USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 25
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Joseph Abdon died October 26, 1893, after an active and useful life.
Mrs. Mary Jane Abdon was first married to Derrick Kerr, who was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, the wedding occurring May 12, 1859. One son was born of this union, William D. Kerr, whose year of birth was 1861. He was educated in the city schools, and he learned the plumber's trade, which he now successfully follows in Lafayette, his place of business being located
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on Union street. He married Fannie G. Workhoff, April 17, 1886, and they are the parents of two children; one son, Albert Kerr, born April 11, 1887, is a graduate of Purdue University in pharmacy ; the other child, Gladys Kerr, is now ( 1909) fourteen years old and is making a good record in the public schools.
Derrick Kerr was also a soldier in the Union army, having enlisted in defense of the flag early in the war, in Company D, in an Indiana regiment. His death occurred in May, 1862, while he was on his way home from the front, dying in a St. Louis hospital of the measles.
Mrs. Abdon lives in a neat and comfortable home at No. 1314 Green- bush street, Lafayette. Although she is a woman who has known sorrow and has done much hard work, she is uncomplaining, optimistic and of comely personal appearance. She is a member of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, as are also her children, and she receives a pension of twelve dollars per month. This family stand high among their neighbors, having always borne reputations exemplary in every respect.
JOHN W. SKINNER.
He to whom this sketch is dedicated is a member of one of the oldest and most honored pioneer families of Tippecanoe county, and there is par- ticular interest attached to a study of his life record, owing to the fact he has forged his way to the front by reason of an innate ability and personal char- acteristics that seldom fail to win the goal sought.
John W. Skinner, the popular ex-commissioner of Tippecanoe county, is a native of the same, having been born in Lauramie township. September 9, 1855, the son of Thomas and Eliza (Conarroe) Skinner, the former a native of Hamilton county, Indiana, where his birth occurred in 1811. He came to Tippecanoe county about 1829 and played well his part in the sub- sequent development of the locality, which was then practically a wilder- ness. He was industrious and thrifty and became a well-to-do farmer for those days. He came by this naturally, for he grew up on a farm, and also learned the carpenter's trade. He started with practically nothing, but en- tered one hundred and twenty acres of land from the government at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. Having prospered, he added to this until he became the owner of four hundred acres, which he managed in a manner that stamped him as a man of soundness of judgment and he was
JOHN W. SKINNER
THOMAS SKINNER
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influential in his community, being regarded as a man of strict integrity. He remained on his farm the rest of his life, dying May 23, 1892. He was a Republican in politics. He and his wife were the parents of two children, John W. Skinner, of this review, and Joseph, who died when ten years of age.
John W. Skinner was reared on his father's farm, where he assisted with the work about the place and he quite naturally chose farming for his life work. He received a good practical education in the local common schools and at Stockwell.
Mr. Skinner was married June 14, 1876, to Flora May Warwick, who was born in Tippecanoe county, the daughter of John and Sarah Warwick. The Warwicks have long been a prominent family here. Mrs. Skinner re- ceived a fairly good education in the common schools and she proved to be a very faithful and congenial helpmeet to her husband, who owes no little of his success to her counsel. Their home was blessed by the birth of two children, Jesse R. and Roy L .; but a deep gloom was cast over the home in 1905 by the tragic death of the latter, being a victim of a railroad accident. The first named son, a young man of marked business ability, is married and is making his home with his parents. Mrs. John W. Skinner was called to her rest in 1892, and in 1894 Mr. Skinner was married to Martha Ellis, who was born and reared in Tippecanoe county, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Ellis, an old and highly respected family. Mrs. Skinner is a woman of affability and presides over her home with a grace that has won hosts of warm friends. Mr. Skinner's second marriage has resulted in the birth of one child, Ward E., who is twelve years old at this writing and is a bright and interesting lad.
