USA > Indiana > Adams County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume II > Part 70
USA > Indiana > Wells County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume II > Part 70
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byterian Church, and he was a firm supporter of the principles of the democratic party. Of the nine children born into their home, six sons and two daughters grew to years of maturity, and all married and reared families. One child died in infancy, and one son died in January, 1916, leaving a widow and children.
Brought up on a farm, Fred V. Mills acquired his early education in the country schools. While yet in his teens he began the battle of life on his own account, but not as an agriculturist, farm life having no charm for him. Coming to Indiana in 1885, he found employment as a clerk. first in a grocery in Decatur and later in a drug store in Harlan, Shelby County, Iowa. Returning then to Decatur, Adams County, Mr. Mills clerked a year in a local drug establishment. Indus- trious and thrifty, Mr. Mills accumulated some money, and in 1895, when he had a sufficient sum to warrant him in venturing into busi- ness on his own aceount, he bought out Jacob Young, who a few years before had established a store at 119 North Second Street. Con- tinuing in the same location, Mr. Mills has built up a fine trade as a dealer in all of the staple groceries, his stock being extensive and embracing almost everything in his line that is demanded by the enterprising housekeepers of today.
Mr. Mills married. in Decatur, Mary Catherine Hill, whose father was an early settler of Decatur. Capt. A. J. Hill, Mrs. Mill's father, was born in Herkimer County, New York. He enlisted during the Civil war in the Eighty-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and as captain of the company took part in several engagements of im- portance, escaping injury or capture, however. Subsequently settling in Decatur, he edited the Decatur Eagle and Democrat, and served one term as county elerk. He died at his home in Decatur June 8, 1896. Captain Hill married Vietoria Simeock, daughter of James Simcock, and she is still living, a bright and active woman of seventy- eight years. She is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Captain Hill was a man of literary tastes. and until his death was a contributor to the Decatur Democrat of which he was at one time editor. During President Cleveland's administration, the captain served in the pension department in Washington, being there when A. N. Martin was a representative to Congress.
Mr. and Mrs. Mills have three children, namely : Frank J., a trav- eling salesman, lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. where he married Estella Parker: Margaret B., a graduate of the Decatur High School, married Milo McKinney, a Ford salesman and now residing in De- catur : and Victoria O. Mr. and Mrs. Mills are active and valued members of the Methodist Church. Mr. Mills is a democrat in his political affiliations, and for six years served as a member of the school board. He is a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias, being a past chancellor: a member of the Grand Lodge; and for twelve years was master of finance.
JAMES F. ARNOLD. There is only one man out of a hundred who has in him sufficient ambition and energy to achieve a definite success over the obstacles of a poor start and countless difficulties in the man- ner that James F. Arnold of Decatur has done. Mr. Arnold is one of the substantial men in a financial sense, and his relations as an oil broker and oil well supply merchant have made him a familiar figure in the oil fields both in the Middle West and in various sections of the country.
Mr. Arnold was born in Blue Creek Township, Adams County, De- eember 19. 1887. His birthplace was a log cabin. He was one of a
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family of eleven children, and his people were very poor. Conse- quently he grew up with few home advantages, and with a limited education except as he attained it at the expense of his own labor. His early years were spent in Adams and Jay counties, and it was here he grew to manhood. At the tender age of eight years he became practically dependent upon his own resources, initiating himself into the business world by finding employment as newsboy on the trains of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad. He also did odd jobs for circus managers, traveling with their shows, thus visiting various parts of the country. For about one year he was a traveling solicitor for a wool and hide business. An interesting episode of his business career came when he bought a small restaurant. With only a ten dollar cash payment, which represented his entire fortune, his credit was con- sidered good and he secured possession of the property. He took hold of the business in his usual energetic manner, working industriously during the day and taking his rest at night on an improvised couch beneath the counter of the store, and at the end of ten weeks disposed of the property, paid off his debts and as the result of his enterprise found himself the happy possessor of a three hundred dollar surplus. At other times he clerked in hotels and stores, but from the age of six- teen, having been more or less identified with the oil fields of Indiana and Ohio, he started to handle second-hand supplies for oil wells, continuing with this work until at the age of twenty he deemed him- self able financially to marry the maiden of his choice, Alta J. Ford, who also had been born and reared in Adams County, and previons to her marriage had been a teacher in the public schools.
