USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River, Vol. II > Part 11
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Edward B. Boyle has been engaged in business in Hoagland for the past eighteen years and has enjoyed a fair measure of success in that time. Prior to his connection with his present enterprises he was iden- tified with the farming industry, in which he was reared on the home farm of his parents, who were Daniel and Elizabeth (Minick) Boyle, natives of Ireland. They came from their native land in the year 1832, settled in Huntington county, and Mr. Boyle found work on the old canal. After some time spent in that work he had saved enough to make pos-
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sible the purchase of eighty acres of government land, and from then until his death he was successfully engaged in agriculture in Huntington county. He was a Democrat, a member of the Roman Catholic church, and he died at the age of fifty-six years, leaving four children. Ellen married John Tooley and is deceased. John Patrick was the second born. Edward is the immediate subject of this review, and Mary died in Chicago as the wife of William Thomas. Edward Boyle was educated in the parochial schools at Hesse Cassel, and up to the age of sixteen years spent much of the time with his uncle in that place. He later branched out for himself and up to the age of thirty-two was connected with farming and kindred occupations. In 1899 he engaged in the saloon business in Hoagland, where he has since been successfully established. He is a director in the Hoagland State Bank and is fraternally identified by his membership in the Independent Order of Eagles. A Democrat, he has been influential in local politics, and is a member of the Catholic church at Hoagland. He was married on November 5, 1904, to Mary Schmidt, and they have two children-Robert Patrick and Eugene Charles.
Conrad Branning merits recognition in this history by reason of his status as one of the loyal and popular citizens and substantial farmers of Aboite township, where he is the owner of a well-improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres and where his success has been consonant with the energy and good judgment he has brought to bear in the various departments of his farm enterprise. He was born in Germany, on Sep- tember 9, 1855, and is a son of Henry and Minnie Branning, who came with their family of nine children to America in the year 1881, their arrival in the port of New York city having been on June 22 of that year. They came forthwith to Indiana and after residing for a time in the vicinity of the city of Vincennes they came to Allen county, where they passed the remainder of their lives, the father having been an industrious and successful farmer. Conrad Branning acquired in his native land his early educational training and there also he learned the mason's trade. He was about twenty-five years of age when he accom- panied his parents on their immigration to the United States and for many years he continued to follow the work of his trade, first at Vin- cennes and later in Fort Wayne. He finally sold his business at Fort Wayne, where he had become a successful contractor, and in 1896 pur- chased eighty acres of his present homestead farm, the additional eighty acres having been secured at a later date. He has shown his energy and progressiveness in the improving and management of his farm, which is devoted to diversified agriculture and stock-growing and which gives definite evidence of thrift and prosperity. He takes loyal interest in public affairs of a local order and is a staunch Democrat in politics, he and his family being earnest members of the German Lutheran church. On October 10, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Branning to Miss Sophia Dammeyer, whose parents passed their entire lives in Ger- many. Only a few months after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Branning came to America, and they have been devoted companions and co-workers during the years that have brought to them a generous measure of inde- pendence and prosperity. Of their children the first born was Minnie, who died in infancy. The second child likewise was given the name of Minnie, and she is now the wife of Lemuel Mckenzie. William, the third child, is deceased. Sophia remains at the parental home. Edmund and
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Esther are twins and both are married and well established in life, Edmund having one son, William, and Esther, who is the wife of M. B. Marshall, having two children, Conrad and Catherine. Henry and Louise, the next two of the children, are deceased; and those who remain members of the parental home circle are Ferdinand, Charles, Fritz, Mary, Theodore and Irene.
