Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 6

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 932

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NORTHEASTERN INDIANA.

and esteem of the members of the bar who have come before him in connection with the various cases that he has held. His ad- dresses to the jury are clear and concise, and his decisions are models of judicial sound- ness, result of careful deliberation, combined with his, broad legal knowledge.

In politics, Judge Penfield has always been a stalwart Republican, and is one of the most prominent members of his party in the State. In 1884, during the memorable Blaine campaign, he was a member of the Republican State central committee; in 1888 was chosen Presidential Elector, and by the Electoral College of Indiana was made its messenger to the city of Washington to carry the result of the State election to the pres- ident. After a long and heated contest he was chosen a delegate from the Twelfth Congressional District of Indiana to the national Republican convention which was held in Minneapolis in 1892. He has always been a warm advocate of the policy and methods of ex-President Harrison. From the age of twenty years he has taken an active part in campaign work, and is a bril- liant campaign orator, a fluent and forcible speaker, logical in argument and pleasing in style.

In Judge Penfield is combined the man of law and the man of literature, -a combi- nation that is rather uncommon. He is a man of broad general information and ripe scholarship, a deep student and earnest thinker, and his fine library contains many volumes of the standard works of ancient and modern literature .. He has written many articles on legal subjects for the Cen- tral Law Journal and the American Law Review of St. Louis, and is the author of many able essays that have appeared in different literary magazines and periodicals.

A man of great natural ability, the suc- cess of Judge Penfield in his profession has been uniform and rapid, and, as has been truly remarked, after all that may be done for a man in the way of giving him early opportunities for obtaining the acquirements which are sought in the schools and in books, he must essentially formulate, determine and give shape to his own character, and this is what Mr. Penfield has done. He has per- severed in the pursuit of a persistent pur- pose and gained a most satisfactory reward. His life is exemplary in all respects, and has won him the esteem of his friends and the confidence of the business public.

When Judge Penfield was married the lady of his choice was Miss Luna Walter, a daughter of George Walter, of Ohio. Four children have added to their bliss, but only two of the number are now living, Blanche and Walter, who are still with their parents and are now preparing to enter college. The Judge finds his great pleasure in the midst of his home and family, and it seems that he cannot do too much to promote the welfare and enhance the happiness of his wife and children. Their residence is a large brick structure, richly and tastefully furnished and supplied with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. The works of art and literature which abound are suffi- cient evidence of the refined and cultured taste of the inmates of this pleasant abode.

0 AVID N. FOSTER, one of the prominent citizens of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was born at Coldenham, Orange county, New York, April 24, 1841, son of John L. and Harriet (Scott) Foster. His great-grandfather was a soldier in the war of the Revolution.

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Mr. Foster's early life was spent on his father's farm, and at the age of fourteen he left home and went to New York city, equipped with such education as he had been able to obtain in the country schools, and found employment as a bundle boy in the store of William E. Lawrence, then a prominent merchant of the metropolis. Making rapid progress in his business educa- tion, he, at the age of eighteen, with his brother, Scott Foster. established the firm of Foster Brothers, which soon became one of the leading retail firms of the country, and particularly well known to Indiana peo- ple by the large branch establishments maintained at Fort Wayne, Terre Haute and La Fayette. Mr. Foster had an am- bition for the profession of law, and, having devoted his spare hours to study, sold out in 1860 to his brother, John Grey Foster, and entered an academy at Montgomery, New York. But his studies in this institu- tion were soon interrupted by the firing up- on Fort Sumter.

On the morning of the day following the first call for troops by Abraham Lincoln the students at the academy hoisted a flag amid the cheers of nearly all the people of the town, and the excited throng was ad- dressed by Mr. Foster, the orator chosen for the occasion, who concluded by an- nouncing that he would leave school at noon to enlist in the Ninth New York Militia Regiment, which had tendered its service by telegram. He was the first volun- teer from his native county, and, going in as a private, carried a knapsack until De- cember, 1862, when his commission as Second Lieutenant reached him while lying dangerously wounded in the hospital on the battle-ground of Fredericksburg. Soon after the battle of Gettysburg he was promoted

to Captain of his company. But his wounds soon compelled him to leave the service. He was actively engaged in the battles of Harper's Ferry, Cedar Moun- tain, Rappahannock, Thoroughfare Gap, second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericks- burg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.

