USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 9
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This well-known Lafayette business man was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, August 25. 1856, but was reared in Kentucky until 1870, when he came to northwestern Indiana, with which section he has ever since been actively identified. Entering DePauw University shortly after his arrival here, he devoted several years to the college curriculum and was graduated in 1877. Becoming a student in the law office of Hon. John R. Coffroth, in Lafayette, he remained until his appointment in January, 1880, as assistant to the gen- eral solicitor of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Lafayette Railroad Company in charge of the legal business of that company of the lines from Crawfords- ville to Michigan City and Indianapolis to Chicago. In 1885 he resigned to take charge of the business of the Henry Taylor Lumber Company, with which he has ever since been identified. In addition to his duties as president of this company, he has for the past six years engaged in general contracting which identified him with a large amount of important building. Included in this were the Monon railroad shops at Lafayette, roundhouses and depots at Indianapolis, Lafayette, and other cities for the same company, five build- ings for the Indiana University, including the student building, library, re- modeling Wiley Hall, the observatory and remodeling of the law building. Another conspicuous achievement of Mr. Stillwell was the construction of the stylish hotel at French Lick and a subsequent addition to the same structure. He also put up the Sokliers' Memorial building at Dayton, Ohio, with a seat- ing capacity of six thousand people. the material being all of stone. Other work of a high order is represented in the court houses at Michigan City and Kankakee, Illinois, and the nine-story steel structure for the Schoff estate at Ft. Wayne. With Joshua Chew, his partner, he constructed the chemistry
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building, new gymnasium and other structures at Purdue University. In fact, his activities have extended from coast to coast and the work done under his direction has been especially conspicuous for fine finishings found in the buildings of many cities. His company achieved international fame as the designer of the interior finishing in the Broadway Chambers building, of New York, of which a miniature was exhibited at the Paris Exposition and a medal awarded for the American methods of interior decoration, which was pronounced the finest in the world. The company now has branch lumber yards at Danville, Illinois, Richmond, Indiana, and Stockwell, Indiana.
Mr. Stillwell married, October 16, 1881, Sallie B., only daughter of Henry Taylor, after whose death, in 1885, he gave up his law practice to take charge of the lumber business established by his father-in-law in 1852. Mr. Stillwell deserves well of the laboring men of Lafayette, whom he has em- ployed in large numbers and paid good wages. He has always been just to men in his employ, and his extensive industry, accompanied by his building operations, have been a source of wealth and prosperity to this community and the chief factor in making happy homes. Governor Matthews appointed Mr. Stillwell as a member of the Lafayette city police board, which was his only political office. He is a member of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church and of the Lincoln and Lafayette Clubs. He is also a Mason, having advanced as far in that order as the Mystic Shrine, and belongs to the college fraternity Phi Delta Theta. Mr. Stillwell's wife died some years ago, leaving an only daughter, Isabel T.
CHRISTIAN MERTZ.
No foreign country has furnished so many worthy and progressive citizens to the United States as Germany, and of the vast number of this splendid citizenship who have come to our shores and been assimilated into our civilization, resulting in incalculable good to both, is Christian Mertz, one of Lafayette's prominent business men, whose birth occurred in Richels- hausen, in the grand duchy of Baden, near Lake Constance, in the year 1834. He was the second child in a family of eight, the son of Johann Matthias and Katharine (Benzing) Mertz, the former a native of Baden and the latter of Wurttemberg. They died in their native hind, but Christian Mertz's grand- father on the paternal side died in America, having come here in an early day. Johann M. Mertz was the owner of a large estate. He was a manu- facturer of chemicals and obtained possession of the Richelshausen estate,
