USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 67
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FRANCIS BARBOUR WYNN, M. D. From the elevated plane of public and profes- sional service, down through the fields of its usefulness to the community and into the privacy of his family circle, the track of the life of Dr. Francis Barbour Wynn has been characterized by a constant and
consistent uprightness born of high prin- ciples. His professional career has been marked by continuous action, the honors which he has been tendered have been numerous and eminent, his achievements and accomplishments have given him dis-' tinction among the most prominent of Indiana's sons, and as a citizen he has ever publicly displayed his patriotism.
Doctor Wynn was born May 28, 1860, at Springfield, Indiana, a son of James Mar- cellus and Margaret (Barbour) Wynn, and traces his ancestry in America back to the arrival in this country of John Wynn, in 1818. John Wynn, eldest son of James and Isabella Wynn, was born at Stokesley, England, December 5, 1797, and was edu- cated for a navigator, having received a very thorough training in astronomy and higher mathematics. In the year 1818, at the age of twenty-one, he came to America, and after long journeyings by stage, afoot and by flat-boat, reached the new settle- ment at Brookville, Indiana. His precious navigating and surveying instruments and library (which was a wonder to the pioneer region) were pawned at Cincinnati to meet his final expenses in getting settled and it was one of the happiest moments of his life when he had made enough money to re- deem them. In the new country his serv- ices were at once in demand as surveyor and teacher, and many who afterwards reached national distinction were his pri- vate pupils, amongs them ex-Postmaster General Tyner. John Wynn married Rachel Goudie, and to them were born a large family of children, among them James Marcellus Wynn, father of Doctor Wynn.
James M. Wynn was born at Brookville, Indiana, February 14, 1833, and died De- cember 23, 1898. He enjoyed the educa- tional privileges secured through having a father who was a highly gifted teacher and the idol of his son, and also received some collegiate training at Brookville Col- lege. He was a farmer of advanced ideas, and exceptional intelligence, often making addresses upon stockraising, scientific farm- ing and road building and thus became widely and favorably known throughout Southern Indiana as a man of great force, character and influence. An intensely par- tisan republican, he dared unearth and se- cure the conviction of "repeaters" at election, sending them to the penitentiary,
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in the face of bold threats upon his life. Yet he was loved and admired by his po- litical enemies, and his strong hold upon the general public caused him to be sent several times as representative from his county to the Indiana Legislature. He was an enthusiatstic member of the Ma- sonic fraternity and was equally active in church affairs and prominent in religious counsels. Mr. Wynn married Margaret Barbour, who was one of the early grad- uates of Oxford College, and a classmate of Caroline Scott, wko later became the first lady of the land as Mrs. Benjamin Harrison. Mrs. Wynn was a woman of exceptional intelligence, great moral force and spiritual convictions and for her day was gifted as a musician. Her ancestry led back to very sturdy Scotch-Irish stock. They contended for religious liberty in Cromwell's time, as did their descendants in the New World for political and re- ligious freedom. The paternal grand- mother of Mrs. Wynn, Ann (Warren) Barbour, was an aunt of Gen. Joseph War- ren, the hero of Bunker Hill. On the ma-' ternal side, her grandfather, Richard Me- Clure, married Rebecca Calhoun, aunt of John C. Calhoun, the American statesman. To John and Ann ( Warren) Barbour were born seven sons and three daughters. The youngest son, Samuel, was born March 4, 1782. He married Mary McClure and they came to America in 1819, settling at Brook- ville, Indiana. In a family of five sons and five daughters, Margaret, who became the mother of Dr. Frank B. Wynn, was the youngest.
Francis Barbour Wynn had ideal train- ing in a beautiful country home. Good fortune gave him country school teachers of unusual ability, one of them afterwards attaining national distinction as a member of Congress. He graduated from De Pauw University in 1883 and after taking the medical courses at the University of Cincinnati (Ohio Medical College) served successively as house physician in the Good Samaritan Hospital of that city and as as- sistant superintendent of the Northern Hospital for Insane at Logansport, Indiana. Two years were then devoted to post- graduate work in New York, Berlin, Vienna and London, after which he commenced practice in the City of Indianapolis, which has since been his home.
