USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 11
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In 1906 Mr. Seeburger was elected a county commissioner and in 1908 was chosen president of the board. In 1910 he was nominated for state senator, but on a technical ground, that he already held a judicial office, he was declared ineligible. In 1913 he was elected a member at large of the City Council, and became its presi- dent. While in that office he was elected county assessor.
Mr. Seeburger was a thirty-second de- gree Scottish Rite Mason and in the York Rite was a member of the Lodge, Chapter, Council, and Knight Templar Command- ery. He was identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Terre Haute Commer- cial Club, and there was not a better known nor more highly esteemed man in the citizenship of Vigo County. At one time he was president of the State Asso- ciation of County Commissioners. At an- other time he published the "Public Offi- c'al" magazine.
On January 26, 1882, Mr. Seeburger married Miss Mary W. Noble, daughter of Charles T. and Elizabeth L. (Herring) Noble.
Charles T. Noble was a conspicuous fig- ure in the early educational affairs of Vigo County, is remembered as the first teacher, and many who afterwards became promi- nent in business and affairs recognized
gratefully the early influences and in- struction received from him. Mr. Noble was also the second county clerk in Vigo County, an office he held for fourteen years, and was the first auditor and first city clerk of Terre Haute. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Seeburger, two of whom died in infancy. The three sons living are Edward P., John N. and Louis W., all natives of Terre Haute.
GEORGE S. KINNARD, who achieved prom- inent recognition as a member of the In- dianapolis bar, was a representative from the old Sixth District. During the short time he was engaged in the work of his profession he rose to prominence and at his death left the impress of his ability as a distinguished lawyer. He was accidentally killed in a steamboat explosion.
GEORGE W. RAUCH. It was the fortune of an able Marion lawyer to represent the Eleventh Indiana District in Congress in one of the most vital and important epochs in history, from the Sixtieth to the Sixty- fifth Congress.
Mr. Rauch was first elected to Congres7 in 1906, and served continuously until March, 1917, when he retired and resumed the practice of his profession. During his last term he was fourth member of the powerful committee on appropriations in the House of Representatives. This com- mittee directs the huge money bills which make possible the operation of the vast ma- chinery of government. Mr. Rauch also had an active part in the study, delibera- tion and passage of many of the measures involving the great and complicated prob- lems solved by the National Legislature during the first administration of Presi- dent Wilson.
George W. Rauch was born on a farm near Warren in Huntington County, In- diana, February 22, 1876, and is the son of Philip and Martha Rauch. He was edu- cated in the public schools of Huntington County, later attended the Valparaiso Nor- mal, and graduated in law from the North- ern Indiana Law School at Valparaiso. He was admitted to the bar in 1906, and began practice at Marion, and is a member of the Grant County Bar Association.
Mr. Rauch married July 10, 1918, Emma Nolen, a member of a prominent Southern family.
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Although a democrat, Mr. Ranch served for ten years in Congress as representative from what is considered one of the great republican districts of the state and na- tion. It was highly significant that when he was first elected he was only thirty years old and had just begun the practice of law, and his election must be regarded as a triumph of personality and unusual qualifi- cations. His first opponent was Frederick Landis of Logansport, brother of Judge Landis of Chicago. In that election he won hy a plurality of 3,000, the plurality of Mr. Landis over his democratic opponent two years before having been over 8,000. Mr. Rauch continued victorious, and succes- sively defeated four of the republican lead- ers of the district.
Besides his service upon the appropria- tions committee Mr. Rauch was identified with many other important measures before Congress. As member of the sub-commit- tee on fortifications, he helped promote a substantial plan for the fortification of the coasts, the fruit of which came co a proper appreciation when the nation entered war. He also made a successful fight to retain the National Military Home at Marion. It was planned to remove the home on account of the rapid decrease in the number of soldiers. Mr. Rauch contended that the Home should be preserved not only to take proper care of soldiers today but for the future, and the wisdom of his contention is now of course obvious and has been forcefully demonstrated.