After his marriage Mr. Arnold continued the business of handling new and second-hand oil well supplies, and he also conducted a machine shop.
At the age of twenty-three the first big disaster came to him when he was called upon to render an accounting of his various obligations and found himself practically bankrupt, with a three thousand dollar indebtedness. His credit, however, stood out strong, even under these trying circumstances, and there was no limit to his working energy. Going to Portland, Jay County, Indiana, he purchased property on credit, sold it to an advantage and in a short time was progressing rapidly to the front. He finally bought his first oil lease. It made him some money, and then followed successful purchases until he had eighty active wells in operation. One reason for his business success has been his prompt and serupulous fidelity in meeting every obliga- tion so that his credit has been established on a "rock foundation."
For a number of years he worked strenuously, without regard to his personal health, and in January, 1913, there came a crisis in his personal condition, resulting in a complete nervous breakdown. He was at that time living in Geneva. This critical time found him with leases and ownership extending to abont a hundred and fifty oil wells in Jay, Adams and Wells counties, and while he had to sacrifice some of his interests, he held onto others and gradually regained his health, and today is carrying forward several times his former business. He now has over four hundred wells in Ohio and Indiana, and has an oil well supply office and yards in Tulsa, Oklahoma, also business interests in the East, in addition to his home offices at Decatur.
Mr. Arnold has been a resident of Decatur since 1916. His offices are in the People's Loan & Trust Company Building. He is a broker . for oil produced in Ohio and Indiana, and handles every class of equip- ment needed by wells and oil interests, both in the Middle West and in the Western fields. It is doubtful if any resident of Adams County
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has a more complete and thorough experience of the oil business than Mr. Arnold, who practically grew up in the atmosphere of this great industry. Mr. Arnold is also one of the large stockholders in the Peo- ple's Loan and Trust Company.
Recently he erected one of the finest stucco homes in Decatur, a modern and thoroughly convenient residence which is one of the at- tractive architectural features of the city. He owns a farm in Blue Creek Township and another in St. Mary's Township. He is a repub- lican, a member of the Knights of Columbus, and he and his wife and children belong to St. Mary's Catholic Church. The three children are: A. Winifred, eight years old; T. Travers, aged five; and James R., two years of age. A. Winifred is a student in the parochial school.
THOMAS J. DURKIN. Energetic, enterprising and accommodating, Thomas J. Durkin of Adams County is well known by the auto-travel- ing publie as proprietor of the Modern Garage, which is advantageously located on South Second Street, Decatur, near City Square. This garage, 132 by 43 feet, is practically fire proof, and since its erec- tion, in 1916, has been exceedingly well patronized. In its furnishing and equipment Mr. Durkin has spared no pains; on the second floor is a machine shop in which repairs of all kinds are promptly made, and on both floors are large storage rooms, while one room in the building is reserved as a rest room for ladies. The building is steam heated, and lighted with electricity, and its modern equipments, many of which are operated with electricity, are so arranged that each can be conveniently used. As agent, Mr. Durkin handles the Dodge, Auburn and Chandler cars, the territory which he covers embracing the whole of Adams County.
A son of John Durkin, he was born, in 1870, in Clinton County, Ohio, where he lived until eleven years old.
John Durkin was born in County Sligo, Ireland, and as a young man came to the United States, the land of hope and promise. Settling in Clinton County, Ohio, he lived there a number of years, and then, with his family, migrated to Indiana, settling in Adams County, where he remained a resident until his death, in 1884, at the early age of fifty-eight years. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary MeGinn, was horn in County Mayo, Ireland, but was educated and married in Clinton County, Ohio. She is now living in Decatur, an active woman of eighty-one years. She and her husband were both confirmed in the Catholic Church, and after coming to Adams County united with Saint Mary's Church. She is the mother of seven children, five daugh- ters and two sons. all of whom married, with the exception of one daughter, who died many years ago.
