USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 38
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After the death of his mother Charles C. Hollis lived in the home of his grand- mother until he was twenty-three years of age. May 22, 1884, at Indianapolis, he married Miss Helena Schaaf, of a promi- nent German-American family of that . ishing and upholstering business at Chi- city. Three children were born to their cago. marriage.
For nineteen years Mr. Charles C. Hol- lis was connected with the Indianapolis Transfer Company as agent. In 1900 he removed to Detroit, Michigan, and became district manager of the Michigan State Telephone Company, with headquarters at Battle Creek. In 1908 he returned to In- dianapolis and was one of the managing officials of the Central Union Telephone Company in that city. In 1913 he was transferred to Muncie as manager of the business in that city.
He is a member of the Muncie Business Association, Commercial Club, Rotary Club, and the Illinois Commercial Men's Association. Mr. Hollis attends the Ger- man Reformed Church and in politics is a democrat.
AUGUST C. HEITSCHMIDT is one of the oldest active business men of Michigan City and for many years has carried on an ex- tensive trade in flour, feed, agricultural implements, wood, coal, and building ma- terials.
He is a native of Chicago. His grand- father, John Heitschmidt, was born in Prussia and brought his family to Amer- ica with the intention of settling in Chi- cago. He died in LaPorte while en route to that city. His son, August Heitschmidt, went to Chicago as early as 1857, when it was a small city and with little promise of its present importance. In 1865 he re- turned to Indiana, and bought a flour mill in Cool Spring Township of LaPorte County. He operated it as a custom mill for two years, and then returned to Chi- cago and for some years was engaged in
the grocery and feed business. He died in Chicago at the age of seventy-seven. The maiden name of his wife was Julia Ziemann. She was born in Mecklenburg Schwerin, Germany. Her father, John Ziemann, came to America and spent his last years in Michigan City.
August C. Heitschmidt was reared to a life of industry. When only eleven years of age he became self-supporting. For three years he worked on a farm at Wood- stock, Illinois, then lived another year in Chicago, worked on a farm near Dundee, Illinois, a year, and before coming to Mich- igan City he was employed in the iron fin-
Mr. Heitschmidt located at Michigan City in 1882. In 1888 he entered his pres- ent business, and has conducted one of the largest supply centers for the commodities above named in the northern part of La- Porte County. He is also a charter mem- ber and a director in the Michigan Trust and Savings Bank of Michigan City.
In 1887 Mr. Heitschmidt married Miss Emma Warkentine, daughter of Henry and Louise Warkentine. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Heitschmidt is Ella, wife of Joseph I. Fladiger. Mr. and Mrs. Fladiger have a daughter named Marjorie. Mr. and Mrs. Heitschmidt are members of St. John's Church at Michigan City, and he is a director of the Michigan City Trust and Savings Bank, is independent in politics and has served two terms in the City Coun- cil and also as a police commissioner. He is affiliated with Lodge No. 230, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Acme Lodge No. 83, Ancient Free and Accepted Ma- sons, Michigan City Chapter No. 25, Royal Arch Masons, Michigan City Council No. 56, Royal and Select Masons, Michigan City Commandery No. 30, Knights Temp- lar, and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Hammond. He is also a member of the National American Union.
GEORGE WILLIAM KRIETENSTEIN. This is a name which for over fifty years has been identified with the drug and paint trade at Terre Haute, but that is only one of many. associations which make Krietenstein a name of prominence in that section of the state. Members of the family have been active in the civic and charitable institu- tions, and George W. Krietenstein is also
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widely known over Indiana in a political way.
The venerable head of the family is Carl `Krietenstein, who has been a resident of Terre Haute for nearly sixty years and has a career which may well be recalled in some detail as a matter of instruction and in- spiration to the present generation. He was born in Germany, October 10, 1837, and is now eighty-one years of age. His parents were G. Henry and Wilhelmina (Ploeger) Krietenstein. Educated in his native country, where he learned the brick layer's trade, Carl Krietenstein came to America in the spring of 1858. The sum- mer of that year he spent at Freeport, Illi- nois, and the following winter at New Or- leans, and in the spring of 1859 arrived at Terre Haute, where his first employment was as a gardener and teamster. The next year he went to work as a section hand for the Terre Haute & Richmond Railroad, putting in eleven hours a day for wages of a dollar a day. In the spring of 1861 he took a position as a brakeman on a freight train between Terre Haute and Indianap- olis. This train was soon discontinued, and his next work was at wages of a dollar a day carrying a hod for a local plasterer and cistern builder.