Mr. Rauch was also an active supporter of the Federal Reserve Act, which now after several years of operation is recog- nized as the measure which prevented a serious panic in America before the war, and on the whole is one of the greatest constructive pieces of financial legislation ever carried out in the United States. His support was also given every movement for the betterment of agriculture and all legislation for the welfare of the farmer. He has proved a good friend of labor and is the author of one of the first provisions in an appropriation bill providing for an eight hour day on government contracts. All of these things deserve to be remem- bered in the record of an Indiana con- gressman.
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COLONEL K. LEESON is one of the widely known business men of Madison County,
and is general manager of the R. L. Lee. son & Sons Company, owning and control- ling the largest department store at Elwood. A steadfast ambition, hard work, fair deal- ing and genial good fellowship have given him a success which he has well deserved.
He is a son of General Wayne and Rosie (Armfield) Leeson, of Elwood. It has been customary in the Leeson family to give the sons distinguished military names as their christian titles, and Mr. Leeson is careful to disclaim any military service that might have given him actual or hon- orary possession of his first name.
The Leesons are originally an English family, but have been in America for many generations. They were prominent as pioneers in Metamora, Indiana, where Grandfather R. L. Leeson conducted a gen- eral store in pioneer times. He continued it there until 1873, when he came to El- wood. Here he opened a modest stock of goods in one room on Main Street, but after a short time his store was burned out. He was then located for a year in a single room on Anderson Street, and the fiend of fire seemed to follow him. After being burned out a second time he reestablished himself in a room at the corner of Ander- son and A streets, where the Leeson store has now been located for forty years, It was a prosperous business, grew in favor, and various departments were added from time to time. Grandfather R. L. Leeson died in 1906, and his is one of the honored names in commercial circles in Elwood.
His active successor in business was his son General W. Leeson, who is secretary and treasurer of the R. L. Leeson & Sons Company, and was in charge of the business alone until 1914. In that year he shared his responsibilities with his sons Colonel K. and Lawrence, the former as general man- ager and the latter as president of the company.
Colonel K. Leeson had a public school education in Elwood, attended the Indiana Business College one year, and he learned merchandising by a thorough apprentice- ship in every department and phase of the business. He has a mind that comprehends and grasps all the details of the now large store, which has about 125 employes, and sells goods throughout a wide section of country surrounding Elwood. He also has several other business interests.
Mr. Leeson married Iva Poole, daughter
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of William and Belle (Clarkston) Poole. Her family came from Jennings County, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Leeson were mar- ried in 1915. He is a republican voter and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, Quincy Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, with Elwood Lodge No. 368, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Zeta Chapter of the Beta Phi Sigma at Elwood. He and his wife are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
DUDLEY H. CHASE. The City of Logans- port had no nobler representative of American citizenship and ideals during the last century than the late Dudley H. Chase. A native of Logansport, he was from an early age identified with some of the most sterling scenes in American history, and for upwards of forty years held a foremost position as a lawyer and judge.
He was born at Logansport August 29, 1837, and died in that 'city July 2, 1902, at the age of sixty-five. His parents were Henry and Elizabeth (Donaldson) Chase. This branch of the Chase family came from Bristol, England, to Massachusetts in colo- nial times. Henry Chase was born in Sara- toga County, New York, in 1800, and was a western pioneer. He located at Delphi, Indiana, in 1827, was admitted to the bar, practiced four years in Mississippi, return- ing to Delphi in 1832, and the following year locating at Logansport. He enjoyed a large practice and associations with all the pioneer lawyers of Northern Indiana, the Wabash River at that time marking almost the frontier line of settlement. In 1839 he was appointed judge of the Eighth Judicial District to fill an unexpired term. In 1844 he removed to New York City and practiced law there five years, and then established another home in the new west- ern country at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where in 1854 he fell a victim to the cholera plague.
Dudley H. Chase spent most of his boy- hood at the home of his uncle, William Chase, in Logansport. He was educated , in the local schools, and' from an early age manifested a great interest in military affairs. In 1854 he became captain of a local company known as the Logan Grays. In 1856 Hon. Schuyler Colfax appointed him a cadet at the West Point Military Academy. Had he entered that school he might have become one of the distinguished
figures in American military affairs. In- stead the more strenuous and exciting drama of Kansas enlisted his service and participation, and as member of a rifle com- pany he battled for freedom on that soil. After the Kansas troubles he returned to Logansport, studied law with D. D. Pratt, and in 1858 graduated from the Cincinnati Law School. He had about three years of quiet practice at Logansport before the outbreak of the Civil war.
