USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of the Maumee River basin, Allen County, Indiana > Part 21
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In 1867 Mr. Hartman was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Harper, a teacher in the Fort Wayne public schools, the union re- sulting in the birth of four sons, Frank Harker, Fred Stewart, Fos- ter and Harris Vincent.
Aside from his business relations Mr. Hartman's greatest ac- tivity was in the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a loyal member from childhood, and to the end of his -life a faithful attendant upon its services and a director of its affairs. He was the prime mover in remodeling the edifice of the Wayne Street Methodist church, a work which he not only successfully financed but personally directed through all the building operations. In his funeral eulogy at the church it was beautifully and truthfully said, "If you would see his monument, look about you." Mr. Hartman
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died, after a brief illness, May 27, 1902. His memory as a man of strict integrity, sterling worth and high honor in business affairs is widely remembered by his fellow citizens, while the purity of his private life, which affords an example worthy of imitation, is cher- ished by his friends as a priceless heritage. "To live in hearts we leave behind, is not to die."
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WILLIAM A. DIFFENDERFER.
Numbered among the representative business men of Fort Wayne is the subject of this sketch, who is secretary and treasurer of the Fort Wayne Spoke and Bending Company, and who has long held the responsible position of bookkeeper for the well known firm of Mossman, Yarnelle & Company.
Mr. Diffenderfer is a native of the Hawkeye state, having been born in Mt. Sterling, Van Buren county, Iowa, on the 25th of Octo- ber, 1857, and being a son of Benjamin O. and Isabella (Alcorn) Diffenderfer, the former of whom died in December, 1889, at the age of sixty-nine years, while the latter is living in the city of Fort Wayne. The father came to Allen county from Iowa when the subject was a child, having been formerly a resident of this state, in which both he and his wife were born and reared. William A. Diffenderfer secured his early educational discipline in the public schools, whose curriculum he completed in due course of time, hav- ing been graduated in the Fort Wayne high school as a member of the class of 1876, and having soon afterward initiated his independ- ent career, securing a position as bookkeeper for the firm of Coombs & Company, prominent wholesale hardware dealers of Fort Wayne, with whom he remained several years and then accepted a similar incumbency with the important wholesale and manufacturing con- cern of Mossman, Yarnelle & Company, with whose affairs he has ever since been identified in the capacity of bookkeeper and general office man. In 1904, Mr. Diffenderfer became associated with others in the organization of the Fort Wayne Spoke and Bending Company, which was duly incorporated with the following official and execu- tive corps: W. S. Sponhouer, president; William A. Diffenderfer, secretary and treasurer, and E. A. Yarnelle, vice-president. The concern has provided a well equipped plant and is engaging success-
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fully in the manufacture of vehicle spokes, bows, felloes, etc., the active management of the enterprise being placed in the hands of the president of the company, while the business is being pushed forward with marked energy and discrimination and is gaining a place among the representative industrial enterprises of Fort Wayne.
Mr. Diffenderfer is known as a loyal and public spirited citizen and takes a deep interest in all that makes for the prestige and mate- rial advancement of the fair city in which he has made his home from his childhood. In politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party, but has never sought the honors or emolu- ments of public office. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church, and in a fraternal way he is identified with the Royal Arcanum and the National Union. In a genealogical way we may note that the subject is descended from stanch Holland Dutch stock on the paternal side, his grandfather, William Diffen- derfer, having been born in Holland. In the maternal line the gene- alogy is traced back to Scotch-Irish derivation.
On the 9th of October, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Diffenderfer to Miss Blanche A. Davis, who was born in the city of Dayton, Ohio, in the year 1866, being a daughter of Leroy and Cordelia Davis, who are now residents of Fort Wayne. Mrs. Diffenderfer was educated in the public schools, having been gradu- ated in the high school at Galion, Ohio, as a member of the class of 1880. The only child of this union is Davis A. Diffenderfer, who was born on the Ioth of November, 1897.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
CHARLES T. STRAWBRIDGE.
