USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of the Maumee River basin, Allen County, Indiana > Part 27
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pany also has a plant of about the same capacity as that in New Haven at Payne, Ohio, on the line of the Nickle Plate Railroad, the same having been established in 1881. The aggregate output of the two plants represents about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually, the products being sold principally in carload lots. The investment now stands at about eighty-five thousand dollars, and all this stands as the legitimate outgrowth of the enter- prise. For the past thirty years Mr. Schnelker has owned and operated a fine farm of three hundred acres, in Maumee township, while forty-five acres of the tract are devoted to the growing of a variety of fruits. On the place special attention is given to the breeding of Hereford cattle, an average herd of thirty breeding cows being maintained and all being registered stock, while exhibits are made in the various state and county fairs, expositions, etc. The cattle are sold principally in Texas and Nebraska, for breeding purposes, and Mr. Schnelker recently sold to one man in the latter state fifty-nine head of his fine Hereford stock, the purchase being made with the purpose of improving the grade of the western herds of cattle. For many years the subject has sold bulls to the famous Farwell ranch, in Texas. Considerable attention is also paid to the raising of standard-bred horses, and the fine estate is operated under the title of the Schnelker Farm Company, the same being incor- porated under the laws of the state, with Mr. Schnelker as manager and chief stockholder. The farm is one of the finest in the county, having fine improvements, including a very extended system of tile drainage, installed at a cost of more than three thousand dollars, while the fine stock barn has a capacity for the accommodation of one hundred head of cattle. Mr. Schnelker has been identified with stock breeding for fully a quarter of a century, and his farm has a high reputation in this line.
Concerning the Blue Cast Magnetic Springs Company, of which Mr. Schnelker is president and manager, we may consistently quote from the attractive little brochure issued by the company: "The great tonic and curative effects of the Blue Cast Magnetic Mineral Springs have been known for many years, and multitudes of people have at one time or another repaired thither to enjoy a draught of the refreshing and exhilarating waters. The popular endorsement
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of the waters is amply justified by the searching technical analysis of their properties which has been made by well known and eminent chemists. The official analysis establishes beyond a shadow of doubt that the Blue Cast magnetic mineral water not only possesses re- freshing and tonic qualities which peculiarly fit it for general table use, but that it is also nature's own remedy for many of the common ailments. The recommendations of distinguished physicians bear out the chemical analysis and conclusively prove the beneficial effect of these waters in kidney, liver and bladder troubles; acidity of the stomach, jaundice, indigestion, dyspepsia, nervousness, biliousness, water brash, chronic constipation, dizziness, vertigo, cystitis, neph- ritis, Bright's disease, gout, gravel, rheumatism, uric-acid diathesis, diseases of the skin, urethritis, diabetes, etc."
In connection with his careful analysis of the Blue Cast water Dr. Albert H. Macbeth, city chemist of Fort Wayne, has given the following flattering endorsement: "This is a very fine water for internal medication and is adapted to a wide range of medical uses; the magnesium carbonate is especially good in all stomach disorders, and its sulphate acts mildly on the bowels, while the potassium salts aid all the eliminating organs and act as alternatives. The mineral constituents are evenly balanced, holding both acid and alkalies at the neutral point. The temperature is at fifty degrees as it flows from the springs, and the water is clear and sparkling, and is readily. absorbed into and passed from the system."
The waters of the springs have been used for forty years, and Dr. Adams, one of the pioneer physicians of the county, had recourse to the water in his practice for many years. No analysis was ever made of the water until 1902. Mr. Schnelker had used the same for erysipelas in both his feet, securing so gratifying results that he had an analysis made by Dr. Macbeth, city chemist of Fort Wayne. He then made improvements at Blue Cast park and opened bottling works at the springs, while the waters are meeting with great favor for table use and also for medicinal purposes. Blue Cast park con- sists of one hundred acres, of which sixty acres remain in the natural forest, while the situation is most attractive, the land lying along the shores of the Maumee river, so that the place can not fail to become most popular as a resort for health and pleasure seekers. The
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company was incorporated in 1903, and the bottling works now have a daily capacity for the output of two thousand bottles. The com- pany have in contemplation the erection of a modern sanitarium at. the springs, and in addition to the beneficial effects of the waters themselves the magnetic mud through which the water percolates at various points is specially adapted to the treatment of various diseases.
