esteem of those with whom he is accustomed to mingle while the signal success which he has achieved as a manufacturer has made his name a familiar sound in industrial circles throughout his own and other states.
Mr. Fredrick was married in the month of July. 1896, to Bessie Kitselman, of Ridgeville, Indiana, the union being blessed with one child. a bright and interesting little daughter, named Wanita.
GEORGE E. DURHAM.
Among the earnest men whose enterprise and depth of char- acter have gained a prominent place in the community and the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens is the honored subject of this sketch. A leading farmer and stockraiser of the township in which he resides and a man of decided views and laudable am- bitions, his influence has ever been made for the advancement of his kind and in the vocation to which his energies are devoted. he ranks among the representative agriculturists of the county.
George E. Durham is an Indianaian by birth, having first seen the light of day in Rush county, on October 8, 1861. being the son of Leonard and Nancy M. ( Hollis) Durham. His paternal grandfather, a native of Germany, came to the United States in the prime of manhood and for a period of thirty years followed steam- boating on the Ohio and other large rivers, residing during that time in the city of Cincinnati. At the expiration of the period noted he moved to Rush county, Indiana, and erected a grist-mill which he operated with fair success until his death fifteen years later, at the advanced age of eighty-five, his wife dying when she was seventy-nine years old.
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
Leonard Durham, one of the eight children born to this couple, was five years of age when his parents left the fatherland to seek a new home in the United States. He spent his early life in Cincin- nati, received his educational training in the schools of that city. and when nineteen years old engaged in railroad construction, which line of work he followed the greater part of his life. While thus engaged he had charge of a large number of workmen and attained high standing as foreman, having enjoyed the confidence of luis employer, a leading contractor, between whom and himself the most cordial relations appear to have obtained. Leonard Durham was a soldier in the Civil war, serving two years in an Indiana regiment and taking part in many of the noted battles of the Vir- ginia campaigns, including among others the bloody engagements of the Wilderness of Petersburg. He was the father of five children, and departed this life in the prime of his manhood at the early age of thirty-seven years : his widow, who is still living, has reached the age of sixty-nine years and is one of the highly esteemed women of the part of Indianapolis in which she resides.
George E. Durham spent his childhood and youth in his native county and with the exception of one term in the schools of Rush- ville had little or no advantages of acquiring an education. He was reared to honest toil and at the early age of fifteen years began life for himself as a railroader in the engineering department, three years later being placed in charge of a contract which he carried out to the satisfaction of his employer and the managers of the road. He continued railroading in various capacities until 1895, when he resigned his position and came to Howard county where he is now engaged in agriculture and stock raising on a fine little farm in Taylor township, which came to his wife by inheritance. After spending three years on this place Mr. Durham resumed railroading, but four years later returned to the farm, since which time he has
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devoted his attention very closely and successfully to the cultivation of the soil and breeding and raising of fine stock. He devotes con- siderable attention to hogs and cattle, as well as horses, which he finds more profitable than to rely entirely upon his crops.
Mr. Durham is a man of commendable enterprise, who takes pride in his vocation, although not engaged upon quite as exten- sive a scale as some of his neighbors. A Republican in politics and familiar with the principles and history of his party, he keeps in touch with the questions of the day and wields a wide in- fluence in his neighborhood as a politician. Personally he enjoys a high degree of popularity in the community, possessing as he does the qualities of mind and heart that win and retain warm friend- ships.
Mr. Durham has been twice married. the first time to Laura Lunchford, who died after a mutually happy wedded experience of ten years, during which time she bore him three children, namely : Eddie, born in 1888: Harry, born in 1891, and Albert whose birth occurred in 1893. all three of whom are still members of the home circle. Mrs. Durham departed this life in 1893 and in 1895 the sub- ject was united in marriage with Mollie Thompson, daughter of William H., and Elizabeth ( Whitman) Thompson, the father a native of Boston and of French descent and the mother born in Indiana. William H. Thompson was a man of wide intelligence, a leader of thought in his community and a recognized authority on nearly every subject. His family was closely related to the Bona- parts of Corisca, and Napoleon the Great, and by the ties of con- sanguinity he was a cousin of the celebrated actress, Charlotte Cush- man. He represented Howard county in the general assembly a number of years ago and made an honorable record as a legislator : his death occurred at the age of seventy-five years, his wife dying in her sixty-first year. Two of Mrs. Thompson's brothers were
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soldiers in the Civil war, one of them enlisting at the age of fifteen as a drummer boy and both of them achieved honorable distinction as brave and gallant defenders of the Union.