In April, 1861, his local military com- pany was offered to the Union army, and Judge Chase equipped it at his own ex- pense. It became Company K of the Ninth Regiment, Indiana Infantry. Before get- ting into the field Captain Chase was as- signed with fifty-two Indiana volunteers to duties of recruiting in the State of Maine. He and his followers were after- ward organized as Company A, Second Battalion, Seventeenth United States In- fantry. This company joined the Fifth Army Corps in front of Fredericksburg im- mediately after the battle there. Judge Chase was in the battles of Chancellors- ville and Gettysburg, and on July 2, 1863, was seriously wounded in the hip by a shell. Later he was assigned to duty in New York City in helping quell the draft riots. On recovering from his injury he rejoined his command, was at Rappahannock and Bris- tow Station, and the Mine Run campaign. On account of wounds he resigned his com- mission and left the service February 4, 1864.
Twenty-seven years of age, with the best part of his life still before him, and with an enviable record as a soldier and officer, he was soon recognized as one of the lead- ing lawyers of Northern Indiana. In 1864 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Cass County and re-elected in 1866 and in 1868. In 1872 he was elected to the Circuit Bench, re-elected in 1878, and after twelve years of service declined to be a candidate for further honors. But in 1896 he was again called from the quiet pursuits of his profes- sion and elected judge of the Twenty-ninth Judicial Circuit. He was still engaged in the duties of that office, surrounded with all the dignities of his profession, when death came to him and removed one of the best citizens Logansport ever knew.
Judge Chase was a member of Logans- port Post No. 14, Grand Army of the Re- public, a member of the Indiana Com-
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mandery of the Loyal Legion, was a Mason and eminent commander of St. John's Com- mandery of the Knights Templar, and also a member of the Odd Fellows.
October 28, 1859, he married Maria Du- rett. Her father was one of the founders of Logansport. She died April 12, 1877, the mother of five children : William, Rob- ert, John, George and Mary. December 7, 1880, Judge Chase married Grace M. Corey, of Saratoga Springs, New York. She was a member of the Schuyler family. To the second marriage were born four children : Charles D., Ruth, James and Louise.
Charles D. Chase, only son of Judge Chase still living in Logansport, was born in that city September 27, 1882, and for many years has been successfully engaged in the undertaking business. He was edu- cated in the public schools and in 1903 graduated from the Myers School of Em- balming at Columbus. Mr. Chase is affil- iated with Oriental Lodge No. 272, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Bridge City Lodge No. 305, Knights of Pythias, Logan Lodge No. 40, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Logansport Lodge No. 66, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, is a re- publican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
THEO STEIN, JR. The name Stein has long been prominent in Indianapolis, and some of the services and experiences of Theo Stein, Sr., have been recounted on other pages.
Some of the important public honors of the county have come to his son, Theo Stein, Jr., who is now serving his second term as county clerk of Marion County, and also has a recognized position in business affairs, all of which he has gained at an age when most young men are merely lay- ing the foundation of the future.
He was born at Indianapolis April 11, 1889, the only son of his parents. He at- tended the grammar and high schools, also Wabash College, and finished his educa- tion in the University of Pennsylvania. On returning home he entered the insur- ance business as an employe of the Ger- man Fire Insurance Company of Indiana and in August, 1911, was appointed city manager at Indianapolis for this company. He helped build up the local business, and in December, 1912, organized a general in-
surance business. He is still actively inter- ested in this growing and successful con- cern, the headquarters of which are in the Lemcke Annex at Indianapolis.
Mr. Stein since attaining manhood has been a hard worker in behalf of the local republican organization, and in 1914 his name was placed on the county ticket as candidate for county clerk and he was elected. He is a thirty-second degree Scot- tish Rite Mason and a member of the Shrine, and also a member of the Marion Club, University Club, the Athenæum, the Country Club, and the Board of Trade. In 1916 he married Miss Dorothy Kinnear Bennett, of New York City.