Mr. Skinner is the owner of one thousand acres of as valuable land as can be found in this favored section of the Hoosier state, and none is bet- ter improved, for he takes a delight in keeping his farm up to twentieth century standards. He is an admirer of good stock and has always kept some fine breeds of all kinds, especially cattle and horses. His land is easily worth one hundred dollars per acre. Besides this farm, Mr. Skinner owns one- fifth interest in two thousand five hundred acres of valuable timber land in the state of Mississippi. He is one of the stockholders in the Farmers and Traders' Bank at Lafayette, in which he is a director. For the past twelve years he has not engaged in active farming, but spends his time overseeing his large interests. He makes his home in Stockwell, where he has one of the most attractive residences in this locality, being of beautiful architectural
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design, modern in every detail, elegantly furnished and surrounded by well- kept grounds and substantial outbuildings.
In politics Mr. Skinner is a Republican and he has long taken some- thing of an active interest in local party affairs. He was elected commis- sioner from the third district and very ably served in that capacity for two terms, or six years. Fraternally, he is a member of Summit Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
Personally, Mr. Skinner is a man whom it is a delight to meet, court- eous, unassuming, kind and generous, and while giving his chief attention to his business, he finds time and opportunity to take an interest in matters pertaining to the progress and growth of his community, county and state, keeping abreast of the times in all questions of vital import and being re- garded by all as a leader in the locality honored by his residence.
FRED REULE.
For a number of years the subject of this sketch has been identified with the business interests of Lafayette, during which he has made for himself a place of honor in commercial and social circles, his life being one of signal positiveness and his integrity above the suspicion of reproach. As his name indicates, Fred Reule is of Teutonic ancestry and traces his family history through a long line of antecedents to Germany where his parents, George Reule and Caroline Wooster, were born and reared. Both came to America in their youth and located at Lafayette where, in due time, their marriage occured, the union resulting in the birth of one son, the subject of this re- view, and two daughters, the older of whom, Caroline, is the widow of the late Charles W. Warrenburg, of Lafayette, and the mother of two children, George B. and Clara. A. Mary, the second daughter, is unmarried and lives with her brother, whose home she manages and to whose interest and comfort she ministers in various ways. George Reule engaged in the hardware trade at Lafayette a number of years ago and was long one of the enterprising and successful business men of the city. Honest and upright in his dealings and energetic in all of his undertakings, he built up a lucrative patronage and at the time of his death, in 1891, was a conspicuous figure in the commercial circles of the city, with an honorable reputation as an intelligent and progressive citizen. Mrs. Reule, who survived her husband, departed this life
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in 1909, aged seventy-six years, five months and some days, Mr. Reule being in his fifty-eighth year when called to the unseen world.
Fred Reule, whose birth occurred in Lafayette on the 21st day of Feb- ruary, 1860, was reared in his native city, and after attending the public , schools of the same until acquiring a pretty thorough knowledge of the branches therein taught, took a two-years course in a commercial college with the object in view of fitting himself for a business life. Prior to the completion of his education, he obtained a valuable practical experience under the direction of his father, whose place of business he entered at the age of sixteen and with whom he continued until the latter's death, when he entered into the hardware business upon his own responsibility.
Mr. Reule's business career has been eminently successful and he is now proprietor of the largest and best known establishment of the kind in the city. The large and well conducted building, which fronts one hundred and fifteen feet on Columbia street and forty-four feet on Second street, is four stories high with a large basement and is admirably adapted to the purposes for which intended, the different floors being stocked with everything in the hardware line, in addition to which the proprietor deals extensively in farm implements and machinery, gas engines of various types, buggies and other vehicles, harness, binders, twine, cement and building materials, all of which he buys in carload lots and disposes of both wholesale and retail. The entire second floor of the mammoth establishment is stocked with the celebrated Columbus buggies, which are sold in large numbers, and he also handles the J. I. Case threshers and engines, which he purchases by the carload and for which there has been a steadily growing demand during the past eight or ten years. He also carries a full line of fine office furniture, fixtures and many other articles which the limits of this brief sketch will not admit of mention, his stock of all kinds being full and complete, so as to supply the growing demands of the trade and requiring to handle it the services of eight experienced salesmen, besides an adequate force to look after the various clerical departments. In the building up and management of this large and far-reaching enterprise, Mr. Reule deserves great credit and the ease with which every department is conducted demonstrates business ability of a high order and a method and foresight as rare as they are admirable.