Doctor Wynn's professional career may
be briefly summarized as follows: He be- came the first city sanitarian of Indianap- olis in 1895. He soon became identified with the faculty of the Indiana Medical College, now the Indiana University School of Medicine, in which his present title is professor of medicine. He has contributed many papers and addresses to medical jour- nals, and medical societies-local, state and national. His most conspicuous service in this connection has been the founding of the scientific exhibit of the American Medi- cal Association, of which he was director for seventeen years. In recognition of this service the association presented him with a loving cup at the meeting held in the Harvard University buildings in 1906.
The activities of Doctor Wynn other than professional have been varied in character. He was for a number of years chairman of the Civic Improvement Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Indianapolis, in which were inaugurated numerous move- ments for civic betterment. Some of these have become statewide in their influence. One of importance was the initiation of a plan for an adequate and appropriate cen- tennial celebration of Indiana's admission to the Union. He was chairman of the first Centennial Committee which published a very elaborate report, making strong argument for a plan which should be edu- cational and historical rather than commer- cial in scope. Following the general lines of these suggestions the Indiana Legisla- ture passed a law creating the Historical Commission one of the chief functions of which was to have supervision of Indiana's Centennial celebrations in 1916. The gov- ernor was elected president of the commis- sion, and Doctor Wynn, vice president and acting chairman of the work. The suc- cess of the plan was so satisfactory that Illinois adopted the same scheme two years later.
It was through the initiative of Doctor Wynn that the State Historical Commis- sion fathered the movement for state parks, as a Centennial memorial. Money was ap- propriated to carry ou a campaign for public subscriptions for the purchase of Turkey Run-one of the most beautiful scenic spots of the Central West, which was threatened with destruction. Through the activity of a special committee, not only were the wonderful trees and gorges of Turkey Run saved from the vandalism of
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commercialism, but state parks have be- come a popular reality. In recognition of past service in connection with this work, the present governor has made Doc- tor Wynn chairman of the State Park Board. His intimate relationship with dif- ferent civic activities has led naturally to frequent demands upon him for addresses before clubs, public bodies and graduating classes at colleges. No Hoosier is a more ardent lover of the outdoors than is Doctor Wynn. He is president of the Indiana Na- ture Study Club. His greatest passion is for mountain climbing which he charac- terized in a recent magazine article as "The Sport Royal." He is the author of a poem entitled "The Mountain King," dedicated to the Mazama Club of Portland, Oregon, at the time the members of that club made the ascent of Mount Rainier over the difficult Winthrop Glacier. To him the out-doors is like the elixir of per- petual youth; renewing strength for the daily tasks of busy professional life, and giving larger vision of service to the com- munity and to his fellowman.
Doctor Wynn is very popular with the student body at the Indiana University School of Medicine, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1895, having been successively professor of physiology, professor of pathology and professor of medicine. In 1915 he was honored by elec- tion to the presidency of the Indiana State Medical Society. In addition to his other activities he is a member of the advisory board of the Indianapolis Public Library, and also holds membership in the Masonic fraternity, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Columbia Club, the Indiana Academy of Science, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and the Rocky Mountain and Mazama Mountain clubs, and others. His religious convictions are those of the Methodist Episcopal Church. While he is generally rated as a republican he is not radical in his views and is inclined to vote for the man instead of being bound by party ties. Doctor Wynn was not eligible for service in the great war, but was a member of the Selective Service Board, state chairman of the Volunteer Medical Service Corps, and upon invitation of the chairman of the medical section of the Council of National Defense, spent part of the summer of 1918 in the Council of
National Defense at Washington, D. C., assisting in the organization particularly of the Volunteer Medical Service Corps. The latter service was gladly rendered the Government on a "dollar-a-year" salary.
At Dayton, Ohio, June 25, 1895, Doctor Wynn was united in marriage with Carrie Louise Arnold, of Dayton, a member of a New England family who traces their ante- cedents back to the Revolutionary patriots. To this union there was born one son : Dr. James Arnold Wynn, a practitioner of medicine at Indianapolis.