Thomas J. Durkin received a practical education in the public schools, and soon after coming to Decatur entered the First National Bank, with which he was connected until 1911. Being elected county sheriff, he assumed the duties of that office January 1, 1911. and served efficiently in that capacity for four years. A stalwart supporter of the principles of the democratic party, Mr. Durkin has since served as a member of the Democratie County Committee, and as a member, and chairman, of the Democratie City Committee. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Columbus.
Mr. Durkin married, in Adams County, Lena Hain, who was born in Washington Township, this county, and educated in the parochial and public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Durkin are the parents of six chil- dren, namely : Gerald, now attending Saint Joseph's College at Rens- selaer. Indiana; Clarence, a graduate of the local parochial school,
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assists his father in the garage; Naomi; Cornelius; Eugene; and Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Durkin are members of Saint Mary's Church and have reared their children in the Roman Catholic faith. Mr. Dur- kin is a wide-awake man, public-spirited and generous, and occupies a place of prominence in business and social circles.
MISS ANNETTE L. MOSES has been librarian of the Decatur City Li- brary since it was formally organized. In fact she was one of the con- spienous workers in the movement to give Decatur a real institution of that kind, and was appointed to her present position in 1905, about a year before the library building was dedicated in July, 1906.
Miss Moses is a native of Decatur, has always lived here, and graduated from the City High School in 1885. The following year she took work in the Teachers Training Class. and then entered upon a career as a teacher in the city schools. She later specialized in library training, and was thus well qualified for the duties which she took up when Decatur acquired its present city library.
Her assistant in the library is Miss Nellie M. Blackburn, daughter of the late Norval Blackburn, who was an old soldier of the Civil war and for a number of years was editor of the Decatur Democrat. Miss Blackburn was elected assistant librarian by the Library Board on August 22, 1914. She was educated in the Decatur City High School and for several years was associated with her father in newspaper work. The Moses family have been prominently known in Adams County for over sixty years. Miss Moses' grandparents were John and Rebecca (Stadtler) Moses, natives of Somersetshire, Pennsylvania, and of German parentage. They were German Lutherans in religion, but in later generations the Presbyterian Church has received most of the affiliations of the family. John and Rebecca Moses were married in 1824 and in 1832 removed to Carroll County, Ohio, where John Moses died in 1872, at the age of seventy-two. His wife died near Deeatur, Indiana, in 1868, while visiting some of her children. John Moses voted the whig ticket and became a republican upon the organization of the party. He was for several years a justice of the peace.
William Warren Moses, father of the city librarian, was born in Carroll County, Ohio, November 4. 1832, and became a widely known and prominent business man and official of Adams County, Indiana. At the age of twenty years he moved to New Cumberland, Ohio, worked in a mercantile establishment two years, and in October, 1854, came to Adams County and was clerk with the firm of J. D. and J. M. Nutt- man of Decatur until 1860. In that year he hecame associated with D. Crabbs under the name of Crabhs & Moses in a general merchan- dise store in Wells County. The business was moved to Decatur in 1863 and the firm name changed to Crabbs, Moses & Rice. In 1870 William Moses retired from this business and became identified with the manufacturing institution of H. W. Shackley & Company, after- wards the Shackley Wheel Company. He withdrew from this in 1874, then conducted a hardware store at Geneva, Indiana, until 1880, and on returning to Decatur became United States Express Company agent. He died at Decatur in 1892. Ile was a leading republican, and repre- senting a minority party was seldom a successful candidate, though at one time he was a member of the city council. Ife was active in the Masonie Order and his sons all became Masons. On November 4, 1862. William W. Moses married Miss Julia Patterson, daughter of James and Eliza Jane (Peterson) Patterson. Mrs. W. W. Moses was born in Adams County in 1843. and died December 5, 1916. at the age of seventy-three. Her parents were prominent early settlers, coming to
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Adams County at the respective ages of twenty and eighteen years from Pennsylvania. They acquired a tract of wild land, and made their home on ground that is now just outside the City of Decatur to the southwest. It is said that they ate their first meal from a stump. They erected a log cabin home, and in the course of time the City of Decatur sprang up around them. They reared a family here and they lived to a good old age and were faithful members of the Presbyterian Church, both being of Scotch ancestry. W. W. Moses and wife were active members of the Presbyterian Church from their early childhood. They were the parents of four children. Louis C. was formerly a tele- graph operator and is now connected with the Standard Oil Company at Houston, Texas, and is married and has a family. The second in age is Miss Annette L. Moses. Homer P. is a business man of Fort Wayne and is married and has one son. Warren W. is a newspaper man and is connected with the Great Falls Tribune at Great Falls, Montana. He is married and has two daughters. Miss Moses is an active member of the Presbyterian Church and is widely known and esteemed by all classes of Decatur citizens, who regard her life as one of devoted service to one of the institutions of which the people are most proud.