Mr. Reule has never assumed the duties and responsibilities of the mar- riage relation, nevertheless he maintains a beautiful and attractive home at No. 1118 North street, where, as already indicated, his sister manages his household and looks after his domestic affairs, the place being well known to the best social circles of the city and a hospitable retreat for the kindred spirits
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who from time to time are accustomed to while away many pleasant hours with the kindly host and hostess. In his religious belief the subject is a Lutheran, to which church his ancestors belonged and in the truths of which he was early trained by pious and devoted parents. He is a liberal contributor to its various lines of work besides being a generous donor to all charitable and humanitarian enterprises.
In personal appearance, Mr. Reule is tall, well built and of a pleasing address, modest in manners, deliberate in conversation and methodical in all he does and says. He impresses all with whom he comes into contact as a man of intelligence. good judgment and force-in brief, as a typical German- American citizen of a class to which our country is greatly indebted for its material progress and social advancement.
REV. MICHAEL J. BYRNE.
The popular pastor of St. Ann's has had a varied career in the priesthood and it is only necessary to examine into his achievements with his numerous charges to find that his life has been one of usefulness and good works. He is of Irish origin and possesses all the characteristics of his nationality. His father. Peter Byrne, came from the historic Emerald Isle as far back as the early thirties and for a time worked as a day laborer in Cincinnati. While there he met and married Mary Hannagan, an Irish girl, then a resident of Newport. Kentucky. Shortly afterward they located in Butler county, Ohio. where Peter bought a small tract of land from the government, to which he added by subsequent purchases until his holdings amounted to a full section. Later he removed to Lafayette, where he died in October, 1906, at the ripe old age of eighty-nine years. His six children consisted of four sons and two daughters, all of whom are living. Michael J. is at Lafayette: Dennis is in the waterworks department at Chicago: John is a sergeant of police in the same city: Paul, who resides at Anderson, Indiana, is employed with a Chicago firm: Catherine is a sister of the Order of Notre Dame and teaches at St. Xavier's in Cincinnati; Mary is the wife of a prosperous blacksmith at Sidney, Ohio.
Michael J. Byrne, eldest of the family, was born in Butler county. Ohio, October 18. 1858, and remained on the farm until the completion of his sixteenth year. By this time he had obtained sufficient education to teach and after devoting a year to this pursuit he obtained a life license at the age of seventeen, but only used it for one more year in school work. After a year
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in the commercial course at St. Mary's Institute, in Dayton, Ohio, he obtained a degree in 1876 and then entered the preparatory seminary at St. Mary's in Cincinnati. Remaining there until 1877, he spent the following five years at the University of Niagara and was graduated in the classical course in 1883 with the degree of Master of Arts. Two years in the philosophical course at Baltimore (Maryland) College gained for him the degree of Bachelor of Arts and, after finishing in theology at St. Vincent's, Beatty, Pennsylvania, he was ordained June 29. 1888. His first work was as assistant pastor in the cathedral at Ft. Wayne, Indiana. In 1891 he was given pastoral charge of St. Mary's in East Chicago, and was the principal factor in building the present church at that place. In 1895 he was assigned to the Sacred Heart church at Whiting, Indiana, and purchased the land on which were built the church, St. Michael's hall, the Sisters' academy and school and the parochial residence. He also bought property and built a house and church for the first Slavonian parish in the diocese. Transferred to the cathedral at Ft. Wayne, he remained there until the condition of the parish required his presence at Union City, Indiana, and to that point he was sent to remain two years. In 1901 he was transferred to St. Ann's in Lafayette and since then has accept- ably filled that important charge. There has been great progress ander Father Byrne's energetic management. The church building has been completed. additional property bought, many improvements brought about, and a new residence constructed in 1908. When he took charge, the congregation was twelve thousand dollars in debt. but all of this has been paid, while the mem- bership has been increased from one hundred to over four hundred families. Father Byrne is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and was direct- or during three different terms. At present he is chaplain for the Indiana branch of the order and chairman of the committee on Irish history. He be- longs to the Catholic Knights of St. John. the Tippecanoe county board of charities and corrections and serves as a member of the police board without pay. The congregation of St. Ann's is much attached to Father Byrne, whose kindly manners, sympathetic nature, readiness to help those in need and 1111- selfish devotion to all good causes have endeared him to the whole population of Lafayette.
