USA > Indiana > Memorial and genealogical record of Representative Citizens of Indiana > Part 26
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'The following children were born to Samuel T. Hanna and wife: Mary; John Lowrie Hanna, who began his career as filing clerk in the general manager's office of the Pennsylvania railroad, is now located in Philadelphia, where he holds a very lucrative position in the general manager's office of the Pennsylvania Rail- rond Company; he compiled the correspondence file which is now in general use on the great system of the Pennsylvania railroad. He is an netive member of Pennsylvania Sons of Revolution. He is a profound student and a self-made man, and is of a literary
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trend. He married Edna Grund, of Fort Wayne, a daughter of Colonel Philip Grund; this union has been without issue.
Margaret, the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel T. Hanna, married J. Frederick Reusch, of Petoskey, Michigan; he is success- fully engaged in the jewelry business in that place; they have two children, Elizabeth and Frederick Hanna Reusch. Mrs. Reusch organized and was the first regent of Petosega Chapter, Daugli- ters of the American Revolution, at Petoskey, Michigan. She is a member of the First Presbyterian church at Fort Wayne, also very active in the church of this denomination at Petoskey, where she is a member of the Federated Clubs.
Samuel T. Hanna, after his father's death, in 1866, was chosen administrator of the vast estate left by the elder Hanna, and concerning the same the following extract is taken from a Fort Wayne paper: "Mr. Samuel T. Hanna was the administra- tor of the estate of Judge Samuel Hanna, amounting in personal assets, to four hundred and twenty-six thousand six hundred eighty-five dollars and thirteen cents, and in the management of his vast and highly responsible trust has fully sustained the high financial and executive reputation of his father. His final report is a clear and most satisfactory account of his trust; accompanied by vouchers for each item set forth in the report. He has made final distribution of the estate to the entire satisfaction of all interested and filed his vouchers from each distribution. His report, after careful examination, has been in all things confirmed by the court, the estate finally settled as to the matters and things therein set forth, and the administrator finally discharged from further accounting as to the same."
After settling the estate of his father, Samuel T. Hanna engaged in the real estate business on an extensive scale until his death in the year 1887. The widow resides at home on West Berry street.
Mr. Hanna was very fond of hunting and other forms of out- door sports, and he traveled extensively, and, being a keen ob- server, he profited much thereby. He was a man of generous im- pulses and charitably inclined throughout his life. Politically, he was a Republican and was very active in the ranks, a leader in local affairs. He served on the city council and was always inter- ested in the welfare of his come city. He was always at the head of any movement to bring new enterprises to Fort Wayne, or in any way contribute to her growth and welfare. He was the founder,
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with his cousin, T. S. Taylor, of the Fort Wayne Journal, which he established as a weekly paper in 1868, and which, as everything else to which he turned his attention, grew into a successful ven- ture. He was instrumental in building the first street railway in Fort Wayne, in the year 1872.
The widow, Mrs. Samuel T. Hanna, was educated at College Ilill, Ohio, and at the Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn Heights, New York, and has long been a leader in her circles in Fort Wayne, where she has a wide cirele of admirers and friends, being a woman of talent, of artistic tastes and pleasing address. She is a member of the First Presbyterian church of her home city. She is a very active member of the Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and at this writ- ing is historian of the same. She is a member of the National His- torieal Research Committee, and early in the year 1912 went to Washington City, where she represented the local chapter at the national congress, held in Continental Memorial Hall. She also assisted in the preparation of "Reminiscences of Old Fort Wayne." She devotes the major part of her time to this work, which she very much delights in. She will report the proceedings of the national meeting at the state meeting of this association in the summer of 1912. She is widely read and is a close student of current events as well as the best literature of the world. She has written a most interesting little history of Mary Penrose Wayne, wife of the illustrious General Anthony Wayne, for whom Fort Wayne was named.
The following is an extract from the Fort Wayne Journal: "A distinct honor has come to the Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the appointment of Mrs. Martha Brandriff Hanna to membership on the historical research committee of the national society. Mrs. Hanna pub- lished an article in this paper several Sundays ago which attract- " wide attention. She is deeply interested in Revolutionary re- search and has secured some valuable papers and records for the local chapter of which she is historian, and also many books and records to the Historical Research Society at Washington. Mrs. Ilanna is of distinguished ancestry, and delights in helping her friends in their search for missing links in their own family records."