Charles W. Branstrator was born in Lafayette township on the old William Branstrator place, settled by William Branstrator as long ago as in 1848. He was the father of the subject and he was long and prom- inently identified with that district, witnessing its development along many lines, and being a contributor to its worthiest advancement. He came from Warren county, Ohio, where the family had long been estab- lished in farming activities. William Branstrator married Catherine A. Hill, also of Ohio birth and parentage, and they were the parents of a family of twelve children. Frances E. died on April 13, 1913. Sarah E. is the wife of Henry Cress. Martin Luther died in infancy. Andrew Dallas lives in Fort Wayne. Anna Catherine married George Welbaum. William David is living in Warren county, Ohio, the old family home. Jason D. is a resident of Wayne township. James Calvin died in infancy. George B. Mc. is a resident of Fort Wayne. Charles W. is the subject. Rosa Jane and Della May are deceased. The parents were members of the Unitarian church. Mr. Branstrator was a Mason and was long . prominent in his community in a political way, serving as a trustee of the township in the early years after its official formation. He died May 1, 1900, and his wife April 13, 1913. Charles W. Branstrator had better educational advantages than the average farm youth. He fol- lowed his high school training with a course in the Fort Wayne College, thereafter spending two years in the University at Valparaiso, where he took a scientific course of study that included engineering. After finishing his university course he taught school from 1890 to 1892, in the latter year being elected to the office of County Surveyor of Allen county and serving as County Surveyor for three consecutive terms. After his term of service he surveyed the Wabash Railroad line from Fort Wayne to Butler, and later spent six months in Oklahoma on an engi- neering work. Still later he spent some months in Fort Wayne as an engineer and in 1900 came to the home farm. He returned to Fort Wayne, however, but in 1904 once more came back to the old farm, and he may be found there at the present writing, where he has made a name for himself as a feeder of sheep, cattle and hogs. He has been very successful in his stock-farming and feels satisfied that he has found his rightful place in life. Mr. Branstrator is a Mason and a Democrat. He was married on April 14, 1895, to Miss Eda Kimmell, daughter of Jacob and Louisa (Fisher) Kimmell, the father a native of Pleasant township and the mother born in New York city. They were farmers in Pleasant township for many years, and both are now deceased. They had two children-Eda, wife of the subject, and Thomas, who is con- nected with the electric light plant in Fort Wayne. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Branstrator, here briefly named in the order of their appearance. Grace K. is a student at Valparaiso University. Helen is at home with the family. Charles is attending the high school in Fort Wayne. The others are Clover Hill, Clara, Mabel, Ann, Sarah Jane and Martha W. All are at home.
J
ASTOR, LEI I TILDEN FOUNDATOI,
Miriam Breen
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Mrs. Anna Brauneisen is a life-long resident of Indiana and has made her home in Fort Wayne since 1884, when she and her husband opened a grocery store and identified themselves with the community life. When in later years the health of the husband failed Mrs. Brauneisen assumed responsibility for the success of the enterprise and continued to operate it with much success until 1910, when she sold the business and turned her attention exclusively to china painting, which had long been a hobby with her, and which has claimed her attention since then both profitably and pleasureably. She has an ever increasing patronage in Fort Wayne and vicinity, and besides executing orders for the work, she conducts classes in the art of china painting and is generally regarded as an expert along those lines. Her study of ceramics has been a far-reaching one, and d it is a subject that claims a large share of her attention, though she has been able to devote some time to real estate operations along very successful lines. She has built and sold two fine residence properties in the city, and is now the owner of a third at No. 2014 Webster Street. She also owns a store building at No. 1602 Wells Street, and some other property in the city. Mr. and Mrs. Brauneisen had one son-a brilliant youth who gave promise of unusual accomplish- ments in music. He died suddenly at the age of sixteen, just as he was graduated from a local business college. Mrs. Brauneisen is a member of the Roman Catholic church and is devoted to the work of the parish, though the demands her profession make upon her time prevent her from participating to any extent in the social activities of those circles in which she is known and esteemed.
