USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of the Maumee River basin, Allen County, Indiana > Part 8
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
CHARLES E. BARNETT, M. D.
One of the able, successful and representative members of the medical profession in the city of Fort Wayne is Dr. Barnett, who is here engaged in general practice as a physician and surgeon. He was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on the 30th of September, 1866, being a son of Rev. William C. and Frances M. (Sullivan) Barnett, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Virginia. The father of the subject was a clergyman of the Lutheran church, and continued in active service until the time of his death, which oc- curred in Tennessee, in 1898, while his devoted wife was summoned into eternal rest in 1880. Of their six children three are living.
When the subject was a child of two years his parents removed from Butler, Indiana, to Boone county, Kentucky, in whose common schools Charles E. received his early educational training, while he was later graduated in the high school at Antwerp, Ohio, after which he was matriculated in Edgewood College, at Edgewood, Tennessee, in which institution he completed the scientific course, and was gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1888. Shortly afterward he entered the Fort Wayne College of Medicine, from which he received his well-earned degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1890. In 1893. to fur- ther fortify himself for the responsibilities of his chosen profession, he took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic, while two years later he did most effective post-graduate work in bacteriology, in the medical department of Suwanee University, of the South. The Doctor has devoted his attention largely to surgery during the years of his active practice, and has been most successful in this important department of professional work, in which he is looked upon as an authority, both in theoretical and operative lines. Since 1896 he has been a member of the faculty of his alma mater, the Fort Wayne Col-
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lege of Medicine, in which he holds at the present time the chair of surgical anatomy and genito-urinary surgery.
Dr. Barnett initiated the practice of his profession by locating in Archer, Nebraska, where he built up an excellent professional busi- ness, and continued to make his home until 1896, in which year he came to Fort Wayne, where he has since been actively engaged in practice, and where he holds high prestige as a physician and surgeon and as a loyal and public-spirited citizen. The Doctor is a member of the Fort Wayne Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society, the Mississippi Valley Medical Society and the American Medical Association, while he has served as president and also as secretary of the Alumni Association of the Fort Wayne College of Medicine. In 1898 Dr. Barnett was assistant surgeon, with the rank of captain, of the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regiment of Indiana Volun- teer Infantry, with which he was in active service during the Span- ish-American war. In politics he is a stalwart adherent of the Demo- cratic party, and in the Masonic fraternity he has advanced through the chivalric grades, being affiliated with Fort Wayne Commandery, No. 4, Knights Templar. He is distinctively popular in profes- sional, business and social circles, and is one of Fort Wayne's repre- sentative physicians and surgeons. It is the Doctor's intention to leave in the fall of the present year (1905) for Vienna and Berlin, where he will take post-graduate courses along the lines of his pro- fession.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
MARTIN F. SCHICK, M. D.
In the present connection we accord representation to one of the distinguished members of the medical profession in the city of Fort Wayne, and one who is a member of one of the most honored families of the "Summit City," where his father has been for nearly a half cen- tury a member of the faculty of Concordia College, one of the old and noble educational institutions maintained under the auspices of the German Lutheran church.
Martin Frederick Schick was born in the city of Chicago, Illinois, on the 25th of May, 1861, and is a son of Professor George and Wil- helmina (Zimmerman) Schick, who are still residents of Fort Wayne, to which city they removed in 1861, at which time Concordia College was established here, having been removed from Missouri, where it was founded in 1839. In the college Professor Schick now holds the chair of Latin and Greek, while he is one of Fort Wayne's best known and most highly honored citizens, and one who has wielded much influence in the educational world. Dr. Schick was but a few months of age at the time of his parents' removal to Fort Wayne, and in this city his boyhood and youth were passed. His early educational discipline was secured in St. Paul's German Lutheran school, and when twelve years of age he was matriculated in Con- cordia College, in which he completed the course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1879, receiving the degree of Master of Arts. In the year 1880 he entered the medical department of the University of the City of New York, in which he was graduated on the 7th of March, 1882, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, while in the same year he took a post- graduate course in Bellevue Hospital, while he served during the same year as surgeon to the Bushwick Hospital, in the city of Brooklyn.