Another extract from the same paper reads: "Mrs. Martha Brandriff Hanna received a handsomely engraved card this week,
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testifying to her membership in the society of Old Plymouth Col- ony descendants. Each year the society holds a reunion and there are no membership dues. Some of Mrs. Hanna's ancestors were among the earliest settlers of the Colony."
Mrs. Hanna is also an active and influential member of the - College Club of Fort Wayne, dealing with affairs educational, philanthropic and social.
The following extract is taken from a Fort Wayne paper:
"The following is copied from Downer's History of Williams- town, New Jersey, and its Descendants, published in 1904, and given as an account of the meeting between President Lincoln and two Fort Wayne women.
" 'On her wedding trip to Washington in 1865, I introduce the following: When Samuel T. Hanna and I were married, we, to- gether with two of our bridesmaids, Misses Elizabeth Hanna and Carrie Nuttman, went to Washington, D. C. Of course, Secretary McCulloch (then comptroller), his wife and son, Frederick, old friends, took us everywhere. We attended a Colfax reception. Senator Lane, Mary Colfax and other Indiana people showed us attention.
" 'At the White House reception we met President Lincoln, with whom we conversed a while, and after circulating around a time, Mr. Hanna dancing with Miss Sherman, we passed into the reception room again, when Lincoln, towering above those around him, spying us and beckoning, called loud enough for all around to hear: "Come here, you Fort Wayne people; I want to shake hands with you again. You truly loyal people from that Copper- head place." We went again and shook hands, Mr. Hanna say- ing, "Well, we furnish you with a comptroller anyway." We had a little talk with Lincoln, which I shall always treasure in my heart. We also went to Ford's theater, where we heard Edwin Forest in "Richelieu" three months before Lincoln was assassi- nated in that theater.
" 'Samuel T. Hanna and Mark Hanna's grandfather were twin brothers. Less than a year ago Mrs. Martha Hanna's daugh- ter, Marguerite, now Mrs. Frederick Reusch, living in Cleveland, went to visit Mark Hanna, by his invitation, in the beginning of his last illness. Her little daughter, Elizabeth, was taken along. Mrs. Reusch says: "We had to wait an hour in the lobby and Elizabeth was almost asleep, but she shook hands with Mark, then
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he put her in his big leather arm chair, and while we talked she fell asleep. When I got ready to go I woke her up and then Mark Hanna took her up in his arms and spoke of her lovely red hair, and said: "My little dear, when your Uncle Mark gets to be President, as they say he will, you can tell your children when you grow up that when you were a little girl you sat in his big arm chair." He also called our attention to the rough sketch which the artist had made of him, viz .: the famous caricature of "Stand Pat," and asked her if she thought that a good picture of him; turning to me he said: "I can tell you the papers have used me hard, but your Uncle Mark will forgive them all, and let them have their fun." ' "
The following excerpts are from reminiscences of her college experiences during the Civil war, written by Mrs. Martha B. Hanna and published in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:
There were a number of colleges in existence from 1860 to 1865 which our home girls attended, that are almost lost sight of among the many of today. It was an exciting period when girls attended Glendale, or College Hill, near Cincinnati, Ohio, during the time of the Morgan raid and sending of troops into that vicin- ity. The school standard was very high, and health was looked after. Calisthenic exercises, with daily walks up and down the hills, were exacted. The grounds were large and beautified. with many trees; a lake afforded boating in summer and skating in winter; flowers and vines a-plenty; fruit and vegetables were raised in the college garden and an occasional orange from the greenhouses could be enjoyed. On Sunday morning we attended services in the village church and college chapel in the evening.
The writer was a member of the Somerville Literary Society, which has the emblem star pin with the motto "Sic itur ad astra," which happens to also be the motto on the crest of her maternal ancestor.
There were many Southern girls at College Hill who were great rebels, especially at Washington birthday holidays, when they would flaunt the rebel bars beside the stars and stripes. Then they would be chased to their rooms by the Northern girls and locked in.
