USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Some Fort Wayne phizes > Part 9
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WILLIAM LAWSON
T HE subject of this sketch didna ken when he left Scotland to gang awa to America that he was coming for "cod." Well, William Lawson did not. He came here for bass, trout and suckers. He is a mer- chandise broker and a successful one. This is one reason that he has no trouble in landing the last-named variety. A great many men from Scotland are dubbed "Sandy." Mr. Lawson is not so recognized. He is sometimes red-headed, but only in the summer time. The sun will tan a man's hands and arms but when it takes a chance at a man's head it usually makes it red. Mr. Lawson fishes better with his hat by his side. In getting a sucker on the string he generally lands them. His bait is usually sugar, rice, sardines, salmon and all kinds of canned goods.
Mr. Lawson is a great curler but does not cut much ice on the lakes in the summer time. He is devoted to all athletic sports which are popular in Bonnie Dundee. He can throw a hammer, but is not a knocker; he can pitch quoits but does not put any curves on; he can ching to a rope in a tug-of-war but never chews the lint; he can run in a sack race but never holds the bag. In Caledonian Club circles he is a most active member and is a leader in its out-of-door sports and social events.
In commercial circles William Lawson is prominently identified with the wholesale and jobbing business. He has been a resident of Fort Wayne for a long time and has traveled over Northern Indiana many years as a grocery salesman. He is, in short, one of our most successful and substantial business men.
12
HARRY A. PERFECT
F it is the duty of every man to uphold the family name, think of the undertaking this young man has continuously before him! Of course, he was Perfect when he started out in life: it was a good beginning and he has succeeded in keeping so, up to the present. The future prospects are encouraging.
Harry Perfect was born at Stanwood, lowa. When he was old enough to walk, he came away. He was three years old when, in order to make him any Christ- mas gifts it was necessary to send them to Wilmington, Ohio. Until he was eight years old, he attended school there, scrapped with his classmates, learned the rud- iments of fishing and otherwise indulged in the popular mental and physical culture fads of the early ages; and then his folks left Wilmington and went to Springfield. Here he resumed his work in the public schools, but that didn't seem to consume much of his time as he was found busy selling newspapers and working as a carrier hoy for a dry goods store. These early straws indicated which way the wind was blowing, and it is the spirit of push and hustle that has made him successful. While still in school he was employed as an A. D. T. messen- ger. Outgrowing his uniform. he worked in a shoe store, then a hardware store, and lastly, before leaving school, was a helper in a plumbing establishment.
In order to still better prepare himself for a commer- cial career, he attended a business college and studied bookkeeping. He then secured a position with the large publishing house of the Crowell & Kirkpatrick Company (now the Crowell Publishing Company ), publishers of the Woman's Home Companion, and remained there five years. Upon leaving them, the gentlemen composing the firm of A. H. Perfect & Company, wholesale grocers, planned to locate at Madison, Wisconsin, but decided upon engaging in business here. Harry A. Perfect Is one of the partners in this important concern.
CHEESE
PRUNES
LL&THEN 7 PINS
121
HUGH G. KEEGAN
M R. KEEGAN is a lawyer. He is also an attitudi- narian. An attitudinarian is one who assumes attitudes or postures for the purpose of adding emphasis to spoken words. Wehster says:
** An attitude, like a gesture, is suited, and usually designed to express, some mental state, as an attitude of wonder, etc ; a posture is either not expressive or is less dignified and artistic."'
So we see here Mr. Keegan in the act of striking an attitude, also a law book. But this is only one of several kinds of attitudes of which be makes a specialty. All of them are artistic. therefore they cannot be designated as postures. A favorite attitude in the good old summer time is usually assumed by him about an hour after sundown at some lonely spot on a country road. If some chance should take you there, you would discover him, crawled under his automobile, monkey-wrench in hand, fixing things. As Webster says, "an attitude is usually designed to express some mental state." There is no need of asking Mr. Keegan what emotion he is endeavor- ing to illustrate. Incidentally, you will observe that an attitude is sometimes employed to add emphasis to unspoken words.