William P. Breen .- Fort Wayne and Allen county are grateful for the influence of the citizenship of a man of the type of William P. Breen, one of the most widely known members of the Indiana bar. Mr. Breen was born in Terre Haute, Vigo county, Indiana, February 13, 1859, the son of James and Margaret (Dunne) Breen, both natives of Ireland, born in 1820 and 1821, respectively. In 1840, the father at the age of twenty, severed the ties which had bound him to the Emerald Isle and came to America. After a brief residence in the east, he came west and settled at Terre Haute, where he remained until 1863, in which year the family removed to Fort Wayne. Mr. Breen not only attained to prominence as one of Fort Wayne's representative business men, engaged in mer- cantile lines, but he interested himself with marked effect in civic affairs. For a number of years, he served as a member of the city council, and, at the time of his death, was a member of the board of waterworks trustees. This was in 1883. William P. Breen was the only child of James Breen and his wife. He attended the parochial school conducted by the Brothers of the Holy Cross, and followed this with a course in Notre Dame University, from which institution he was graduated in 1877, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Upon his return to Fort Wayne, Mr. Breen entered upon a course in the study of law in the offices of Coombs, Morris & Bell, and, in 1879, was admitted to the bar of Indiana. At this time, Mr. Breen was but twenty years of age. From the beginning of his career in the law until November 15, 1882, the time of the death of Judge Warren H. Withers, Mr. Breen was associated with Judge Withers in a most successful practice of his profession, and then, for a period of eleven years, he continued an individual practice of increasing importance, until, in 1893, he formed a co-partnership with John Morris, Jr., son of Judge John Morris. The latter was one of the foremost jurists
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of his time; his death occurred in 1905. The firm of Breen & Morris, which has continued since its formation, is recognized as one of the most influential in the state of Indiana. The enviable position of Mr. Breen among his fellow-members of the Indiana bar is suggested in his election as president of the Indiana Bar Association for the years 1903 and 1904, as a member of the executive committee of the American Bar Association from 1903 to 1906, and as a delegate to the Universal Con- gress of Lawyers and Jurists, in 1904, at St. Louis, under the appointment of President Roosevelt, Republican. Although always a vigorous advo- cate of Democratic principles, Mr. Breen has never sought political honors. His activities have been recognized in his selection as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis, in 1916, and a member of the committee to visit President Woodrow Wilson at Shadow Lawn, New Jersey, in September, 1916, to give him official notification of the action of the convention. Mr. Breen's keen power of thinking, his readiness of speech and his popular method of treating questions of wide importance has given him a place of prominence among the public speakers of Indiana. His opinions and his influence are ever sought by those who feel deeply the need of the co-operation of a man whose word finds weight with the many who seek the truth along many lines of endeavor. On May 28, 1884, Mr. Breen was united in marriage with Miss Odelia Phillips, daughter of Bernard P. and Caroline (Vogel) Phil- lips, of Fort Wayne. Mr. Breen is the president of one of the city's substantial financial institutions, the People's Trust and Savings Com- pany, of Fort Wayne, which occupies its own modern six-story building, centrally located. He is a member of the Catholic Club, of New York. He is a member of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club and of the Fort Wayne Country Club. Every movement for the substantial betterment of the community finds a stanch advocate in Mr. Breen. No member of the bar has conferred greater honor or distinction upon the profession in Allen county and the state of Indiana. Admittedly a man of resources, he is recognized among the men of his profession as one who is a close student of every element which comes into every case presented for his consideration-quick to recognize and to anticipate difficulties and to overcome them-forceful in the presentation of his arguments-he has gained and held the respect and admiration of all who have in any way been connected with the activities of his professional or private life.
