USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of the Maumee River basin, Allen County, Indiana > Part 25
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Dr. McHugh received his preliminary educational training in the public schools of his native state and supplemented this by a course of study in the Wisconsin State Normal School at White- water. As a young man he became identified with the work of rail- road contracting, with which he continued to be actively identified for a period of years, in the northwest. In 1889 he came to Fort Wayne and here he was matriculated in the Fort Wayne Medical College, in which excellent institution he completed the prescribed technical course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1893, receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine and being well equipped for the practical work of his chosen profession. He forthwith opened an office in Fort Wayne, where he has ever since remained in active practice and where he has gained a high reputation as an able and conscientious physician and surgeon. He
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is an appreciative member of the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society and the Fort Wayne Medical Society, while his close observance of the unwritten code of medical ethics, as well as his personal attributes, has gained to him the esteem of his professional confreres in the city in which he has labored with so much of enthusiasm and success. On the 10th of September, 1897, Dr. McHugh was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary E. Clark, widow of Marvin J. Clark. By her first marriage Mrs. McHugh had six children, Raymond, Sarah, Marie, Marvin J., Earl and Merl, the last named being deceased.
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ANDREW HOLMAN HAMILTON.
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Few citizens of Fort Wayne were as widely and favorably known as was the late Andrew Holman Hamilton, who, though removed from the scene of life's activities more than a decade ago, is still deeply enshrined in the memory of those who knew him. He was one of the strong and virile characters of the community-a man whose life became in many respects closely linked with the history of this section of the state. Honesty of purpose, a keen perception of conditions and possibilities, and tireless energy in the prosecution of every enterprise with which he was connected, were among his chief characteristics and he in a great measure contributed to the material and moral welfare of the city of his residence.
Andrew H. Hamilton was a native of the city in which so many active years of his life were spent, having been born in Fort Wayne on June II, 1834. His parents were Allen and Emerine (Holman) Hamilton, the father born in Ireland and the mother in Indiana. The subject of this sketch was reared under the parental roof and was given excellent educational advantages. After receiving his elementary education in private schools, he studied at Wabash Col- lege, at Crawfordsville, Indiana, and the Harvard Law School, going also to Europe, where he took a course in the famous University of Gottingen. Returning to Fort Wayne, he entered at once actively upon a career which was marked by continued and brilliant successes in various lines of endeavor. As a lawyer he evinced a broad and comprehensive knowledge of legal principles which enabled him to readily grasp the essential points of a case. He practiced only a year or two, when he took charge of his father's estate.
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In addition to his professional interests, Mr. Hamilton was a large owner of real estate in this and other neighboring counties. He was a far-sighted and sagacious man in business affairs and was able at all times to handle even difficult matters to the best avantage.
In politics Mr. Hamilton was identified with the Democratic party and took an active part in advancing its interests. He stood high in the councils of the party and in 1874 was elected to represent this district in the national congress, being re-elected in 1876. Here, as in all other lines of activity in which he engaged, he, by the sheer force of his ability and personality, took high rank as a legislator, being placed on some of the most important committees and per- forming much efficient and appreciated service on behalf of his con- stituents. Fraternally he was a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, having passed all the degrees of the York rite of that order, being thus a Knight Templar. In this body he achieved distinctive honor, having been elected eminent grand commander of the state of Indiana in 1872.
In 1860 Andrew H. Hamilton was united in marriage with Miss Phoebe Taber, of Logansport, Cass county, Indiana, who is the daughter of Cyrus and Deborah (Coles) Taber. To this union were born the following children: Katherine, Jessie, Agnes, Allen and Taber. Mr. Hamilton's death occurred on the 9th day of May, 1895, and in his removal the community felt that it had lost one of-its strong, rugged characters, a man who had been a leader in thought and action and who in a large degree had contributed to the city and county's growth and development, and a man whose life had honored the city of his residence.
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MASON LONG.