Returning to New York city, he re-enter- ed the dry-goods business, and in 1870 came to Indiana and established the Terre Haute branch of Foster Brothers. In 1873 he dis- posed of his interest in the firm to engage in journalism, for which he had a decided taste, and he established the Saturday Eve- ning Post at Grand Rapids, Michigan, an enterprise which met with immediate suc- cess. In 1878, the health of his brother, John, having failed, he, at the earnest soli- citation of his brothers, disposed of his news- paper and again entered the firm, coming to Fort Wayne, where were its heaviest prop- erty interests. Here he has since remained, and the business interests of the city have always found in him an active and valuable friend. He is president and manager of the D. N. Foster Furniture Company, and of the Fort Wayne Furniture Company; a trustee of Hope Hospital and of the Fort Wayne Medical College, and vice-president of the Tri-State Building and Loan Associa- tion. He was the organizer of the Fort Wayne Land and Improvement Company, which laid out and improved the 160 acres known as Lakeside Addition to the city of Fort Wayne,-an enterprise that proved a marvelous success. He is the owner of the Aldine block, recently completed; is a Director of the Indiana Machine Works, and is besides interested in a number of other local enterprises.

The people of Indiana are indebted to Mr. Foster for the Public Library bill passed

NORTHEASTERN INDIANA.

by the Legislature in 1881, under which nearly every city in Indiana has since estab- lished a public library free to all its citizens. At his own expense he circulated petitions in all the large cities of the State, praying for the passage of the bill he had prepared, and which was introduced in the Senate by the late Senator Foster. Mr. Foster has always taken an active interest in the prosperity of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was elected Commander of the Department of Indiana in 1885. At that time the member- ship had rapidly grown to nearly 18,000 in the State, but there had been little oppor- tunity for perfecting discipline necessary to the highest good of the order. This work fell to his administration, and so thoroughly was it done that when he turned the office over to his successor there was not a post in the department that was not in absolute good standing. He is a member of the In- diana Commandery of the Loyal Legion, and at the session in Fort Wayne in May, 1895, was chosen its Junior Vice-Commander.

In politics, Mr. Foster has always been an active Republican; but, although fre- quently named in connection with promi- nent positions, he has usually declined such honors. On the election of Colonel C. B. Oakley as Mayor of Fort Wayne, he was ap- pointed a member of the Board of Public Safety, and assisted in the reorganization of the police and fire departments on a strictly non-partisan basis. In the preparation of the reform charter under which Fort Wayne is now governed, Mr. Foster took an active part and greatly assisted in securing its pass- age through the Legislature. In his annual address as Department Commander of the G. A. R. in 1886, he started the project of erecting an Indiana State Soldiers' Home, which in 1895 finally resulted in the passage

by the Legislature of a bill appropriating $75,000 for that purpose, the home to be located near the city of La Fayette. The law, prepared by a committee of the Grand Army of the Republic, of which Mr. Foster was a member, provided for a non-partisan board of five trustees to be appointed by Governor Matthews. Mr. Foster was ap- pointed a member of this board, and became its Secretary. In 1893 he was appointed by President Harrison a member of the United States Assay Commission, to examine and test the weight and fineness of the gold and silver coins minted at Philadelphia, San Francisco, Carson City and New Orleans during the calendar year of 1892.

Mr. Foster was married January 10, 1878, to Miss Sara Pyne, daughter of John Pyne, of Hamilton, New York. A son, Frederick R., and two daughters, Pearl and Florence, constitute the family.

