USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 16
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1
Elbert H. Shirk was the founder of the First National Bank of Peru, the oldest and recognized as the best financial institution of Miami county. He had opened a private bank for deposits in 1857, and through his own resources and his high standing in the commun- ity, kept this institution at a high standard through the troubleous financial times that followed. Then in 1864, the year following the
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of the First National Bank of Peru, which was organized in 1864. Through a large portion of the business community, however this in- stitution was long known by the more familiar title of "Shirk's Bank." He held the office of president from the organization until his death, and it was his business capacity as well as his individual resources which contributed to the solid character of the First National Bank.
Regardless of panics and hard times, the First National never closed its doors, maintained an unshaken credit, and acquired and paid its semi-annual dividend with unfailing regularity. In banking, mer- chandising and real estate, Elbert H. Shirk was undoubtedly one of the strongest men of his time in Indiana. Had le chosen as a field for his enterprise, one of the great cities of the country, his name would undoubtedly have been associated with that of the greatest merchant princes in American business annals. While he was pre- eminently successul as a creator of business resources, he was none- the-less noted for the development of that other class of resources which are nonetheless valuable to character and to the welfare of society. He was for many years one of the most active members of the Baptist church in Peru, contributing half the cost of the church edifice erected during his life time, and was always a quiet worker in benevolence and philanthropy in this city. Politically he was first a Whig and then a Republican, but never mingled actively in partisan affairs. Elbert H. Shirk, is remembered as a man of slight and apparently frail physique, but possessing a nervous energy and will-power which constantly coop- erated with his remarkable business judgment and from this com- bination resulted his great success and influence in affairs. He was devoted to family and friends, and his home was a center of the cultured social life of this community. In June, 1845, he married Mary Wright, who was of English descent, and a native of Franklin county, Indiana. Mrs. Shirk was a woman of rare strength of character and during her long and happy associations with her husband she exerted many of the influences which gave him power and success in the world of affairs. Elbert H. Shirk died on April 8, 1886, and his wife survived him for four years, passing away in August, 1894. They left a family of two sons and one daughter.
Milton Shirk, the oldest in his father's family, and who for many years continued the large business and financial activities founded by his father, was born in the city of Peru, November 21, 1849. He attended the public schools of his home town, but acquired his best train- ing under the supervision of his father, and in connection with his actual experience in business. At the age of eighteen in 1867, he entered the First National Bank, soon after advanced to cashier, and on the death of his father was elected by the directors to the office of president, which he held for many years. He continued the same conservative policies of financial management by which his father had created a bank second to none in strength and resources in Northern Indiana, and he also applied his able management to increasing the vast resources established by his father and which were left largely to his manage- ment. Up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1903, Milton Shirk was foremost in the business life and civic affairs of Peru. He was a Baptist and active in the work of the church.
On June 6, 1878, the late Milton Shirk married Miss Ellen Walker, a daughter of Joseph H. Walker of Worcester, Massachusetts. They were the parents of two children, Elbert Walker Shirk and Joseph Henry Shirk.
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ELBERT WALTER SHIRK, one time president and now sole owner of the United States Cement Company at Bedford, Indiana, and president of the Indiana Manufacturing Company, of Peru, is one of the leading men in business circles of the county. Mr. Shirk was born in Peru, and has passed the greater portion of his life thus far in the town. He is the son of Milton and Ellen (Walker) Shirk, and was born on November 19, 1879, and here reared. In 1893 Mr. Shirk entered Worcester (Mass.) Academy, from which he was graduated in 1898, in which year he entered Harvard. His career in that famous institution of learning was cut short near the close of his third year of attendance, owing to the sud- den illness of his father which necessitated his return to the home circle, and the subsequent death of that parent prevented his return.