James J. Brennan has been identified with railway affairs since his early youth and his activities have touched both steam and electrical transportation, in the latter department of which he has achieved dis- tinctive success and precedence, as evidenced by the fact that he is at the present time superintendent of transportation for the entire system of the Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana Traction Company, which con- trols and operates about 230 miles of traction service, in Indiana. He maintains his residence and official headquarters in the city of Fort Wayne and as one of the representative business men of the metropolis of Allen county he is specially entitled to recognition in this history. Mr. Brennan was born in the historic old town of Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, on July 8, 1870, and is a son of Martin and Catherine (McCabe) Brennan, who were residents of West Virginia at the time of their deaths, both having been born in Ireland. Martin Brennan was a youth when he came to the United States, in 1847, and he first established his residence at Charlestown, West Virginia, whence he later removed to Harper's
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Ferry. During the major part of his active career he was closely iden- tified with railroad operations and through his industry and well-ordered efforts he won independence and a fair measure of temporal prosperity, both he and his wife having been zealous communicants of the Catholic church. Of their children, Elizabeth still resides at Harper's Ferry; James J., of this review, was the next in order of birth; John resides at Harper's Ferry, and William E. maintains his home at Harrisonburg, Virginia. In his native place James J. Brennan attended school until he was fourteen years of age, when he there entered the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. He won advancement until he became identified with the train service of this company, and later he was similarly engaged at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Later he became identified with the operation of an eleetrie railway at Wheeling, West Virginia, and there- after his activities in this same direction involved his service in Cleve- land, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan. In 1905 he came to Fort Wayne and assumed the position of superintendent of overhead construction for the Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana Traetion Company, and his ability and effective service eventually led to his promotion to his present responsible post, that of superintendent of transportation for the entire local and interurban system of this corporation. He has proved one of the world's workers and his advancement represents the result of his ability, ambition and well-ordered endeavors. In polities Mr. Brennan maintains an independent attitude, he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and both he and his wife are active communicants of the Catholic church. On May 21, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brennan to Miss Bessie Winston, of Wheeling, West Virginia, and of their five children the first two, Cyril and Mary Agnes, are deceased; William Edward is a student in the great University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, as is also Joseph F .; and Thomas James remains at the parental home.
August Brenneke was a young man of twenty-eight years when he established his home in this county, in 1884, soon after his arrival in America. When he severed the ties that bound him to his native land he came to this country with no definite financial resources and dependent upon his own ability and efforts in making his way to the goal of inde- pendence and prosperity. That success has attended him generously within more than thirty years of residence in Allen county is vouched for not only by his influential association with the banking business at Woodburn, but also by his ownership of one of the valuable estates of Maumee township. Mr. Brenneke was born in Germany January 13, 1856, and is a son of Frederick and Caroline (Neward) Brenneke, who passed their entire lives in Germany, the father having been a farmer by vocation. In the excellent schools of his native land August Brenneke received his early educational discipline and there also gained his initial experience in connection with practical farm industry. In 1884 he came to the United States and established his permanent residence in Allen county. Here he bought a traet of eut-over land in Maumee township, and he reclaimed, drained and otherwise improved this property, which is now one of the fine farms of the county. With increasing financial means, Mr. Brenneke continued to make judicious investments in farm land, and he is now the owner of a finely improved estate of two hundred and fifty acres, divided into two farmns, each of which is improved with
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modern buildings and kept up to the highest standard in all respeets. Mr. Brenneke has been a man of assertive and self-reliant ambition and enterprise, has ordered his course on a high plane of integrity and honor and has achieved large and well-merited success through his own well- applied energy as a progressive agriculturist and stock-grower. His political support is given to the Republican party, he has served as trustee of Maumee township, and he and his wife are earnest communieants of the Lutheran church. In 1889 Mr. Brenneke wedded Miss Sophia Feusse, daughter of Henry and Margaret Feusse, of Adams county, Indiana, and this gracious union has been blessed with three children: Henry is sue- cessfully established in the mercantile business at Woodburn, and Herman and William are, respectively, managers of two of their father's fine farms in Maumee township.