The faith that makes faithful was significantly exemplified in the life history of the subject of this review, who justified himself through self-effort and self-resolve and who left a most definite and permanent influence for good through his well directed endeavors. He was known and honored over much of our national domain, and in Fort Wayne, the city of his home, his memory is held in high regard and affection, for here his circle of friends was circumscribed only by that of his acquaintances. He was a man of distinct in- dividuality and the inherent strength of his character made him a power after he determined his ways on the loftier planes of action. As a permanent memoir to Mason Long we can not do better in this connection than to republish, with slight metaphrase, the appreciative tribute paid at the time of his death by the Fort Wayne Evening Sentinel of Saturday, November 5, 1904:
"Mason Long, for nearly forty years a resident of Fort Wayne, and very widely known for his crusade against the evils of intemper- ance and gambling, conducted with great vigor over a large section of the United States some years ago, died at 8:03 o'clock this morn- ing, at his home, 920 Columbia avenue. Mr. Long was sixty-two years of age, and in his death there passed a strongly original char- acter, a man gifted of intellect, with business ability of a high order, and a man of genial and kindly personality, whose friends were legion. An intense sufferer through many of the later years of his life, Mr. Long maintained a strong courage, was cheerful in his physical affliction, lived in the present, under the solace of a calm philosophy and faced the future with a stout heart that was in marked contrast to his steadily diminishing vitality. For some days it had been apparent that the end could not be long delayed, and, surrounded by members of his family and a few close friends, the
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last spark of life died away this morning and the patient sank peacefully into the last long sleep.
"Mr. Long had been an invalid for many years, though through his impaired health he retained a close grasp upon business affairs until within but a few days prior to his death. It is about twelve years ago since symptoms of locomotor ataxia became manifest in his condition, and it was this fact that compelled him to abandon the lecturing crusade which had made him famous. The immediate cause of his demise was incompetency of the heart.
"The career of Mason Long was an extraordinary one in many ways. He was orphaned at a tender age, worked upon a farm, served as a soldier, embarked in business, fell into devious ways, became a gambler and addicted to liquor, became an apostle of temperance under the Murphy movement, was converted, united with the church and conducted throughout the west and south an unique crusade against gambling and intemperance that wrought incalculable good.
"Mr. Long was born in Luray, Licking county, Ohio, on the Ioth of September, 1842. His father, Jacob Long, died when the son was but six years of age, and after this bereavement the son and his mother went to West Salem, Ashland county, Ohio, where, a few years later, the mother died. The son was at this time ten years of age and entirely alone. He was bound out to a wealthy farmer in Medina county, Ohio, and for seven years was, as he declared in after years, an abject slave. Leaving at the expiration of his term of service, the young man, then eighteen years of age, went to Geneseo, Illinois, where he worked for his board and at- tended school. In the spring of 1862, in company with a number of his companions, Mr. Long enlisted as a private in the One Hun- dred and Twelfth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served with credit until the close of the war. He participated in the defense of Knoxville, the bloody battle of Franklin and the de- fense of Nashville under General Thomas. It was in the army, said Mr. Long, that he fell into the habit of gaming which charac- terized some later years of his life. It was in August, 1865, that the young man came to Fort Wayne and, in company with a cousin, Samuel Lehman, embarked in the grocery business on Calhoun
22