It is not an easy task adequately to describe the character of a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and stamped his individuality on the plane of definite accomplishment. Successful men must be live men in this age, bristling with activity, and there can be no impropriety in justly scanning the acts of any man as they affect his public, social and business relations. Among the able and representative business men of the city of Fort Wayne is num- bered Mr. Strawbridge, who is identified with important industrial enterprises and whose executive capacity has been such as to enable him to achieve a noteworthy success, while the methods employed have been such as to retain to him the confidence and good will of his fellow men. He is vice-president and secretary of the Bass Foundry and Machine Company, one of the greatest of the manu- facturing concerns of Indiana's "Summit City," while he is also secretary of the Fort Wayne Foundry and Machine Company, duly mentioned in the sketch of the career of John H. Bass, on other pages of this publication, so that a recapitulation of the data is not de- manded in the present connection.
Mr. Strawbridge was born in the village of Blooming Grove, Morrow county, Ohio, on the 7th of January, 1857, and is a son of John and Jane Strawbridge, natives of Ohio, while the genealogy in the agnatic line traces back to stanch English derivation, the orig- inal American representatives of the family having come to the new world in the colonial era of our national history. The father of the subject followed the vocation of engineer during the major portion of his active career, and both he and his wife continued residents of Ohio until their death. Charles T. Strawbridge was a lad of about four years at the time of his parents' removal to Bucyrus, Crawford county, Ohio, and in the public schools of this attractive little city
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he secured his early educational discipline, completing a course in the local high school. He then learned the art of telegraphy in the Bucyrus office of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, becoming a skilled operator and holding a position in the employ of the above mentioned company when seventeen years of age, while he was sta- tioned at various points on the lines of the company prior to 1877, when he came to Fort Wayne and took a position as operator in the general offices of the company at this point. He retained this in- cumbency two years, and in the meanwhile had learned the art of stenography, fitting himself for effective clerical and office work in general lines. In 1879 he became a stenographer in the offices of the Bass Foundry and Machine Company, with which he has ever since been identified, while he has risen step by step through well earned grades of promotion until he is now vice-president and secre- tary of the company, having held this dual office since 1900, while he is also a member of the executive corps of the two allied con- cerns previously mentioned in this context. It is scarcely necessary to say that he is a man of sterling business qualifications and marked administrative ability, for such advancement could come through no other means than the exemplification of such powers, and he is today numbered among the influential business men of Fort Wayne and is honored as a progressive and public spirited citizen.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
FREDERICK W. GIESEKING.
Just north of the corporation limits of the city of Fort Wayne is situated the beautiful suburban home of this well known citizen, who is one of the four stockholders in the Fort Wayne Wind Mill Company, manufactures of windmills, and who is one of the sub- stantial men of his native county, where he was for many years prom- inently identified with agricultural pursuits.
Mr. Gieseking was born in Lake township, Allen county, In- diana, on the 9th of November, 1845, and is one of three sons born to Deitrich W. and Mary (Gokey) Gieseking, the names of the other sons being William F. and John W. The father of the sub- ject was born in Prussia, where he was reared and educated and whence he immigrated to America when a young man. In the year 1843 he took up his residence in Allen county, becoming one of the pioneers of Lake township, where he engaged in farming, reclaim- ing much land from its wild state and becoming the owner of a very large landed estate in the county, where his holdings at one time com- prised ten hundred and fifty acres. He was a man of sterling char- acter and commanded unqualified esteem in the county, with whose civic and industrial affairs he was so long and honorably identified. He continued to reside on his farm until four years prior to his death, when he removed to the city of Fort Wayne and took up his abode in a pleasant home, where he died at the venerable age of eighty-three years. His devoted wife preceded him into eternal rest, having been seventy-five years of age at the time of her death. They became the parents of three sons, as before noted, and all are living. The parents were consistent members of the English Lutheran church, and in politics the father gave his support to the Democratic party.
