History of the Maumee River basin, Allen County, Indiana, Part 2

Author: Slocum, Charles Elihu, 1841-1915; Robertson, R. Stoddart, 1839-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Indianapolis ; Toledo : Bowen & Slocum
Number of Pages: 630


USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of the Maumee River basin, Allen County, Indiana > Part 2


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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William D. Page is a native of the Wolverine state, having been born at Monroe, Monroe county, Michigan, on the 16th day of August, 1844. His parents were Rev. William and Frances (Durand) Page, the former a native of Middlebury, Vermont, and the latter of Bethlehem, Connecticut. In William Page's veins flowed English blood, while his wife was descended from sturdy French Huguenot ancestors. The subject of this sketch received his elementary education in the public schools, supplementing this by graduation at the West Rockford (Illinois) high school. He also pursued a course of study at Dr. Holbrook's Academy, at Clinton, New York, and later entered Hamilton College, located at the same


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place. At the early age of ten years, the subject commenced to learn the printer's trade in the office of the Expositor, at Adrian, Michigan, and thus gained that practical knowledge and experience which has so well served him in his later enterprises. He made good progress in both mechanical and financial way and in 1866 be- came publisher of the Expositor. In 1871 he came to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and in 1874 founded the Fort Wayne News, which he suc- cessfully conducted until its sale in 1892 and which has been for many years one of the leading and influential newspapers in north- eastern Indiana. In the dual capacities of publisher and editor, Mr. Page evinced qualities of the highest order, having both the executive ability and the clearness of vision to enable him to successfully guide his business affairs, while he has at all times wielded a forceful and trenchant pen.


When the dark clouds of civil strife hovered over our land, and the President found it necessary to call for volunteers to assist in maintaining the national union, Mr. Page was one of the first to offer his services, enlisting in April, 1861, in the Fifth Regiment Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry; but because of his youth he was not per- mitted to go to the front, being discharged by order of Brigadier General Rufus King. He afterward, however, served in the quarter- master's department through the last Shenandoah campaign, and, though not at the battle's front, he nonetheless contributed his quota toward the successful prosecution of the war. Mr. Page was at Harper's Ferry on the night of President Lincoln's assassination and was present at the grand review of the victorious armies at Wash- ington, probably in many respects the most impressive military spec- tacle the world has ever witnessed.


On the 24th of September, 1866, William D. Page was united in marriage with Miss Chloe Elizabeth Warner, who was born at Adrian, Michigan, April 7, 1849, the daughter of T. C. and Elmina Warner. To Mr. and Mrs. Page have been born two children, Frances Elizabeth Page-Willey and Josephine Page-Wright. In religion Mr. Page and family are connected with the Presbyterian church, and take an active interest in all movements looking to the moral, educational and social advancement of the community. In politics, Mr. Page has, ever since attaining his majority, given a


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stanch support to the Republican party, and has served the public as postmaster of Fort Wayne for eight years, proving one of the most capable, as well as most accommodating and popular, in- cumbents of this office. He also served for six years as president of the board of trustees of the Eastern Indiana Hospital for the Insane. His interest in all that concerns the progress and prosperity of Allen county is unabating, and those who have known him since his first advent here are numbered among his cherished and devoted friends, while he commands unequivocal esteem in the community at large.


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HON. PATRICK S. O'ROURKE.


Not dead,-nor yet can all be told,


Casket and bell and carven line on stone,- They only claim their puny, meager own; A precious dross, while time shall jealous hold,


The priceless treasure of a life which he


Lived as a manly man, lived true and earnestly. From "IN MEMORIUM," by S. B. McMANUS.