JOHN HEBERT HELLER, whose co-operation and direct assistance have contributed in great measure to the preparation of the history of Adams County, is editor and proprietor of the Decatur Daily Demo- crat and president of the Democrat Company. He is a native of De- catur, born in that city May 4, 1873.
His father, the late Judge Daniel David Heller, was born in Har- rison County, Ohio, March 29, 1839, a son of Henry B. and Mary A. (Weyandt) Heller. The grandparents were natives of Greene County, Pennsylvania, but after their marriage made their permanent home in Harrison County, Ohio, where Henry B. Heller died in September, 1881, and his wife in 1874.
Judge Heller grew up on a farm and was educated in the country schools of Ohio and at Hagerstown Academy. For several years he alternated between teaching and the study of law. In 1863 he was ad- mitted to the bar of Ohio and in August of the same year located at Millersburg in that state. In 1867 he came to Decatur, Indiana, and was one of the prominent members of the bar for fifty years. In 1872 he was appointed county school examiner, and in 1873 was elected the first county superintendent of schools. He resigned the office. after eighteen months. In 1887 he was elected mayor of Decatur for a term of two years. Subsequently he was called from his private practice to the office of judge of the Twenty-sixth Judicial Circuit, and for twelve years presided with dignity and scholarly wisdom over this branch of the judiciary. His death occurred January 2, 1917. Judge Heller mar- ried July 15, 1869, Annie J. Corbus, a native of Ohio and a daughter of John and Mary (Armstrong) Corbus. She is still living.
John Hebert Heller was educated in the local schools of Decatur, graduating from the high school in 1890. In 1886, at the age of thir- teen, he began learning the printer's trade with the old Decatur Jour- nal. He worked at the trade when not in school for nine years, and at the same time carried on his law studies and was graduated from the Indianapolis Law School in 1897. In 1898 he became city editor of the Decatur Democrat, and has ever since been actively connected with that paper.
The Decatur Democrat is a lineal descendant of the old Decatur Eagle, which was founded in February, 1857, by H. L. Phillips. William G. Spencer was later a partner of Mr. Phillips and in 1859 Vol. II-31
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they sold the business to A. J. Hill, who was its publisher for fifteen years. In November, 1874, the plant was bought by Joseph MeGonagle, who changed the name to the Decatur Demoerat. In 1879 S. Ray Williams became proprietor and in 1881 A. J. Hill again bought the paper and published it two years. In 1883 Norval Blackburn became the active factor in the management of the paper. In 1896 Mr. Black- burn sold his interest to Lew G. Ellingham, who was identified with the paper until he was elected secretary of the State of Indiana, and since June, 1916, on retiring from that office, Mr. Ellingham bought the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette and has been its editor.
In June, 1916, Mr. Heller bought the interest of Mr. Ellingham and became president of the company. When the company was first incorporated Mr. Heller acquired $10,000 of its stock and became secretary and manager. In 1903 he assisted in founding the Daily Democrat, which has been largely under his immediate management ever since. The Demoerat was issued both as a weekly and daily until 1908. when the weekly issue was suspended. The Democrat has been built up until it now enjoys a circulation of 3,000, and has the tone and dignity of a metropolitan paper. It has a leased line of the United Press for general news. The Democrat for many years has stood ably behind every movement for progress in Adams County, and when any enterprise worth while is launched there is no hesitation as to what stand the Demoerat will take. Associated with Mr. Heller in the Democrat Company is Arthur R. Holthouse, secretary and treasurer of the company, and a newspaper man of much ability for one of his age.