Henry F. Schnelker is a native of Allen county and a repre- sentative of one of its sterling pioneer families. He was born in the village of New Haven, Adams township, on the 7th of July, 1854, and is a son of the late Bernard and Mary G. Schnelker. His father was a prominent and influential citizen of New Haven, where he founded the cooperage plant of which mention is made in this context, while he continued to be identified with the enterprise involved until the time of his death. Henry F. succeeded to his father's interest in the business in 1872, and has since been manager of the undertaking. He was reared in New Haven, where he se- cured his early educational discipline, which he effectively supple- mented by a commercial course in Notre Dame University, at South Bend, Indiana. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and both he and his wife are communicants of St. John's Catholic church, in New Haven. He is a member of the Knights of St. John, and has passed the various official chairs in the society, while he has also been a delegate to its conventions.
On the 25th of June, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Schnelker to Miss Alice J. Allen, who was born in New Haven, this county, on the 2d of February, 1860, being a daughter of John Allen, who died while in service as a Union soldier during the war of the Rebellion. Mr. and Mrs. Schnelker have four children, namely : Mary Bernedette, the wife of Clement P. Becker, of New Haven, and Anna Erine, Nobert Bernard and Bernon Julian.
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
THOMAS TURFLINGER.
The able and popular superintendent of the Allen county poor farm merits consideration in this publication, in order that a record of his official service may be perpetuated and recognition be had of his sterling worth as a citizen. In March, 1901, Mr. Turflinger assumed the superintendency of the farm, to fill the unexpired term of Herman Felts, who resigned six months prior to the close of his term. In June of the same year Mr. Turflinger was appointed to the office for a full term of two years, beginning in September fol- lowing, and so capable and discriminating was his administration that he was chosen as his own successor in 1903, while there is no reason to doubt that he will again be appointed to the office when his present term expires in September, 1905. There are one hundred and twenty-five inmates in the infirmary as an average, and at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1905, the number is one hundred and forty. The finely equipped county farm comprises two hundred and seven acres of excellent land, in section 15, Wayne township, and the average cost to the county for the maintenance of its indigent poor on the farm is twenty-two cents to each inmate each year, the farm paying the remainder of the expense. On the place are grown all the vegetables, fruits, grain and live stock utilized for the inmates, while the residuum is placed upon the market, the present superin- tendent having sold as high as one thousand dollars' worth of prod- uce from the farm in one year, while the wards of the county aid materially in the cultivation and general work of the farm. In one year Mr. Turflinger raised five thousand bushels of potatoes on the farm, about three thousand bushels being demanded for the use of the institution itself during the year. In the season of 1904 he set out two acres of cabbage, tomatoes, etc., and on the premises were put up five thousand quarts of canned goods. Two acres are devoted
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to the propagation of raspberries, most of which are used on the place. The live stock on the county farm is maintained at a high standard, and the cattle are bred from registered short horn stock, so that the grade is kept at a high point. Mr. Turflinger gives his constant and active supervision to the farm and infirmary, commands the respect of the unfortunate wards under his charge and the confi- dence and esteem of the general public, who recognize the value and fidelity of his services in his exacting office. Mrs. Turflinger is matron of the infirmary, in which there are about fifty women wards as an average, and she proves an effective coadjutor to her husband, having been specially successful in handling the domestic affairs of the institution. On the farm eleven persons are employed, principally in connection with the infirmary building, and including two engineers, night watchmen, a baker, cook, etc.
