USA > Indiana > Memorial and genealogical record of Representative Citizens of Indiana > Part 22
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"We know that we shall die, and yet how many realize that they must die, and may die soon. Will it be today? Will it be to- morrow? Will God give unto us another week, another month, another year? Who can say? His call may come like the light-
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ning from a clear sky, or it may be after long and painful illness, but little difference does it make to the soul that is prepared to meet its God.
"An esteemed friend, Charles Muhler, whom we lament this morning, was called suddenly, unexpectedly, to his Creator, but we judge from his Christian life that he went into eternity pre- pared to meet the Master. His life was a preparation for death, as the life of every Christian should be. God places before every soul He ereates a destiny, an end to be attained, namely, salvation. The soul of man is God's peculiar possession. He has created it for Himself. When He sent forth his creative power into all the universe; when He called into existence the fair, fresh worlds which lie around us; when He flung aloft the blue canopy of heaven and hung in the vaulted dome the sun and moon and stars that shine like lamps of burnished gold, His power and beauty were on the sea and land; objects of the most exquisite beauty were upon every side, but yet, from all these objects He did not select one to be His especial possession. After all other things were created he formed man from the slime of the earth, thus giving him kin- ship with the earth. He breathed into his face the breath of life, thus giving him kinship with the spiritual, and man's soul became God's own possession, and the end He has in view for each individ- ual sont is salvation.
"Salvation is not obtained by one or two weeks' sickly prep- aration. It is a life's work. If man gives over to the world the farulties which have been given him to use for God; if he gives aver to win the wonderful faculties of his soul, think you that when God strikes him with disease, and he is no longer to use the pow- en of the body to gratify his passions he can turn to God and say: 'Yoss, Master, I will serve you?' Think you such a service is ae- ceptable; such a service a preparation for eternity? No. Life is given to us to know God, to love God, to serve God, and thus to attain eternal happiness. The departure of such a life we mourn this morning. You come, my friends, into God's temple to show the esteem and respect you bore for one of Fort Wayne's noblest sony, for one of the church's most obedient children, Charles Muh- ler: you come to participate in the last sad and solemn rites with wluch holy mother, the church, surrounds her departed sons; you come to express by your presence the sympathy and love you bear mn afflicted and sorrowful family; you come to honor one whom God called suddenly into the beyond.
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"The life of the Hon. Charles Muhler is too well known to the people of the city and state to need narration. The history of this beautiful city is the history of his life, its growth and pros- perity have indelibly stamped upon them the impress of his labor and his work. Born here nearly sixty years ago, he had labored incessantly for the benefit of his fellow men and for the welfare of the place of his birth, the place he loved so well. God gifted him with faculties and powers above the ordinary and these he used untiringly in the accomplishment of good. In recognition of his sterling worth, twice did you, the citizens of this city, con- fer upon him the greatest honor in your power, the mayoralty of Fort Wayne, and twice did he prove himself to be a man of great executive ability, a man of keen penetration and sound judgment, and a man of firm and unflinching character, but always tempered with kindness. These qualifications he brought to bear upon all public questions and solved them with justice, with equity, be- cause the great ruling principle of his life was the truth he learned within the walls of his church. 'Whatsoever you would have men do unto you, do thou also unto them.' That is the principle that should rule the actions of every man, but especially of every pub- lic man, because it is a principle given to us by God. He never forgot that the power which came to him in public life came from God, and well he knew that he should have to give an account unto God of every action. Henee, was he always just, always up- right, always firm, yet withal, always kind in his dealings with others. His was a nature kind and affable, easy of approach. The generous impulses of his heart would never permit him to hear a fellow citizen spoken harshly of. If a man had brought upon himself, justly or unjustly, the criticism of his fellows, Mr. Muhler had always a kind word to say in extenuation. He could discover some good trait in every character. His hand was always ex- tended to help the poor, and in him they found a friend who would stint self to help them. It is not strange that he should have gath- ered about him such a host of admiring friends, when we con- sider the character of the man. I am certain this vast concourse of people came today to honor him, more as a man than as a publie character, came to assist at the funeral services of a per- sonal friend rather than at the funeral of an ex-mayor."
