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 18

Author: Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : Robert O. Law Co.
Number of Pages: 792


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 18


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course in the medical department of the University of Illinois, in which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thereafter he gained valuable clinical experience through two years of service as an interne in St. Elizabeth Hospital, in Chicago, and since September 1, 1909, has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Fort Wayne. The Doctor is serving as a member of the staff of surgeons of the Nickel Plate, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and the Lake Erie & West- ern Railroads, as well as being retained in similar capacity by all of the traction lines entering or centered in Fort Wayne. He is affiliated with the American Medical Association, the Indiana State Medical Society, the Allen County Medical Society and the American Association of Railway Surgeons. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church.


Frank J. Dix has not been denied the rewards that should attend effective service and distinct technical and executive ability, for he has won advancement to the responsible office of general superintendent of the City Light & Power Company of Fort Wayne, of which position he has been the valued incumbent since July 1, 1908. Mr. Dix claims Fort Wayne as the place of his nativity, his birth having here occurred on October 4, 1866. He is a son of Seth and Esther (Bolger) Dix, who are now venerable and highly honored citizens of this place. Seth Dix was born at Elyria, Ohio, and was a lad of nine years at the time of the family removal to Fort Wayne, where he was reared to adult age and where he gained his education in the public schools of what may be termed the middle pioneer epoch in the history of the metropolis of Allen county. He eventually established a livery and transfer business in the city, and he conducted one of the pioneer hack lines of Fort Wayne, his association with this enterprise having continued for more than a quarter of a century. He has long been a stalwart in the local ranks of the Democratic party and he and his wife are earnest commu- nicants of the Fort Wayne cathedral parish of the Catholic church. Frank J. Dix had the fortuitous influences of the Catholic parochial schools of Fort Wayne in the acquiring of his early educational training, and as a young man he found employment as a locomtive fireman on the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, commonly known as the Nickel Plate Railroad. After being thus engaged about one year he entered the service of the Jenney Electric Light & Power Company of Fort Wayne, in the employ of which he continued from 1889 to 1908 In the latter year he became chief electrician for the City Light & Power Company, and his ability eventually led to his being appointed general superintendent of this company, as has been previously noted. He has been circumspect and progressive in keeping this public-utility service up to the best modern standard and is one of the well-known and highly esteemed business men of his native city. In neither religion nor politics has he swerved from the faith in which he was reared, and thus he is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, the while both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church. He is a member of the National Association of Municipal Electricians and the Rejuvenated Sons of Jove, is actively identified with the Fort Wayne Commercial Club, and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On February 8, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dix to Miss Lulu Myer, daughter of Charles F. Myer, of Fort Wayne, and the two children of this union are Martha E. and Dorothy E., both of whom remain at the parental home.