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which was formerly owned by a nobleman. The manor house in which Chris- tian Mertz was born is located in an ideal spot-the Swiss mountains, fortress Hohentwiel and Lake Constance being in plain view from the same. At this writing it is again in the possession of a baron. Christian Mertz was four - teen years old when the revolution swept over a part of Germany; in this his father took an active part, and it was during these years of early man- hood that he imbibed the spirit of freedom and independence, the atmosphere of Germany having been pervaded with such a spirit at that time. Mr. Mertz always regretted that his education in advanced studies was neglected, for to his father the larger affairs of state and county seemed all important and young Christian was sent away from the Catholic country to be tutored by a Protestant preacher who was a good man but no pedagogue. Not having an inclination to serve the required term in the German army, young Mertz decided to come to America in order to escape it, reaching our shores when twenty years of age, his first voyage having been made on an old- fashioned sailing-vessel and lasted forty days. He came to Indiana soon after his arrival in the New World and for some time lived on a farm near Fort Wayne with relatives. In May, 1855, he moved to Lafayette, making the trip on an Erie-Wabash canal packet, drawn by a mule team. It was a long ride, the canal being the principal manner of transportation in those days. Mr. Mertz had made up his mind that if anyone had found a way to succeed in this new country, he would be the second one. Although a stranger in a foreign land, unacquainted with the language and customs, without friends and only a limited capital, he had the innate qualities that win in the face of all obstacles and he, in due time, had a good foothold, first securing employment as a stone sawyer in Wagenlander's stone-yard. Then he became porter in the Bramble House, of which Thomas Wood was proprietor. Later he worked in the Lafayette House. These occupations, of course, were only stepping-stones until he could save enough money to enable him to embark in business for himself. From 1858 to 1861 he engaged in the retail grocery business on Main street and thereby became independent of employers. He prospered and in 1865 returned to the Fatherland on a visit. Upon his return to America he became a partner of Jacob Geyer, and together they conducted what was known as the Peters mill, which was locate.1 on Wild Cat creek. Business still came his way and in. 1871 Mr. Mertz made a second trip to Germany and remained there until 1874. On his return trip to America he was shipwrecked, the trip lasting twenty days; the ship was destroyed but no lives were lost, the passengers having been rescued by a steamer carrying merchandise. Upon his arrival in Lafayette, Indiana, which
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place he had long designated as his home, he became landlord of the Bramble House, where years ago he had been doing menial chores. In the year 1876 he became a partner of Otto K. Weakly and they conducted the Lahr Hotel. While under his able management the wide popularity of this house was established and he and Mr. Weakly were associated in business for a period of eighteen years.
During the early years of his hotel business, Mr. Mertz purchased an interest in the Lafayette Milling Company and also became a large stock- holder in the Tippecanoe Coffee and Spice Mills, under the firm name of Geiger-Tinney Company, now doing business in Indianapolis. He withdrew from this firm after having been associated with the same for a period of fourteen years. As president of the Citizens' Building and Loan Association, Mr. Mertz assisted to make this worthy enterprise successful and popular, retiring from the same in 1894, having been connected with the same for a number of years.
Mr. Mertz has done much to push forward the car of progress in Lafay- ette, always interested in and assisting in furthering many enterprises and being a liberal contributor to charitable enterprises and all movements, in fact, having for their object the general good. Among the laudable things he has done. it suffices here to mention only the fact that he was one of the very first by his liberal subscription to the Children's Home to make it possible for that institution to own its property.
At present Mr. Mertz devotes the major part of his time to the man- agement of the Lafayette Milling Company, of which he has been president for the past twenty-five years, during which time various changes have taken place in the management of the same by reason of deaths, etc. This mill was built in 1885 and it has a capacity of one hundred barrels per day, being equipped with all modern machinery and appliances for turning out first-class and high-grade flour, meal. bran, etc., for which a ready market is found, the prestige of this mill having long since become wide and permanent. A large number of men are employed in its various departments.
The domestic chapter in the life of this prominent man of affairs dates from his fifty-ninth year, after an exemplary bachelorhood, he having formed a matrimonial alliance with Martha Mueller, who was born in Stuttgart. Germany. She is a refined and affable lady, and to this union three interest- ing children have been born, namely: Fritz, Martha and Richard. The Mertz home is an ideal one, and Mr. and Mrs. Mertz are popular in all circles. Politically, the former is a Republican, and a member of the Second Presbyterian church.
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WILLIAM KENT LUCAS.