In August, 1861, Carl Krietenstein vol- unteered for service in Company E of the Thirty-Second Regiment of Indiana. This was the first German regiment raised in the state. Mr. Krietenstein was with it in all its battles and engagements for over three years, and was mustered out and re- ceived his honorable discharge in Septem- ber, 1864. Returning to Terre Haute, he worked as assistant baggage master and night watchman with the Vandalia Rail- road until 1866, after which he was freight and money clerk with the Adams Express Company and later with the American; Express Company. It was in November, 1868, that he formed the connection which proved a long and straight road to his sub- sequent business fortunes. He entered the service of a firm conducting a drug store in the old Terre Haute Hotel. He was with that one firm for over twelve years, and in that time he carefully laid the foundation for his independent business career. In June, 1881, he became mem- ber of the drug firm of Shinkle & Krieten- ·stein, the name of which was soon changed to Adamson & Krietenstein. In 1885 Mr.
Krietenstein became sole proprietor of the business and in the following year moved to the corner of Fourth and Ohio streets, and in 1896 bought a brick business block at the southwest corner of Fourth and Cherry streets. For many years the business has been a combination of drugs and a complete line of paints and glass, and Carl Krietenstein was an independ- ent merchant in these lines for over thirty years. His name is also prom- inently identified in other ways with Terre Haute. In 1860 he became a mem- ber of the German Benevolent Society and was continuously an officer of that organi- zation from 1865. For over forty years he has been affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, has served as com- mander of Morton Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and has been a faithful re- publican since casting his first vote in America. In February, 1860, while still a wage earner and manual toiler in Terre Haute, Carl Krietenstein married Miss Mary Glanzer, who was also born in Ger- many and came to the United States in 1858. They lived happily together in an ideally domestic companionship for over half a century, until the death of Mrs. Carl Krietenstein in 1912. To their mar- riage were born five children, three of whom grew to maturity: Minnie, wife of Walter A. Haley ; William, of Terre Haute ; and George William.
George William Krietenstein was born at Terre Haute July 4, 1871, and he grew up in one of the good and substantial homes of the city and has known the life of its streets and institutions for forty years. He attended the local public schools, and at the age of fourteen began assisting his father in the store. Respon- sibilities were given him in increasing measure, and he was one of the factors in the local management of the business until 1901.
In that year Mr. Krietenstein was ap- pointed custodian of the State House at Indianapolis by Governor Durbin. He was away from Terre Haute looking after his duties at Indianapolis for two years, when le resigned and resumed his active connec- tion with his father's business. During the same year Governor Durbin appointed him deputy state oil inspector, and by re- appointment from Governor Hanly he filled that office six years. Mr. Krietenstein has
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always been prominent in the republican party, and has done much to build up and keep up the organization in this section of the state. In 1900 he was district man- ager of the Lincoln League of Indiana, and has been identified with various other po- litical organizations. He served on the staff of Governor Mount with the rank of major. In 1915 Mr. Krietenstein was elected sheriff of Vigo County, and held that office until January, 1917. His work as sheriff was characterized by unflinching performance of duty and with such hon- esty and capability that he naturally aroused much opposition and in January, 1917, he was practically deposed from of- fice through the influence of the brewers of the state. Since leaving office he has bought his father's business and is now sole proprietor.
Mr. Krietenstein has been prominent in the Sons of Veterans, was treasurer of the department of Indiana three years and its commander in 1901-02. He is a member of the Masonic Order, of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Or- der of Elks, the Knights of the Maccabees, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Trav- elers' Protective Association.
On May 2, 1893, Mr. Krietenstein mar- ried Miss Minnie Schirathin, daughter of Jacob Schirathin, of Milwaukee, Wiscon- sin. They have two children, Bertha, born in 1894 and now the wife of Herschel G. Tuttle, of Terre Haute, and Carl Mount, who was born in 1898, and though not yet twenty years of age has made a brilliant record. He is a graduate of the Culver Military Academy, and is now serving in the United States Navy.