Soon thereafter Mr. Shirk entered the employ of the Indiana Manu- facturing Company as a laborer, and continued thus for a year and a half, while he went through a thorough training in the details of the business. He then left the factory to go into the business of looking after the estate which his father left, which, with his own private interests, have been suf- ficient to occupy his time to the uttermost. His private concerns at that time were chiefly confined to southern plantation and timber lands, and he later became interested in the cement business at Bedford, Indiana, becoming president of the United States Cement Company and later taking over the entire property in his name. In 1903 Mr. Shirk became president of the Indiana Manufacturing Company, of Peru, succeeding his father in that office, and in 1911, upon the death of A. N. Dukes, took over the active control of the affairs of the concern. When J. H. Shirk became president of the Peru Trust Company Mr. Shirk became vice- president of the concern.
Mr. Shirk is popular in business and social circles throughout the community, and his fraternal relations are far reaching in their scope. He is a member of the Masonic order, affiliating with the Knights Templar at Bedford and the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Indianapolis, the Peru Commercial Club, the University Club of Chi- cago and the Columbia Club of Indianapolis.
On March 7, 1905, Mr. Shirk was married to Miss Mary Kimberly, of Neenah, Wisconsin.
JOSEPH H. SHIRK, son of the late Milton Shirk, and grandson of Elbert H. Shirk, was born in the city of Peru, January 6, 1881. He spent his early boyhood in Peru, attended the local public schools and then studied for four years at Worcester Academy at Worcester, Massachusetts. From that preparatory school he entered Harvard University in 1898, and in 1902 was graduated A. B.
Twenty-one years of age at the time he left college, he immediately returned to Peru and entered upon a business career in the large field which the activities of his grandfather and father had prepared for him. He became teller in the First National Bank, and when, a year later, his father died, he became assistant cashier and at the same time was made president of the Peru Mercantile Company and vice-president of the Indiana Manufacturing Company. Mr. Shirk for ten years has been one of the most vigorous factors in commercial and financial affairs of this city. In January, 1911, he became president of the Peru Trust Com- pany, of which he had been a director since its organization in 1904.
Mr. Shirk was married November 16, 1909, to Miss Helen Royce of Lafayette, Indiana. They have one daughter, Royse, who was born Feb- ruary 25, 1911. Mr. Shirk is a Republican in politics, and with his family is a member of the Baptist church.
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CLARENCE N. HALL established himself in business in Peru in 1890, since which time he has been prominently identified with the town and its best interests. He is a man who has taken a leading part in the affairs of his community, and has played well his part as a citizen.
Born in Richland township, Miami county, Indiana, on January 26, 1855, Clarence N. Hall is the son of Nelson C. and his wife Letitia (Griswold) Hall. The father was a native of the state of Massachusetts, who came as a young child from there to New York state and thence to Ohio with his family, who settled in Perrysburg, that state. He came to Miami county in his young manhood and here married his wife, who was the daughter of a family from Vermont state long established in these parts. He died in 1889, and his widow survived him until 1902. Both were of the Baptist faith and were members of the church, and in their community they were held in the highest esteem and regard by all who knew them.
Clarence N. Hall was reared in the village of Chili, in Miami county, and there received his early education. He later entered Franklin col- lege, from which he was graduated in 1877. Following his college career he taught school for some three years, after which he became a clerk in a clothing store at Peru, that work being more suited to his natural inclinations than the pedagogic field of enterprise. Mr. Hall remained in the clothing store until 1890, when he saw an opportunity for personal advancement in a business way that he was not slow to grasp, and he soon was established as the proprietor of a business in his own right. This enterprise has continued up to the present time with all success and he is regarded today as one of the successful busi- ness men of the city.
Mr. Hall is a Republican in politics, though not active beyond the demands of good citizenship, and he is fraternally identified with the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Elks, and a number of other frater- nities of the insurance bearing order. He was married on April 17, 1879, to Miss Lena Mclaughlin, of Franklin, Indiana, and they are the parents of two children, Catherine E., now Mrs. Michael L. Fansler, her husband being a prosecuting attorney of . Cass county; and Clar- ence Lyman Hall, a graduate of Franklin college, and now associated with his father in the business. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are members of the Baptist church, and are active in the various departments of the church work.