RANKLIN H. FOUST is promi- nently connected with the banking and commercial interests of the Hoosier State, and his name is in- separably associated with the business history of Columbia City. In modern ages, and to a large degree in the past, banks have con- stituted a vital part of organized society, and governments, both monarchical and popular, have depended upon them for material aid in times of depression and trouble. Their influence has extended over the entire world and their prosperity has been the barometer which has unfalteringly indicated the finan- cial status of all nations. Of this important branch of business Mr. Foust is a worthy representative. The story of his success is short and simple, containing no dramatic episodes, but recording the steps by which

MEMORIAL RECORD OF

he has passed onward from a point where neither influence nor financial aid was enlist- ed in the behalf of a mere lad, up to the maximum of success attained by steadfast- ness of purpose, unimpeachable honor and unflagging industry. That this progress has been thus self-secured and along a normal and consecutive line of gradation is all the more encouraging, since it bears the greater incentive for others to utilize the same me- diums in shaping their careers according to measure of honor and usefulness.

Franklin H. Foust is a native of Dela- ware county, Ohio, where he was born on the 10th of January, 1825, being the son of Henry and Mary (Olds) Foust, both of whom were natives of the old Keystone State and of German and Scotch descent. The paternal grandfather, Jacob Foust, was born in Germany, and when a youth he ac- companied his father to the United States. They settled in Cumberland county, Penn- sylvania, where they became tillers of the soil. Jacob Foust removed to Delaware county, Ohio, at an early day, being one of the first settlers in that section of the Buck- eye State. He located where the fine little city of Delaware now stands, and he con- structed the first bridge across the river be- tween that point and Columbus. The family lived in their wagons until they could hew tim- bers and complete the erection of the primi- tive log cabin which should serve as their permanent domicile. The land was wild and entirely unreclaimed. and the Indian still disputed dominion with the beasts of the field. Jacob Foust bore arms in the war of the Revolution, and in recognition of his services he was awarded a pension, which he continued to draw until the time of his death.

Henry Foust, father of our subject, mar- ried Mary Olds, in 1812, and after this im-

portant event they settled ten miles north of Delaware, where they began housekeep- ing in a little log cabin, such as was typ- ical of that place and period. At the out- break of the war of 1812 Mr. Foust patriot- ically went forth in the defense of his coun- try and was in active service. His wife also made a noble endeavor in the connection, going to Fort Norton, where she did camp work. After the war they were reunited and for more than sixty years they lived happily and peacefully on the place which they had reclaimed from the wilderness and made to yield bountiful harvests in their season. Each of them died at this old homestead, so hallowed by long association. Mr. Foust was a successful farmer and accumulated a competency. He was a man of strong in- dividuality and sturdy integrity of character, having served many years as a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He and his excellent wife became the parents of nine children who grew to maturity, and of this number five still survive, namely: Emily Maffit, of Bristol, Indiana; Franklin H., subject of this review; Solonion, of Atlanta, Kansas; Eunice Smith, of Atlanta, Kansas; and Alfred L., of Columbia City, Indiana.

Our subject was reared on the old home farm and bore his part in assisting in its rec- lamation and cultivation. Educational fa- cilities in that section were meagre in extent during his youth, and such discipline as he received was that afforded by the district and subscription schools, in which he ac- quired the rudiments of a common English education-a discipline which has been ef- fectually supplemented by the knowledge gained in connection with the practical affairs of life. In his boyhood days he partially learned the shoemaker's trade, and at this he worked every night until twelve o'clock,

NORTHEASTERN INDIANA.

for the compensation of fifty cents a night, attending school during the day. He early learned the value of money, and real- ized the want for and necessity of a dime on many an occasion. He made most of the foot- wear worn by the several members of the family, and in every way did his part in aid- ing in their support. He hauled wheat from Delaware county to Sandusky City by team, -a distance of seventy-five miles, -and sold it at sixty cents per bushel. In 1848 he hired out to Adam Wolfe to peddle fanning mills, retaining this position for two years. When he began work in this line he did not have a dollar, and for the first year he received eight dollars per month and expenses, the salary being increased to fifteen dollars the second year. At this small compensation he was enabled by frugality to save a small sum of money, and in the fall of 1849 he formed a partnership with his employer, Mr. Wolfe, under the firm name of F. H. Foust & Com- pany, for the manufacture of fanning mills, and this association was maintained without interruption up to the time of the death of Mr. Wolfe, whose interests are still represented in the business conducted by our subject.