WILLIAM HAERLE, who died at Indian- apolis November 26, 1905, had been a resi- dent of that city for over forty years and had a career of great usefulness and honor though he never sought any of the conspic- uous positions in public affairs.
He was born in the Kingdom of Wuer- temberg, Germany, April 1, 1837, and grew to manhood in his native country, obtain- ing a good practical education. He served a short apprenticeship as a clerk in Ger- many, and there and at home learned and practiced the lessons of frugality and in- dustry. At the age of nineteen he came to America, and after a brief residence in Cincinnati and Chicago came to Indianap-
olis about 1849. Here he was employed in the store of Charles Mayer. He chose for himself a rigorous routine of self denial,. saved nearly all he earned, and in 1862 was enabled to set himself up modestly in busi- ness, and after that for over forty years was a merchant and developed a splendid business. Success came to him through good management, strict integrity, and un- failing courtesy. While he aided politi- cal campaigns occasionally for the good of the community that was not his natural sphere. He was intensely devoted to his home, and spent his leisure hours among his loved ones surrounded by books and flowers, for which he had a great fondness.
In 1865, at Louisville, he married Miss Julia A. Pfingst, who was also born in Ger- many. She died in 1913. Their three surviving children are George C., Minnie, Mrs. George W. Leighton of Chicago, and Alma, Mrs. Roland H. Sherman of Win- chester, Massachusetts.
George C. Haerle, the oldest son, was born at Indianapolis September 23, 1867. He attended grammar and high school, and early in youth became associated with his father in business. He continued that business after his father's death until 1911. Since that date he has been occupied chiefly with his own private business affairs. In 1905 he married Norma Hollweg. Her father, Louis Hollweg, was one of the old and well known citizens of Indianapolis. Three children have been born to their marriage : Louis H., Elizabeth, and Rudolf.
WALTER L. LEWIS has achieved a definite place in business affairs and is junior part- ner of Lewis Brothers, druggists, at Pen- dleton. He represents an old family in Indiana and one that has been established for many generations in America, the orig- inal ancestors having come from Wales. The Lewises lived for many years iu Penn- sylvania.
His grandfather, Simeon Lewis, came west to Indiana when a young man, driving overland. For many years he was a mer- chant at Huntsville. His business there was continued by his son H. F. Lewis, who in 1884 moved to Pendleton and was a busi- ness man of that town the rest of his life. HI. F. Lewis married Eleanor Kinnard.
Walter L. Lewis, son of H. F. and Eleanor Lewis, was born at Pendleton in 1884. He attended the common and high
JOHN A. ROSS
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schools at Pendleton, and had a college course from 1901 to 1905. After leaving college he was for three years foreman and engineer with the National Concrete Com- pany of Indianapolis. He then entered the employment of Lewis Brothers, and after his father's death in 1911 became a member of this firm, an old established firm for handling drugs, paints, and oils at Pendleton.
In 1912 Mr. Lewis married Helen Fay Bement, of Buffalo, New York, daughter of J. L. and Helen (Sutherland) Bement. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have two children, Helen Fay, born in 1913, and Eleanor K., born in 1915.
Mr. Lewis is a republican and has been very active in supporting his party. He served as secretary of the township com- mittee in 1914, and has been a delegate to the Republican State Convention. He is affiliated with Madison Lodge No. 44, An- cient Free and Accepted Masons, Pendle- ton Chapter No. 53, Royal Arch Masons, Council No. 42, Royal and Select Masons, and is a member of the Hicksite Friends Church.
1
JOHN A. Ross, president of the Ameri- can National Bank of Frankfort, and for many years a successful and widely known contractor of public works, has many ideal qualities of the American business man. He is forceful in action, prompt in deci- sion, quick to recognize an opportunity and discriminate between the false and the true. These practical qualities have in- sured his business success, and in his fam- ily, among his friends and as a citizen his relations have been productive of no less esteem.
Mr. Ross was born near Lafayette in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, January 26, 1861, a son of Alexander and Mary (John- son) Ross. His father was born in Ire- land of Scotch ancestry and came to this country at the age of thirteen, soon after- ward locating at Lafayette, Indiana. He died at the age of seventy-two. The mother was born in Sweden and was brought to America at the age of twelve. She died at the age of fifty-three. The parents were married in Tippecanoe County, and of their eight children two died in infancy, while five sons and one daughter are still living.