DR. B. F. EIKENBERRY has been a practicing physician in Peru, Indiana, since 1896. He is a native of Miami county, this state, born October 27, 1869, in Jefferson township, and the son of John and Nancy (Miller) Eikenberry. These people came from Eaton, Ohio, to Miami county, Indiana, at a time when there were but comparatively few houses in Peru. The father was a farmer by occupation, and settling in the wilderness of Jefferson township, he built a log cabin, and there established his little family and began the work of making a farm out of his wild land. His wife was a sister of Levi Miller, another pioneer of Miami county, who was the founder of the Orphan Asylum at Mexico, in Jefferson township. Mr. Eikenberry died in May, 1912, and he was preceded in death by his wife, who died in May, 1875. They were the parents of thirteen children, all of whom are living today but five.
Dr. B. F. Eikenberry was reared in his native township and there he attended school in the rural districts, and when he had finished with the work of those schools he attended the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1893. He then entered Hahnemann Medical
"FOREST VIEW FARM" RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE L. WAY
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College at Chicago, in the same year, and in March, 1896, was gradu- ated therefrom. He at once located for the practice of his profession, making Peru his place of establishment, and here he has ever since continued in practice, successful and prosperous, and holding the sin- cere regard and respect of all who know him either in his professional or any other capacity.
Dr. Eikenberry is a member of the Indiana Institute of Homeopathy and the American Institute of Homeopathy. On September 20, 1899, he was married to Miss Effie E. Wilson, of Cass county, Indiana, and they have three children, Florence L., H. Wilson, and Frances Eleanor. Both the doctor and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church, and Mrs. Eikenberry, prior to her marriage, was a valued teacher in the public schools of Peru, where she did excellent work in the cause of education.
GEORGE L. WAY. Since he was a child of three years, George L. Way has had his home in Miami county, a period of nearly fifty years, during which time he has witnessed all the various improvements, and changes in the progress of the county from its wilderness days to the present. He was here when the first railroad was built, and in his earliest childhood the old canal along the Wabash was still used as a route of transportation and travel. Mr. Way has performed his share of pioneer labor, in clearing the forests from the land, and has devoted all his active career to farming an industry in which he has quietly prospered, and now has one of the best estates in Butler township.
George L. Way is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Miflin county, April 4, 1852. His father was William P. Way, and his grandfather was Joshua Way. The maiden name of his mother was Martha McKin- stry, a daughter of Thomas Mckinstry. The family made its removal from Pennsylvania to Miami county, in 1855, and the father's first settlement was in Butler township. He was a hard worker, but a man of no means to speak of when he arrived in this county. He had no money with which to purchase a farm, and therefore rented a house to shelter his family, while he hired his services to others, and after two years, by his thrift and industry was able to buy a small tract of forty acres, on which he put up a small log cabin. The earliest recollec- tions of George L. Way center about that little log cabin home in Butler township. The first home was afterwards traded for another tract of land, comprising sixty acres, and completely covered over with timber. The hardest experience of the early settlers of Miami and other Indiana counties was in the clearing and grubbing of the timber and brush from the soil, and this labor was an absolute preliminary to successful agri- culture. In the case of the Way family, as in that of many others, the boundaries of the cultivated fields were at first very limited, and each year were gradually extended into the forest, until in time practically all the farm came under the dominion of the plow. The father was a man of industry, could labor hard from early to late, and to the farm of sixty acres, which he secured, he added more and more until he was the possessor of one hundred and sixty acres and forty-five acres more in Butler township-a total of two hundred and five acres included now in the estate of his son George L. Way. The original house which the family occupied about the time of the war is still standing, although it has been weather-boarded and otherwise improved and remodeled so that its original shape is hardly distinguishable. In that home William P. Way spent his last years, and his death in 1904 removed one of the fine old pioneer citizens.
George L. Way has practically lived all his life on the homestead just
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described. After his father's death he continued to manage the farmn which came to him by inheritance. During his early years he received only such education as the primitive schools of Butler township could afford. Each term lasted only about three months, and the school house which is fixed in his memory was one of logs, and with all the primitive furnishings which are usually described. It had logs or slab benehes, supported by pins driven into the underside, and there were no backs to these benehes, so that the children became very weary in the course of a few hours and rested themselves by leaning forward on their knees. He has also done his early writing in the eopy books with the old fashioned goosequill pen made by the school master, and studied out of the old- fashioned readers and spelling books, a few of which may still be found in existence in Miami county.