Thomas Turflinger is a native of the Old Dominion state, having been born in Rockingham county, Virginia, on the 6th of September, 1852. He received a common-school education and as a youth came to Allen county, Indiana, where he worked at the car- penter's trade for two years. He then took charge of the Oscar Symonds stock farm, located south of the city of Fort Wayne, in Wayne township, said farm being devoted to the breeding of Jersey cattle and trotting horses. Of this fine farm he remained superin- tendent for fourteen years-up to the time of his appointment to his present office. He holds a high reputation as a judge of live stock, especially Jersey cattle, and during his years of management of the Symonds farm he was prominent in stock circles as an authority on matters of care and breeding. In politics the subject is a stal- wart advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, in whose ranks he has been an active worker in a local way, while he has frequently served as delegate to state and county conven- tions.
In Allen county, on the 31st of January, 1874, Mr. Turflinger was united in marriage to Miss Lena Ream, who was born in Mercer county, Ohio, and they have five children, all of whom remain at home: Oscar and Orin, twins, are employed as engineers at the county infirmary; Thomas, Jr., assists in the work and manage- ment of the county farm, and the two youngest children are Elsie and Burns.
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
WILLIAM S. O'ROURKE.
In no profession is there a career more open to talent than is that of the law, and in no field of endeavor is there demanded a more careful preparation, a more thorough appreciation of the absolute ethics of life or of the underlying principles which form the basis of all human rights and privileges. Unflagging application and deter- mination fully to utilize the means at hand are the concomitants which insure personal success and prestige in this great profession, which stands as the stern conservator of justice, accomplishment coming only as the result of capability. Possessing all the requisite qualities of the able lawyer, William S. O'Rourke stands today among the leading practitioners of the Allen county bar.
Mr. O'Rourke is a native son of Allen county, Indiana, having been born in Fort Wayne on the 6th day of January, 1858. He is the son of Patrick S. and Eliza (Boulger) O'Rourke, the former of whom was born in New Jersey of Irish ancestry and the latter born in Ireland. (A more detailed personal mention of P. S. O'Rourke may be found elsewhere in this volume.) The subject of this sketch received his elementary education in the public schools of Fort Wayne, after which he attended St. Vincent's College, in West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, graduating therefrom in 1877. In the fall of that year he began the study of law in the office of Judge Allen Zollars and in 1879 he was admitted to the bar of Allen county. In the same year he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, from which he graduated in April, 1880. In June, 1880, he received the Democratic nomina- ton for the office of prosecuting attorney of Allen county, and was successful at the polls, serving efficiently for one term. He was then appointed attorney for the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company for Indiana, in which capacity he was engaged for seven
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and a half years. Because of failing health he then went to the southern states, where he remained for three years, returning to Fort Wayne in 1892. He then formed a law partnership with Col. Robert S. Robertson and has since been continuously engaged in the active practice of his profession. As a lawyer Mr. O'Rourke evinces a familiarity with legal principles and a ready perception of facts, together with the ability to apply the one to the other, which has won him the reputation of a safe and reliable practitioner. In discussions of the principles of law he is noted for clearness of statement and candor; he seeks faithfully for firm ground and hav- ing once found it nothing can drive him from his position. His zeal for a client never leads him to urge an argument which in his judgment is not in harmony with the law, and in all the important litigation with which he has been connected no one has ever charged him with anything calculated to bring discredit upon himself or cast a reflection upon his profession.
In 1893 Mr. O'Rourke was elected supreme secretary of the Catholic Knights of America, filling the office two terms. His other fraternal and social relations are with the American Sons of Colum- bus and the St. Joseph Benevolent Society. In religion he is a con- sistent member of the Catholic church and lends his support to all movements of a benevolent or charitable nature. In politics he is a stanch Democrat and has for a number of years taken a prominent part in local public affairs, taking a keen interest in campaigns and working earnestly for the success of the party tickets.