Mr. Keegan is purely a Fort Wayne man. He was born here one score and twelve years ago. Like most of our other progressive citizens, he is a graduate of the high school. Following his work in the public schools, he went to Ann Arbor and entered the University of Michigan, taking the law course. He began the practice of his profession here in 1895 in partnership with Edward Woodworth, now residing in Colorado, He later formed a professional alliance with Thomas E. Ellison with whom he continued very successfully. The partnership was recently dissolved.
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HARRY P. FLETCHER
H ARRY FLETCHER is a natural-born jollier. The other day, while in a reminiscent mood, he was telling about the Michigan town in which he was born. ** It's a strange thing that the hotels and restaurants there refuse to serve boiled eggs, isn't it ?"
"They don't, do they?'' "Sure, they do."
"I wonder why."
"O, they can't boil eggs in Coldwater, you know. It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"
It certainly was a lovely day, and we hastened to agree with him in order to get the conversation twisted into a new channel. It's this sort of thing that makes Harry popular with the throngs of people who visit the Patterson store, but that isn't the quality that makes him an expert clothing buyer. it's the experience he has had and his natural fitness for that kind of work. As we have noted, he is a native of Coldwater. There he attended the public schools and was just about to grad- uate when the schoolhouse burned, and Harry didn't have a chance to startle the world with his lofty ideas and flights of oratory. He's keeping the manuscript and will be glad to show it to anyone who wants tu see it real badly. He began work in a clothing store at Cold- water, remaining two and a half years. Going to Stur- gis, Michigan, he was employed for two years with F. L. Burdick. At that time R. S. Patterson traveled for a large clothing house, and Sturgis was on his route. He was so well pleased with Harry's abilities as a buyer that he assured him that he wanted his services, if he, Patterson, should ever go into business Mr. Patterson ** went," and Mr. Fletcher "came," to Fort Wayne 111 1895.
1
JOSEPH HENRY ORR
"W THAT'S in a name?"" With a banker it is every- thing. By the sign, the banker knows his customers. Here is a banker who practically has no name. Joseph Henry Orr, assistant cashier of the First National Bank, is popularly known both in Fort Wayne business and social circles. He does not part his name nor his hair in the middle. He does not use the appel- lation of the man with a coat of many colors nor does he employ the name which is often heard in connection with the poultry business. He is known in the bank and in business and private life as Harry Orr. He got this name while playing with his companions around the old swimming holes in this city after 1803.
He was born in the nineteenth century at Fairview, Ohio, and came to Fort Wayne, while a mere boy, with his parents when the civil war was raging. He was kept busy battling with the hives, whooping cough. measles and colds. He got through the Fort Wayne public schools all right. Then he entered the Fort Wayne National Bank as a messenger boy. This was in 1871. He was not the slow messenger of the present day. He was rapidly promoted and in 1882 the First National Bank wanted a general bookkeeper and the services of Harry Orr were secured. He has been actively interested in this bank ever since and is now the popular man behind the bars at the assistant cashier's window. Not all men are popular behind the bars but Harry is a genial and accommodating man in a bank window. When not counting money in the bank in the summer he is counting the hours he can spend happily at his pleasant home at Rome City.
He counts greenbacks in the bank and searches for greenbacks (frogs) on the bank around Sylvan Lake. He is not afraid of drafts at his summer residence.
124
JAMES J. WOOD
T HIS man of genius has had an interesting career. At the age of eleven he removed with his family from New York to Branford, Connecticut, where the lad entered the employ of the Branford Lock Company. He was soon at the head of an important department. While yet a boy he completed a working model of a steam engine and boiler. The spring of 1874 found him in Brooklyn employed as an apprentice by the Brady Manufacturing Company. Within three years he was in charge of the plant. While yet in their employ he designed and built the machinery for the construction of the main cables of the Brooklyn bridge.
At this time he met J. B. Fuller, one of America's pioneer electrical engineers. He made all of Fuller's experimental apparatus and also a great deal of the experimental apparatus for Sir Hiram Maxim. In May. 1879, Mr. Wood completed the design of his first electric machine and lamp, for which machine he received a medal of superiority from the American Institute held in New York; also medals and honorable recognition wherever the machine has been exhibited since. This particular machine is now on exhibition at the St. Louis fair. The sale of the patent gave him his first capital. Since that time he has taken out upwards of two hundred patents in this country and abroad.