The subject of this sketch was reared on the homestead farm and assisted in its work from his boyhood days, while his educa-
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tional advantages were those afforded in the common log cabin school of the locality and period. He initiated his independent career by engaging in the same line of enterprise to which he had been reared, and for a number of years he was numbered among the representative farmers of Washington township, where he was the owner of a finely improved farm of two hundred and twelve acres. In 1898 he pur- chased his present attractive little suburban place, comprising seven and one-half acres, and this he has improved with a fine brick resi- dence of ten rooms and of modern architectural design and equip- ment, the place being on the outskirts of the city to the north and thus offering all the attractions of both urban and country life. Mr. Gieseking became one of the stockholders and incorporators of the F. P. Wilt Company, wholesale grocers, in 1902, and later was iden- tified with the hardware business in Fort Wayne, while in August, 1904, he became one of the four interested principals in the organi- zation and incorporation of the Fort Wayne Wind Mill Company, -to whose interest he now gives the major part of his time and atten- tion. The company has a well equipped plant and manufactures windmills of superior type, while an average corps of twenty-five men is employed in the factory the year round, and the number of traveling representatives at the time of this writing is about one hundred and twenty-five. Mr. Gieseking is also a stockholder in the German-American National Bank and is a man of marked business acumen and has gained success through his own well directed ef- forts, while every step in his career has been regulated by inflexible integrity of purpose, so that he has not been denied the fullest meas- ure of confidence and esteem as emanating from those with whom he has come in contact in the various relations of life. In politics he maintains an independent attitude, exercising his franchise in sup- port of the men and measures which meet the approval of his judg- ment. He and his wife are members of the English Lutheran church.
On the 12th of May, 1881, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gieseking to Miss Louise Rose, who was born and reared in this county, being a daughter of Christian Rose, who was a well known and substantial farmer of St. Joseph township. Mr. and Mrs. Gieseking have three children, Marie L., Carl F. and Mabel L. Carl is a graduate of the Fort Wayne Business College, all of the children being afforded good educational advantages.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WILLIAM ENSLEN, M. D.
One of the representative medical practitioners of the city of Fort Wayne is Dr. Enslen, who has his office at 1608 Calhoun street, while his residence is located at 2216 Fairfield avenue. The confi- dence reposed in him as a physician and surgeon is best indicated in the significantly successful practice which he has built up, while he has the unqualified esteem of his professional confreres in his chosen field of endeavor.
Dr. Enslen is a native of the Buckeye state, having been born in Allen county, Ohio, on the 16th of October, 1863, and being a son of John and Mary (Shutts) Enslen, both of whom were born in the state of Pennsylvania, whence they went to Ohio when young. The mother died in 1896 and the father is still living, maintaining his home in Allen county, Ohio, where he has long been identified with agricultural pursuits. The subject of this review passed his youth in his native county, in whose public schools he secured his early educational training, which was later supplemented by courses of study in the National Normal University, at Ada, Ohio, and the Northern Indiana Normal School and Business College, in Valpa- raiso, Indiana, in which latter he was graduated as a member of the class of 1884. After leaving college he devoted two years to teach- ing in the public schools of Ohio, and in the meanwhile formulated definite plans for his future career, deciding to prepare himself for the medical profession. With this end in view he began his tech- nical reading under the able preceptorship of Dr. R. E. Jones, of Gomer, Allen county, Ohio, under whose direction he continued his studies for two years, after which he had a second preceptor, in the person of Dr. C. B. Stemen, of Fort Wayne, to which city he came in 1888. In order to fully fortify himself for the work of his exacting profession he then entered the Fort Wayne College of
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Medicine, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1890, receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. Shortly after his graduation the Doctor opened his present office and he has been most successful in his practice during the decade and a half which has since elapsed, while his supporting patronage is of a representative character. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society, and the Fort Wayne Medical Society. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor, but he has not sought or held public office of any descrip- tion. He has attained to the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Ac- cepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, being identified with the va- rious local bodies of the great fraternity and with the Indiana con- sistory, whose headquarters are in Indianapolis. The Doctor and his wife are active members of Simpson Methodist Episcopal church, of whose board of trustees he served as a member for a number of years.