Hon Patrick S. O'Rourke was a unique and pronounced character in the history of northern Indiana and his strong imprint may be found on the business, political and social events of his day. Sum- ming up mere years briefly, he was born September 30, 1830, and died February 12, 1898,-not a long lifetime as years are counted, but as deeds are reckoned, a fair and goodly portion of time. His birthplace was Newark, New Jersey, and he was the son of Chris- topher and Ellen (Flannagan) O'Rourke. The father was a man of pronounced business ability and was prominent as a railroad con- tractor, having been identified with the building of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. It was not at all strange that the son should drift into work similar to his father's and in 1856 he took a position as conductor on a construction train, soon after being promoted to freight conductor, and in three years from the beginning he was made conductor on a passenger train. In 1866 he became master of transportation of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad and in 1871 was appointed assistant superintendent of the Michigan Lake Shore road, but, before the expiration of the year, was made superintendent of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Rail- road, in which capacity he remained until the time of his death. These rapid promotive changes involved no shifting of employers, and thus for nearly half a century he was identified with one system


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of railways. Be it said Mr. O'Rourke was a faithful employee as well as a capable employer. One of the secrets of his successful life was that he believed in conscientious work and that a thing that was worth doing was worth doing in the very best manner possible. No make-shift or compromise answered the purpose; he had no patience with half-hearted service and, as an employer, he would have none of it. The man who shirked was the man who very soon found himself out of his employ and it was equally sure that the man who did his duty and his best was certain of continued favor. He loved justice and exercised it in all of his dealings and no man could say that he had been dealt unfairly with knowingly. His record as a railroad man stands unblemished and his long career in the capacity of superintendent is one of which the most critical might be proud. His best energies found expression in practical work and his services were valued accordingly.


Mr. O'Rourke was twice married, the two children of the first union being Mrs. John H. Cody and Mrs. George Waltke. Mr. O'Rourke's second wife bore the maiden name of Eliza Boulger and the children born to them were as follows: Mrs. J. W. Hunter; William S. O'Rourke, the well-known attorney of Fort Wayne; Ed- ward O'Rourke, of Grand Rapids, Michigan ; Mrs. Charles Keasey, of Kendallville, Indiana; Mrs. William Wagoner and Miss Grace, both of Fort Wayne.


In religion Mr. O'Rourke was a Catholic; not half-hearted, neither narrow nor bigoted, but a Catholic in the truest and most dignified sense of the word. He was devoted to his religion and had abundant and abiding faith in it, and his activity in connection with various organizations attached to his church brought him into much prominence. He organized the St. Joseph Benevolent Society of the Cathedral of Fort Wayne, which has been a power for good from the day of its inception; in 1893 he organized the American Sons of Columbus and promoted the sister society, the Daughters of Isabella. He also organized the first branch of the Catholic Knights of America in Fort Wayne and was supreme trustee one term.


In politics Mr. O'Rourke was a Democrat of the most pronounced and virile kind. He had faith in the party and some of his best and most brilliant efforts were directed in its behalf. The politics of


.


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his home city always claimed a lively interest for him and his en- deavor was constantly for the betterment of them. In 1896 Mr. O'Rourke disagreed with his party on the currency question and allied himself with the National Democrats, giving his support to Palmer and Buckner. As a writer and speaker upon political topics he had but few equals in Indiana or the west. He was a ready de- bater, a man of wide and comprehensive information and possessed a strong grasp on public affairs and was combative to perhaps more than an ordinary degree. His mind was well disciplined and lgocial and his command of language was notable, possessing a power of expression far beyond the ordinary. As a writer he was equally forcible and commanding and his literature is characterized by a splendid strength and virility. He was the author of a number of books and pamphlets, some of which had a wide reading. As the reverse side of the medal,-the complement of the practical, uncom- promising business man, in which character he was perhaps best known,-his literary work along the line of romance presents an almost antagonism. His stories were full of fancy that suggests a Rider Haggard and no one can read them without experiencing a lively and devoted interest.


To write the history of Mr. O'Rourke would be to write a book and the limits of a brief sketch have already been reached. To sum up: He was a good man,-a man that the world was better for his having lived in it. He was a good husband and father, faithful and loving ; a good citizen and friend, constant and reliable ; a man in the fullest sense of the word, wide, comprehensive and far-reaching in life and personality,-a man to be missed and lamented ; but his good deeds shall live after him.


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ROBERT S. TAYLOR.