He became connected with Mr. McDonald and came to Fort Wayne in 18go to take charge of the Fort Wayne Electric Company's works in the capacity of chief engineer. At the death of Mr. McDonald, when the works were sold and the owners threatened to move them from Fort Wayne, Mr. Wood prevented such a disaster by refusing to turn over his inventions to the new owners unless they would agree to maintain the works in this city. Mr. Wood's services as manager were engaged for a term of at least ten years.
WILLIAM P. BECK
R IP VAN WINKLE'S " Mein dog Schneider" is men- tioned frequently on the stage, but the canine in reality is not seen by the audience. With Billy Beck's Irish terrier, "Jack," it is different. No one ever says anything about the cur but he is always at his master's side under the limelight of public gaze. The picture is a contrast. Billy is so handsome and the ragged dog is so homely that it excites comment. Billy Beck is not as old as Rip Van Winkle but he has been right in town for about forty-one years. The civil war was raging in August of the year he was born. The dog days were ripe this month and this is the reason Billy is so partial to his beautiful dog. Billy Beck was born at the corner of Main and Harrison streets where his late father con- ducted a grocery. He was so close to the court house that he could hear the town clock tick but he was able to sleep between the ticks.
After leaving the Fort Wayne high school, Billy worked for a year in a stave factory piling staves. This was too much like labor and he then began his duties about a quarter of a century ago as office boy in the DeWald dry goods store. He liked this work and was enthusiastic for the success of the business. The managers realized this and Billy was promoted from one position in the office to another until he was able to buy his dog a gold collar and locket. The DeWald company had a disas- trous fire and was reorganized as a wholesale dry goods house. Mr. Beck was taken into the new firm, known as the George DeWald Company, and was made secre- tary and treasurer, a position he fills with credit. He has seen the business grow and has grown with it and is now one of the city's substantial young business men.
126
DALLAS F. GREEN
A YOUNG man boarded a tram at Bryan, Ohio, one morning in 1878. It was a Lake Shore train bound for Fort Wayne. The young man was also hound for this city, but he got off at Edgerton, Ohio, and decided to walk the rest of the distance, about twenty miles. The reason he made this decision was not that he enthused over that kind of exercise. It was because he knew the conductor would pass through the coach after it left Edgerton and would say to him, "Ticket, please." Then he would be compelled to say, "I haven't any." Then the conductor would reply, "Cash fare, please." And then the young man would be obliged to say. "Please, Mister Conductor. I have only sixty-five cents in my clothes, and I shall need that to buy feed with." Then the conductor would grow indignant and perhaps say saucy things. Dallas Green, even in those days, never liked to provoke people to say saucy things, so he didn't stay on the train. On his way from Edger- ton to Fort Wayne he stopped at various points, fixing the farmers' clocks and watches to pay for his board and lodging, and finally he showed up here and asked for a job.
He had been born and reared at Bryan and knew a good deal about the watchmaking and jewelry business. But he failed to find steady work. Shaking the dust from his boots, he departed for Grand Rapids, Michigan, and there met with better success. He remained at Grand Rapids from 1878 until 1890, and then went to Port Huron. He came to Fort Wayne in 1894 to again try his luck and purchased the store located in the Arcade. His ability and his knowledge of the jewelry and watchmaking business made the venture a success from the start, and now he has more case space for the display of his immense stock than any other dealer in Indiana.
PETER E. PICKARD
G EORGE WASHINGTON was buried in Mount Vernon, Virginia, but Peter Edgar Pickard was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Every school boy and girl knows that George Washington passed away long ago and every housewife in Fort Wayne knows that Mr. Pickard is very much alive. He is alive in many ways to the wants of Fort Wayne homes.
When his parents brought him to Fort Wayne in 1858 Peter Pickard was only eleven month old. He did not object to being brought to this city and he says that he has never regretted it. He never knew anything about Mount Vernon so he had nothing to forget. He was graduated from the Fort Wayne public schools one Fri- day in June, 1876, and the following Monday began work in the stove foundry owned by T. R. Pickard & Sons. He was one of the sons. He wanted to make things hot for Fort Wayne at the start and the following year opened a retail store to sell the product of the foun- dry in this vicinity. He has been the cause of many a man arising early on a frosty morning to split kindling wood. When the stove foundry was closed down in 1883 the retail store was made larger and Mr. Harry R. Pickard became a partner in the retail store of Pickard Brothers on West Columbia street. This store has grown to immense proportions and now handles not only stoves, but furniture of all kinds and descriptions, and china- ware in endless variety and varying in price to suit all tastes and desires.