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street, the store being on the present site of the Lehman clothing house. It is said to have been this firm that introduced the free- delivery system in Fort Wayne. This firm continued in business two or three years, but Fort Wayne was then a hotbed of gambling, and within a short time Mr. Long had fallen back into the habits contracted in army life. His career as a gambler is graphically told by himself in a volume which he subsequently prepared and pub- lished, and which attained a wide sale. He was for a short time manager of a minstrel company and proprietor of a theater at La- fayette, conducting at different times also gambling rooms in Fort Wayne. Then came the turning point in his career. In the sum- mer of 1877, while the Francis Murphy temperance movement was at its height, the work in Fort Wayne was in charge of Messrs. Rusk and Reddick, two energetic young men from Pitts- burg. They had made many converts to the cause in a series of meetings held in the old rink, and one night Mr. Long was attracted to the meetings. After a protracted struggle with his own inclina- tions, he signed the pledge, and a few weeks later followed his con- version to Christ. On January 4, 1878, Mr. Long became affiliated with the First Baptist church, where he retained his membership until death. It was about this time that Mr. Long opened a restaurant at Wayne and Calhoun streets, which he called the Model Coffee House, occupying the recent site of the Bruder jewelry establishment. While engaged here he conceived the idea of writ- ing a sketch of his life, including his reformation from gambling and drinking, in the hope that it might be of aid to others who were addicted to the habits which had blighted a portion of his life. The result was the volume, 'The Life of Mason Long, the Converted Gambler,' and in the preparation of the manuscript for the press Mr. Long was aided by the late Hon. Samuel E. Morss. With the idea of saving others, Mr. Long now began his famous 'Pilgrim Crusade.' He procured a wagon, drawn by four handsome horses, equipped the vehicle with a musical instrument, employed singers, and for nearly ten years drove about the country lecturing on temperance and gaming, and selling his biography. He was im- mensely successful, both from a financial point of view and from the fact that he reached thousands with a forceful plea for temper-
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ance and against gambling. Entering a town or village, and mount- ing his wagon, drawn up in the street, Mr. Long provided a musical concert and then delivered a ringing temperance lecture. He was not an orator, but spoke with a feeling and an intensity that appealed strongly to the masses. His wagon campaigns were conducted not only entirely over the central west, but his tours also extended to the Pacific coast and through the entire south, the work being con- tinued for several years. Upon many of these tours his family accompanied him. The sales of his biography, as well as of a later volume, entitled 'Save the Girls,' and his 'Songs of the Pilgrims,' reached many thousands, and are yet in considerable demand.
"With the revenue accruing from the sale of his books, Mr. Long joined with G. W. Pixley in the erection of the handsome Pixley-Long block, on East Berry street. Failing health compelled the abandonment of the work upon the road, and he devoted his attention for some time to the publishing business, under the firm name of Mason Long Publishing Company, aiding in bringing out at this time Rev. S. A. Northrop's 'Cloud of Witnesses' and other works.
"He was one of the moving spirits in the development of Lake- side, and was a prominent stockholder in the Fort Wayne Land Improvement Company, and in the Pixley Land Improvement Com- pany, which now has extensive holdings of real estate at Buffalo. For a few years, also, he conducted a brokerage office in this city. He was a lover of outdoor sports and was a frequent attendant at baseball games in this city.
"Mr. Long was united in marriage, about twenty-five years ago, to Miss Kittie Henderson, of this city. She survives, together with two daughters, Mrs. Chester Schiefer and Miss Margaret Zoe Long, and one son, Baron H. Long, who is connected with the Diamond Match Company. There is one brother, James Long, of this city.
"Politically Mr. Long had always been a Republican, but he never aspired to public office. He united with the Masonic fra- ternity many years ago, and was also a member of Sion S. Bass Post, Grand Army of the Republic."
This brief sketch will at least shadow forth the noble character- istics which so thoroughly indicated its subject, while the influence
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which he threw out can not be measured by metes and bounds, since it entered into the lives of countless thousands who have heard or read his works and been drawn into the ways of rectitude, thus becoming useful members of society. Such men are the truest of benefactors, and the record of the life of Mason Long will ever remain as his most grateful and enduring monument, for his memory is enshrined in countless hearts and lives.
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MRS. LEWIS E. ATCHISON.
It is signally fitting that in this compilation be incorporated a record concerning this gracious and popular representative of one of the old and honored families of Allen county and one who is residing on the fine old homestead farm, in Aboit township, which was se- cured by her father many years ago.