John A. Ross, the oldest of these chil-
dren, had about the average opportunities of the Indiana farm boy. He attended public schools and also took a course in bookkeeping and civil engineering. From the age of fifteen until twenty-one he was helping his father in the general contract- ing business, and that early experience pointed the way for his own permanent career.
In 1882 Mr. Ross first came to Frank- fort, and immediately engaged in general contracting. He continued in the same business at Lafayette, Frankfort, and at Huntington, and in 1887 returned to Frankfort, which now has been his home for thirty-two years. Mr. Ross took up a large field of general contracting, has built innumerable gravel and stone roads, county bridges and streets, has installed sewerage and other municipal improvements, and his enterprise was also extended to the building of many large and important buildings. For many years the firm was known as Ross and Hedgecock. They were awarded contracts for improvements in many of the principal streets of Frank- fort. In Clinton County they constructed miles of gravel roads, many iron bridges, and their early works have stood the test of time and serve to illustrate the charac- ter of the men behind the business. In 1890 this firm established the Frankfort Brick Works, with a capacity of between 3.500,000 and 4,000,000 bricks per year. The plant employed from sixty to seventy men. It was visited by a destructive fire in 1891, causing a loss of from $15,000 to $18,000. The yards were rebuilt on a much larger scale. Mr. Ross has never had any serious difficulty with his labor. Strikes have not been a part of his business history, and this is due almost entirely to the uniformly just and courteous treat- ment of his men and his recognition of their rights.
There are many large building contracts that might be mentioned to illustrate the important scope of the business. He erected the Rossville High School, the Michigan- town High School, the Forest High School, the First Ward School in Frank- fort, the Ross Block, the Dorner Block. the Fatzinger Block, Palmer Hospital, Kelley Block, the Keys Block, the American Na- tional Bank Building, the publie heating plant, erected the Public Library, the Post- office building in Frankfort, and many
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similar private and public structures in In- diana, Illinois and Ohio, and even across the international boundary line in Canada. He organized the Frankfort Construction Company. This firm laid many brick, bit- ulithic and asphalt streets in Anderson, Evansville and other cities. They were bridge builders and contractors with the Chicago and Eastern Illinois and the To- ledo, St. Louis and Western railroads, and built bridges that would aggregate a total of more than four miles for these com- panies.
Mr. Ross retired from the contracting business in 1915. He has been president of the American National Bank throughout its existence, helping organize it in 1902. He was also one of the organizers of the Frankfort Heating Company and the People's Life Insurance Company and was the largest stockholder in each at the time they were organized. Among property in- terests he owned several business blocks and several hundred acres of farming land in Indiana.
February 12, 1884, Mr. Ross was mar- ried to Miss Lola A. Curtis. She was born in Lafayette, Indiana, and after a beauti- ful life of religious devotion, love for her family and twenty-three years of happy companionship she passed away February 21, 1907. She was the mother of four chil- dren, who deeply cherish her memory and all she did for them as children. The old- est, Worley A., was well trained for a sue- cessful business career, but at the outbreak of the war with Germany he enlisted in the Sixteenth Engineer Corps and was with one of the first units of the American Forces in France in 1917. He earned some of the credit and fame paid to the American en- gineers during 1917. His service was per- manently interrupted when he and some of his comrades became the victims of ptomaine poisoning. Several of his com- rades died, and he was invalided home in 1918, and has not yet recovered his health and strength. Worley A. Ross married Grace F. Beebe, and they have one daugh- ter, Helen Frances. The second child of Mr. Ross is Venita, wife of Walter R. Dyer, of Boone, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Dyer have one son, John Sidney. Margaret Z. Ross married Dr. E. M. Myers, of Boone, Iowa, and is the mother of two sons, Edward Morrison, Jr., and John Ross. Dorothy T. Ross, the youngest daughter, is
a graduate of the Frankfort High School and of the National Park Seminary at Forest Glen, Maryland. She now resides at her father's home.
