USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 13
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who is a first lieutenant in France, hav- ing received his training in the officers training camp at Fort Benjamin Harri- son. Philip, the next in age of this fam- ily, is now manager of the Filbeck House at Terre Haute. Louis represents Mag- nus & Sons of Chicago. Christina is the wife of Mr. Marmon, who was formerly a teacher in the schools of Evansville, In- diana, and is now manager of the Mer- chants' Ice Company of Terre Haute. Julia is the wife of Christian Anacker, a contractor and builder at Indianapolis. Bertha, wife of Otto Jung, a Government forester, died in Germany. Daniel also died in Germany.
Mr. Gottfried Monninger acquired the equivalent of a liberal education in Ger- many, but at the age of eighteen left home and set out for the land which had already been so kind to other members of the fam- ily. When he arrived at Indianapolis in 1876 he was a large, pink-cheeked, Ger- man boy, a complexion that is generally associated with the inhabitants of the Rhine Valley. He had studied architec- ture and intended to perfect himself in that art in America, but the opportunity was not presented and he had to seek a livelihood elsewhere. He went to work in a butcher shop at ten dollars a month. This shop belonged to Jacob Peters and was located on Market Street. A few months later he went with his uncle, Dan Monninger, at 17-19 West Washington Street. There he learned the restaurant and liquor business, and Daniel Monnin- ger as well as Mr. Gottfried Monninger for many years sold the vintages from his father's vineyards in southern Ger- many.
In 1879, at the age of twenty-one, Mr. Monninger established a business for him- self at 23 Virginia Avenue, and empha- sized in his business the products of his father's farms, imported especially for distribution in Indianapolis. Four years later Mr. Monninger moved to Harrison and Pine streets and Fletcher Avenue, and soon afterward to the northeast corner of Ohio and Illinois streets, where he con- ducted his high class cafe and restaurant for twenty-nine years.
In 1880 Mr. Monninger married Cath- arine Stumpf, daughter of George Stumpf. Mrs. Monninger was born on a farm three miles sonth of Indianapolis.
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Her father was a blacksmith and farmer and widely known in both public and re- ligious affairs at Indianapolis. He was a very able speaker and was an influential member of the Zion Evangelical Church. He was a native of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Monninger became the parents of six sons and two daughters, a stalwart race, and they too have made use of their opportunities and gained honorable posi- tion in affairs. The oldest, Karl, has practically succeeded to his father's busi- ness and is owner and manager of a res- taurant on Washington Street adjoining the Park Theater. The son Arthur G. Monninger is a talented musician, com- pleted his musical education in Berlin, and both he and his wife are prominent in Indianapolis musical circles and are in- structors in the College of Musical Art on Pennsylvania Street. The daughter Ly- dia married Albert Roath, who is con- nected with a Boston shoe house and is a resident of Indianapolis. Olga, the sec- ond daughter is at home and Freddie re- sides in Chicago. Oscar is a graduate of Purdue University, and is an engineer in the employ of the W. H. Insley Manufac- turing Company at Indianapolis. Werner H. was a student of the University of Illi- nois where he enlisted as a wireless opera- tor in the United States Navy. Otto at- tends the Technical High School of Indian- apolis. All the children received high school educations in Indianapolis.
Mr. Gottfried Monninger in the matter of politics has maintained a rather inde- pendent attitude, though usually giving his support to the democratic party. His fam- ily are members of the Zion Evangelical Church. One of the principal interests of the family circle is music, and they are not only lovers of that divine art but most of them have musical accomplishments. Mr. Monninger has long been prominent in the Independent Turnverein and the Maen- nerchor, was for years secretary and treas- urer of the Turners, was for twenty-five years treasurer of the Turners' Building & Loan Association, served as grand treas- urer of the Independent Knights of Pyth- ias, now the Knights of Cosmos, is a mem- ber of the Knights of the Maccabees, and a life member of the German Orphan Home, and Home for the Aged.
MARY ROBERTS COOLIDGE, educator and author, was born in Kingsbury, Indiana, October 28, 1860, a daughter of Isaac Phillips and Margaret (Marr) Roberts. The father was an educator of distinction on agricultural subjects, serving as dean and professor of agriculture at Cornell University 1873-1903, and in his honor Roberts Hall at Ithaca was named. The mother was a daughter of William Marr of LaPorte. Indiana.