One of the distinguished citizens and leading members of the bar of Allen county is Judge Taylor, who has made his home in the city of Fort Wayne for the past forty-five years. He has ever com- manded uniform confidence and esteem as a lawyer and a citizen, has been a prominent and influential figure in political and general civic affairs. He was born near the city of Chillicothe, Ross county, Ohio, on the 22d of May, 1838, being a son of Rev. Isaac N. and Margaretta (Stewart) Taylor. His father was one of the pioneer clergymen of the Presbyterian church in Ohio, having been located in turn at Chillicothe, Celina and St. Mary's, that state, while in 1844 he removed with his family to Jay county, Indiana. A few years after coming to Indiana, inspired by devotion to the cause of education, he founded Liber College, near Portland, and in this well conducted institution many of the youth of that section laid the foundation for future honor and usefulness.


Robert S. Taylor secured his early educational discipline in the common schools of Indiana and in due time entered the college which had been founded by his honored father. In this institution he was graduated on the 30th of June, 1858, and within a few months after receiving his diploma he was united in marriage to his classmate, Miss Fanny W. Wright. His attention was turned in the direction of the law, and he initiated his technical reading and study under the preceptorship of Judge Jacob M. Haynes, of Portland. In No- vember, 1859, he took up his residence in the city of Fort Wayne, where he completed his work of preparation for the bar, to which he was duly admitted in this county, in the following year. During a portion of his first year of residence in Fort Wayne he was en- gaged in teaching school, and in November, 1860, he became a clerk in the office of L. M. Ninde, one of the representative members


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of the bar of the county at that time. Two years later he was ad- vanced to a partnership, the firm of Ninde & Taylor being then formed. In 1866 Colonel Robert S. Robertson became a member of the firm, which became one of the most prominent and influential in northern Indiana.


Upon the establishment of the criminal court in Fort Wayne, in 1868, Judge Taylor was appointed its prosecuting attorney. Within the same year the firm of Ninde, Taylor & Robertson was dissolved, and the subject of this review was appointed judge of the court of common pleas. This position he held until the next election, when he was chosen to represent Allen county in the lower house of the state legislature. In 1874 he was the Republican candidate for con- gress from this district, his opponent being Hon. Holman H. Hamil- ton; and in 1880 he was again the nominee of his party for this high office, against Walpole G. Colerick. On each occasion he met defeat, as had been anticipated from the normal political status of the district, but in the latter instance particularly the great reduction of the ad- verse majority clearly demonstrated the high esteem in which Judge Taylor was held by the people of the district. He still takes an active part in political discussions and work, and is a popular speaker in all important campaigns. In March, 1881, Judge Taylor was ap- pointed, by President Garfield, a member of the Mississippi river commission, to succeed General Benjamin Harrison, who had been elected to the United States senate. This position has occupied a large portion of Judge Taylor's time and attention to the present time. He still retains his residence in Fort Wayne and is engaged in the work of his profession, confining his efforts largely to cases of the more important order and being held in veneration and high esteem as one of the pioneer members of the bar of the city and state.


One child only has come to the home of Judge Taylor, a son, Frank B. Taylor, born November 23, 1860. He is a geologist, and has achieved high rank in that profession as a student of and writer upon the post-glacial geology of the great lake system of the United States.


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CHARLES M. NIEZER.


For the high rank of her bench and bar Indiana has ever been distinguished, and it is gratifying to note that in no section of the commonwealth has the standard been lowered at any epoch in its his- tory. To the subject of this review we may refer with propriety and satisfaction as being one of the able and representative members of the legal profession in Allen county; and that he is a native son of Indiana lends somewhat to the significance of the prestige which he has here attained.