On the IIth day of June, 1883, Mr. O'Rourke was united in marriage with Miss Margaret G. Garvey, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, and the daughter of P. H. and Mary (Coughlin) Garvey, natives of Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. O'Rourke the follow- ing children have been born: Genevieve, Alan G., Donald, William S., Jr., and John Carroll Leo.
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
E. EDWIN BELL, M. D.
One of the representative young members of the medical profes -. sion in the city of Fort Wayne is he whose name initiates this para- graph and who has met with excellent success in the establishing of a practice in the Summit City. His office is located at the north- west corner of Gay street and East Creighton avenue.
The Doctor is a native of the old Keystone state, having been born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the IIth of Sep- tember, 1878, and being a son of Alonzo and Mary C. (Otenweller) Bell, both of whom were likewise born and reared in the state of Pennsylvania, the father having for a number of years been engaged in the manufacturing of springs in the city of Philadelphia, where he still resides. His wife also is living. Dr. Bell secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native city, having been graduated in the Central high school as a member of the class of 1897. He then took charge of his father's business, continuing in this position about one year, at the expiration of which, in the autumn of 1898, he was matriculated in Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, in which celebrated and finely conducted old institu- tion he completed the prescribed courses in medicine and surgery and was graduated in 1902, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medi- cine. He was thereafter associated for a short time in practice with his uncle, Dr. Edward H. Bell, of Philadelphia, and in the fall of 1902 he came to Fort Wayne, where he established himself in practice a short time later and where he has built up a representative business in his chosen profession. He is a member of the Fort Wayne Medical Society.
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MILES F. PORTER, M. D.
There is no class to whom greater gratitude is due from the world at large than to those self-sacrificing, sympathetic, noble- minded men whose life-work has been the alleviation of suffering that rests upon humanity, thus lengthening the span of human exist- ence. There is no known standard by which their beneficent influence can be measured; their helpfulness is as broad as the universe and their power goes hand in hand with the wonderful laws of nature that come from the very source of life itself. Some one has aptly said, "He serves God best who serves humanity most." Among the physicians and surgeons of Allen county, Indiana, who have risen to eminence within the field of their actual labors is the subject of this brief article, whose career has been that of a true and conscientious worker in the sphere to which he has devoted his life and energy and who possesses a profound knowledge of medicine and surgery.
Miles Fuller Porter is a native son of the old Hoosier state, hav- ing been born at Decatur, Adams county, Indiana, on the 27th day of September, 1856. His parents, John Pomeroy and Elizabeth Porter, were both natives of the state of Ohio, being descended from Irish and English ancestors respectively. The subject's early educa- tion was received in the public schools of Decatur and also for a few months under the direction of a private tutor. On approaching the years of manhood he determined to devote his life to the practice of medicine and surgery and to this end he matriculated in the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, at which he was graduated in 1878. Immediately afterwards he entered upon the active general practice in Fort Wayne, and has been numbered from the beginning of his active career among the leading and successful practitioners of this section of the state. For some years he gave attention to the general practice of his profession, but eventually decided to confine his at-
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tention to the field of surgery, in which he has achieved a most pro- nounced and distinctive success. In order to get in closest touch with late advances in his profession, the Doctor, in 1888, went to England and for three months devoted himeslf to study in some of the best hospitals in the country. In 1882 Franklin College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Bachelor of Arts. In Dr. Porter are combined two facts which have been the main contributing elements to his success- thorough preparation and a deep interest in the pro- fession, qualities which are absolutely essential to success. His knowledge of the kindred sciences of medicine and surgery is broad and comprehensive, and in his professional labors he has shown that he is well qualified to cope with the intricate problems which con- tinually confront the practitioner in his efforts to prolong life and restore health.