In the picture Peter Pickard is seen showing a cus- tomer a chair. He does not want to have a customer's way in his store rocky, but it is a habit he has of extend- ing hospitality and making visitors at his store feel at home. His store is so busy that there is no danger of a customer going to sleep while calling, so he does not hesitate to show easy chairs. He has high chairs for short people and low chairs for high people.
HENRY G. FELGER
W HEN you were a small boy in McGuffey's Third Reader, and the teacher compelled you to stand in the corner the rest of the afternoon. just because you made those goo-goo eyes or blew a few paper wads against the ceiling. my, how you wished there was some way-any way-to get even with that schoolma'am for her harsh treatment of an innocent. well-meaning cherub. (), if you had only been in the place which this man Felger occupies! For, just think, he is the boss of one hundred and ninety schoolma'ams in Allen county. He's the superintendent of the county schools, and. they do as he wants them to, provided, of course, that their wishes coincide with his.
Mr. Felger is a young man to tackle so important a piece of work, but he seems to be master of the situa- tion, and the quality and quantity of the output of the rural schools has kept up to the standard since he took his official position.
Mr. Felger was born and reared on a farm in Lake township. Allen county. This was thirty-one years ago. After leaving the common schools, he took a course in the Normal school at Valparaiso, Indiana. Then for a period of two years he attended the Indiana State Normal school at Terre Haute, equipping himself as a teacher. Nine years he trained the young minds in his own and Adams townships. At this time his capabilities attracted attention, and there was a loud acclaim that he was just the man needed in the office located in the southeast corner of the court house, main floor. He was elected county superintendent June 1, 1903.
At present there are one hundred and seventy-tive school buildings in the country districts; the total valu- ation of the rural school property is $310,000. The enrollment at the close of the last school year was over four thousand.
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ROBERT A. BRADLEY
M R. BRADLEY expects, of course, to make his mark in the world. It ought to be a good long mark, as he has a reach of about three feet more than the ordinary man. He's young, too, and maybe he hasn't quit growing yet. The business of the architect consists largely of making marks anyway and we see no reason why Mr. Bradley shouldn't leave his shorter hmbed brethren far in the wake in that respect.
Mr. Bradley is a Michigander and was born in Detroit. the center of the duck region. While still a child he was taken to Adrian where he attended school and grew up. He didn't grow much in any other direction. He wasn't built on the broad plan-physically.
The year 1886 found him a resident of Fort Wayne. He busied himself in various ways and finally turned huis attention to architecture, entering the office of a local firm of architects to carry out his designs-or rather to carry in his designs. They were carried out- Some of them-when he made his exit and opened an office of his own. During the time of his studies and preparatory work he showed unusual talent and his subsequent experiences prove that he has well chosen his life work.
During the time since be launched out in business for himself, Mr. Bradley has secured a satisfactory share of the important work of the community. One of the newest products of his think-box and ink-bottle is the splendid new high school building at Warsaw, Indiana. Mr. Bradley occupies a suite in the Elektron building.
OLAF N. GULDLIN
M R. GULDLIN may seem to be in haste, but he isn't. He is one of those men who have to move lively to keep up with their active ininds. You'll find him so whether he's guiding his meteoric automobile or directing some new feature of the great works of the Western Gas Construction Company, of which he is the energetic head.
In the selection of his parents Mr Guldlin displayed great wisdom as he chose a family in Christiana. Norway, noted for its longevity. As a result he has lived longer than most men, considering his years. He's built that way.
Beginning his technical education when he was twelve years old. he rapidly developed as a mechanical engineer and graduated from a technical college when he was nineteen. He added expertence and training by attend- ing the Polytecknikum in Munich and by a practical application of his studies in a machine shop in his own city.
But the new world had been teasing him in some mysterious way to cross the ocean and seek larger suc- cess in America.
His first employment was as a draughtsman with the Baldwin Locomotive works, at Philadelphia, where he arrived in 1880. He advanced rapidly, and after a brief visit to his old home, returned to America to stay.