William Breuer .- As the American republie stands to-day pre-emi- nent among nations in its capacity for the conducting of commercial and industrial affairs of great scope, so does the splendid enterprise of the Berghoff Brewing Company, of Fort Wayne, stand as a conspicuous example of the truth of the above statement, even as it does also of the great value of our German element of citizenship. The history of this representative Fort Wayne eoneern covers a period of more than thirty years, its business has been at all times conducted with serupulous integ- rity both in the matter of maintaining the high standard of production and in the honorable methods employed in all trade transactions. The ' result has been the upbuilding of a business that far transeends local limitations and that marks the Berghoff Brewing Company as one of the leading institutions of its kind in the Union, the capacity of its extensive and finely equipped plant being tested in supplying the demands of a trade that extends into divers states of the Union and that has made the Berghoff beer famed in such metropolitan centers as the city of Chicago. Of this company William Breuer is viee-president, and prior to giving a brief review of his career it is but consistent that there be entered a resume of the history of the important corporation of which he is thus a valued executive. In the year 1885 the Herman Berghoff Brewing Company was incorporated with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars and with Herman Berghoff as president and Hubert Berghoff as secretary and treasurer, the original plant of the company having been established at the corner of Washington Avenue East and Grant Street. The original principals were insistent in bringing the output of the brewery up to the highest German standard, and this policy has been maintained during the long intervening years, so that the Berghoff name now implies the maximum of purity, of proper maturing of all products and of a standard from which there have been all too many lapses in the record of American manufacturing of malt bever- ages. In 1899 a reorganization of the concern was effected under the title of the Berghoff Brewing Company, and the capitalization was in- ereased to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of common stock and an equal amount of preferred stock. At this juneture the officers of the company became as here noted : Herman Berghoff, president; Hubert Berghoff, vice-president; Stephen B. Fleming, seeretary and treasurer, and William Breuer, superintendent. Three years later each the common and preferred stock was doubled, and at the present time the common stock is represented in the noteworthy sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, with preferred stock of equal amount. The personnel
9pm/ Breuer
PUBLI LIER
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATION
3.
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of the executive corps at the opening of the year 1917 is as here recorded : Gustave A. Berghoff, president; William Breuer, vice-president; Stephen B. Fleming, treasurer, and Martin C. Norton, secretary. All of these officers are likewise directors of the company, and the directorate includes also Charles Weatherhogg and G. R. Johnston. All of the directors are residents of Fort Wayne with the exception of Mr. Fleming, who now maintains his home in New York city, and Mr. Johnston, who resides in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The plant of this great brewery utilizes about one and one-half city blocks, the average annual output is one hundred and eighty thousand barrels of beer and the bottling department turns out an average of one hundred and twenty thousand bottles daily. The company represents not only one of the most important industrial enterprises of Fort Wayne, but is also given the distinction of being the most extensive shipper on the line of the Nickel Plate Railroad. William Breuer was born in Westphalen, Germany, on October 23, 1852, and is a son of Carl Ludwig and Catherine (Helle) Breuer. He was reared and educated in his native province and as a youth served a thorough apprenticeship to the brewer's trade, under the unexcelled German system, his apprenticeship having been initiated May 16, 1866, several months prior to his fourteenth birthday anniversary. In 1881 he came to the United States, and after passing about three months in the city of Rochester, New York, he came to the west and found employ- ment at his trade in the city of Chicago, where he remained about nine months. He then went to Neillsville, the judicial center of Clark county, Wisconsin, where he held a responsible position in a brewery for two years. He then established a brewery at Boscobel, Grant county, that state, where he remained until 1885, when he came to Fort Wayne and assumed the position of superintendent of the plant of the Herman Berg- hoff Brewing Company, in the development of whose splendid business he has been an influential and valued factor, the while he has gained secure place as one of the representative captains of industry in the metropolis of Allen county, prior data in this review having sufficiently indicated his advancement in the control and management of the affairs of the Berghoff Brewing Company. In politics Mr. Breuer gives un- wavering allegiance to the Republican party, he is actively identified with the Fort Wayne Commercial Club, of which he is a trustee, and he is serving as a member of the board of park commissioners of his home city, besides which he is a trustee of Concordia College, one of the important educational institutions of northern Indiana. Both he and his wife are communicants of the German Lutheran church. On Novem- ber 23, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Breuer to Miss Caroline Rodewald, a native of Germany, and they have four children: William, who is actively associated with business affairs in Fort Wayne; Amelia, who is the wife of Kurt Johns, of Newark, New Jersey, and Della and Louise, who remain at the parental home.
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