On the 15th of October, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Enslen to Miss Eva Leist, who likewise was born and reared in Allen county, Ohio, and they have two children, Helen Esther and William Myron.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
HENRY C. McMAKEN.
A native son of Allen county, a representative of one of its old and honored pioneer families, a veteran of the Civil war and a citi- zen well known and highly esteemed in the community is Henry C. McMaken, who is a prominent and influential farmer, stock- grower and.dairyman of the county, his fine homestead estate being situated in section 8, Wayne township.
Mr. McMaken was born in Adams township, this county, on the 15th of January, 1844, and his lineage traces back to sterling Scottish origin, the original American ancestors having come from Scotland to the new world in the sixteenth century. The first representative of the family in Indiana was Joseph Hamilton McMaken, grand- father of the subject. This honored pioneer was born in Monmouth, Kentucky, in 1787, and from that state he removed to Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio. He was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812, and during the progress of the same was for a time stationed at Fort Wayne, which was then a mere frontier post. In the spring of 1832 he came from Ohio to Allen county, becoming one of the prominent and honored citizens of Fort Wayne, where he was en- gaged in the hotel business for a number of years, while he was one of the first supervisors of Wayne township and one of the early judges of the local courts, while he wielded much influence in pub- lic affairs, being a man of much force of character and one whose name was a synonym of integrity and honor in all the relations of life. He went to Burlington, Iowa, in 1857, and there passed the remainder of his life. In politics he was an old-line Whig up to the time of the organization of the Republican party, when he iden- tified himself with the latter, whose principles he thereafter upheld until he was summoned from the scene of life's endeavors. The maiden name of his wife, whose death occurred in Hamilton, Ohio,
ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA. 289
was Moore, and she was a representative of one of the twenty-two families which founded the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, whither the original ancestors removed from Pennsylvania.
Joseph Gettys McMaken, father of the subject of this review, was born in Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, in 1815, and there passed his boyhood days, while he accompanied his parents on their removal to Fort Wayne, in 1832. Owing to the exigencies of time and place his educational advantages, in a formal sense, were limited, but, like many another product of the pioneer epoch, he made his own opportunities and became a man of broad mental scope and much pragmatic ability. He was one of the first general contractors in Fort Wayne, while he also controlled a large business in teaming, in which connection he gave special attention to hauling government supplies for the Indians. He accumulated farm prop- erty in the county and was one of the highly esteemed citizens of the community, while as a man it may consistently be said that he stood "four square to every wind that blows." In his political pro- clivities he was originally a Whig, but espoused the cause of the Republican party at the time of its inception and ever afterward was a stalwart advocate of its principles and policies, while he was called upon to serve in various minor offices of public trust.
As a young man Joseph G. McMaken was united in marriage to Miss Dorothy Ruch, who was born in the province of Alsace- Lorraine, France, which is now a portion of Germany, and who was eleven years of age at the time of the family immigration to America. Mr. McMaken died on the 13th of December, 1864, and his loved and devoted wife survived him by many years, being summoned into eternal rest on the 8th of August, 1899, at the venerable age of eighty-one years. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom the eldest died in infancy, while of the others we enter brief record, as follows : Henry C. is the immediate subject of this sketch; William B. is a representative farmer of Wayne township; Joseph H. is residing on the old homestead farm, in Adams township; Sarah J. is the wife of Sylvester Coleman, of Wayne township; Anna M. is a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Fort Wayne; Adelia A. died at the age of about thirty-seven years, and Lewis C. died in early childhood; John C. F. is a farmer of Wash-
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ington township; Franklin A. is engaged in plumbing in Fort Wayne; Elizabeth, of Fort Wayne, and Lottie M., wife of E. E. Banks, of Fort Wayne.