Mary Roberts Coolidge attended Cornell University and Stanford University, re- ceiving the degrees of Ph. B. and M. S. from the former and that of Ph. D. from the latter. After completing her literary training she rose to prominence as an edu- cator, teaching in many of the noted educa- tional institutions of the country, and aside from her educational work she is further distinguished as an author and as a pub- lic worker. She is a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta college society, of the Asso- ciation of Collegiate Alumnae, of the American Political Science Association, of the Authors League of America, and her church association is the Liberal Con- gregational.
On the 30th of July, 1906, at Berkeley, California. Mary Roberts was married to Dane Coolidge. a novelist and a member of a distinguished New England family.
FRED L. TREES, president of the Kokomo Trust Company, has been a business man of that city since early manhood, and there is hardly a movement connected in any way with the general welfare of the community during the last twenty years with which his name has not been associated and to which his influence and means have not contrib- uted some substantial help.
Mr. Trees was born on a farm in Howard County. Indiana, August 25, 1874. He is a son of John S. and Alice (Curlee) Trees. His grandfather, John S. Trees, was born in Shelby County, Indiana, and was a pioneer in Howard County. He was a farmer and had a large place six miles east of Kokomo. He died there in 1874 and had in the meantime accumulated consider- able estate. He was a republican and a member of the Methodist Church. Of his eight children only two are now living. John S. Trees, Jr., was born in Rushville, Indiana, in 1838, and is now living in Ko-
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komo at the advanced age of eighty. He had only such education as was supplied by the local schools of his day, and he took up farming near the old homestead in Lib- erty Township. He finally left the farm in 1884 and for eighteen years was a mer- chant at Center in Taylor Township of Howard County. On selling his business interests he retired to Kokomo. He also has a record as a soldier in the Civil war, having enlisted in 1861 in Company E of the Eleventh Indiana Cavalry, serving as commissary sergeant, and being on duty with the army for three years. He was given his honorable discharge in December, 1864, his last important battle being at Nashville under General Thomas. He there sustained a severe wound in the leg, and by the time he had recuperated the war was practically over. On returning home he took up farming. He has always been a stanch republican. Of his ten chil- dren all are still living, Fred being the fifth in age.
Fred L. Trees attended the public schools of Howard County and also had a course in the business college of Kokomo. He en- tered the real estate business as clerk and stenographer with his uncle, Mr. E. E. Springer, at Kokomo, and was with him, serving him faithfully, for nine years. In 1901 he engaged in the same line of busi- ness for himself, handling real estate, loans and insurance. In 1903 he and James D. Johnson organized the Kokomo Trust Com- pany, Mr. Johnson becoming president, Mr. W. E. Blacklidge, vice president, and Mr. Trees, secretary and treasurer. Mr. John- son died in 1909, and in the following year was succeeded as president by Mr. Trees. Mr. Trees is also a member of the Board of Directors of the South Kokomo Bank, and is interested in a number of business concerns in addition to the many public or semi-public institutions to which he has given his time.
Mr. Trees is a republican, is a member of the Methodist Church and active in church and Sunday School work. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, an Odd Fellow, Elk. and Knight of Pythias. He is a director of the Kokomo Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the republi- can social clubs of Indianapolis, is a mem- ber of the Board of Directors of the Ko- komo Country Club, is a director of the Methodist Episcopal Hospital at In-
dianapolis, and was one of the organizers and is now director of the Kokomo Young Men's Christian Association.
Mr. Trees has two sturdy young sons who are now in the uniform of the National Army. March 9, 1898, he married Miss Dora Elliott, daughter of the late Judge James F. Elliott of Kokomo. Three sons were born to them : Elliott J., born January 21, 1899 ; Robert C., born August 30, 1900; and Harry A., born August 11, 1902. The two older sons were students in DePauw University but resigned their studies to en- roll for military duty, while the third son is a student in the Kokomo public schools.
HON. EDGAR A. BROWN, forty years a member of the Indianapolis bar and a former judge of the Circuit Bench, has long been regarded as a wise and safe counselor rather than a brilliant advocate, and is distinguished by the quality and ideals of his work rather than by conspic- uons and temporary achievements. His professional associates have always looked upon him as a man of utmost reliability and of unimpeachable character, and he has long enjoyed the quiet dignity of an ideal follower of his calling.