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He was thereafter engaged in the practice of his profession in New York city until December, 1883, when he located in Saginaw, Michi- gan, where he built up a large and representative practice, and where he continued to reside until 1896. He then made a trip abroad for the purpose of availing himself of the advantages of the great hospitals and medical colleges of the old world. He was absent about eighteen months, and within this period took special post-graduate work in the medical department of the Frederich Wilhelm University, in the city of Berlin, as well as in leading institutions in Munich and London. He returned to the United States in the spring of 1898, and on the Ioth of April located in Fort Wayne, where he has since been estab- lished in the practice of his profession, and where his precedence is such as his fine professional attainments justify.
On the 16th of April, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Schick to Miss Anna C. Bruns, of Fort Wayne, and they have three children, Myrtle, Charlotte and Hildegard.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
CARL YAPLE.
As one of the representative young members of the bar of Allen county, Mr. Yaple is consistently accorded recognition in this work. He is successfully engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Fort Wayne, where he is junior member of the well-known firm of Heaton & Yaple.
Mr. Yaple was born in the beautiful little city of Coldwater, Branch county, Michigan, on the IIth of March, 1877, and is a son of Hon. George L. Yaple, who is at the present time presiding on the circuit bench of the fifteenth judicial circuit of Michigan, and who is one of the prominent and distinguished members of the bar of the Wolverine state. He is a representative of one of the old and hon- ored families of Michigan, and was born and reared in Mendon, St. Joseph county, that state, where he now maintains his home. He is a man of high scholastic attainments and professional ability, and has been a prominent figure in the political and public affairs of his native state, which has honored him with various offices of distinctive trust, aside from that of which he is in tenure. He early attained a high reputation for effective oratory, and has long been a valued exponent of the principles and policies of the Democratic party. He served two terms as a member of congress, and was at one time honored by his party with the nomination for governor of his state, his defeat being compassed by normal political conditions, as Michigan has long turned up a large Republican majority, save in a few isolated instances. As a young man, Judge Yaple was united in marriage to Miss Mary Hankinson, who was born in Rockford, Illinois, and of the children of this union we enter brief record, as follows: Edward Lewis is engaged in the practice of the law in the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan; Frederick H., who is attaining noteworthy prestige as a
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
poet and author, resides in Mendon, Michigan; Carl is the immediate subject of this sketch; Harry is a practicing dentist; Marie died at the age of sixteen years ; George L., Jr., is a student in the Chicago University, and Alice is a student in the Presbyterian seminary in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Carl Yaple, the immediate subject of this review, secured his early educational training in the public schools of his native state, and there- after made good use of the excellent advantages afforded him in the attaining of a liberal education in an academic sense, before taking up his professional studies. He prosecuted his study in Kalamazoo College for a time; was later a student in Albion College, Michigan, and thereafter attended the celebrated University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, while in 1899 he was matriculated in the law department of the University of Indiana, at Bloomington; he also secured admission to the bar of the Hoosier state. In June, 1900, Mr. Yaple located in the city of Fort Wayne and began his practical novitiate in the pro- fession for which he had so carefully prepared himself, and here he entered into a partnership with Benjamin F. Heaton, in 1902, an association which has since obtained, and which has proved one of mutual helpfulness and one of utmost harmony. The firm has built up a representative practice, giving special attention to corporation, real estate and commercial practice, and the clientage retained is of an important order, insuring a cumulative prestige to the firm. The offices of Heaton & Yaple are located in the Citizens' Trust Company building, corner of Berry and Clinton streets, and are attractive in their appointments, including a fine law library. Mr. Yaple is a close student of his profession, and considers it worthy of his undivided time and attention, so that he subordinates all other interests to the same, though he finds opportunity for the carrying forward of other intellectual application and for the enjoyment of the higher social privileges, while he is known as an ardent advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, in whose cause he has been an active and valued worker, being one of the leaders among the younger party adherents in Fort Wayne.