SAMUEL M. FOSTER has for many years been prominently identified with the indus- trial life of Fort Wayne, a leader in its financial, manufacturing and social life. He was born in Coldenham, Orange County, New York, December 12, 1851, the youngest of seven children of John L. and Harriet (Scott) Foster. He became iden- tified with the dry goods business at the age of fourteen in New York, in an estab- lishment of his brothers, but three years afterward located at Troy, New York, where at the age of twenty-one he formed a partnership with his brother, the late A. Z. Foster, in the retail dry goods business. The Troy venture proved profitable, and two years later Samuel M. Foster found himself financially able to carry out a plan to secure a collegiate education. He sold his interest in the Troy establishment and entered Yale at New Haven, Connecticut, and while carrying on his studies also found time to serve as one of the editors of the Yale Courant. He won an appoint- ment on the junior exhibition, earned the high honor of a selection as one of the Townsend men from a competitive class of 132, and was named by the faculty as one of the ten to represent the class on the platform on commencement day. He grad- nated on the 26th of June, 1879, and was given his Bachelor of Arts degree.
Mr. Foster came to Fort Wayne in the fall of 1879, and entered the law office of Robert S. Taylor, but a short time after- ward, on account of impaired health, he left the more or less confining work of the law office to enter journalism. The Satur- day Evening Record was established at Dayton, Ohio, with Mr. Foster as its editor and proprietor, but his experience there was brief, and in 1880 he returned to Fort Wayne and resumed his connection with
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Foster Brothers. But in 1882 the firm was dissolved, and Samuel M. Foster suc- ceeded to the charge of the firm's dry goods department. It was while encoun- tering reverses in the business world that he became the "father of the shirt waist," which laid the foundation of his fortune and provided the women of the world with the most useful and the most universally worn garment ever devised. The shirt waist factory of the F. M. Foster Company is now one of Fort Wayne's leading man- ufacturing institutions. The foundation of the Lincoln National Bank in 1904, with Mr. Foster as its president, has left the conduct of the manufacturing business largely to his associates, while his personal attention is centered more closely upon the interests of the bank.
During an extended period also Mr. Foster was president of one of the city's most important manufacturing interests, the Wayne Knitting Mills, and he is now chairman of the board of directors of the institution. He is one of the owners of the plant of the Western Gas Construction Company, makers of gas holders and gas making apparatus, also holds a valuable interest in the Fort Wayne Box Company, makers of paper boxes and cartons, and is also president of the Lincoln Trust Com- pany, a state institution with a South Side branch.
Since the organization of the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company in 1905, now recognized as one of the leading in- stitutions of its kind in America, Mr. Fos- ter has served as its president. But what he perhaps considers as the most important of his activities as it bears upon the public good refers to an incident more than twenty years ago when he precipitated a fight for the principle that interest on pub- lic funds should not pass into the hands of the official in charge of the public's busi- ness, but should belong to the people and be used for their benefit. On this issue he was elected a member of the Fort Wayne Board of School Trustees. His fight re- sulted in the present Depository Law, which requires that interest on all public funds is to be turned back to the public. Mr. Foster served one term as school trus- tee. and with the interest received during that time, together with his salary as trus- tee, the site of the present public library was purchased in 1895. In 1913 Mr. Foster
was offered by President Woodrow Wilson the position of ambassador to the Argen- tine Republic, but he declined the honor.
In June, 1881, Mr. Foster was married to Margaret Harrison, of Fort Wayne. They have one daughter, Alice Harrison, the wife of Fred H. McCulloch, grandson of Hugh McCulloch, the first controller of the currency of the United States and the secretary of the treasury under three pres- idents. Mr. Foster is a thirty-second de- gree Scottish Rite Mason, an Elk, a Moose, a member of the Fortnightly Club, and is affiliated with other important movements. In 1911 Governor Marshall appointed him a trustee of Purdue University, and in 1916, by Governor Ralston, he was ap- pointed a member of the Indiana Centen- nial Commission, having in charge the state-wide celebration of the one hun- dredth anniversary of the admission of Indiana to the Union. He has also been appointed a member of the Roosevelt Memorial Committee of Indiana. During recent years Mr. Foster has devoted much time to the subject of taxation, and it is through his efforts that the attention of the people of Indiana is called to many unjust features of the present statutes.