Mr. Ross has always been an active par- ticipant in politics, voting as a republican, but never had any desire to be an office holder. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Ross contributed to the win- ning of the war his individual influence and means besides sending his only son overseas. As county chairman for all the Liberty Loans he had the satisfaction of seeing every quota over-subscribed.
JOHN B. ALLEN, a United States senator and a lawyer, was born at Crawfordsville, Indiana, May 18, 1845. He served his country in the Civil war, was afterward admitted to the bar, and removed to Wash- ington Territory in 1870. He served the territory as a United States attorney, and was elected to Congress for the term 1889- 91, but resigned on his election as United States senator at the admission of Wash- ington as a state.
C. J. MCCRACKEN is secretary and treas- urer of the Denney-MeCracken Fruit Com- pany, Incorporated, at Muncie. Mr. Mc- Cracken engaged in the produce business at Muncie several years ago, and he and his associates have gradually developed a busi- less that is now one of the largest in East- ern Indiana. It covers a large field, deal- ing ouly wholesale and as jobbers. They have an extensive warehouse and plant, and handle a large proportion of the fruits and produce distributed among the retail trade over a large territory surrounding Muncie.
Mr. McCracken was born in Grant County, Indiana, July 27, 1882. He is of Scotch ancestry in the paternal line. His great-grandfather, David MeCracken, was a native of Scotland, and on coming to America located at Philadelphia. He bought land there and engaged in farm- ing it. That land has since been taken into the city limits, but he occupied it as a farm until his death. At the present time a law suit is pending between the heirs to that property and the City of Philadel- phia. The heirs claim that their legal title to the land has never been canceled. David MeCracken on coming to America joined the Friends Church at Philadelphia, and was a devout adherent of that religion the
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rest of his life, and the same faith has since been transmitted to his posterity. Long before much was thought or said of temperance he was an ardent advocate of the principles. He began voting as a whig and afterwards was a republican.
The MeCracken family was founded in Grant County, Indiana, during the '40s by David MeCracken, Jr., who came here when young and unmarried and settled on a farm near Marion. He lived there until 1872, when he went out to Nebraska with his family and was a farmer on the plains of that state for several years. In 1912 he returned to Indiana and lived with his children the rest of his days. C. J. Mc- Cracken is a son of E. J. and Margaret (Drucksmiller) McCracken. His father was born in this state and has been a highly successful farmer in Grant County. Since 1914 he has lived in the City of Marion. He is a stanch republican and at the pres- ent writing is a candidate for the office of county commissioner. Grant County normally gives a large majority to the re- publican ticket. He is the owner of two good farms in Grant County, and has made something of a record in that section as a hog raiser. He and his wife have three sons, C. J. being the oldest.
C. J. McCracken grew up on his father's farm, and acquired his early education in the common schools, graduated in 1898 from Roseberg Academy, and then took a two years' commercial course in the Marion Normal School.
After his education he went to work as a stenographer at Matthews, Indiana, later at North Manchester, and in 1905 accepted a position of clerical work with the Lake Erie and Western Railway. He was in the railway service for six years, but in 1911 left it to take up the produce business. Since its incorporation he has been one of the aggressive men in The Denney-Mc- Cracken Fruit Company. The president of this corporation is Will H. Denney and the vice president G. Clifton Denney. Their offices and warehouse are within half a block of the Union Station at Muncie and conveniently located on the Lake Erie tracks. While they began as fruit and pro- duce jobbers, they now have a large depart- ment devoted to flour, and handle a large share of the flour distributed in this part ·of the state.
Mr. MeCracken is an active member of
the Friends Church at Muncie and is a re- publican in politics. He married Miss Ethel Hurst. She is of English family, her people having come to Indiana from Mary- land. Her father died in 1912. He was a member of the Methodist Church. Mr. and Mrs. McCracken have two children: Mar- garet, born June 18, 1913, and David, born October 12, 1914.
ANDREW J. CRAWFORD. The manufac- ture of iron and steel in Indiana is now almost completely localized along the shores of Lake Michigan in the extreme northwest- ern corner of the state. It is not in a strict sense a local industry, since the raw materials, including the iron ores, are not produced in Indiana at all. There was a time when the iron ore deposits of the Wa- bash Valley in particular were utilized as the basis of some rather flourishing indus- tries, and it is with the history of this business that the name of Andrew J. Craw- ford is most interestingly associated.
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