In studying the life record of William Kent Lucas, there are found all the elements that go to make the successful man of affairs-excellent ancestry, an analytical mind, a fidelity to duty, an unswerving persistency and a genial deportment-consequently as the general agent of the Monon railroad, with headquarters at Lafayette, Indiana, he has won a commendable position in the railroad world, in which he is widely known. His birth occurred at Williamsport. Warren county, this state, January 13, 1843, the son of a well- known civil engineer, Col. E. F. Lucas, the popular superintendent of the old Wabash and Erie Canal, which position he held for many years, during which time he was much sought after owing to his influence in high commercial circles. When this canal was taken over by the state, Colonel Lucas was one of three commissioners appointed to manage it, his duties being that of super- intendent and overseer, especially regarding its construction to Evansville. He was influential with the railroads and attended to a great deal of busi- ness for others. Colonel Lucas was born in Washington county, Pennsyl- vania. February 22, 1804, and having moved to Indiana in his youth he was educated in the Indiana State University at Bloomington, and, deciding upon a career as civil engineer, he became one of the first in the United States, also a consulting engineer. He was at one time a colonel in the state militia. William K. Lucas, of this review, has in his possession an old leather-covered trunk full of papers, left by his father, containing documents relating to the canal and many letters asking the Colonel's influence in behalf of the writers. In 1857 the Wabash railroad sent Colonel Lucas to Lafayette to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land on which to locate their shops, but it is said that local property owners refused to sell land for that purpose, not want- ing the shops to come here. At Ft. Wayne the land desired was donated. Colonel Lucas's death occurred in 1871 while he was engaged in locating the Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroad.
William Kent Lucas grew up on a farm on the state line, remaining there and assisting with the various duties of the same from about 1849 to 1865. In the latter year he went to Keokuk, Iowa, in the employ of the Wabash railroad. In 1866 Senator Thomas A. Hendricks procured for him an appointment in the railway mail service, known as route agent, his "run" being on the Wabash railroad, between Lafayette, Indiana, and Toledo, Ohio, he being chief clerk on the route, which position he very creditably filled. In 1869 he returned to Keokuk, being employed in the offices of the Wabash
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railroad. In 1876 Mr. Lucas was appointed agent of the Rock Island rail- road, at Keokuk, which position he held for about seven years. So faithful had his services been that in 1883 he was promoted to the agency for that road at Des Moines, Iowa. Remaining there until 1899, he resigned that position and accepted an offer made by the Monon railroad as general agent at Lafayette, Indiana, which position he is faithfully filling at this writing.
Mr. Lucas was united in marriage, September 19, 1872, with Sarah Shontz, a native of Harmony, Butler county, Pennsylvania. She was a rep- resentative of an old and influential family, having been a cousin of the famous Theodore P. Shontz, one of the builders of the Panama canal. After more than twenty-six years of mutually happy wedded life, Mrs. Lucas passed to her rest.
Mr. Lucas is conspicuous not only for his faithfulness to his duty, but also for his obliging disposition and his willingness to do some kind service for others. He is regarded by the officials of the Monon as one of their most faithful and trusted employes, and much credit is due him for the large business done by this road in Lafayette. He and his sister maintain a very neat and cozy home where their many friends are always welcome.
JOHN E. CHAMBERLIN.