On the 2d of August, 1899, in the city of Fort Wayne, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Yaple to Miss Fannie L. Russell, who was born and reared in Coldwater, Michigan, being a daughter of the late Benton R. Russell, who was a prominent contractor of that place.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
JOHN H. BASS.
What of the man and what of his work? This is the dual query which represents the interrogation at least nominally entertained whenever that discriminating factor, the public, would pronounce on the true worth of the individual. The career of John H. Bass indicates the clear-cut, sane and distinct character, and in reviewing the same from an unbiased and unprejudiced standpoint, interpreta- tion follows fact in a straight line of derivation. In this publication it is consistent that such a review be entered, and that without the adulation which is so intrinsically repugnant to the man as he stands among his fellows. The city of Fort Wayne naturally takes pride in the work performed by Mr. Bass, who has stamped the mark of definite accomplishment on the highest plane of industrial activity, and consistency demands that he be given due relative precedence in a work which has to do with those who have lived and labored to good purpose within the confines of Allen county, and thence per- meated the great industrial and civic life of the nation, in which he stands well to the forefront as one of our honored "captains of in- dustry." In the present connection the writer feels justified in draw- ing largely upon a sketch previously written by him as an apprecia- tive estimate of the life and labors of Mr. Bass, and in view of such former authorship takes the liberty of eliminating the customary marks of quotation.
A native of Salem, Livingston county, Kentucky, John H. Bass was born on the 9th of November, 1835, and is descended from hon- ored pioneer ancestry identified with the history of the Virginias and the Carolinas from the early colonial era of our national annals. His grandfather in the agnatic line was Jordan Bass, who was born in the Old Dominion state, in 1764, and who removed to Christian
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
county, Kentucky, in 1805, becoming one of the sterling pioneers of that section, where he passed the remainder of his life, having been eighty-nine years of age at the time of his death, which occurred in 1853. Sion Bass, the father of the subject of this review, was born in North Carolina, on the 7th of November, 1802, and was thus a child of but three years at the time of his parents' removal to Ken- tucky, where he was reared to manhood under the environments of the pioneer epoch. He became prominently identified with the business and civic interests of Livingston county, Kentucky, where he carried on both mercantile and agricultural pursuits, and became the possessor of much valuable property, while his intrinsic worth as a citizen was recognized in a most unequivocal way. He married Miss Jane Dodd, who was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on the 19th of June, 1802, being a daughter of John Dodd, who likewise became an early settler in Kentucky. In 1866 Sion Bass removed to Fort Wayne, and here his cherished and devoted wife died on the 26th of August. 1874, while he survived her by more than a decade, having been sum- moned to the eternal life on the 7th of August, 1888. They became the parents of six children, of whom four attained maturity, while of the number one son and one daughter are living at the time of the present writing. The parents were zealous members of the Presby- terian church.
It will not be malapropos in this connection to offer a brief tribute to the memory of the eldest son, Sion S. Bass, who was born in Janu- ary, 1827, and who was the first representative of the family in In- diana, having taken up his residence in Fort Wayne in 1848, and having been one of the prominent business men of the place in the pioneer days of its industrial development. He became a member of the firm of Jones, Bass & Company, which was succeeded by the Fort Wayne Machine Works, and was identified with the same until his death. When the cloud of civil war cast its pall over the national firmament, Sion S. Bass cast his business interests and cares aside and responded to the first call for volunteers to aid in the suppression of the rebellion. He assisted in the organization of the famous Thir- tieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in 1861, and he was made colonel of the command, with which he proceeded to the front, the regiment taking active part in the maneuvers leading up to and culminating in 8
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
the battle of Shiloh. Reaching that field early on the second day of the battle, the Thirtieth Indiana had but little time to rest before the order to advance was given. The command valiantly obeyed this order, though a veritable torrent of lead and iron poured over and through its columns. The sacrifice of men seemed necessary, and it was made. The Thirtieth Indiana moved sternly forward, led by its gallant colonel, but it was a dash to death, and the brave soldier and patriot who led the regiment fell, mortally wounded, and thus the honored pioneer of the Bass family in Indiana died among his fallen comrades.