At the time the above mentioned part- nership was consummated Mr. Foust came to Columbia City, Indiana, and he has since been a valued resident of this county. He rented a room and therein began the manu- facturing of fanning mills, the firm continu- ing this enterprise with success for three years. In 1852 they purchased a stock of dry goods and opened a store which they operated about nine years. The first time Mr. Foust ever held a position behind a mercantile counter was in his own store, in which was displayed a stock valued at about $10,000. He hired an experienced buyer to accompany him to New York to purchase

the original stock, but subsequently he personally attended to all purchasing,- which fact attested his discrimination and adaptability. After resigning his connec- with the mercantile business F. H. Foust & Company first engaged in that line of enterprise with which he is now so conspicuously identified. He did collecting and a banking business of modest order. During the war he received deposits, and the confidence which was placed in him is shown by the fact that his system of ac- counts in the connection consisted at the time in merely making a note of how much he received and from whom, making no charge for his services. In this way he had in his diminutive safe at one time deposits aggregating $60,000. He realized that there was an imperative necessity for better bank- ing facilities as the town increased in popu- lation and substantial prosperity, and in 1867, still associated with his honored part- ner, Mr. Wolfe, he opened a private bank- ing house here, its history having been con- secutive from that day to the present. The institution is now recognized as one of the most solid and reliable monetary concerns in northeastern Indiana, and the progressive yet conservative policy that has been ob- served from the start has gained it public confidence and representative support. The firm own about 1,030 acres of land, all of which is contiguous to the town and un- der fence. Of this 300 acres are under cul- tivation, the remainder being devoted to pasturage. Mr. Foust retains a marked love for the occupation which was his in his youth and still wishes to be classed among the yeomanry of the nation, having never been free from an association with farming during his entire life and recognizing that the farmers constitute the bulwarks of our

MEMORIAL RECORD OF

national weal. He maintains much inter- est in stock-raising and agriculture, and is still the owner of the old homestead of fifty acres, in Delaware county, Ohio. Progres- sive and public-spirited he has done much to forward the best interests of the town and county, and lends his influence to every worthy enterprise. His partner, who is now deceased, was his able and honored coadjutor for many years, and as their interests were almost identical, so also were their ideas in connection with business affairs, and their entire associated career was one of utmost harmony and mutual confidence.

The marriage of our subject to Maxia Jones was celebrated at Columbia City, Indiana, in 1850. They have no children. In his political proclivities Mr. Foust is a Republican, and though never a seeker for official preferment he has rendered a hearty support to the party whose principles and policies he advocates.

Standing as one of the pioneers of Whit- ley county, within whose limits no man is better known, and enjoying the confidence and respect of men, there is particular inter- est attaching to the life of our subject, and a recapitulation of certain salient points in his career can not fail of interest, even though there be a measure of reiteration. He was raised by a father in very modest circumstances and was afforded very few advantages in his youth. In addition to this he found it necessary to work very hard in order to aid in maintaining the pioneer family of which he was a member. He carly assumed individual responsibility, and at the age of sixteen years he was found buying and selling with as much confidence as a man of the world, exercising his mental power to a more than proportionate degree in the little sphere within whose narrow

limitations his life was bounded at the time. Finally overwork told upon a constitution none too rugged, and, at the advice of a kindly physician, who told him his only hope for life and health laid in abandoning the farm, he went to peddling, as before stated. Before taking this position with Mr. Wolfe he had decided to go to California, and he had been offered $35 per month by one Bohart, of Mansfield, Ohio, to enter his employ, but notwithstanding the temptation this offered as against the tender of the little sum of $15 per month on the part of the old and tried friend of the family, Mr. Wolfe, our subject proved his sterling sense by accepting the proposition of the latter, who had ex- plained the reasons why he could not offer a larger salary and who had said that if the opportunity ever offered he would start Mr. Foust in business. Thus, looking to the future and placing implicit confidence in the honesty of Mr. Wolfe, Mr. Foust accepted his terms, -a decision he has never had cause to regret. We venture to say, how- ever, that few boys would have made a sim- ilar decision under like circumstances. The two gentlemen in their long and pleasant business association accumulated a fine prop- erty, including four business blocks, besides much other property in the line of suburban and farm realty. The most of the property over which our subject has control is held in the name of the firm. To such men all honor is due, and to them it is never denied.