In 1879 occurred the marriage of Dr. Miles F. Porter with Miss Lillie A. Wilding, who was born at Utica, New York, on Sep- tember 9, 1854, and is the daughter of James and Ann Wilding. This union has been a most felicitous one and has been blessed in the birth of the following children: Lucile Ann, Charles Darwin, Clara Phelps, Miles Fuller, Jr., James Pomeroy and Elizabeth Lane. The Doctor takes a keen interest in public affairs, though his professional duties prevent an active participation in political matters. He is not a partisan, always maintaining an independent attitude, voting for those men and measures which meet with his approval, regardless of political party lines. His fraternal relations are with the time-honored order of Free and Accepted Masons. Dr. Porter stands admittedly in the front rank of Allen county's distinguished professional men, and has ever maintained his high standing, never descending beneath the dignity of his profession nor compromising his usefulness by coun- tenancing any but noble and legitimate practice. Possessing a genial and friendly temperament, he has won a host of warm and loyal friends and the sincere regard and esteem of all who know of him and his work.
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ANTON KALBACHER.
Among the earnest men whose depth of character and strict adherence to principle gained to him the respect and confidence of his contemporaries in the business and civic circles of the city of Fort Wayne, stood the honored subject of this memoir, whose death here occurred on the 7th of April, 1904. He was in the fullest sense the architect of his own fortunes, and in his independent busi- ness career he showed the tenacity of purpose, the indomitable energy and the self-reliant courage whose natural concomitant is success. He was distinctively one of the loyal and public spirited citizens and representative business men of Fort Wayne, and in this his- torical work it is proper that a tribute be paid to his memory and the record of his career be perpetuated.
Mr. Kalbacher came of stanch German lineage and possessed in a notable degree those sterling attributes which have made the German-American so valuable an element of our national life. He was born in Hohenzollern, Germany, on the 24th of August, 1841, being the fifth in order of birth of the ten children of Marx and Ursula (Dieringer) Kalbacher, who, in the year 1852, severed the ties which bound them to the dear fatherland and immigrated to America. They located in Delphos, Allen county, Ohio, where the devoted mother died in 1854. In the following year the widowed father came with his children to Fort Wayne, in which city he passed the remainder of his long and useful life, having been sev- enty-eight years of age at the time of his death, which occurred in 1886. Both parents were devoted communicants of the Catholic church, in whose faith they reared their children, of whom two are living at the time of this writing.
In the excellent schools of his native land the subject of this memoir secured his early educational training, having been a lad
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of about eleven years at the time of the family immigration to the United States. Thereafter he did not have much regular schooling, but this handicap was not of great significance to one of so alert mentality and determined spirit as Mr. Kalbacher, who made the most of the lessons learned under the direction of that wisest of all headmasters, experience. Within the few years of the family resi- dence in Delphos, Ohio, he had initiated his business career, though a mere boy at the time, having found employment in a local gro- cery, and after coming to Fort Wayne he continued to be employed as clerk in local establishments of the same kind for a period of about seven years. He then entered the employ of the firm of Beaver & Dunham, flour and feed merchants, with whom he remained four years, after which he was for two years engaged in the wine and liquor business. At the expiration of this period he embarked in the flour, feed and grain business for himself, his previous experience well fortifying him for the successful manage- ment of an enterprise of this nature. With the passing of the years he built up a large and important business in this line, and he con- tinued operations, with headquarters at 296 Calhoun street, until his death, while he incidentally gained a high reputation as a reliable, enterprising and progressive business man. Through this and other enterprises with which he identified himself he accumulated a for- tune, and was one of Fort Wayne's solid capitalists when he was summoned from the scene of life's endeavors. In 1878 he erected a fine two-story brick and stone business block at 13-15 Grand street, and in the same was thereafter engaged in the dry-goods and grocery business, in partnership with John Sheffer for a number of years, when he sold his interest in the enterprise and gave his attention to his flour, feed and grain business. In 1882 he pur- chased the Sedgwick flouring mills, which he operated until 1887, when he sold the property and business to H. W. Bond, the present owner. In 1882 he also became associated with William Potthoff in the flour and feed business, under the title of A. Kalbacher & Company, and this alliance continued for four years.
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