At the present time the Way farm in Butler township comprises two hundred and forty aeres. The father and sons have placed all the im- provements there, and George did his share of the elearing and assisted in the erection of the barn and other buildings. His father was an active member of the Presbyterian faith, and George L. Way attends and is also a member of the New Hope Presbyterian church. His father was buried in the New Hope cemetery. For two terms William P. Way was trustee of Butler township. He was always a Demoerat in polities, and his son follows him in that politieal inelination.
On December 14, 1878, Mr. George L. Way married Polly Baker. Mrs. Way was born in Miami county, Indiana, April 2, 1860, and was reared and cducated in her home eounty. She was a loveable woman, a loving and affectionate wife and mother and a devout member of the New Hope Presbyterian church. She died February 11, 1912, after hav- ing spent thirty-four years of happy married life, dying at the age of fifty-one years, ten months and nine days, and is interred in the New Hope cemetery. The three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Way are as follows: Burton C., who was educated in the publie sehools, is an agri- culturist of Butler township. He wedded Miss Effie M. Johnson and they are members of the church. Viola A., died aged nine months. Mary Stella, is the wife of Ernest Carrothers, a resident and farmer of Butler township, and they are the parents of one little daughter, Thresa Maudean. They are also members of the ehureh. The homestead of Mr. Way is known as "Forest View Farm."
ALBERT WARD. A young lawyer who has done much to prove his ability and open the way to a large and successful career in the law, Albert Ward has praeticed at Peru since 1904, and has enjoyed much substantial suecess in his profession and high standing as a citizen.
Born in Perry township, Miami eounty, Indiana, on September 30, 1879, Albert Ward is the son of James H. and Mary S. (Newton) Ward. His grandfather, John Ward was one of the early settlers of Miami county. James H. Ward, who was born in Franklin county, Indiana, and whose oceupation was farming, was living in Minnesota, when the Civil war was declared, and enlisting in the Eighth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry went through the entire conflict and rose from the ranks to first lieutenant. After his honorable discharge, he came to Miami eounty, and spent the rest of his life on a farm. He died on February 1, 1902, and Mrs. Ward followed him February 12, eleven days later. James H. and Mary S. were Methodists and in politics Mr. Ward was a Republican. They were the parents of seven ehildren, five of whom are still living.
Albert Ward, who was sixth in this family, was reared on the old homestead in Perry township. The country schools supplied the founda- tion of his education, and he made the best use of his somewhat limited
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opportunities. In 1900 he began the study of law in the offices of Reasoner & O'Hara at Peru. In September 1902, Mr. Ward entered the Indianapolis College of Law, where he was graduated June 10, 1904. During September of the preceding year, Mr. Ward had formed a part- nership with J. T. Cox and E. T. Reasoner under the firm name of Cox, Reasoner & Ward, a partnership which continued for one year, and after that time Mr. Ward and Mr. Reasoner were in practice under the name of Reasoner and Ward until the death of Mr. Reasoner on July 16, 1913. Since then Mr. Ward has been engaged in the practice of his profession alone.
Mr. Ward is a Republican in politics. On February 4, 1904 he mar- ried Miss Huldah Kohls of Peru. Mrs. Ward is a member of the Luth- eran church, is an estimable lady and takes great pride in her home and family. They have two sons, Wesley C. and Noel A. Ward.
Mr. Ward has made worthy progress in his profession since he began practice, and possesses the energy and determination which insures suc- cess. In this connection it may be mentioned that while he was in Indian- apolis as a law student, he was employed as stenographer in the office of Addison C. Harris, who was formerly minister to Austria. The money earned by office work made it possible for him to continue his studies in college, and that spirit of self-help displayed in his younger years is bearing fruit in the more mature accomplishments of the present.