Mr. and Mrs. Durham are esteemed members of the Baptist church and manifest an abiding interest in all lines of religious work under the auspices of the same.
KOKOMO STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY.
In taking up the subject of the greater manufacturing plants of Kokomo the above large and growing enterprise naturally suggests itself because of its importance to the city, its interests and its far reaching influence in making this one of the really great industrial centers of the Middle West. Although of comparatively recent origin it is admittedly the largest and most successful enterprises of the kind not only in Kokomo but in the state and its presence is a source of pride to the community besides affording remunerative em- ployment to a small army of workmen who depend for their live- lihood upon the different local merchants and tradesmen, thus con- tributing largely to the material development of the city and adding much to its reputation.
The history of the Kokomo Steel and Wire Company dates from 1901, at which time it was organized by a number of repre- sentative business men who had previously been interested in the Kokomo Wire & Nail Company of which the present enterprise is an outgrowth, the nail company succeeding the Kokomo Fence Ma- chine Company, which was established in 1896 by J. F. Fredrick and Harry Ward.
The industry last named, which was organized for the purpose
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of manufacturing ornamental fence and wire making machinery, was in operation about four years. A force of about one hundred men were employed. The outlook of the enterprise appeared bright and encouraging and realized the high expectations of the founders. At the expiration of the period indicated, however, the business was re- organized and merged into the Kokomo Wire and Nail Company, the personnel of which was as follows: A. A. Charles, G. W. Charles. Richard Ruddell, King Kennedy. L. Newman. Harry Ward. and J. E. Fredrick, the reorganization being effected and work on what is known as the north plant beginning in the year 1900. After the completion of the building the company began operations, but within less than a year another change took place. the enterprise in May. 1901, being merged with the Kokomo Steel and Wire Company, by which name it has since been known and under which its growth has been rapid and substantial, fully meet- ing the expectations of the organizers and stockholders and prov- ing as already indicated one of the largest and most successful plants of the kind in the state.
The Kokomo Steel and Wire Company was organized with a capital of one million, and in due time the south plant was erected after which operations began under most favorable auspices, the success of the business being assured from time it was put on a working basis in the year 1902. Since that date the enterprise has been characterized by continuous growth and advancement until it now holds distinctive precedence among the leading manufactur- ing concerns of Kokomo, with encouraging prospects of still greater growth and wider influence in the future. Disregarding all ideas of conservatism the company planned for greater enlargement. secur- ing additional ground from time to time until considerably in excess of thirty acres have been obtained, the north plant covering an area of four and a half and the south plant something more than twenty-
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
seven acres, the two buildings being substantially constructed after the most approved designs and fully equipped with the latest results of scientific skill in the way of machinery and mechanical devices for the manufacture of the various products. The north plant is devoted almost exclusively to the manufacture of wire fence, the output of the other and larger structure consisting of rods, wire of all kinds, both smooth and barbed, annealed staples, nails, wire rods and various other kinds of iron and wire goods and devices, all of which are produced in immense quantities in order to supply the large and steadily growing demand.
The rapid growth of the wire industry within the past few years has necessitated frequent additions to the plants and their capacity is now taxed to the utmost to keep pace with the times and fill the orders that are constantly coming in from all parts of the country, the great demand for wire not only by the mechanical industries but from vast agricultural regions of the Middle West. West and South rendering imperative a still greater extension of the business in no distant future.
The Kokomo Steel and Wire Company is largely owned by local parties, and among the nine hundred men who constitute the working force of the establishment there is disbursed every year in wages the sum of four hundred thousand dollars, nearly all of which, as stated in a preceding paragraph. finds its way into the tills and coffers of local merchants and trades people, to the great advan- tage of the business interests of the city and adjacent country. This force consists largely of experienced and thoroughly capable me- chanics selected with especial reference to fitness for their respective lines of work in addition to whom there are a number of more skilled artisans for the departments in which a higher order of scientific and technical training is required. The business of the company is represented on the road by about sixteen efficient travel-
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ing salesmen who, with fourteen in the various clerical departments constitute a force of capable, shrewd, farsighted men who make their employers' interests their own and to whose faithful and un- selfish devotion not a little of the company's success is directly at- tributable. Between proprietors and employees a mutual interest has ever been maintained with the result that few labor agitations have ever disturbed their pleasant relations, the establishment hav- ing been singularly free from strikes and walk-outs,
The Steel and Wire Company is backed and managed by able and conservative business men who, in addition to establishing and maintaining the large and important enterprise in which they are directly interested, have also contributed greatly to the upbuilding of Kokomo and the advancement of its various activities, while the people contemplate with pride the presence of an enterprise which has done as much as any other to spread the name and fame of the city abroad. The officers of the company at this time are as follows : President A. A. Charles : Vice-President, A. V. Conradt ; Secretary. J. E. Fredrick : Treasurer, G. W. Charles.