GEORGE W. DICKEY is a machinist, and automobile man of wide and varied experi- ence, and is proprietor of the Dickey Motor Car Company of Kokomo, distributors of the King Eight, Elgin Six and Willys- Overland cars. He has a large business over Howard County, and conducts a thor- ough service station for the cars distributed through his company.
Mr. Dickey is the type of man who early gets into the battle of life and is satisfied to win his promotion only on merits and actual ability. He was born in Howard County, Indiana, August 30, 1884, son of George W. and Matilda (Bon Durant) Dickey. His grandfather, Emanuel Dickey, a native of Pennsylvania, was an early settler in Ohio, and in 1870 brought his family to Indiana and became a farmer in Owen County, where he spent the rest of his life and died at the age of seventy years. One of his several children was George W. Dickey, Sr., who was born in Ohio, April 23, 1847, grew up in Owen County, and went to Marshall County, where he met. and married his wife. In 1883 he located on a farm four miles northeast of Howard County, and about eight years later moved to Cass County, where he died at the age of forty-four. He was a very progressive farmer and also spent much time buying and selling timber. Politically he was a democrat. His family consisted of four sons and four daughters, and seven are still living.
The fifth child was George W. Dickey, who was educated in the public schools of this state. He was twelve years of age when he began earning his living in a basket factory at Plymouth, Indiana.
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When about fourteen he worked as bell boy and boot black in the Clinton Hotel, and at sixteen he took up the machinist's trade with the Clisbe Manufacturing Company of Plymouth. This firm manufactured gasoline engines. After about a year there he was employed as a machinist for a year with the Oliver Typewriter Company at Woodstock, Illinois, then returned to Ko- komo, and was in the machine shops of the Haynes Automobile Company and worked two years longer as a machinist at his trade in Chicago. About that time he went into business for himself, doing experimental work in the machinery line.
All this training, experience and practi- cal work came before he was nineteen years of age. Mr. Dickey was in business for himself about two years, and since then has devoted his time to the automobile business. For five years he had a repair and machine shop in Chicago. June 12, 1909, he re- moved to San Antonio, Texas, and sold and repaired automobiles in that state for four years. February 7, 1914, he returned to Kokomo as his permanent residence, and has since become one of the prominent men of the county as salesman of automobiles, trucks and tractors and furnishing a re- liable service department. The Dickey Motor Car Company was incorporated under the laws of Indiana April 12, 1916, with George W. Dickey as president, Charles W. Hale, vice president, and Lelah M. Burrows, secretary and treasurer. This company was dissolved September 1, 1918, at which time Mr. Dickey took over all the stock and continues the business now as sole proprietor.
As a resident of Kokomo he has given much of his time to public affairs for the betterment of the city. He is a member of the Congregational Church, an independent voter, and is affiliated with Howard Lodge No. 93, Free and Accepted Masons. Sep- tember 27, 1905, he married Miss Charlotte Mast, of Kokomo, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. P. Mast. To their marriage were born two sons and two daughters: Char- lotte Geneva, born in 1907; George W., Jr., born in 1910; Bon Durant, born in 1914; and Mary Beatrice, born in 1916.
CHARLES R. Cox is one of the younger business men of Muncie, and is manager and active head of the Cox-Williamson Candy Company, wholesale manufacturing
confectioners. This is a business which is regarded as a valuable asset to Muncie as a growing commercial center, and its suc- cess and standing is largely due to the ex- ceptional enterprise shown by Mr. Cox.
Mr. Cox was born on a farm south of Eaton in Delaware County October 23, 1892. He represents one of the old families in that section of the state. His grand- father was a native of Virginia, and on coming to Indiana settled on a farm four miles west of Eaton, where he was one of the pioneers. Charles R. Cox is a son of Charles V. and Lillie C. (Smith) Cox. His father was born in Indiana and spent his life as a farmer. He died in 1895.