In 1909, in connection with his brother, David N. Foster, he gave to the city of Fort Wayne the largest and in some re- spects the finest of the public parks, Foster Park. This public benefaction will pre- serve forever the name of the brothers, who also in many other ways have given the best of their abilities and efforts to the upbuilding and maintenance of their home city of Fort Wayne.
LEW M. O'BANNON. Harrison County has enrolled among her native sons Lew McClellan O'Bannon, who was born at Corydon on the 18th of August, 1864. He is descended from sterling old pioneer an- cestry, and the family have distinguished themselves both in military and civil life. His paternal grandfather was William O'Bannon, of Breckinridge County, Ken- tucky. One of his brothers surveyed the first lots of the City of Louisville, Ken- tucky, while another brother, Presley Ne- ville O'Bannon, then of Virginia, distin- guished himself as a lieutenant of marines in the war with Tripoli in 1805, and a rec- ord of his services is recorded in a printed volume in the United States Navy depart-
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ment in General Eaton's report of the campaign in Africa against Tripoli. The maternal grandfather, Jacob Ferree, was killed in the raid of General John Morgan and his Confederate army on Corydon, Indiana, on July 9, 1863. His father, Joel Ferree, died near Zanesville. while serving as a soldier in the War of 1812. He was a resident of Pennsylvania. Jacob Ferree . Hammond, Chicago and Benton Harbor. and his brother rode on horseback from Since the 1st of January, 1907, Mr. O'Ban- non has been the owner and editor of the Corydon Democrat. He belongs to' the Democratie Club of Indianapolis, also to the Commercial Club of Corydon, and is a member of Corydon Lodge No. 79 of the Knights of Pythias. He has been a mem- ber of the fraternity since 1891, and has represented Corydon Lodge in the Grand Lodge, Knights of Pythias, at Indianapolis. Pennsylvania to Harrison County, Indiana, early in the nineteenth century, between 1800 and 1825. The maternal grand- mother, Madame Ferree came from France to Pennsylvania with her six children and many distinguished Americans trace their ancestry to this family, one of whom was Admiral Schley of Spanish-American war fame.
Presley Neville O'Bannon, the father of Lew M., was born in Kentucky, July 29, 1824, and died in Harrison County, In- diana, January 25, 1881. He married Christiana Ferree, who was born in Harri- son County, Indiana, February 1, 1830. She died in the County of her birth on the 16th of February, 1911, when she had reached the age of eighty-one years and fifteen days.
The educational training of Lew M. O'Bannon was received in the public schools of Harrison County, and as a boy he assisted his father on the farm and also in the manufacture of shingles. When he reached the age of seventeen he began teaching school, following that vocation nine terms in the country schools of Taylor Township, Harrison County. He has been engaged in the practice of law at Corydon since 1895. Since reaching mature years he has identified himself prominently with the public life of Harrison County. Dur- ing three years, 1887 to 1890, he served the county as its surveyor, and was county re- corder one term, 1890 to 1894. It might be further stated that he was first appointed county surveyor by the county commis- sioners in 1887, and was elected in 1888 to serve two years. Mr. O'Bannon was a director for many years of the Savings and Loan Association of Corydon, and since 1909 has served that institution as its secretary and attorney. He is also a stockholder in the First National Bank of Corydon. A democrat in his political sen- timent, he has served the party actively for more than twenty-five years. He was private secretary to the late Congressman
William Taylor Zenor from the Third In- diana Congressional District, during his ten years' service in Congress, 1897 to 1907. He held all the offices of the Indiana Dem- ocratic Editorial Association, being pres- ident in 1915, which year the association and its democratic friends took a summer trip from Indianapolis to South Bend,
Mr. O'Bannon was a member of the In- diana Centennial Commission which had charge of Indiana's centennial celebra- tions in 1916. He was also active for seven years in the campaign to have Indiana pur- chase the Old State Capitol and grounds, which was successful in 1917 when the Indiana Legislature passed a law author- izing the state to pay Harrison County $50,000 for the state's birthplace.