DAILY SAMUEL YAGER.
This enterprising farmer and representative citizen is an Indi- anian by adoption, having been born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, in the year 1850. The paternal branch of his family is of German origin, on the mother's side he is of English descent. His grand- father Yager, a native of Germany, emigrated to the United States in an early day and settled in Virginia where, in due time, he be- came a well-to-do planter and influential man of affairs. After his first marriage and the birth of several children he migrated to Jef-
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
ferson county, Kentucky, where he also achieved note as a success- ful farmer, having been a large slave holder and a man of much more than ordinary standing and consequence in the community. He was three times married. Franklin Yager, the father of the subject, being an offspring of the first wife and born before the family removed from Virginia.
Franklin W. Yager was a child when his parents moved to Kentucky and he grew to maturity and received his education in the latter state. He was reared to agricultural pursuits and fol- lowed the same in Kentucky until about 1850 when he changed his residence to Johnson county, Indiana, where he tilled the soil as a renter during the ensuing four years, removing at the end of that time to Parkville, Missouri, thence a little later to Kentucky where he made his home for a limited period. Returning to Johnson county after a couple of years, Mr. Yager purchased a tract of heavily timbered land. on which he erected a log house and began the work of celaring and developing a farm, a task beset with much toil and hardships not a few. In due time, however, he succeeded in removing the greater part of the forest growth and reducing the soil to cultivation, but after a residence of four or five years on this place he sold out and in the fall of 18co moved to Howard county and pur- chased a small farm of thiry acres a short distancet east of the village of Fairfield. After residing ten years on this land and doing much in the way of improvement he exchanged it for a hotel in Fair- field, and removing to that devoted his attention during the fifteen years following to the entertainment of the traveling public, the meanwhile purchasing another small farm near the town and giving considerable time to the cultivation of the same. Mr. Yager was a man of positive convictions, great strength of character and made his influence felt wherever he resided. He was a pronounced and uncomprising Democrat, an active worker for the success of his
35
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party and took a prominent part in the political doings of his time. He was withal a most excellent and praiseworthy citizen and an esteemed member of the Christian church and his death, which occurred at his home in Fairfield, January, 1904, was deeply la- mented by his many friends in the village and surrounding country. Mrs. Yager, whose maiden name was Harriet Kelley, was a lady of sterling worth whose many kindly deeds and loving ministrations will long be remembered by the recipients and by the neighborhood which she blessed and made better by her presence and influence. she survived her husband but one year. departing this life in 1905.
Daily Samuel Yager, the second child of Franklin and Har- riet Yager, received his education in the schools of Johnson county and in Missouri and he also pursued his studies for some time after the family settled in the county of Howard. Like the majority of country boys he was early taught the vitrue of honest work, and on the farm as he grew to maturity he knew not what it was to eat the bread of idleness. During his minority he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, working as a hired hand a portion of the time and later for himself and in this way he was engaged until his twenty-first year when he began life upon his own responsibility, choosing for his vocation the honorable calling with which he was familiar.
During the three or four years following his marriage which took place in 1876, Mr. Yager cultivated the soil as a renter but at the expiration of that time he purchased forty acres of his present farm in Taylor township which he soon reduced to a high state of tillage. besides making a number of substantial improvements. By painstaking industry and judicious management he was subse- quently enabled to add to his real estate until he now owns eighty acres of as fine land as the county can boast. his improvements being
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OF HOWARD COUNTY.
among the best in Taylor township. It is not extravagant to state that Mr. Yager ranks among the most enterprising and successful agriculturists in a region of country long noted for the energy and high standing of it farming class, and as a citizen he also has at- tained high repute, being intelligent, progressive and lending his in- fluence and support to all enterprises having for their object the ad- vancement of the community and the good of his fellow fen. By carefully studying the nature of soils and their adaptability to the different crops and by judicious rotation of the latter, together with ample drainage and proper fertilizing. he seldom, if ever, fails to realize abundant returns from the time and labor devoted to his fields. He is also much interested in good live stock and keeps noth- ing but blooded or improved breeds for which he always receives the highest market prices. Ile is now quite well-to-do, being in in- dependent circumstances with a sufficiency of this world's goods to render his future free from anxiety or care.