Father Durham spoke touchingly of the home life of Mr. Muhler. "Home to him," he said, "was just what God intended home should be, a place of rest, happiness and love. One of the most admirable things to be said of Mr. Muhler was that he al-
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ways brought sunshine into his own home." He spoke of the terrible grief of the stricken family, in the sudden and awful death of the father who had left them, apparently in the full power of manhood. Yet, in all this sorrow, welled up the words from the Christian heart, 'Thy will be done.' Whom God loveth He chasteneth. The greater the affliction He sends, the nearer we resemble Jesus in his sorrowful passion, the nearer we ap- proach His blessed mother, of whom Simeon predicted that a sword of sorrow should pierce her heart." He referred to Mr. Muhler's deep religious convictions, his devotion to and pride in his church, and the edifying regularity of his attendance at all services. He loved to narrate incidents of the early days, when, as a boy, he used to accompany the pioneer priests on their mis- sions through the thinly populated country, to serve, as an altar bay, in the sacred services.
In conclusion he said: "In the death of Mr. Muhler, Fort Wayne suffers the loss of an honest, zealous, energetic citizen, one who had at heart the prosperity and welfare of his beloved birth- pare, one always willing to use the great talents with which God endowed him for the benefit of his fellow men. In his death the church loses one of her devout and obedient children, one whose example exerted an influence for good upon his fellow men; one who was never afraid to profess openly his faith in her truth and in her doctrine; one who always strove to obey her command- ments, In his death a family loses a kind and devoted husband, a loving father, one whose whole heart was wrapped up in his wife and children, one who struggled manfully that no care, no trouble should reach them.
"It does seem hard that God should call him so suddenly from this life, but we must remember that God's ways are not our wat. We enn but explain with St. Paul, 'Oh, the depth of the In hes, of the wisdom, of the knowledge of God! How unsearch- atle are His judgments; how unscrutable are His ways! Who can know the mind of the Lord.' We can exclaim with the Savior in the garden, 'Not my will, but thine be done.' We need have no fear; it is the will of a kind and loving Father being accomplished
a Father who bears not hatred, but whose heart is filled with love for His children; a Father who takes care of the lilies in the fiehl, the birds in the air; a Father who has numbered every hair of our heads, and not one drops without ITis permission. Whether Ile calls us suddenly or after a long, lingering disease, it matters not. He does it for the best; He does it because He loves us."
WILLIAM LANE CARNAHAN.
It is the pride of the citizens of this country that there is no limit to which natural ability, industry and honesty may not as- pire. A boy born in ignorance and poverty and reared under the most adverse surroundings may nevertheless break from his fet- ters and rise to the highest station in the land. And the qualities do not have to be of transcendent character to enable him to ac- complish this result. It is more the way he does it and his skill in grasping the opportunities presented than to any remarkable qualities possessed by him. Accordingly it is found that very often in this country the president, governor and other high public officials possess no greater ability than thousands of other citizens. They have simply taken better advantage of their cir- cumstances than their fellows, and this truth runs through every occupation or vocation. The business man who rises above his fellows does so by taking advantage of conditions which others overlook or fail to grasp. This was the case with the late William Lane Carnahan, for many years one of the best known business men of Fort Wayne, Indiana, who is now numbered with "those dwellers in the low green tents whose curtains never outward swing." In all that constituted true manhood and good citizen- ship he was a worthy example and none stood higher than he in the esteem and confidence of the circles in which he moved. His career was characterized by duty well performed, by faithfulness to every trust reposed in him, by industry, thrift and wisely di- rected efforts, which resulted in the acquisition of a liberal share of this world's goods, besides earning a reputation which was never clouded by the commission of a single unworthy act.
Mr. Carnahan was born March 5, 1837, in Lafayette, Tippe- canoe county, Indiana. He was the son of James G. and Margaret (Brown) Carnahan, both of whom were natives of Ohio, where they spent their childhood, received their educations and were married, and from that state they removed to Indiana in 1833, becoming pioneers of Tippecanoe county. Settling in Lafayette, the father became engaged in merchandising and was an influen- tial citizen in the early history of that locality.