John H. Bass passed the days of boyhood and youth in the state of his nativity, and there acquired a good academic and commercial education. In 1852, at the age of seventeen years, he came to Fort Wayne and joined his eldest brother, of whom mention has just been made. He entered the employ of Jones, Bass & Company, for which he served as bookkeeper from 1854 until 1857, when the firm dis- solved partnership. He had applied himself diligently to the work in hand and to the mastering of the details of the business, and in 1859 he initiated his independent business career by forming a partnership with Edward L. Force, under the firm name of Bass & Force. They established the Fort Wayne Machine Works, and the output of the concern for the succeeding year reached an aggregate valuation of twenty thousand dollars. The indirect value of this industry to the little community at that time was incalculable, for out of it grew those influences which have built up a great manufacturing city in northern Indiana. From 1860 unti! 1863 the business was owned and con- ducted by Judge Samuel Hanna and Mr. Bass, and in the latter year Judge Hanna transferred his interest to Horace H. Hanna, who re- mained a member of the firm until his death, in 1869, when Mr. Bass purchased the stock and became the sole owner and manager of this establishment, which, under his able supervision, has had a marvelous growth and has furnished employment to thousands of men, while through its influence much has been done to promote the upbuilding of the city of Fort Wayne. Indeed, the great enterprise may consist- ently be referred to as being the nucleus of the great industrial city of the present day, drawing to it various classes of workmen to be- come good citizens, devoted to the welfare of their adopted home.
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
After establishing this enterprise on a solid basis, financially and in- dustrially, Mr. Bass felt justified in turning his attention to other lines of enterprise which invited his marked initiative and adminis- trative talents. In 1869 he extended his operations by founding the St. Louis Car Wheel Company, of St. Louis, Missouri, in which he has since owned a controlling interest and served as president. Dur- ing the financial panic of 1873, when men of more conservative meth- ods were deterred from making new ventures, Mr. Bass boldly launched out in another enterprise, establishing an extensive foun- dry in the city of Chicago. He is never unduly daring in business, but seems to possess wonderful foresight and sagacity, as well as sound judgment and discrimination, and he thus had the prescience to discern in a degree what the future had in store for Chicago, believing it a desirable field for investment. Time has shown conclusively that he did not mistake in his estimate, and the extensive foundries both in St. Louis and Chicago, where are manufactured car wheels and general railroad supplies, now represent most profitable investments, and have netted their founder a handsome fortune. Since 1880 Mr. Bass has owned a plant for the manufacture of pig iron, the same being located in northeastern Alabama, whence the output is shipped to his establishments in Fort Wayne, Chicago and St. Louis, as well as to the large foundry in the ownership of which he is associated at Lenoir, Tennessee. Several states of the Union have thus been ma- terially benefited by the efforts of this one man.
Aside from his manufacturing interests, Mr. Bass has been prom- inently connected with various other lines of business which have greatly enhanced the welfare of Fort Wayne. In association with Stephen Bond, he was largely instrumental in building the street railway system of Fort Wayne, and in the same, with its now modern equipment and wide ramifications, these gentlemen for some time owned a controlling interest, though Mr. Bass is not now identified with it. For many years Mr. Bass has been one of the principal stockholders of the First National Bank of Fort Wayne, of which he has been president, while he has also been a member of the direc- torate of the Old National Bank for a number of years past. Brook- side farm, comprising three hundred acres of fine land, adjoining the city of Fort Wayne, has attained to a national reputation, and repre-
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
sents another field which has benefited by the almost limitless enter- prise of our subject, the place being devoted principally to the breeding of Clydesdale horses and Galloway cattle, for the maintenance of which large direct importations have been made by Mr. Bass, while upon this farm is to be found some of the finest live stock in the world. From the place a fine exhibit was made at the Columbian exposition in Chicago, in 1893, and a still more noteworthy one in the recent Louisiana Purchase exposition, in St. Louis, in 1904, while many first prizes were secured in each instance. Mr. Bass owns fully fif- teen thousand acres of land elsewhere in Allen county and in other sections of this and adjoining states, while in Alabama he owns not less than eighteen thousand acres of valuable mineral land. His capi- talistic interests are most varied and important, being too numerous to be consistently noted in detail in this connection, as his financial valuation is variously estimated between five and six millions of ", dollars.