Charles Mahlon Niezer was born in Monroeville, Allen county, Indiana, on the 31st day of March, 1877, and is the son of John Burnard and Sarah T. Niezer, natives of Indiana and Pennsylvania, respectively. The subject secured his preliminary education in the common schools of Allen county, and supplemented this by attendance at Notre Dame University, at South Bend, Indiana, Indiana State University, at Bloomington, Indiana, and Columbia University, New York city, receiving, successively, the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. He had given close and con- scientious study to the principles of law and jurisprudence, and im- mediately upon his admission to the bar, he, on September 19, 1901, commenced the active practice of his profession at Fort Wayne. His abilities were promptly recognized, and he has rapidly acquired a reputation as a shrewd, able and sagacious attorney, having a large and representative clientage. A man of courteous manners, genial disposition and genuine worth, he has won and retains a host of warm, personal friends. In 1905 the well-known legal firm of Olds & Doughman, of Fort Wayne, was dissolved, Mr. Doughman going to Cleveland as general attorney for the Lake Shore Railroad Com- pany, and Judge Olds took as junior partner the subject of this sketch, the firm being known as Olds & Niezer.


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1420258


JOSEPH C. PFEIFFER.


Mr. Pfeiffer is a native of Allen county, and one of the repre- sentative young men of Washington township, of which he is serv- ing as trustee at the time of this writing.


Mr. Pfeiffer was born in Washington township, this county, on the 29th of August, 1871, and is a son of Christian F. and Charlotte E. (Edwards) Pfeiffer, prominent and honored residents of the county, to whom more definite recognition is accorded in the personal sketch of the father, appearing on other pages of this work. The subject was reared on the farm and secured excellent business train- ing, since his father dealt extensively in live stock for many years. After completing the curriculum of the public schools, he took a course in a business college in Buffalo, New York, where he was graduated. For a time after leaving school he was engaged in clerical work in Buffalo, and he thereafter began to assume greater business responsibilities, advancing gradually to a position of prominence. He is now the local representative of his father as to the latter's large real estates interests in Allen and Huntington counties and the North Wayne addition to Fort Wayne. The latter, which originally com- prised about one hundred and sixty acres, has been platted, and on it have been built a large number of attractive houses, the subject having entire control of the platting, improvement and sale of the addition.


In politics Mr. Pfeiffer accords an uncompromising allegiance to the Republican party, and he has been an active and effective worker in its local ranks. Recognition of his eligibility and personal popu- larity was given in a significant way in his recent election to the re- sponsible office of trustee of Washington township, where he secured a large and flattering majority, though the normal political complex-


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ion of the township is strongly Democratic, and he was, as a matter of course, the candidate on the Republican ticket. In a fraternal way Mr. Pfeiffer is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum and Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks in the city of Fort Wayne, and his religious faith is that of the English Lutheran church, in which he was reared.


On October 7, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pfeiffer to Miss Anna B. Redman, a daughter of David Porter Redman, a well-known stock dealer of Omaha, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Pfeiffer have two children-Helen R. and Alice R.


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JOSEPH T. HANNA.


This popular and representative citizen and prominent business man of Fort Wayne is a scion of one of the oldest and most honored families of Allen county, while he is a native of Fort Wayne, which city has ever been his home. He was born in the family homestead on East Washington boulevard, Fort Wayne, on the 17th of February, 1857, and is a son of Henry C. and Elizabeth C. (Carson) Hanna, the former of whom was born in Fort Wayne, and the latter in Cobourg, Canada. The father of the subject was one of Fort Wayne's prominent and influential business men and public-spirited citizens, and his name is indelibly inscribed on the annals of the beautiful Sum- mit City.


Joseph T. Hanna secured his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools of Fort Wayne, and at the age of fourteen years he became a pupil in the excellent private school for boys conducted by F. W. Barron, near Cobourg, province of Ontario, Canada, while later he continued his studies at Dundas, that province. Mr. Hanna passed his young manhood as a traveling salesman, and later engaged in business for himself in his native city, where he is now at the head of the well-known firm of J. T. Hanna & Company, dealers in bot- importers, agents, and handling goods of the highest grade. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with Wayne Lodge, No. 25, Free and tled goods, where an extensive enterprise is carried on, the firm being Accepted Masons.