Charles R. Cox, only son of his parents, was three years old when his father died, and his mother moved to Eaton, where she lived until the family removed to Muncie. Here Mr. Cox finished his education in the grammar and high schools, and when little more than a boy he began the line of busi- ness which he at present follows, manu- facturing candy. Later for three years he was clerk and bookkeeper with the Muncie Electric Light Company. In August, 1915, he was appointed manager of the Cox-Wil- liamson Candy Company. Later Mr. Wil- liamson withdrew, and George W. Bauman was admitted to the firm, though the name still remains as formerly. They do an ex- tensive jobbing business in making five-cent packages of candy, under the familiar name of "Triangle Confections." Much of their output is distributed by their own firm of traveling salesmen, and their special terri- tory is sixty miles in every direction around Muncie.
Mr. Cox is a member of the Christian Church and a republican voter.
JOHN ARTHUR KAUTZ is publisher of the Kokomo Tribune, having bought that paper more than thirty years ago. The Kokomo Tribune is one of the oldest papers in Indiana of continuous publication. It was established in 1848, seventy years ago, and was first published at New London, then the leading town of Howard County. Later it was moved to Kokomo. Under the ownership and management of Mr. Kautz since 1887 the Tribune has grown from a small daily of 400 circulation to a paper of 8,560, growing steadily. It has a complete modern plant, and is housed in one of the best buildings at Kokomo, recently com-
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pleted, a fireproof structure that is a model newspaper home.
Mr. Kautz, whose name has been iden- tified with many other affairs at Kokomo, was born in Wabash County, Indiana, Sep- tember 26, 1860, son of Henry and Eliza (Baker) Kautz. His grandfather, Fred- erick Kautz, was born at York, Pennsyl- vania, and was an early settler in North- ern Indiana, first locating in Huntington County and then in Wabash County. He was a farmer. In 1869 he left Wabash County and moved out to Kansas, but at the age of eighty returned to Wabash County and died there. He was a whig and later a republican and a member of the Dunkard Church.
Of his eight children Henry Kautz was the oldest. With an education in the pio- neer country schools Henry Kautz has had an active career as a farmer, builder and merchant, and is still living at Andrews in Huntington County.
John A. Kautz, second in a family of three children, was graduated from Butler College at Indianapolis with the class of 1885. He had two years of experience as a teacher before he bought the Kokomo Tribune in May, 1887. He is one of the veteran Indiana journalists. Among other business interests he is a director of the Citizens National Bank.
Through his paper and as a private citi- zen he had constantly exercised his influ- ence for the broadening and upbuilding of Kokomo as a business and civic center. He was one of the organizers and a member of the committee that built the Young Men's Christian Association and has continuously served on the board of directors of that institution. For the past ten years he has been a member of the school board, and as such has done his part in building the pres- ent Kokomo High School and the Public Library. From 1902 to 1906, under ap- pointment from President Roosevelt, Mr. Kautz served as postmaster of Kokomo. He is a member of the Christian Church, a re- publican, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and an Elk.
August 18, 1886, at Wabash, he married Miss Inez Gillen, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. H. H. Gillen. Mrs. Kautz was educated at Butler College. They have four daughters, all living, Bernice, born March 3, 1888, wife of Kent H. Blacklidge; Cordelia, born April 30, 1890, wife of J. D. Forrest ; Doro-
thy, born March 4, 1892, wife of Robert J. Hamp; and Kathryn, born July 3, 1897, unmarried, and still living with her parents.
JOHN RAU of Indianapolis, is one of the pioneers of glass manufacturing in In- diana, and is president of the Fairmount Glass Works. It has been a lifetime pur- suit with him. He began as a boy helper, has worked himself up from the lowest rounds to the top of the ladder and knows glass making as few other men in the coun- try know it today. The history of the glass industry in Indiana is told on other pages of this publication. From that chapter it will be seen that Mr. Rau entered the in- dustry soon after natural gas made In- diana one of the most attractive fields in the country for glass making, and though glass manufacture has passed through its period of rise and decline Mr. Rau is one of the few who have continued, while oth- ers have come and gone, and is head of a large establishment at Indianapolis.
Mr. Rau was born at Louisville, Ken- tucky, August 15, 1856, son of Frederick G. and Rebecca (Schneider) Rau. His father, a native of Germany, learned both the butcher and baker's trades, and when about fifteen came to the United States. His home after that was at Louisville, Ken- tucky, and he was eighty-four years of age when he passed away. His wife was a na- tive of this country of German parentage. They had twelve children, ten reaching maturity.
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