Mr. Brown was born at Lenox, Ashta- bula County, Ohio, August 10, 1848. He is now the only survivor of eight children born to William Pliny Brown and Rachel Hower (Piper) Brown. His father was reared on a farm, but throughout the greater part of his life was engaged in varying occupations. In 1851 he removed to Austinburg, Ohio, and died there in 1866. The grandfather was an English- man and came to America as an officer in the British Army under Burgoyne in the Revolution. Following the war he mar- ried a lady at Albany, New York, and was stationed at Montreal, holding the position of conductor of stores for the British army.
Edgar A. Brown grew up in his native state, attended the Grand River Institute at Austinburg, Ohio, and was also a stu- dent of the old Quaker institution, Earlham College, at Richmond, Indiana. That he has accomplished so much in his career is probably due to the spur of necessity which made it necessary for him to earn his liv- ing while getting an education. For a number of years he was a teacher, and while doing that work read law and when qualified to practice came to Indianapolis.
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The successive years brought him the honors and emoluments of a good practice, and in 1890 he was called from his duties as a lawyer to the bench of the Marion Circuit Court. He served as a judge six years, and during that time he maintained the best ideals of the court. Since retiring from the bench he has continued in active practice as a lawyer.
In 1874 Judge Brown married Martha Julian. Her father, Jacob B. Julian, was a lawyer, and Judge Brown and he were for some time partners. Mrs. Brown died in 1882, leaving two children: Juliet R., Mrs. Christopher B. Coleman, and George R., who was second lieutenant of the Sup- ply Company of the Second Indiana Regi- ment and saw active service on the Mexi- can border. In 1884 Judge Brown married Lulie J. Eichordt. Their four children are: Helen M., Mrs. James H. Peterson ; Ruth, who died at the age of ten years; Martha Louise, Mrs. Stanley H. Smith; and Catherine Porter, Mrs. Don Herold.
Judge Brown was a republican until 1880, when he became a democrat on the tariff reform issue. He was president for a time and one of the organizers of the In- diana Tariff Reform League. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity and of the First Congregational Church.
THURMAN C. SANDERS. Since pioneer days the Sanders family has been one of prominence in Howard County, best known at the present time through Mr. Thurman C. Sanders because of his long association with the Court House and official affairs.
Mr. Sanders was born March 2, 1867, in Highland County, Ohio, son of Charles P. and Rachel E. (Mellett) Sanders. His father was born in the same county in 1844. The grandfather, Christopher Sand- ers, of Scotch ancestry, was a native of Vir- ginia, and came west on foot and settled as a pioneer in Highland County, Ohio, in 1817. Charles P. Sanders came to How- ard County and spent his last years here as a farmer. He also served two terms as county commissioner, his first term end- ing in 1884 and his second in 1887. Charles P. Sanders had his home in South Kokomo, and began his career as a druggist. He conducted a drug store in South Kokomo from 1893 to 1915. He was always inter- ested in local affairs, was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a
citizen above reproach in every particular.
Thurman C. Sanders is one of four brothers, all still living. He was educated in the common schools and took the nor- mal course in the Normal School at Leb- anon, Ohio. He gave eighteen years to educational work in Howard and other counties. From his duties as teacher he was appointed deputy treasurer of How- ard County, and faithfully discharged the duties of that office until he was regularly elected on the republican ticket as county treasurer in November, 1918. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men, and the Loyal Order of Moose. December 26, 1901, Mr. Sanders married Miss Emma K. Lu- cas. They have one daughter, Myrpha, born October 7, 1903.
WILLIAM JOSEPH GOLIGHTLY, of Kokomo, is in many ways one of the most interest- ing of the pioneers of the Indiana glass in- dustry. For the past twenty years he has been superintendent of the Kokomo plant of the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, but at an earlier date he was identified with glass making in this district when the chief attraction for glass manufacturers was nat- ural gas.