M. L. Carnahan
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William L. Carnahan, of this sketch, grew to manhood at Lafayette and received his education in the schools of that city, where he prepared himself for entrance to the State University nt Bloomington, taking a general course, and that institution he left in the year 1856, and went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, being only nineteen years of age, and there he engaged in mercantile pur- suits. Later he went to Nebraska and remained in that state three years, the greater part of the time in Dakota county and the city of Omaha, in the latter place being engaged in merchan- dising and as clerk of the land office. He met with encouraging success in the West, but in 1860 he returned to Indiana and es- tablished himself in business at Delphi, where he was occupied two years, after which he removed to Lafayette and embarked in the boot and shoe trade. Two years later he became a traveling salesman for the firm of Carnahan, Earl & Company, Lafayette, in which capacity he was engaged for eighteen months, at the end of that period becoming a member of the firm of Carnahan Brothers & Company, wholesale dealers and manufacturers of boots and shoes, being associated with his brother, A. G. Carna- han, and there he became very prominent in business circles. At- tending to the wholesale trade, he spent seven years altogether on the road.
Mr. Carnahan was attracted to Fort Wayne in 1872. In that year he established here the business which, under his able guid- nee, grew to immense proportions, with sales of from four hun- dred thousand dollars to five hundred thousand dollars annually. This business was continued a few years by the W. L. Carnahan Company. The firm was first Carnahan, Skinner & Company, and this was succeeded in 1875 by Carnahan, Hanna & Company, and in 1856 became Carnahan & Company, with E. H. McDonald in the firm. The establishment was incorporated in 1894 under the name of The W. L. Carnahan Company, with W. L. Carnahan as president, Robert H. Carnahan as vice-president, and W. E. Hood as secretary and treasurer.
Mr. Carnahan remained in the wholesale boot and shoe busi- hess until his death, June 26, 1897. Under his guidance the busi- news was very successful and covered a very wide territory. He was one of the stockholders in the Fort Wayne Gas Company, also in the Fort Wayne Telephone Company. Fraternally, he be-
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longed to the Masonic lodge at Fort Wayne, and he was very active and influential in Republican politics.
On November 3, 1864, Mr. Carnahan was united in marriage with Clara Louise Hanna, at Lafayette. She was one of three children born to James Baylis Hanna and Mary (King-Fairfield) Hanna, the latter still surviving at the age of eighty-nine years, making her home in Fort Wayne. An extended notice of her is given at the close of this article.
The Carnahan family are members of the Episcopal church, the subject having been vestryman in the local congregation prior to his death and was also treasurer of the church for many years, in fact was a pillar in the same.
Four children were born to William L. Carnahan and wife, namely: Louise, who married Dr. N. L. Deming, of Litchfield, Connecticut, has two children, Nelson Lloyd Deming, Jr., and Mary Louise Deming. The second child of the subject was Rob- ert Hanna Carnahan, who married Constance Lumbard, and her death occurred in 1906; three children were born to them, Robert Hanna Carnahan, Jr., William Lumbard Carnahan and Sidney Lumbard Carnahan. Clara C. Carnahan and Virginia C. Carna- han, the youngest of the subject's children, are still members of the home circle. The mother of the above-named children, who was born in Fort Wayne, October 15, 1845, resides at No. 415 East Wayne street, in the picturesque old homestead in which she was born and where her parents so long resided.
An estimate of William L. Carnahan's life and character may be gained by perusing the following extracts taken from the Fort Wayne newspapers, which printed columns of highly laudatory biography at the time of his death:
"In the death of Mr. Carnahan the business community of Fort Wayne has suffered a deep loss, for he was one of the most enterprising and progressive men in the city, and his influence and advice were always at the command of those who sought to advance the interests of Fort Wayne. He was a high-minded man, of broad views and lived in consistence with his strongly rooted principles. He was a type of the true gentleman, court- eous and kindly, and combined with an interesting personality, honesty and love of fair dealing that made him respected in busi- ness circles. He was an ardent patriot, and during the Civil war. was a member of the Seventy-sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteers.
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lle was a member of Trinity Episcopal church and one of the most devoted communicants of that denomination."