We spent many hours scraping lint, collecting linen, packing boxes and writing messages to the poor soldier boys. It was a
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sad time for the writer, too, for, being called home hurriedly, took the evening train, to find it composed of twenty cars of soldiers- no woman on the train, but I was put in care of the conductor, who looked after my welfare. A change of cars at midnight was still more frightful, for as I sat beside an army officer he and another across the way began disputing and drew their firearms. I scrambled past them just as their shots were fired, but no harm was done. I did not have much else but fear that night, for shots from outside were fired through the windows, shattering the glass in front of me. The cars were frequently stopped by hot boxes, and the crew had to take up snow by the wayside to extinguish the fire. Finally the engine gave out and there was a delay until another could be sent. When the writer reached home at 8 o'clock the next morning she was met by her sorrowing pastor, who tear- fully told her that her beloved mother had been taken to her heav- enly home.
The next year many Fort Wayne girls went East to school. Kate Battin, daughter of Rev. S. H. Battin, of the Episcopal church, and the writer were students at Packer Collegiate In'sti- tute on Joralemon street, Brooklyn Heights, N. Y. There are two or three incidents which stand out prominently in the mind of the writer, who was one of a limited number who boarded at Prof. Eaton's, adjoining the institute.
One New York girl came up to me with a look of surprise and inquiry, surveying me from tip to toe, and said: "Are you from Indiana?" "Yes, why?" "Why, you look like other people, and you dress as we do. I thought the people who lived in Indiana were all Indians."
We went to the Philharmonic rehearsals and had the pleasure of hearing Clara Louise Kellogg sing at her last rehearsal before her debut in public life.
Of the many excursions we took, the most charming of all was going out in the "dummy" to Coney Island, my first sight of the ocean. It was a gray day and the huge waves came rolling in with a tumultuous roar; nothing in sight anywhere but the ocean and sand, except a few school girls, the dummy and a tiny shack for repairs. Think of it! The grandeur then-and now ?
What the writer greatly enjoyed was going to Plymouth church to hear Henry Ward Beecher. During the warm spring days he would come in. toss his straw hat aside, take his hand-
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kerchief and mop his face, and begin his eloquent discourse to an audience that filled the church, gallery and aisles, packed with a dense mass of people assembled to hear the heart-thrilling and poetic oratory of moral, theological, social and political themes and anti-slavery gospel, which never failed to bring tears to his entranced hearers, and then sway them to audible laughter in his happy, simple way, adapting himself to the perceptions of the young and the old. His love of the music in nature was intense, and there were always large bunches of flowers on his desk.
JOHN WILLIAM GROFF.
Among the successful self-made men of a past generation in Indiana whose efforts and influence contributed to the material upbuilding of their respective conununities, the late John Will- iam Groff, the able and popular president of the Inter-State Car Company, of Indianapolis, occupied a conspicuous place. Being ambitious from the first, but surrounded with none too favorable environment, his early youth was not especially promising, but he accepted the discouraging situation without a murmur and, resolutely facing the future, gradually surmounted the difficul- ties in his way and in due course of time rose to a prominent posi- tion in the industrial circles of his community, besides winning the confidence and esteem of those with whom he came into con- tact, either in a business or a social way, and for years he stood as . one of the representative citizens of the locality of which this memorial compendium treats. Strongly in contrast with the humble surroundings of his youth was the brilliant position which he eventually filled in business circles. He won for him- self a place of prominence and honor as one of the world's hon- ored army of workers and in his earlier years made his way over obstacles seemingly insuperable and which would have, no doubt, thwarted the man of less courageous spirit, meeting to the full the test of fire to which a far-seeing providence subjects those who are destined to succeed. He realized early that there is a purpose in life and that there is no honor not founded on worth and no respect not founded on accomplishment. His life and labors were worthy because they contributed to a proper under- standing of life and its problems. The strongest characters in our national history have come from the ranks of the self-made men to whom adversity acts as an impetus for unfaltering effort and from this class came the lamented gentleman whose name initiates this memorial review.