On the 27th of October, 1897, at Cory- don, Mr. O'Bannon was married to Miss Lillian Keller, a daughter of Leonard and Christina Keller, both of whom came to this country from Germany when young. Mr. and Mrs. O'Bannon have three chil- dren: Robert Presley, born September 10, 1898; Lewis Keller, born December 18, 1901; and Lillian E., born May 2, 1905. Mr. O'Bannon is a member of the Cory- don Christian church, and he has served as president of the church board and for many years has been a teacher in a boy's class in the Sunday school.
WILLIAM F. BOCKHOFF, for a long period of years connected with the National Cash Register Company at Dayton, on resigning from that company took over and reorgan- ized the National Automatic Tool Com- pany of that city. A year later the com- pany and factory removed to Richmond, Indiana, where it is now one of the most successful of the many industries of the city.
Mr. Bockhoff was born at Cincinnati May 18, 1861, son of Henry and Mary (Hawekotte) Bockhoff. His father, a na-
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tive of Germany, came to America and settled at Cincinnati when seventeen years of age. William Bockhoff was the second in a family of four sons and two daugh- ters. He only had an opportunity to at- tend school until he was about twelve years of age. Later at the age of nineteen years he attended business college for six months. Lewis, a younger brother, is as- soeiated with William F. in the National Antomatic Tool Company. Minnie A., a sister, is conducting a ladies' wearing ap- parel business in Richmond, and while' past sixty years of age is able and active.
In 1872 William F. Botkhoff came to Richmond and thereafter for several years was an apt pupil in the school of expe- rience. He worked at odd jobs in grocery and dry goods stores and went out with dif- ferent lines of specialties. This selling experience paved the way for his snecess later in cash registers and other fixtures. Finally out of his savings he capitalized a small grocery business of his own in 1883. In this store which was located at 11th and South D Street, Mr. Bockhoff's interest represented $350, $300 of which was bor- rowed money. Five months later he bor- rowed money and purchased his partner's interest. He kept and operated this store for six years. During his last year in the grocery business he purchased two Hop- kins and Robinsons cash registers made at Louisville, Kentucky, for which he was given the state agency. He sold these ma- chines when his grocery business would permit, and, owing to the fact that he was a hustler and possessed keen selling ability he was offered a position with the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio. The position was accepted and he served the above company for twenty years, first, as salesman, and later as sales agent. In August, 1899, he left the company and later invented what is known as the Mul- tiple Drawer Cash Register. The follow- ing year the National Cash Register Com- pany contracted to handle same on a roy- alty basis and again he entered their em- ploy as district manager. Mr. Bockhoff took charge of the invention department from a commercial standpoint. He also conducted the school of salesmanship for the company.
On resigning from the National Cash Register Company in 1909 Mr. Bockhoff hought all the stock in the, then, defunct National Automatic Tool Company of Day-
ton, Ohio, and in May, 1910, moved the plant to Richmond, Indiana. He is presi- dent and general manager of the company and keeps in close touch with all details in all departments of the business. The principal products of the business are the Natco Multi-Drillers and Tappers, which are machines of world-wide use. They are employed for drilling a large number of holes at the same time. For instance, with possibly a few exceptions, all multi-drillers used in Liberty motors were Natcos. The business is now a most flourishing en- terprise with 250 employes and with a splendid personnel of executive officers. Mr. Bockhoff is president of the com- pany. His son, Harry W., is vice presi- dent and manager, and Howard C. Hunt is secretary and treasurer.
In 1883 Mr. Bockhoff married Julia C. Kloecker, daughter of William and Anna J. ( Moellering) Kloecker of Richmond. Mr. Bockhoff gives much of the credit for his success to the co-operation of his wife. They have made it a practice to talk over business matters and Mrs. Bockhoff is now first vice president of the National Auto- matic Tool Company and keeps informed as to the progress of the business. Of their children, Mary is the wife of J. H. MeCrea of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has one child, Allen Bockhoff McCrea ; Camilla lives at Colorado Springs, and Erma is the wife of Howard C. Hunt of Richmond. Harry W. Bockhoff has been identified with his father's business since he left college in 1917 and now handles most of the technical end of the company's affairs. He is a graduate of the Richmond High School and attended the universities of Il- linois and Cornell as a student of mechani- cal engineering. He married Miss Harriet Ellen Luscomb, daughter of W. D. Lus- comb, of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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