A representative citizen of Lafayette and proprietor of the Chamberlin Creamery and ice cream business, the largest enterprise of the kind in north- ern Indiana and among the largest in the West, the subject of this review merits consideration among those who have contributed to the growth of the city and given it an honorable reputation as an important and commercial center. It is with no little satisfaction, therefore, that the following brief outline of his career and modest tribute to his worth is presented. John E. Chamberlin has been a lifelong resident of Lafayette and since his young manhood vitally interested in the city's material advancement and business prosperity. His father, David J. Chamberlin, was born June 26, 1826, in Gettysburg, Adams county, Pennsylvania, and in the spring of 1849. shortly after his marriage with Elizabeth Naoma Biggs, moved to Lafayette, Indiana, where he soon became a member of the firm of J. Shideler & Company, general merchants and grain dealers. Subsequently he engaged in marketing, which proved successful, and still later, in partnership with his son, he established a broom factory, which he operated with gratifying financial
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results for eleven years, when he disposed of the business co devote his entire attention to the manufacture of butter and cheese, an enterprise established in 1890 by the Lafayette Creamery Company and purchased by Mr. Cham- berlin in 1893. Under the name of D. J. Chamberlin & Son, the business grew rapidly and, the better to meet the demands of the trade, the firm enlarged its capacity from time to time, and in due time built up the largest estab- lishment of its kind not only in Lafayette, but in the northern part of the state. In connection with the making of butter and cheese and the handling of milk, they also introduced the manufacture of ice cream, which, like the other lines, proved successful from the beginning and increased to such an extent as to render necessary, within a brief period, the enlargement of their facilities and the adoption of new and improved methods and appliances. The industry has grown steadily in magnitude and importance until, as already indicated, it has become the largest of the kind in northern Indiana. The creamery, which has been increased to more than double its former capacity, is the largest in the state and one of the best known and most widely patron- ized enterprises of the kind in the central west. Connected with the estab- lishment is a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres, where are kept the high-grade cows which produce much of the milk used in the creamery, and the intention is to increase the herd as rapidly as circumstances will admit, although at the present time recourse is had to other sources in order to supply the growing demands of the trade. The plant now gives employment to an average of seventeen hands and the present yearly output is something in excess of thirty thousand pounds of butter and sixty-five thousand gallons of ice cream, besides a large wholesale and retail milk business, the greater part of which is used in the city, although shipments are frequently made to other points. The plant now in use was purchased in 1906, at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars, since which, as stated above, its capacity has been greatly enlarged, new and improved machinery installed until the factory is now fully equipped with the largest modern appliances and complete in all of its parts. Although the business is still conducted under the original firm name of D. J. Chamberlin & Son, the senior partner and founder, David J. Chamberlin, died at his home in Lafayette. November 17, 1904. since which time the plant has been operated by his son, John E. Chamberlin, through whose efforts and management it has been made what it is today. one of the leading industrial enterprises of the city and one of the most suc- cessful of the kind in the entire country.
David J. Chamberlin was a man of sound practical intelligence and much more than ordinary executive capacity and every undertaking in which
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he engaged appears to have prospered. He was also public spirited in matters pertaining to the improvement of the city, always manifested a lively interest in the general welfare of the community and was the embodiment of manly honor in all of his business and other relations. The large enter- prise which he established, and with which his name is still associated, bears witness to his ability, judgment and foresight, and its steady growth, under the joint direction of himself and son during his lifetime, and under the management of the latter since his decease, proves that it was well founded and that his mantle has fallen upon a worthy successor. Elizabeth Naoma Biggs, wife of David J. Chamberlin, was born near Emmettsburg. Frederick county, Maryland, and departed this life in Lafayette, Indiana, June 26, 1902, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. Her ancestors were among the first white settlers in Virginia and during the early wars, between the colonists and the Indians, several of the family were killed and others fell into the hands of the savages, who held them prisoners until ransomed by their relatives or friends. Later, some of her people became well-to-do planters and slave holders, but prior to the Civil war they liberated their slaves and moved to a state upon which the blight of involuntary human servitude has not been fastened.
David J. and Elizabeth Naoma Chamberlin were the parents of but one child, John E. Chamberlin, the subject of this sketch, whose birth occurred in Lafayette, Indiana, on the 22d day of November, 1850. He was educated in the city schools and while still young acquired, under the direction of his father, practical knowledge of business and matured his plans for the future. In due time he became his father's associate in the various lines of enterprise already described and upon the latter's death succeeded to the large establishment, which the two jointly built up, and is now sole proprietor of the same. His career has been a large and useful one, and an evidence of his acumen and reliability is afforded by the fact of his having steadily enlarged the establishment with which he is identified and earned a reputa- tion in business circles second to that of none of his contemporaries and above the slightest suspicion of reproach or dishonor.
Mr. Chamberlin's domestic life dates from December 18, 1878, at which time he was united in marriage with Mary E. Wilson, of Lafayette, daughter of James R. Wilson, late of this city, the union resulting in the birth of several children, of whom three sons survive, viz .: James D., John M. and Wilbur, all intelligent young business men and connected with the enterprise of which their father is proprietor. Mr. Chamberlin affiliates with the Repub- lican party, but is no politician, having little time to devote to party affairs
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and no ambition in the way of public or official honors. This family, for several generations, have been Methodists in their religious belief and the subject subscribes to the doctrines of the same church, as do also his wife and children. In his fraternal relations, Mr. Chamberlin is an Odd Fellow, and it is a matter worthy of note that when he and his sons joined the order, a part of the ceremony was conducted by the same person who assisted at the initiation of his father into the same lodge forty-five years before. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity.