Mr. Golightly is an Englishman by birth, having been born at South Shields, Eng- land, April 4, 1860. He learned glass mak- ing in England and in August, 1890, ar- rived in America and was first employed at Butler, Pennsylvania, with the Standard Plate Glass Company. In February, 1891, he came to Kokomo, and for a time was one of the minor employes of the Diamond Plate Glass Company. In July of the same year he returned to Pennsylvania, and for several months was in a minor position with the Charleroi Plate Glass Company, and was then promoted to charge of its cast- ing department. In July, 1892, Mr. Go- lightly again returned to Kokomo, and re- entered the Diamond Plate Glass Company as night superintendent under M. P. El- liott. The interests that owned the Ko- komo plant transferred him in 1895 to a similar plant at Elwood, and in 1896 he went to Alexandria, Indiana, and was with the American Plate Glass Company until May, 1898. At that date he returned to Kokomo, and that city has since been his home and center of business activities. In October, 1898, he became superintendent
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of the Kokomo Plate Glass Plant, and has held that office continuously since.
The original plant was constructed at Kokomo in 1889. It was torn down in 1908, and the modern plant put in opera- tion in 1910 was constructed under the di- rect supervision of Mr. Golightly. The old plant, as already said, was established largely because of the accessibility of the natural gas supply. The product of the old Diamond Plate Glass Company was neither in quality nor volume up to the present high standard of the Pittsburg company. With the failure of the natural gas supply and with changing methods and improvements the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, successors to the old Diamond Company, finally destroyed the old plant and rebuilt it, and at the rebuilding every known improvement and facility was in- stalled, so that today the Kokomo plant, while not as large as some other plants of the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, is be- hind none of them in equipment and mod- ern methods. Today three times as much plate glass is turned out by this plant as was made by the old Diamond Company, and yet requiring about the same number of men.
As the plant is at present it covers over seven acres of ground, four acres under roof. The buildings are all of steel and concrete construction. The foundation for the heavy machinery is massive and in some instances has been built down to a depth of thirty-five feet. All the machinery is driven by electric power, generated chiefly by large gas engines. These engines are the most powerful of their type in Indiana with the sole exception of those in the power houses of the United States Steel Company at Gary.
About 650 men are constantly employed in normal times at the Kokomo plant. This plant is known as No. 8 of the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company.
Mr. Golightly during his long residence at Kokomo has been interested and has identified himself wherever possible with the welfare and progress of the city. He has been content with his business respon- sibilities as a source of good to the com- munity, and has never been a candidate for office, though in many ways he has helped forward movements promising ben- efit to the community. He is a director in the Howard National Bank and since 1898
has been affiliated with the Elks and since 1911 with the Masonic Order. He has taken all the local degrees, became a Knight Templar in 1912, and in 1913 was made a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason in the Indianapolis Valley. He has also been a member of the Kokomo Chamber of Commerce since it was organized, became a member of the Kokomo Country Club in 1917, and in politics votes as a republican.
Mr. Golightly has been twice married. His first wife came from England in 1893 and died in 1916. He has three married sons, all with families of their own, and has a married daughter and grandchildren. Two of his daughters still live at home.
FRANKLIN K. McELHENY was auditor of Miami County from January 1, 1911, to January 1, 1919, and has been a resident and citizen of Peru forty-five years, since early boyhood. Mr. McElheny has had a varied experience with the work of the world and with men and affairs, and before entering the auditor's office was one of the editors and publishers of the Miami County Sentinel. He is a veteran printer, having learned the trade forty years ago.
He was born at Mount Pleasant in Henry County, Iowa, November 2, 1861, during a temporary residence of his parents in that state. He is a son of Thomas K. and Mel- vina (Woods) MeElheny, his father a na- tive of Montgomery County, Ohio, and his mother of Starke County, Ohio. Thomas K. McElheny was taken by his parents to Carroll County, Indiana, when one year old, but grew to manhood in Cass County. He was educated in the common schools, and by the time he reached his majority was doing skillful work as a carpenter. He worked at his trade at Delphi in Car- roll County, married there, helped build the county court house, and then for a year or so was employed in the erection of buildings of the State Insane Asylum of Iowa at Mount Pleasant. In 1862 he re- turned with his family to Delphi, Indiana, continued his business as contractor and builder there, was at Rochester, Indiana, from 1869 until 1873, and then established his home at Peru. Much of the important building work in and around Peru during the next twenty or thirty years was handled through the organization as a con- tractor. He died January 25, 1909, sur- vived by his wife and three of their six
JosephM Francis , Bishop of Indianapolis.
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children. He was always a loyal democrat, served six years as township trustee of Peru Township, and for a number of years was treasurer of his lodge of the Odd Fellows. He was not a formal member of any church, though a Presbyterian by train- ing.