Mr. Groff was born in Bethlehem. Northampton county, Pennsylvania. October 15. 1868, and was the son of Mary Groff. His father died about 1900. John W. was the youngest of a fam- ily of nine children, so, when but a lad, he was thrown on his own
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resources, and when twelve years old he began working in a brick-yard. The work was hard and little sunted to one of such tender years, but the discipline was good and fostered in hun fortitude and stick-to-itiveness, which contributed to his success later in life. At the age of fourteen he left home and struck out for himself. He went to Columbia, Ohio, about 1886 and became a car inspector. This, although he little realized it at the time, was the turning point in his career and led to his later activities as a manufacturer of cars, for he was by nature a keen observer and quick to grasp a situation and could foresee with remarkable clearness the future outcome of a present transaction. He con- tinued working in the railroad yards as car inspector for some time. In 1887 he came to Indianapolis where he secured a posi- tion as car inspector with the Big Four Railroad Company, giv- ing his usual high grade service, for he believed in doing his best at all times. Four years later he was married and afterwards took his wife and child to Kankakee, Illinois, where he was car foreman for the Big Four road for one year. He then returned to Indianapolis as car inspector at the stock yards, subsequently opening a small shop at the stock yards where he did car repair- ing and later began constructing freight and refrigerator cars for the railroad and Henry Mellis, of Chicago. In a short time the business outgrew that shop and he built larger quarters at Brightwood, suburb of Indianapolis, where three hundred men were employed, his business growing rapidly, under the firm name of the Inter-State Car Company.
The plant of the above named concern was equipped with the latest patterns in machinery and only the mnost adroit artisans were employed. Everything was operated under a superb sys- tem, and the great success of this concern was due very largely to the wise management and close attention of its president, John W. Groff, who remained in that responsible position until his death, November 29, 1910. He was succeeded on January 1, 1912, by E. H. Darrach, who took over the entire business and is still president of the concern.
On March 2, 1893, Mr. Groff was united in marriage with Amanda Poulter, a lady of refinement and many commendable attributes, a daughter of Henry H. and Susan (Bear) Poulter, an excellent old family. The father was a native of Kentucky and the mother was born in Ohio. They were married in Illinois and
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moved to Indiana when Mrs. Groff was a child and here became very comfortably established.
The union of John W. Groff and wife was blessed by the birth of four children, named as follows: Mary Goldie, formerly a stu- dent of the Knickerbocker School for Girls, of Indianapolis, as- sists her mother in all business matters; William Dewey, Herbert and Elizabeth, all children of much promise.
Mr. Groff was prominent and influential in business circles of Indianapolis, an active member of the Board of Trade, also be- longed to the Columbia Club and the Marion Club. Politically, he was a Republican, but, while exercising at all times the duties of a public-spirited citizen, he never sought public office, pre- ferring to give his exclusive attention to his business and his home, having an attractive residence on College avenue, Indian- apolis. His home life was ideal and he was strongly attached to his family. Although a hard worker, he left his business cares in his office, outside of which, whether in his home, at his favorite clubs or in social or civic circles, he was the genial, obliging, genteel gentleman, enjoying the good will and confidence of all with whom he associated. He was frequently known to arise very early in the morning ready for the daily struggle, and his untimely death, on November 29, 1910, was believed to have been due in no small measure to his overzealous application to his busi- ness affairs. Early in his career as a manufacturer he would pore over his plans until two or three o'clock in the morning.
Mr. Groff was a man who attended strictly to his own busi- ness and never mixed in other people's affairs. He was a liberal minded, kind hearted and withal a useful and noble man, who justly earned the large measure of material success which he could claim in later years and the unstinted praise and respect of a wide circle of friends.
DAVID W. GERARD.
Distinctively one of the great men of his day and generation in the middle West, and one of humanity 's benefactors, was the late David W. Gerard, supreme chief and founder of the Tribe of Ben-Hur. Involuntarily our minds reach out for the threads of history that made the fabric of this character, the character of this man's worth. Were those elements resident in pioneer days alone? Or is it length of years, or is it stirring times, or any one of these, or all of them, blended in one composite whole? Or rather were these the canvas? The Divine Artist drew the pie- ture and put in it its worth immortal and traced therein "the char- acter of releasing, " the song of triumph, the voice of victory. The business period of this man's life is worth relating; the obstacles encountered, overcome; the self-reliant honesty, the equipoise, the absence of resentment-these supplement a tale that is not always told of those who are "diligent in business," but is told of those who, diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serve human- ity, and it has been well said by one of our wisest and greatest of men that "They who serve humanity most, serve God best."