DR. HOMER C. HAAS. Since 1893 Dr. Homer C. Haas has taken his place among the leading men of Peru, and in his capacity of physi- cian and surgeon has borne his full share of service and responsibil- ity in the community. He was born at Wabash, Indiana, on Septem- ber 19, 1866, and is one of the five surviving children in a family of seven born to Absolom and Hannah E. (Cox) Haas. Absolom Haas was of German descent, and he passed his life in the merchandise business. Both he and his wife are now deceased.
Homer C. Haas was reared in his native city and there received his primary education. He was but a lad when his father moved from the city to a small farming community adjoining the city limits, and there the embryo doctor passed eight years of his young life. In 1888 he began to read medicine in the office of Dr. W. A. Dunn, of Wabash, and continued thus for eight months, making rapid strides in his knowledge and understanding of the subject, under the careful in- struction of the older men. In the autumn of that year he matricu- lated in Hahnemann Medical College, in Chicago, from which he was graduated in March, 1890. Soon thereafter he opened an office at Roann, Indiana, there continuing until 1893, when he came to Peru, and here he has since been engaged in the active practice of his pro- fession. Dr. Haas has made splendid progress in his work, and is known to the fraternity as a student and a thinker.
Dr. Haas has membership in the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 127, in which he has held all the chairs and the Ben Hur order, and he is a member of the Commercial Club of Peru, in which he takes an active interest. He is a Republican, and is a citizen of a fine type.
On March 30, 1892, Dr. Haas was united in marriage with Miss Maude Pearson, of Roann, and to them have been born six children, of whom the three here named are now living: Lewis E., Dorothy Lee, and Mary A. Both the doctor and his wife are members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and the family is one that maintains a high place in the csteem and regard of the best people in the community.
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EDWARD HARVEY GRISWOLD, M. D. For more than twenty years physician and surgeon to the Wabash Hospital at Peru, Dr. Griswold has had a position with unnumbered opportunities for service, and has given such an account of his opportunity as to place him in the front rank of the physicians of Miami county and Northern Indiana. To the true physician the responsibility and severe duties connected with such an office as that held by Dr. Griswold come as a matter of routine and are accepted as part of the profession, but it is a matter of grati- fication to the public to know, that such men stand ready to perform such important and often disagreeable service and they do not hesitate to express admiration for the capable men whose lives are devoted to the welfare of humanity in the capacity of physicians and surgeons.
Edward H. Griswold was born in Lexington, Missouri, October 1, 1854. He comes by his profession naturally, since his father, his paternal great-grandfather, and his maternal grandfather were all phy- sicians, and each one a worthy representative of his calling. The Griswold family is of New England ancestry, dating back to the colonial days. The founder of the family in America was Edward Winslow Griswold, who came from England and located at Windsor, Connecti- cut, in 1639. Harvey Griswold, grandfather of the doctor, when nine- teen years of age, moved to the State of Missouri, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Dr. Sylvanius Griswold, father of the Peru physician and surgeon, was born in Marthasville, Missouri, August 10, 1832, only about four years after the admission of Missouri to the Union, and was for many years prominent in his profession. He obtained his early education in the Masonic College at Lexington and graduated in medicine from the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis. He married Lockie Ann Arnold, a native of Missouri. The Arnold family was of Scotch ancestry, going back to the famous Douglas Clan. Her father, a native of Virginia, coming at an early date to Missouri, was one of the active physicians of his time. Dr. Arnold, the maternal grandfather, had his home at Lexington, Missouri. Marthasville is a place of special historical sig- nificance. It was there that Daniel Boone spent his last days, and died. The great pioneer was buried in a cemetery on land owned by Harvey Griswold, paternal grandfather of the doctor. Some years after the death of Boone, the state of Kentucky requested the keeping of his remains, since Daniel Boone had been more closely identified with Kentucky than with Missouri. The decision in the matter rested with Mr. Harvey Griswold, and he consented on condition that the Kentucky Commissioners should draw up a written contract binding themselves and the state to the erection of a suitable monument to Boone's memory. This contract, now many years old, is in the posses- sion of Dr. E. H. Griswold of Peru. In a little log house, which was put together with wooden pins, according to the pioneer fashion, and which was situated near the burying ground of Daniel Boone, in the vicinity of Marthasville, was held the first conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, west of the Mississippi river.
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