Franklin K. McElheny acquired his early training in the public schools of Delphi and Rochester and was twelve years old when brought to Peru. He continued his schooling in that city several years, and at the age of fifteen began working in the factory of the old Howe Sewing Machine Company. He also worked in other fac- tories and shops, but in 1878, at the age of seventeen, began an apprenticeship to learn the trade of printer in the office of the Peru Republican. He continued steadily at the printer's trade, both in newspaper and job work, until 1899, when he acquired an interest in the Miami County Sentinel. After that he divided his time between the editorial office and the printing rooms, and introduced a vigorous policy of politics which was reflected in increased circulation and increased influence of the paper as the leading democratie organ of Miami County.
In 1910 Mr. McElheny accepted the democratie nomination for the office of county auditor, was elected in November of that year, and was re-elected for a sec- . ond term in 1914. He was one of the most popular men in the Court House and made his office administration as efficient as it was cordial in its atmosphere to all who transacted business there. Mr. McElheny is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias.
January 31, 1894, he married Miss Mar- garet A. MeLaughlin. Mrs. McElheny was born in Decatur County, Indiana, July 19, 1867, daughter of Thomas and Ann (Cuff) Mclaughlin, natives of Ireland. Mrs. Mc- Elheny was educated in the common schools and has been a splendid home maker and a source of inspiration to her husband in his career. They have four children : Lou- ise, Robert, Anna, and Richard, all of whom have received the advantages of the grammar and high schools of Peru.
WALTER G. RECORDS is senior member of the firm Records & Faust, clothing, hats, and men's furnishing goods, one of the largest establishments of its kind in Madi-
son County. The spirit and standard of their business is well expressed in their slo- gan that it is a store for "The Boys."
Mr. Records was born at Lawrence, In- diana, in 1872, son of Isaac C. and Mary J. (Alexander) Records. He is of Scotch- Irish ancestry. His father was thoroughly trained for the profession of medicine and surgery in a New York college but prac- ticed only a few years. For twenty-six terms he taught school in Miami County, Indiana, and about thirty years ago moved to Elwood, where he died in 1907.
Walter G. Records received most of his education at Miami, and when sixteen or seventeen years old came to Elwood with his parents. He assisted his father in bus- iness for a time, and gained an all around knowledge of salesmanship in the clothing business as an employe for twelve years with Narvin E. Phillips at Elwood. Dur- ing that time there was not a detail of ex- perience in the clothing line which did not fall to his lot as an employe. For four years he was associated with Henry Jor- dan and later with the firm of Beitman & Greathouse and in 1904 joined Mr. Fanst in the present business, which has grown and brought a high degree of prosperity to both of the partners.
Mr. Records is a republican, is affiliated with Elwood Lodges of Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks No. 368, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of the Maccabees, Improved Order of Red Men, and the family are members of the Presbyterian Church. He is married and has three children : Paul P., born in 1898, Walter Frederick, born in 1904, and Thomas W., who was born February 10, 1910, and was killed by an auto April 5, 1917. The son Paul at the age of twenty was a corporal and crew chief in the One Hundred and Eightieth Squadron of Avia- tors at Kelly Field No. 2, San Antonio, Texas. He spent five months in England with the Three Hundred and Twentieth Aero Squadron, arriving home on the sixth of December on the "Laplander," and was discharged at Camp Sherman December 22, 1918.
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RT. REV. JOSEPH MARSHALL FRANCIS, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Indiana- polis, was consecrated to his present office on September 21, 1899. Since then he has become more than the leading figure of his
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church in Indiana. Bishop Francis exer- cises a power whose source is the spirit of fellowship with his fellow men, a bigness of heart and ready sympathy, and a broad understanding of the life and interests around him. With his great personal pop- ularity he has been able to enter many movements and carry an influence suffi- cient to insure success, apart from the prestige associated with him as head of the church. It will be recalled he presided at a monster patriotic meeting held in Indianapolis for the purpose of endors- ing President Wilson and Congress in their declaration of war against Ger- many. Bishop Francis' patriotism pro- ceeds from a fundamental conviction of the righteousness of war in the present in- stance, and he put it to proof when, though past military age, he tendered the offer of his services in whatever capacity the au- thorities deemed they could be used most effectively. He was appointed as chaplain of Base Hospital Thirty-Two, and served with that organization in France until the autumn of 1918.
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