JOSEPH CHARLES ARTHUR.
Perhaps no department of agriculture in all its numerous branches calls for the exercise of higher science or more delicate skill than that relating to the physiology and pathology of plants. It is comparatively a modern science
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and while embraced under the general head of botany, has a distinctive twen- tieth-century flavor. The successful prosecution of such work demands highly trained minds, educated by long study both in theory and practice, besides being possessed of a natural adaptability for the pursuit. In other words, it must be a scholar of the first grade, with ability akin to genius, to give the best results in what is regarded as a department of the first importance in the domain of agricultural science as applied to the vegetable world. Some de- tails concerning the accomplished gentleman who fills this chair at Purdue University will prove acceptable and interesting. The family is of New York origin. Charles Arthur, who was a farmer and merchant, married Anna Allen, by whom he had two children. Joseph Charles Arthur, the only son, was born at Lowville, New York, January 11, 1850, but obtained his early education in the schools of Iowa. Before reaching his majority he entered the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames, and was a graduate in the first class of that institution in 1872. His degree of Bachelor of Science then obtained was followed in 1877 by the supplementary degree of Master of Science. His subsequent educational career embraced terms at Johns Hopkins University in 1878-9, at Harvard in 1879, and at Cornell in 1886, where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Science. During the interval between the last two dates mentioned, he was at the experiment station at Geneva, New York, and in 1896 he spent some time at Bonn University. In 1887 he came to Purdue University as professor of vegetable physiology and pathology and was ap- pointed botanist of the Indiana experiment station in 1888. In 1886 he was sectional secretary of the American Association for Advancement of Science, assistant general secretary in 1887. and vice-president in 1895, and president of the Botanical Society of America in 1902. In 1904 he was one of the principal speakers at the International Congress of Arts and Sciences at St. Louis. He has held numerous important positions in connection with various learned societies, including the academies of Iowa, Philadelphia and Indiana, of which last he was president in 1893. Much of his work has been devoted to fungous diseases of cultivated crops and plant rusts.
Professor Arthur is a man of nervous temperament, quick perception. a hard and persistent worker, with the fine touch and intuition which indicate the superior mind. He is not inclined to talk much, but what he says is always to the point and any one interested in his special branch of knowledge after an hour's talk with him will go away feeling that he has been greatly benefitted. Professor Arthur is affable in manner, sincere in his intercourse. direct in method, and a profound student in the difficult branch of science to which he has devoted his life. Purdue University was fortunate in securing
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his services, and the farmers and market gardeners of Indiana as well as all others who come in contact with the vegetable world will in time get the benefit of the work done so silently and effectively in the laboratory at Purdue. The bulletins sent out from time to time convey useful knowledge of various kinds and those who heed will be able to escape loss, as well as learn much concerning plant life which will be useful in their business.
JOHN F. BURLEY.
The state of Ohio has sent many of its best citizens to the western coun- try who have transformed it from a wilderness to a country equal in every way to the great Buckeye commonwealth. Of this number of worthy citizens who came to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, the name of John F. Burley should be mentioned. He was born in Greenville, Darke county, Ohio, January II, 1830, the son of Thornton H. and Mary A. Burley, both natives of Virginia. John F. Burley came to this city in an early day and was successful in estab- lishing a good home here and leaving a competency for his family. His deatlı occurred May 29, 1859.