He turned his attention to gas engineering when, in 1882. he left the Baldwin works. In 1884, at a conven- tion in Washington, Mr. Guldlin met A. D. Cressler, of Fort Wayne, and the result was that he arrived in this city in 1885. It was some time after coming to Fort Wayne that Mr. Guldlin with several ambitious associ- ates decided to try their hands at the gas construction business, Beginning in a small way and encountering difficulties sufficient to frighten his partners, Mr. Guldlin took upon himself the sole conduct of the business, but proved himself fully equal to the task. with the result that the Western Gas Construction Company is now the largest concern of its kind in the entire country.
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WALK SOUTH WITH THAT STAKE 150 MILES
FRANK M. RANDALL
F the man pictured here was monarch of all he ever surveyed he would be much more important than the sultan of Sulu or the king of Siam. As it is. Frank M. Randall can give everybody in Fort Wayne a straight tip. He was never burned at the stake, but he swears by the stake. He has lines in all parts of the city. but does not drive a horse. He is the city civil engineer and is a most popular fellow indeed.
He was born at the corner of Lafayette and Berry streets, at the Randall homestead, before the civil war disturbed the quietude of this country. His estimable father was mayor of this municipality. Frank did not assist in tearing down the old fort, but he tramped all over the trails left by Tecumseh and Little Turtle and used to hear the Indian stories told around the home fireside. Frank was never scalped. but he dreamed about it so much that he really believes he was.
After getting through the Fort Wayne public schools, Frank went to the coal fields of Southern Ohio with an engineering corps. He used to carry fine stakes. This is where he cultivated a taste for porterhouse. When he came home from Ohio for two years he was assistant engineer on the Nickel Plate railroad. Then he was for three years an engineer on a Michigan line. He got all of the curves out of the road and came back home to serve for four years as deputy county surveyor under Henry Fischer. Ever since then he has been engineer for the city of Fort Wayne. He confidently believe he could not get lost in this city or Bloomingdale. He can shut his eyes and see the network of sewers under Fort Wayne. Then he opens his eyes so he will forget what Is in them. In the picture he is seen giving orders in regard to the new track elevation for Fort Wayne.
13:
THEODORE G. SEEMEYER
T HERE was an old woman who lived in a shoe, but this isn't she. No, this is a young man who doesn't live in a shoe. He does make his living out of shoes, however, as he is president of the Wayne Shoe Company, which is one of the most successful of the city's newest wholesale industries.
You will notice that the shoe seems to fit Mr. See- meyer first-rate, that's a peculiarity of the goods sold by this concern and that in addition to their good quality and style, explains why they are so popular.
Mr. Seemeyer was born in Fort Wayne not so very long ago. He attended the common schools and the high school, and, before he reached the sheepskin period of a school career, he turned his attention to calfskin, kangaroo, cowhide and vici kid. In other words, he quit his books to enter the employ of the wholesale shoe house of the W. L. Carnahan Company. For fourteen years there he made a careful study of the business, ris- ing from the position of office hoy up to the most respon- sible place within the gift of the concern.
The Wayne Shoe Company was organized about five years ago. The other officers of the company are W. F. Moellering, vice-president, and Robert Millard, secretary and treasurer. The beginning was comparatively small. but the management has been of the wide-awake, sensi- ble kind, and the concern has always lived up to its adopted motto, "The Progressive Shoe House." It has demonstrated that the shoe field is not covered so thor- oughly but that a local house may find a ready market for first-class goods. At present the company keeps five Salesmen on the road. The lines carried are shoes, boots and rubbers. The house does an exclusive jobbing busi- ness in these lines. The business is located at No. 123 West Columbia street.
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733
GEORGE F. TRIER
O N looking up the derivation of the word telephone we find that it comes probably from the English tell, meaning to talk, and the Greek phonos, meaning murder : a contrivance in which talk is murdered. But. of course. the name was applied to the telephone when it was very young and hadn't developed into its present hugh state of perfection. It's an easy matter to misname things while they are too young to show what they will be when they get older. For example, the parents of Ex-Senator Hill. of New York, named him David. Now the name David means "beloved, " and everybody knows Mr. Hill's folks made a miscalculation there. For further proof, drop a line of inquiry to Dick Croker.
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