David W. Gerard, who for many years ranked as the most influential citizen of Crawfordsville and one of Indiana's fore- most citizens, was born on a farm near Port Jefferson, Shelby county, Ohio, July 7, 1844. ITis parents were pioneer residents of that county, his father, Abner II. Gerard, being a farmer and merchant. The latter also owned and operated a large tannery in the village. He was a man of great force of character and ex- cellent business methods, a devout Methodist and a pronounced abolitionist. Coming, as he did, of heroic stock, his many admir- able qualities were inherited by his son.
The Gerard family is of French Huguenot ancestry. The founder of the family in this country came from France during the St. Bartholomew massacre. The immediate founder of the fam- ily in the middle western part of the United States, Nathaniel Gerard, came to Cincinnati, Ohio, from Pennsylvania, with his five brothers, in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Three of the brothers settled in Miami county, Ohio, one in Kentucky, and one in southern Indiana.
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The grandfather of David W. Gerard, after whom he was named, was killed by the Indians in 1816 while making rails near his eabin on Lost creek, in Miami eounty, Ohio. Mr. Gerard's father left Ohio in 1849, coming to Indiana and opening a general store near Romney, in Tippecanoe county. In six months he died, leaving a wife and three small boys. The oldest of these boys was David W. Gerard, then less than six years of age. There were six children by a former marriage. Gathering the remnants of a meager property, the brave little mother returned on a canal boat to Sidney, Ohio. Then came the terrible years of struggle with poverty, but this woman of courage never faltered.
When David W. was ten years of age his mother removed to Greenville, Ohio, where he began his struggle for an education, his youth and early manhood being surrounded with the hard- ships, limitations and privations known to the poor, but, being endowed by nature with a resolute will, this school of harsh ex- perience developed his faeulties into the broadest manhood and so eminently qualified him to master difficult problems of life which were to confront him in his after years of usefulness. He worked on farms, in blacksmith shops, sawed wood and studied hard. In those primitive days it was difficult for children to ae- quire good educations, and because he was a fatherless boy, Mr. Gerard experienced unusual difficulty at a time when he was most anxious to be in school. However, he succeeded and when scarcely sixteen years of age was able to begin teaching school. A boy with less ambition and natural ability would have failed where he suc- ceeded.
While Mr. Gerard was teaching school the Civil war broke out. He was then living at Greenville, Ohio. In 1861, shortly after the firing on Fort Sumter, Mr. Gerard enlisted in the Eighth Ohio Battery and served throughout the four years of the war. He bore the scars of that titanic struggle, where he displayed that chivalrous spirit which has ever dominated his entire life. He fought gallantly for his country and gave of his best towards the perpetuation of the Union, participating in many of the important campaigns and great battles. He was mustered out in August, 1865.
When that memorable conflict was ended, Mr. Gerard, with his widowed mother and his brothers, came to Montgomery coun- ty, Indiana, and there he again took up the task of teaching school. He had not lived there long until he met and was married to Eliza-
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beth Krug, daughter of one of the prominent families of near Crawfordsville. The marriage occurred in January, 1866. Miss Krug's home was at Crawfordsville, but she was born near Pleas- ant Hill, now Wingate, Indiana, and there was married.
Mr. Gerard gave up the work of school teaching to engage in the real estate and insurance business in Crawfordsville, continu- ing in this line of endeavor until 1973, when he removed to In dianapolis, continuing in the same business there until 1878, when he returned to Crawfordsville, and there he resided the rest of his life. He resumed the real estate and insurance business there with his usual success. In 1886 he and Frank L. Snyder were as- sociated together with some other citizens in forming the In- diana and Ohio Live Stock Insurance Company, of Crawfordsville, now the leading live stock insurance company of the United States. S. E. Voris, former mayor of Crawfordsville, was an orig- inal stockholder and at one time was the president of the com- pany. He and Mr. Gerard later disposed of their holdings to Harry Naylor, John R. Bonnell and other Crawfordsville citizens.
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