Mr. Heller has taken an active part iu polities but has never al- lowed his name to be connected with the candidaey for an office. In 1909 he was elerk in the Legislature and served as an alternate to the National Convention at Baltimore in 1912 and was a regular delegate to the convention at St. Louis in 1916. He was secretary of the Demo- eratie State Convention of Indiana in 1912 and 1914. Mr. Heller is a Thirty-seeond degree Seottish Rite Mason with membership in the Consistory at Fort Wayne and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
November 29, 1899, he married Miss Martha A. Peterson. She graduated from the same elass of the Decatur High School as Mr. Heller. Mrs. Heller is a daughter of Robert S. and Fannie (Kunkle) Peterson. Robert S. Peterson was born in St. Mary's Township of Adams County, February 1, 1845, a son of John W. and Hannah (Smith) Peterson, who were married in Adams County in 1840. Robert S. Peterson saw active service as a Union soldier during the last year of the Civil war, later studied law with Judge David Studabaker, and was admitted to the bar in 1868. He was for many years a prominent figure in the community, as a lawyer, banker and as a publie spirited citizen. He was onee a candidate for Congress in the old Eleventh Distriet. He served as president of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Decatur for the five years before the adoption of a eity eharter in 1882, and is given eredit for doing much to perfeet the sewerage system of Deeatur at that time. Ile also helped organize and secure the construe- tion of the Narrow Gauge Railroad through the county, now the Clover Leaf system, and was also a stimulating factor in building the old Chieago & Atlantic, now the Erie Railway. Robert S. Peterson died in 1914, and his widow, whose maiden name was Fannie C. Kunkle, is still living in Decatur. Mr. and Mrs. Heller have two children, Fanny E. and Diek D. The former graduated with the class of 1918 in the Deeatur High School and the latter is a junior in high school.
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CLARENCE E. BELL is responsible for the development of one of Decatur's most promising and valuable industries, the La Fontaine Handle Company. It is a business that affords employment to about thirty-five men practically throughout the year, and thus no incon- siderable portion of the local population derive their income from this industry. The plant is at Tenth and Elm streets, and was estab- lished in 1910. The factory makes handles of all kinds for rakes, hoes, forks, brooms and shovels and the output is supplied to tool makers all over the country from New York west to California. About a million handles are manufactured every year. The material used is entirely ash, and in another department they manufacture about six hundred thousand headings for butter firkins and tubs. Mr. Bell is a thorough financier and business man and has from the first been at the head of the commercial end of the business. He built the plant at Decatur, having shipped the machinery from La Fontaine, Indiana, where he had heen in business in the same line for three years. His local backer at that place was the hanker A. P. Harper. At La Fontaine Mr. Bell had" the entire management of the business. The first three years after mov- ing to Decatur he got his raw milling supplies from Adams County and since then has been in the market for ash timber all over Northeastern Indiana and Northwestern Ohio. The business is a very progressive one, and at the present time there is a considerable export trade to England.
Mr. Bell was born in Miami County, Indiana, in June, 1877, and was reared there on a farm and graduated from the Roann High School of Wabash County in 1897. For two years he was a school teacher in his native county and after completing the course of the Indianapolis Business College he entered employment with the Peabody Lumber Company of Columbus City, Indiana, and was with them ten years. He thus acquired a thorough knowledge of the lumber business, and having in the meantime gained the confidence of men of capital he was able to set up a business of his own at La Fontaine.
Ilis father, William Bell, was born in Holmes County, Ohio, and when a young man removed to Miami County, Indiana, where he mar- ried Frances Kling. She was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and when a girl went to Indiana with her parents and grew up in Miami County. She was a most faithful wife and mother and will always have the deepest gratitude of her children. She died in the fall of 1908, at the age of fifty-nine. Mr. William Bell is now living at the okdl home in Miami County and is enjoying good health at the age of fifty-nine. His farm is at Chili, where for many years he was a snc- cessful agriculturist and dealer in livestock, but is now living retired. He is an active republican, and has held various minor offices. He and his wife were both active Baptists. Of their children the only other son was George Ray, who met a tragic death at the age of six- teen. He was thrown from a frightened horse, and his foot caught in the lines and his body was dragged along the highway for fully a mile and a half. There are two daughters, Allie, wife of Charles Bish of Miami County, and Florence, wife of William Musselman of Wabash County, and they have two daughters, Esther and Florence, both at- tending high school at Wabash, Indiana.
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