As the result of his ability, energy, economy and judicious management, Mr. Chamberlin has not only attained to a prominent place in the business world, but has also achieved marked financial success, being the possessor of an ample fortune and one of the solid and reliable men of his city. He has ever been an advocate of all moral interests, and endeavored to realize within himself the high ideals of manhood and citizenship, being straight- forward, honorable and worthy of respect and standing for law and order, in all the terms implied. Few men in Lafayette are as widely and favorably known, none stand higher than does he in the confidence and esteem of the public and in view of his active and eminently creditable career and the influence he has always exercised on the right side of any moral question, it is proper to class him with the representative men of his day and generation in the community honored by his citizenship.
THOMAS WILLIAM BURT.
budi in a political and business sense Thomas W. Burt, present postmaster of the city of Lafayette, and one of the proprietors of the Lafayette Morning Journal, is deserving of the high esteem in which he is held by all classes owing to his public spirit, integrity and fidelity to duty. By dint of industry and marked innate ability, he has forged to the front among his contemporaries and made his influence felt throughout this portion of Indiana. He is popular among the laboring classes and common people, because he has bee nassoci- ated from youth with the men who have had to strive for what they have secured of wealth and fame, and in their struggles he still takes a lively interest, and while not disregarding the rights of the capitalist and those who have inherited wealth, he can always be counted on as vindicating the cause of that class of industrious citizens who seek to better their condition by manly labor, be it in whatever calling that labor may be found employed.
Thomas W. Burt was born March 12. 1861, just one month before the
THOMAS W. BURT
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND. 609
opening of the great Civil war. His father was Thomas Burt, Sr., who sacri- ficed his life on the altar of his country in the struggle to preserve the Union. He was a native of Ohio-the state so famous for brave defenders of our national flag in all wars. He volunteered soon after the first call for men by President Lincoln, and for four long, trying years, he fought for the right, as he was given to see the right, and when he had lived to see the new era ushered in, his life had paid the price of hardship and exposure on the battle- fields of the Southland, having answered the last roll-call and passed from earth in 1865. Thomas W. Burt's mother was known in her maidenhood as Mary Rogers, who was a native of Indiana, and who, for her second hus- band, married Thomas Bryant.
In 1866 young Burt came to Lafayette, Indiana, where he was reared to manhood. Here he received his education and has ever since remained a loyal citizen of the place. When he was just entering his twelfth year, he began learning the printer's trade, and in 1890 he became associated with the Spring-Emerson Stationery Company, one of the oldest and best known houses in that line of goods in the state. It was established as early as 1836 by John Rosser and has flourished for three-quarters of a century. In 1897 the company was, however, reorganized. Mr. Burt, who had mastered the details of the business and had proven a most capable employe, was made a partner in the firm, the name being changed to the Burt-Terry Stationery Company, Frank and Charles Terry being the other interested parties. In his new role, Mr. Burt was signally successful from the start. and won friends and regular patrons by his own personality and the high grade of goods which his judgment taught him was the best line to deal in. With natural business ability, aided by genial manners and rare soundness of judgment, success was soon within his grasp. Later the firm became the well- known Burt-Terry-Wilson Company, and in the year 1902 the company ab- sorbed the Daily Morning Journal, which is now known as the Burt-Haywood Company, incorporated in 1902 at a capital of seventy-five thousand dol- lars, and it is one of the largest of the kind in the state, employing one hun- dred and thirty to one hundred and fifty persons. The plant is equippedl with expensive machinery of the latest designs. Mr. Burt is now manager of this large enterprise, which would be a credit to any city. Many large jobs are constantly turned out and the work is always satisfactory, for only high-grade material is used and only skilled mechanics are employed by this firm. the reputation of which is now far-reaching.
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