William Tennant Todd, father of Mrs. Atchison, was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, being reared partly in that city and partly on a farm, and was a son of Colonel Andrew Todd, who was an officer in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution and who also lived to serve as colonel of a regiment in the war of 1812. Both the Todd and the Tennant families were early founded in America, with whose history the names have been linked from the formative colonial era to the present, while in the succeeding generations have been found men of prominence and in- fluence and women of gentle refinement. William Tennant, a direct ancestor of Mrs. Atchison, was one of the founders of Princeton College, New Jersey. Thomas Todd, a brother of Andrew, was a prominent citizen of the state of Kentucky and was a member of the United States supreme court from 1807 to 1826; Hon. David Todd, governor of Ohio and at one time minister to Brazil, was likewise a member of the same family, though he utilized another spelling of the name; while Robert Todd, another brother of Andrew, was the father of Mary Todd, who became the wife of the lamented President Lincoln. It may further be stated that Todd county, Kentucky, was named in honor of this family, three of the brothers having located in that section in an early day.
William Tennant Todd was married, in Philadelphia, to Miss Hannah Getty, who was likewise born and reared in the old Key- stone state, coming of German, Scotch and English ancestry. Mr.
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Todd had been educated for the ministry of the Presbyterian church, the dearest wish of his mother having been that he should thus become a clergyman, but owing to the failure of his voice he was unable to continue in ministerial work, for which he was admirably fitted by both natural and acquired talents, being a man of specially fine mental gifts and one whose life was directed on a lofty plane of integrity and honor. He was given a portion of the old home- stead, in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, and he disposed of this property shortly before coming to Indiana. He had four sons who wanted to secure farms, and in company with three of them he came to Allen county, Indiana, in 1849 or 1850. Here he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of canal land, in Aboit township, and here the three sons also took up their abode, as pioneer farmers. William went forth as a valiant defender of the Union in the war of the Rebellion and died as the result of wounds received in action; Robert became a representative manu- facturer in the city of Fort Wayne, where he died at the age of forty-five years; James remained on the old homestead farm with his father and lived to attain the age of nearly seventy years, and having never married. The mother died about one year after the arrival of the family in Allen county, having been in ill health and having come here in the hope that she would receive benefit from the change. The loss of his cherished and devoted companion was a severe blow to Mr. Todd and he never afterward resumed his ambitious and active efforts, living practically retired until his death, which occurred during the progress of the Civil war. He was a man of distinguished attainments and ever commanded the high re- gard of all with whom he came in contact. Four of his daughters came to Allen county, and of these Isabella, the wife of Stephen Streeper, had preceded the family here by about three years, her husband having been one of the pioneer settlers of Lake township. They moved to Iowa, where she lived for many years and where her husband died. She is now living in Iowa, and she and Mrs. Atchison are now the only surviving members of the original family. Matilda married Squire Studer, of Aboit township, and she passed the closing years of her life on the old farm homestead, with Mrs. Atchison, having been widowed for a number of years prior to her
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death, which occurred in 1902. Hannah, the next of the daughters, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1833, and is the immediate subject of this sketch. Jennie died in middle life, never having married and having remained with her brother James until her death.
Mrs. Atchison was reared partly in Philadelphia and partly at the county seat of Montgomery county. She secured her early educational discipline in the city of Philadelphia and later continued her studies in the old Methodist college in Fort Wayne, where she was duly graduated. She soon put her acquirements to practical use by engaging in teaching, her first school having been in the old log building which stood on the site of the present No. 4 school house in Wayne township. She proved very successful and popular in her pedagogic work, having taught for a time in Bluffton, Wells county, and having then gone to assume charge of a seminary at Keithsburg, Illinois, the town being located on the Mississippi river below Rock Island, while the institution with which she thus became identified was a Presbyterian school. She was accompanied by her sister Matilda, who also became a teacher in the seminary. One year later was solemnized the marriage of Miss Hannah Todd to Professor Lewis Edward Atchison, who was graduated in DePauw University, at Greencastle, Indiana, and who was a professor in the seminary at the time of their marriage. Shortly afterward the young couple went to California, where both engaged in teaching, Mr. Atchison having become principal of the Vallejo high school and Mrs. Atchison assistant principal. Two years later the former assumed the position of superintendent of prominent mines, while Mrs. Atchison taught in the schools of San Francisco for one year. Mr. Atchison became a part owner of the mining properties in which he was superintendent until they returned to Indiana for a visit. After a visit with the home folk in Allen county Mr. and Mrs. Atchison started for Philadelphia and had proceeded as far as Richmond, Indiana, when he was taken ill, suffering a severe attack of pneumonia, which resulted in his death, while his mortal remains were brought back to Fort Wayne and interred in the beautiful Lindenwood cemetery. He was forty-nine years of age at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Atchison had no children.