John F. Burley and Mary A. Bookwalter were married December 4, 1856. She was born in Piqua county, Ohio, September 11, 1829, and her parents were from Pennsylvania. Her father's name was Jacob Bookwalter and her mother's maiden name was Julia Ann Shuck. Jacob Bookwalter was twice married and reared a large family, consisting of fifteen children. There were seven children by Mary A.'s mother and eight by her step-mother. five girls and ten boys; three boys and one girl are now living.
One son was born to Mr. and Mrs. John F. Burley, named Charles F., who was born February 21, 1858. He married Minnie Brownley, a native of Michigan, and they are the parents of three living children, one son and two daughters. Charles F. Burley is a traveling salesman for Maxwell & Com- pany, of Chicago, and is a very energetic and faithful business man. He has a good education and has gained much from the world first-handed which renders his services valuable to his employers who regard him as one of the most capable salesman. He has a nice home and a fine family.
Mrs. Mary A. Burley lives in a very comfortable and attractive home at No. 212 South Sixth street. Her father was a farmer and she was reared in a wholesome home atmosphere which she has ever sought to maintain about her home. She was reared in the Meth-
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odist Episcopal faith. She delights to tell of the early days of Tippecanoe county, for she was but thirteen years old when she came here and she has noted the wondrous changes that have taken place here since then. When her parents came here they settled four and one-half miles west of Logansport in the stone-quarry district. She recalls the operations on the old canal when she says all the music she heard was the bugles and the frogs during the spring months. In that community then could be found all kinds of wild fruits and plenty of game. Mrs. Burley is a well preserved woman for one of her advanced years. She is a good conversationalist, having a most excellent memory, recalling events of historic interest in the long ago. She has always been a hard and constant worker and is yet very active, being alert in body and mind, and is a good mother and neighbor. She has reared a son of whom any mother might be proud.
THOMAS G. McKEE.
Prominently identified with the industrial and civic affairs of Tippe- canoe county is Thomas G. McKee, who is one of the progressive farmers of this locality, residing on a beautiful farmstead in Lauramie township. which he has improved and on which he makes a very comfortable living by reason of his close application and good management : but while he de- votes the major part of his time to his individual affairs he was never known to neglect his duties to the public at large. He was born in Franklin county, Indiana. August 24, 1829, and his long life has been spent within the borders of the Hoosier state, and now in the golden evening of his days he finds himself surrounded by the evidences of his former years of activity and can look back upon a career of which no one might be ashamed. He is the son of Eli C. and Nancy ( Griffin) McKee. the latter the daughter of Dr. E. Griffin, a well-known pioneer physician. Nancy Griffin was born in the state of Kentucky. When Eli C. McKee, a rugged, honest pioneer, came to Lauramie township, Tippecanoe county. Indiana. on September 20, 1833, he found practically a wilderness, but, being a hard worker, he soon had a foothold here and established a good home. To Mr. and Mrs. Eli C. Mckee eight children were born, only three of whom are now living, namely : Thomas G., of this review, who is now eighty years of age: Enes, who was born October 16. 1830; and Samuel.
THOMAS G. McKEE
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Thomas G. McKee was two years old when his parents brought him to this county. He grew to manhood in Lauramie township, and after reach- ing the proper age assisted with the work on the farm. Owing to the fact that it was necessary for him to help clear and improve his father's place and also because of the primitive schools of those early days, he received only a limited education, but this has not handicapped him in his business life, for he has succeeded over all obstacles. . He remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age, and. on April 1, 1851. he was married to Julia Ann Abbott, and to this union six children were born, of whom, one daughter, Harriet A., is the wife of Harvey Tinsley, of Crawfordsville. Indiana. Thomas C., the oldest son, was born August 12, 1860, and died December 2, 1899, and Marquis Morton, the second son, was born December 18, 1863. and died October 28, 1893, both being laid to rest at Clark's Hill cemetery. Maud E., born May 22, 1867. died November 26, 1889. Mrs. McKee, who was born June 9. 1829. died March 18, 1889.
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