In his political proclivities Mr. Bass has ever been a stalwart Democrat, and he has been specially active in advocating a reform in the tariff policy of the nation. In 1888 he was a delegate-at-large to the Democratic national convention, and was nominated as presi- dential elector on the party ticket the same year. While a man of broad and intimate knowledge concerning matters of public polity, and while taking deep interest in public affairs, his extensive business interests have naturally compelled him to hold political matters in a subordinate position, though he never neglects the duties devolving upon him as a citizen. He is identified with various bodies of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained to the thirty-third and supreme degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. His re- ligious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church.
In the midst of the thronging cares of an exceptionally active and successful career in the industrial and business world, Mr. Bass has never been else than the genial, true-hearted friend and sincere and straightforward man, appreciative of the good in his fellowmen, no matter of what station in life, and ever placing true valuations in all the relations of life. He has had much to do with men in an executive capacity, and has had a most subtle and yet readily understood power of begetting loyalty on the part of those in his employ or working
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
under his direction. In this connection it is significant that none of his great industrial enterprises have been menaced or impeded by strikes or other labor dissensions-a fact that shows his trust in his men and theirs in him. His friends are in number equal to his ac- quaintances, and yet this does not imply a weak or vacillating nature, for he is stern in his ideas of justice and right and never compro- mises with conscience for the sake of personal interests. No man in Fort Wayne is held in higher regard as a business man and citizen, and none has done more for the welfare of the city. His home rela- tions are ideal in character, and in his beautiful home are centered his affections, hopes and ambitions. In the year 1865 was solem- nized his marriage to Miss Laura H. Lightfoot, who was born and reared in Falmouth, Kentucky, being a daughter of the late and dis- tinguished Judge George C. Lightfoot, of that place. They have had two children-Laura Grace, the wife of G. M. Leslie, M. D., of Fort Wayne, and John H., who died August 7, 1891.
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THE MAUMEE RIVER BASIN.
WILLIAM H. HOFFMAN.
For more than thirty-five years was this sterling citizen promi- nently identified with the business interests of Fort Wayne, where he made for himself a place of honor in social and commercial circles, his life being one of signal positiveness and integrity and thus wield- ing an influence for good in all the relations of life. It is most con- sistent that in this work be incorporated a tribute to his memory as a representative citizen and business man.
Mr. Hoffman came of stanch Dutch ancestry and was a native of the old Empire state of the Union, having been born in Orange county, New York, on the 17th of February, 1840, and having been a son of Nathaniel Hoffman. When he was a lad of ten years, his parents removed to Rockville, Maryland, and there he completed his academic education, while he also had the further discipline of learn- ing the printer's trade in a local establishment, the advantages thus afforded being practically equivalent to a further educational training of liberal sort. After leaving Maryland he found employment in the newspaper offices of Washington, D. C., where he was thus engaged during the progress of the war of the Rebellion. After the close of the great struggle which determined the integrity of the Union, he came to Indiana and located in Kosciusko county, where he engaged in the lumber business, in partnership with his brothers, Jacob R. and Andrew E. Hoffman. In 1868 they removed to Fort Wayne and es- tablished themselves in the same important line of enterprise, build- ing up a business of very great proportions and for many years hold- ing precedence as one of the principal concerns of the sort in this country. The enterprise was conducted under the title of Hoffman Brothers until a few months since, when it was incorporated as the Hoffman Brothers Company, William H. becoming vice-president
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