"The death of William L. Carnahan will occasion unfeigned regret to a large circle of friends and acquaintances in this city, where he was well and favorably known from early boyhood to his mature years. He was a boy among boys and a man among men. To know Will Carnahan was to like him; manly, honest, true. In all the relations of life he filled the full measure. The writer knew him well, and drops a tear to his memory."
"Mr. Carnahan was a high-minded Christian gentleman and a devout communicant of his church. In his private life, as in ltis business affairs, Mr. Carnahan was controlled by a stern in- tegrity and a lofty honor. He was extremely devoted to his fam- ily and was of strong domestic tastes. He was active and liberal in religious and charitable work, but without ostentation. He had been a steadfast friend of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation in Fort Wayne and had conferred many benefits upon it. Ile was highly esteemed by all who knew him, and in the progress of this city was recognized as a positive force. His death will be the occasion for genuine sorrow in the community. His death, while not unexpected, was none the less a shock to his hosts of friends and acquaintances throughout the city, for he was a rep- resentative man and held a high place in the popular esteem. For twenty-five years he had been a resident of this city and had ac- quired an importance in its commercial affairs and a prominence in its society that combined to make him a man whose absence will be deeply felt."
"William L. Carnahan was a strong man; strong in character, und strong in the estimation of his fellows. He was a man of con- victions and he always had the courage to express and maintain them. He was a man of affairs, with a broad grasp of public questions. In business, he was successful; he built up large and lucrative commercial interests by the force of an energetic nature, and a name that was synonymous with honor. He was pro- gressive and public spirited. No enterprise having for its object the building up of Fort Wayne's substantial interests, and that possessed the promise of a successful issue, ever appealed to Mr. ('arnahan in vain. He was not visionary or chimerical in con- sidering public projects; if he saw possible failure or probable ruin stalking in the shadow of a vaunted enterprise, he did not
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hesitate to show the fallacy of the venture, nor did he lack the courage to say nay to those who would rush in, at any cost. In his church he was steadfast and as true as man could be, and for every worthy object of charity his purse was not only open, but wide open. He was not an ostentatious, but a large giver to benevolent purposes. Only his Master and the beneficiaries of his bounty knew the beneficence of his giving. In the death of W. L. Carnahan Fort Wayne loses one of her foremost citizens, a man who early learned to be a gentleman and never forgot the art. We may not speak of the loss his family has sustained, further than to say that his life was one of never-ending devotion and love to all who were so happy as to live within the walls that consti- tuted the home of William L. Carnahan."
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WILLIAM H. LEVERING
WILLIAM H. LEVERING.
In the death of the late William H. Levering the city of Lafay- ette lost one of its most energetic men of affairs and the state of Indiana one of its leading Sunday school workers and representa- tive citizens, who, through a long lapse of years, was prominent in the various circles in which he moved and whose potent in- fluence for good will continue to pervade the lives of men "until the sun grows cold, the stars are old and the leaves of the judg- ment book unfold." As the day with its morning of hope and promise, its noontide of activity and accomplishment, its evening of completed and successful efforts, ending in the grateful rest and quiet of the night, so was the life of this good and honored man. His career was a long, busy and useful one, fraught with much good to himself, his family and to humanity, and his memory will long be revered by those who had occasion to come into contact with him on life's highway. His activities in a material way added to his individual prosperity and to the welfare of the city of his choice. Devoting the major part of his time and attention to the further development of his industrial interests, he never al- lowed the pursuit of wealth to warp his kindly nature, but pre- served his faculties and the warmth of his heart for the broaden- ing and helpful influence of human life, being to the end a kindly, genial friend and gentleman whom it was a pleasure to meet.