.As already stated. Mr. Yager's domestic life dates from the year 1876, at which time he entered the marriage relation with Mary Frances Williams, daughter of Allen Williams. the union being blessed with four children, three sons and one daughter, one son only surviving. His name is Clarence Justin Yager, born in the year 1877, and at this time is in the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad with headquarters at Little Rock Arkansas, Mrs. Yager died July 14, 1907, and on June 4th of the following year Mr. Yager married his present wife, Mary Katherine Poulter, daughter of James and Mary Jane Poulter. The first Mrs. Yager was an esti- mable lady and for years a devoted member of the Christian church of Fairfield, to which religious body her son also belongs. The pres- ent Mrs. Yager holds membership with this church and is deeply in- terested in all lines of moral and religious endeavor under the au- spices of the organization. Mr. Yager was reared a Democrat and
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has ever remained loyal to the old historic party, believing firmly in its principles and doing all within his power to promote its suc- cess. Although an active political worker he has never asked of- ficial preferment at the hands of his party nor aspired to leadership. being content to vote his principles, defend the soundness of his posi- tions and to be known by the simple title of citizen. He is a mem- ber of the Horse Thief Detectvie Association, and like his two com- panions claims to be Christian only in his religious belief. being identified with the Fairfield church and an earnest supporter of the Gospel both at home and abroad. He has one sister living near his place of residence, who is the wife of Alfred Rhodes, and the mother of four children.
DAVID C. SPRAKER.
In placing the subject of this review before the reader as one standing in the front rank of Kokomo's enterprising men of af- fairs, whose influence has tended to the up-building of the city and the advancement of various lines of industry, simple justice is done. a biographical fact, recognized throughout the community, by those at all familiar with his history and cognizant of the important part he has acted in the business circles with which he is identified. His career presents a notable example of the exercise of those qualities of mind and character which overcome obstacles and win success and his example is eminently worthy of imitation by those dissat- isfied with the present attainments who would aspire to higher posi- tions of honor and trust, or wider spheres of usefulness.
Mr. Spraker is a native of Decatur county, Indiana. His par- ents dying when he was quite young, he became an inmate of the
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home of his uncle. John Miller, who lived in Howard county, about four or five miles west of Kokomo, and it was on this relation's farm that he learned by practical experience the meaning and value of honest toil, and the necessity of relying on himself and his own efforts for any success he might attain in life. At the proper age he entered the district school of the neighborhood and after attend- ing the same at intervals until his eighteenth year he accepted a clerkship in a general store at New London, where during the ensu- ing three years he became familiar with the business and proved a very capable and faithful salesman. At the expiration of the period indicated he purchased the establishment of his employer, going in debt for the entire stock of goods, and applying himself diligently to the business, soon built up a large and lucrative trade. the increase of patronage necessitating the enlargement of the building within a year after he took possession. In due time his store became one of the largest and most successful mercantile enterprises in the town and during the six years he continued at the head of the establish- ment his reputation as an energetic and successful business man be- came so widely and favorably known as to attract the attention of the public, and win for him a conspicuous place among the leading merchants and representative citizens of the county. His integrity and high standing as a safe and reliable business man and popularity as a citizen were among the inducements that led to his nomination in 1878 for county treasurer, to which office he was triumphantly elected and the duties of which he discharged with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the public for a period of four years, hav- ing been chosen his own successor in 1880.
Mr. Spraker brought to the position of treasurer a well balanced and thoroughly disciplined mind and the able and business-like man- ner in which he conducted the office fully justified the wisdom of his election and proved him one of the ablest and most judicious cus-
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todians of the public funds in the history of the county. For some time after the expiration of his office he was engaged in the real estate business at Kokomo, but meanwhile became interested in the project of establishing in the city a plant for the manufacture of rubber goods, having previously purchased stock and become a director in a similar enterprise at Jonesboro, Indiana, the success of which gave him great faith in the future of the industry.
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