Henry C. McMaken, to whom this sketch is dedicated, secured his early educational discipline in the common schools of Adams township and made good use of the opportunities thus afforded him, while in the connection it may be noted that four of his sisters be- came successful teachers.
When "grim-visaged war had reared its horrid front" and the integrity of the Union was imperiled Mr. McMaken gave signal manifestation of his patriotism, since, on the 9th of January, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company E, Fifty-fifth Indiana Volun- teer Infantry, which was recruited in Fort Wayne and vicinity. The command was in service principally in the state of Kentucky, and at Richmond, that state, on the 30th of August, 1862, after having taken part in the spirited engagement at that point, Mr. Mc- Maken was captured by the enemy, while he was unprovided with food for a period of four days while thus held prisoner. He then rejoined his command, with which he remained on active duty until September 9, 1862, when he received his honorable discharge, while he came forth as a youthful veteran who had rendered yeoman serv- ice in defense of the nation's honor. The subject has ever retained a most insistent and lively interest in his old comrades in arms, and is one of the popular and valued members of General Lawton Post, No. 590, Grand Army of the Republic, in Fort Wayne, being past commander of the Sion S. Bass Post and having served in other post offices, including that of chairman of the visitors' committee. He has unbounded enthusiasm in his allegiance to this noble organi- zation and has attended the various state and national encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic. In his political adherency Mr. McMaken has ever been found aligned as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party, while he has been a prominent figure in public affairs of a local nature.
After the close of his military career Mr. McMaken returned to his home in Allen county, and in 1868 he was married. He then located on a farm in Adams township, where he remained six years, and in 1876 he purchased his present farm property, in section 8,
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Wayne township, the homestead comprising sixty-two acres of most arable land, while to its original area he added by subsequent pur- chase until he now has a finely improved landed estate of one hun- dred and forty-one acres. When he made his original purchase the land was entirely unreclaimed, being covered with a dense growth of native timber, so that a herculean task was that which confronted him. He put up a small frame house on his embryonic farm and he and his devoted wife there established their home and made ready to work side by side toward the goal of prosperity and independence. The farmstead today bears slight resemblance to its condition at the time when Mr. McMaken came into possession of the property. The land has been cleared and placed under a most effective cultiva- tion; substantial and attractive modern buildings have replaced the primitive ones of the early day, and thrift and prosperity are in evidence on every side. In the work and management of the farm our subject's only son is associated with him. In addition to rais- ing the various agricultural products common to the locality, Mr. McMaken has conducted a successful dairying business since 1890, while he also devotes no little attention to the raising of high-grade horses, cattle and swine. He has farther manifested his initiative and his enterprising spirit by making a specialty of supplying and setting out forest trees, principally in the city of Fort Wayne, where he has placed thousands of fine trees which stands as monuments to his careful and successful labors in the connection, while it may be said without fear of contradiction that he has planted more forest trees in this way than has any other man in the county, having given his attention to the enterprise for the past quarter of a century. He and his family are prominent and popular in the social life of the community, and their pleasant home is a center of gracious and generous hospitality.
On the 9th of April, 1868, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McMaken to Miss Frances J. Link, who was born in Newark, Ohio, and who was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Allen county, Indiana, in 1854, her father, Adam Link, having become one of the successful and honored farmers of Wayne township. Mr. and Mrs. McMaken became the parents of six children, concerning whom we record that Lottie M. died at the age of four months; Lucy
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M. is the wife of William Kyburz, a representative farmer of Mau- mee township; Dora G. resides in Aboit township; Henry W. is associated with his father in the management of the home farm; Adam died in childhood; Helen A. is the wife of H. B. Jackson, Pellscon, Michigan; Elizabeth C. is the wife of M. B. Gouty, head engineer at the power station at Huntington, Indiana.
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