S AMUEL M. FOSTER-Young men in the past have often been deterred from devoting themselves to a busi- ness life because of the wide-spread impression that such a life yields no opportun-

NORTHEASTERN INDIANA.

ity for the display of genius or for active par- ticipation in those political contests which appeal so strongly to the ambition of the young men of our country. The time, how- ever, has gone by when, other things being equal, the business man must play "second fiddle " to the lawyer or the doctor, the min- ister or the editor. In fact, as a rule, let the business man be equally equipped by education and natural endowment and you will find him to-day in every community ex- erting a wider influence and wielding a larger power than a man of equal capacity tread- ing in any other walk of life. The "men of affairs " have come to be in a large degree the men upon whom the country leans. The subject of our sketch is pre-eminently a "man of affairs."

He was born of Revolutionary stock on a farm at Coldenham, Orange county, New York, December 12, 1851, his parents being Dr. John L. and Harriet Scott Foster. In the family were seven children, -six sons and one daughter, -of whom Samuel M. was the youngest. At the age of fourteen he left his father's farm and entered the New York dry-goods store of his brothers. In 1868 he went to Troy, New York, as clerk for his brother, A. Z. Foster, now of Terre Haute, Indiana, with whom he formed a partnership in 1872. The venture was sufficiently profitable to enable him two years later to leave business and carry out his long cherished plan of obtaining a col- legiate education. Accordingly we find him « in the fall of 1875 enrolled in the freshman class at Yale College. His career there was a creditable one, and while holding his own in the class-room he found time to serve as one of the editors of the Yale Courant; won an appointment on the junior exhibition; had the honor of being one of the six Town-

send men chosen from 132 competitors, and was named by the faculty as one of the ten to represent the class on the platform on commencement day. He received the de- gree of Bachelor of Arts June 26, 1879, graduating fourteenth in a class that origin- ally numbered more than 200.

Mr. Foster came West, and in the fall entered the law office of Judge R. S. Tay- lor. not decided in mind to take up the pro- fession of law, but feeling that the time de- voted to the study would be well spent. A few months devoted alternately to reading Blackstone and to regaining the health which had been impaired by his college work convinced him that his constitution was not strong enough to enable him to win that success in law which he desired, and as a result of this conclusion in December, 1879, the first issue of the Saturday Eve- ning Record, with Samuel M. Foster as editor and proprietor, was issued at Dayton, Ohio. His experience in journalism was short and decisive. The paper was a brilliant success in every respect but a financial one; though the editor's health gave out before his pocket book did, serious inroads were made upon both. In 18So the Record (now known as the Dayton Herald) was disposed of, and Mr. Foster returned to Fort Wayne and re- sumed business life in the firm of Foster Brothers. This firm was dissolved in 1882 by the withdrawal of Scott Foster to accept the presidency of a New York bank, and the business of the firm was then divided, Sam- uel M. Foster succeeding to the dry-goods department of the firm's trade. In this he continued until 1886, when he withdrew entirely from the retail business to devote himself to manufacturing specialties for the dry-goods and clothing trade. The advent of the ladies' shirt-waist craze afforded an

MEMORIAL RECORD OF

opportunity for the rapid and profitable ex- pansion of the business. Though started on a most insignificant scale, it grew with such rapidity that the product of the Foster Waist Factory soon came to be known in every State and Territory in the Union. Though most zcalously devoted to the wel- fare of his business, Mr. Foster takes great interest in public matters, and is always found at the front whenever any matter of public importance is up for consideration.

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Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 6

Author: Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 932

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 932