After the death of her husband Mrs. Atchison returned to
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California, where she remained three years, settling up her business affairs. She was then sent for to care for her brother James and sister Jennie, who were residing on the old homestead. James was an invalid for ten years prior to his demise, while the sister was also in delicate health, so that it was the portion of Mrs. Atchison to care for them with all of solicitude and self-abnegation until both were summoned into eternal rest. Mrs. Atchison has since re- mained on the old Todd homestead, in Aboit township, five miles west of Fort Wayne, and she now owns the entire property, having purchased the interests of the other heirs, while she also owns property in California. She has the farm operated by a capable tenant, and finds much of solace and pleasure in the home so en- deared to her by the memories and associations of the past. She is a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, and has long been active in church work, while her kindliness and graciousness have endeared her to a wide circle of friends in the community in which the family name has been so well known ever since the early pioneer days.
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CHRIST G. VONDERAU.
Incumbent of the office of trustee of St. Joseph township, this well known citizen is well entitled to representation in this publica- tion. He is not only one of the substantial and wide-awake farmers of his township but is also a native of the county, which has ever been his place of residence, while he has been identified with the agricultural industry from his youth to the present.
Mr. Vonderau was born in Milan township, Allen county, Indi- ana, on the 16th of May, 1866, and is a son of Jacob and Margaret (Kern) Vanderau, the former of whom was born in Hessen, Ger- many, in 1821, while the latter was born in Bavaria, in 1826. The father of the subject was reared and educated in his native land and there learned the tailor's trade, to which he there gave his at- tention up to the time of his immigration to America, when a young man. He landed in the city of New York, a stranger in a strange land and with his financial resources reduced to the sum of fifty cents. He was not lacking in courage, self-reliance and determi- nation, however, and he soon found employment and began his labors in the great republic in which he was destined to attain to no in- significant success and to win for himself a position of independence. He first located in the state of Pennsylvania, whence he later re- moved to Ohio, where he remained until the year 1855, when he came to Allen county, Indiana, where he passed the remainder of his long, honorable and useful life, having been eighty-four years of age at the time of his death, while his devoted wife and help- meet is still living on the homestead with her son Herman. Jacob Vonderau was one of the honored pioneers of Allen county, and here he accumulated a large landed estate and became one of the solid capitalists and representative farmers of this section of the state, having been the owner of four hundred and forty-eight acres
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of land in the county and having also owned valuable property in Cleveland and Van Wert, Ohio. He was a stanch adherent of the Democratic party, but never aspired to the honors or emoluments of public office, while both he and his wife were zealous and consistent members of the German Lutheran church. They commanded the respect of all who knew them and their lives were prolific in worthy effort and kindly deeds. Of their eleven children ten are living, the subject of this sketch having been the tenth in order of birth.
Christ G. Vonderau, to whom this sketch is dedicated, was reared to the discipline of the farm and was afforded the advantages of the German Lutheran parochial school and of the excellent public schools of his native county. He remained on the homestead farm until he had reached the age of twenty-four years, and for the past fifteen years he has resided on his present fine farm, in sections 23 and 24, St. Joseph township, where he has one hundred and eighty-seven acres of most arable and productive land, which was a part of his father's estate. One hundred and fifty acres are under cultivaton and devoted to diversified agriculture, while he also devotes no little attention to the raising of an excellent grade of live stock, including the Jersey and Durham types of cattle and an effective cross of the Chester White and Poland China swine. He has made the best of improvements on his place, including the erection of a fine brick residence of eleven rooms and of modern design and accessories, the same constituting one of the most attractive rural homes in the county, while the other buildings on the place are substantial and well adapted to the various demands placed upon them. It may con- sistently be said that Mr. Vonderau's is one of the model farms of the county, and the evidences of thrift and good management are to be seen on every side.
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