In the old chronicles of Crayland, which were accredited to Inglefus, secretary to William the Conqueror, it is affirmed that in the year 870 A. D., a town in Cambridgeshire, England, was named Levering, while in later English records, about 1316, ap- pears the name Levering as having emanated from that ancient town. In the Levering family history, compiled by John Lever- ing, is found an unbroken genealogy back to Rosier Levering, who, carly in the seventeenth century, lived in the town of Ely, England. In the year 1685 the first Levering emigrated to Amer- ira, Wigard Levering, who had previously resided in Gemen, Ger- many, and from whom William H. Levering, the subject of this memoir, was removed by six generations, members of which dis- persed to all parts of the Union, becoming, as a rule, leaders in their communities, giving their services to America in all our wars
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and proving worthy and patriotic citizens. Wigard Levering lo- cated at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and first purchased fifty acres of land in German township (now Germantown). In 1691 he bought a tract of five hundred aeres on Wissahiekon creek, near the Schuylkill river. This land is now a portion of the city of Philadelphia, Fairmount Park embracing a part of it. Here the first of the family in the United States became well established and a man of prominence.
John L. Levering, paternal grandfather of the immediate subject of this sketch, was a native of Roxboro, a suburb of Phila- delphia, and was commissioned a major in the patriot army dur- ing the Revolutionary war. His wife, Hannah Howell, was a descendant of Isaac Watts, the famous English divine and hymn- ologist.
William H. Levering was born on April 19, 1826, at Ardmore, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and he was a son of Abraham and Catharine Levering, the father devoting his life to farming and stock raising, although maintaining his residence in the city. . The son, William H., grew to manhood under his parental roof- tree, and received his education in the public schools at Ardmore, remaining there until he was fifteen years of age, then he and his twin brother, John, began assisting their father in general farm- ing and stock raising. He became familiar with tools and became quite an expert in their use; later he drew the plans for his hand- some residence in this eity. In 1847 he moved with his parents to a farm on the Schuylkill river, opposite Manoyunk, Pennsylvania. His brother John came west in an early day, and in 1851 William H. followed him, locating in Lafayette, Indiana, having had the sagacity to foresee the great future opportunities of the place, and here he went into business, entering the mercantile field, in which he was successful from the first, his being the pioneer one-price store, which drew its hundreds of customers from remote parts of the country round about. His business grew with the town, in whose development he ever took an abiding interest, remaining one of its most loyal advocates and supporters for a period of fifty- seven years, or until his death, on August 19, 1907.
Mr. Levering was also extensively engaged in the real estate and fire insurance business. He was the first state agent of the Aetna Fire Insurance Company. He was very successful as a business man and he accumulated a competency. He became state adjuster. He settled all kinds of business for the companies which
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he represented and was "judge and jury" for the people in vari- ous lines of insurance in Lafayette.
But it was principally as a Sunday school worker that Will- iam II. Levering was known over the state, and to which he gave a great deal of time and attention for half a century, putting his heart into this work and taking much delight in the same, conse- quently he accomplished most praiseworthy results in adjoining states. He was an active worker in the Baptist church also, tak- ing much interest in the musical part of church work. When only nineteen years of age he was superintendent of a Sunday school at Cooperstown, Pennsylvania. In 1865 he and others established the Indiana Sunday School Union, of which he was the principal motive force and the president for many years, its great success being due for the most part to his efforts. In ninety-two counties he organized conventions and institutes and in many of them he conducted Bible classes, at the same time filling appointments in various parts of the state. His work is classified as follows: Con- vention (organization); institute (teacher training); normal (analysis of the Bible). He studied every phase of Sunday school work, read extensively on the same and put into effect everything that would promote the work in any way, and his reputation as a Sunday school worker extended not only to all parts of the state of his adoption, but transcended its borders, and even became national in its scope. In 1867 he assisted in forming the Tippe- ranoe County Sunday School Union, over which he presided with his usual tact, fidelity and general satisfaction for a period of nine- tren years, and was then elected for life. From 1881 to 1890 he was an active member of the executive committee, International Sunday School Association, declining re-election. For a period of twenty-two years he gave instructions to two negro churches in Lafayette, twice on Sunday and frequently during the week. These lessons were by free-hand drawing. For many years Mr. 1. vering was the best known and most influential Sunday school man in the state, and he did a great deal of traveling in the fur- therance of this work, always paying his own expenses. He never counted the cost when he thought he could accomplish some good. He was also a great and influential temperance worker and did an incalculable amount of good in this field, having joined hands with Thomas P. Hunt, of Philadelphia, the latter a well known temperance speaker, and they were relentless in their work against this great world vice. Mr. Levering established the
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