On the 26th of April, 1893, Mr. Hanna was united in marriage to Susannah Vesta Alvaretta (called Sue Vesta), second daughter of Luke and Susannah T. Tousley and born and reared in Whitley county, this state. Mrs. Hanna traces her genealogy back to the fif- teenth century, and among her American ancestors were men of dis-


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tinction in the colonial history of our nation and in the war of the Revolution. She is a lady of gracious presence and marked accom- plishments, having been a contributor of both prose and verse of high order to various periodicals, and utilizing a nom de plume in the con- nection. She has thus devoted attention to literary work for a num- ber of years past, while she is well known locally as an artist, and is held in high esteem in the social circles of the city.


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MARY A. WHERY, M. D.


The great value of woman's interposition in the practical work of medicine and surgery is now conceded on every side, though not many years have passed since the woman physician met with opposi- tion and even ridicule on the part of the rank and file of the noble profession into which she has succeeded in making her way. She has proven herself strong, helpful, resourceful; has shown that true sympathy which transcends mere emotion to become an actuating motive in the relieving of suffering; and she has not failed in up- holding the prestige of the profession from which she was formerly barred. The subject of this sketch is, without consideration of sex, one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Fort Wayne, and is thus well entitled to consideration in a publication which accords review of the careers of the leading members of the profession in Allen county.


Mary A. Whery was born in Whitley county, Indiana, and was educated in the public schools of her native county, at the Jefferson high school, of Fort Wayne, and at the Methodist College, of the same city. For a few years she engaged in teaching school in Whit- ley county. She was married to Dr. W. P. Whery in 1881, and un- der his preceptorship began the study of medicine and assisted in his office operations. Later she entered the Fort Wayne College of Medi- cine and completed the full course with honors, graduating in March, 1888. This college is a coeducational institution and requires women students to take all the same studies and to attend the same clinics as the male students. After graduating she practiced medicine and surgery with gratifying success, having adopted obstetrics and gyne- cology as her specialty, and has performed most of the usual opera- tions connected with it, some them of peculiar difficulty. She acted


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as assistant to the chair of diseases of women in the Fort Wayne College of Medicine. She is a member of the Fort Wayne Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, as well as the Medical Association of the Upper Maumee Valley and the Tri-State Medical Association, and has read papers before them. She has served as delegate to the American Medical Association and to the Women's Medical Congress at the World's Fair, and in the latter was representative of the state of Indiana and read a paper there. She has served in several offices, including that of president, in the alumnae association of her college, and she has been elected a trustee of Hope Hospital, Fort Wayne, where she has been for years chairman of the training school for nurses, and has lectured on gynecology in that institution.


ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.


LOUIS PELTIER.


Few men of Allen county, Indiana, were as widely and favorably known as the late Louis Peltier, of Fort Wayne. He was one of the strong and influential citizens whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this section of the state, and for years his name was synonymous for all that constituted honorable and upright man- hood. Tireless energy, keen perception and honesty of purpose, com- bined with everyday common sense, were among his chief character- istics, and while advancing individual success he also largely promoted the moral and material welfare of his community. At the time of his death Mr. Peltier enjoyed the noteworthy dis- tinction of being the oldest native of Ft. Wayne, his birth having antedated by sixteen years the incorporation of Fort Wayne as a town, and during all the subsequent years of his life he kept in close touch with the growth and development of the city and county.


Peltier is a name prominently associated with the early history of Fort Wayne, and indeed of the entire northwest. The subject's grandfather, who was a Frenchman by nativity, came to America in an early day in company with Cadillac, Chapeteau and other of the courageous pioneers who settled about Detroit. The subject's father, James Peltier, a French Canadian, came to Fort Wayne about 1790 and engaged as a trader with the Indians. He was a surveyor, also, and was for some time engaged in carrying dispatches between De- troit and Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), traveling through the wil- derness on horseback by way of Fort Wayne. James Peltier married Emeline Chapeteau, the granddaughter of Baptiste Maloch, a fur trader, and on March 15, 1813, their son Louis was born. The family were at that time living within the stockade walls of old Fort Wayne, and the child's earliest years were passed amid stirring




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