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Henry G. Doctor .- The family of which Henry G. Doctor is a repre- sentative in Marion township is one of the old established ones of the county, noted for its numbers quite as much as for its stability of charac- ter and general good citizenship. Mr. Doctor stands prominently among the retired men of his community, and after many years of strenuous endeavor in the pursuit of agriculture is now to be found living quietly amid the comforts won by his years of earnest effort. He has won the unqualified respect and confidence of his fellows and has not only enjoyed a long life of seventy years, but has made his years count for service to himself, his family and his community. Mr. Doctor was born January 28, 1847, in Marion township, son of Charles and Louisa (Coleman) Doc- tor. The father came from Germany in young life, in company with his parents, who for a time resided in Pennsylvania. Later they removed to Indiana, making the journey with a one-horse wagon. This wagon carried the camp outfit and the women and children of the little party, and the men walked the entire distance. Roads were bad, and in many places the women dismounted and shared the road with the men folks. The journey was a long and difficult one, fraught with the manifold dan- gers that beset the path of the overland voyager of the day, but they came through safely and settled in Allen county. The men first found employment in a brick yard, but later Charles Doctor entered land from the government, and at the time of his death, in 1856, was the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of good farm land. To him and his wife were born six children : Margaret, Nathan, Henry G., Mary, William A., and Ellen. Henry G. Doctor was educated in the public schools of Marion township and spent his boyhood and young manhood on the home farm. He was still but a lad, eight years old, when his father died and he early learned to share the burdens that fell upon his mother's shoulders with the death of the head of the family. The old homestead has been his home practically all his life. After the death of his mother, in 1863, he bought the interests of the other heirs to the place and has since retained possession of it. He later purchased the old Nathan Coleman place, and lived on it for a number of years, but subsequently removed to the former home and resided there until he moved to Fort Wayne, in 1900, where he now lives. He has prospered well in his years of devotion to agricul- ture and is at this time the owner of 570 acres of land in Allen county and 304 acres in Paulding county, Ohio. He also owns a fine home in Fort Wayne, where he lives. Mr. Doctor is a Republican in politics and a member of the German Lutheran church. He was married, December 26, 1865, to Miss Catherine Leydolph, daughter of Fred and Anna Ley- dolph, and they became the parents of eight children. Charles F. is deceased ; Henry J. lives in Marion township. Elizabeth is the wife of William M. Brown, of Adams township. Allen is a farmer in Paulding county, Ohio. Mary married Fred Adam and they live in Adams town- ship, Allen county. Lewis also lives in Adams township. Anna is mar- ried to August Bearman, of Marion township. Lucy is the wife of Henry Koehlinger, also of Marion township. Twenty-nine grandchildren have been added to the family in more recent years. Charles F. had a goodly family of eight. They are Rosa, who is the wife of Frank Rice and the mother of a daughter and a son; Henry, Martha (wife of Victor Worm), Walter (deceased), Emma, May, Freda and Paul. Henry Doctor has five children, named Arthur, Della, Elmer, Hulda and Elsie. Elizabeth's three areMelly, married to Ed Berman; Etta and Arthur. Allen has a


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son, Albert. Lewis has six sons-Arthur, Herbert, Willard, Irwin, Clar- ence and Walter. Anna is the mother of Elmer, Vera and Mildred, while Lucy has Velma, Paul and Berenice. These are fine young people of much promise, and Mr. and Mrs. Doctor may well be proud of the record of their lives when they contemplate the coming representatives of the name.


Edward W. Dodez, D. D. S., is not only an able exponent of the profession that represents both a science and a mechanic art, but is also one who has made a valuable contribution to the dental profession as a manufacturer of dental remedies and specialties, including his widely-used "Oxpara," which has met with most favorable and well- merited reception and utilization on the part of the members of the profession all over the globe, and it is worthy of special note that it is used in the hospitals in the great war zone of Europe. The doctor has now virtually retired from the active practice of his profession, and is giving his exclusive attention to his well-established and cumulatively successful manufacturing enterprise, with well-equipped establishment at No. 1425 West Main street, in his native city of Fort Wayne. Dr. Edward Wright Dodez was born in Fort Wayne on March 11, 1875, a son of Gustave C. and Helen (Ketterer) Dodez. He attended the public schools of Fort Wayne and also the Westminster Seminary for a time, and in preparation for his chosen profession, entered the college of dentistry of the University of Illinois, this department being located in the city of Chicago. From this school he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. In the following year he engaged in the practice of his profession in Fort Wayne, and, by his ability, effective service and personal popularity, he built up a large and representative practice, the same continuing to engross his time and attention for about seven years, at the expiration of which time he retired from the active work of his profession to give his supervision to the manufacture of dental remedies and specialties- a line of enterprise in which his success is of a high order. The doctor is an active member of the Commercial Club of Fort Wayne. He is zealous in the support of its high ideals and the progressive policies of the organization, and is serving as a member of its directorate, besides which he is a charter member and one of the organizers of the Fort Wayne Rotary Club. He is a prominent member of the Masonic frater- nity. January 24, 1900, recorded the marriage of Dr. Dodez to Miss Lilla May Cramer, daughter of Jeremiah and Josephine (Harlow) Cramer, of Fairbury, Illinois, and of this union have been born four children, all of whom are living except the youngest, Lilla May, who died in infancy. The cheery home circle includes the other children- Edward, Josephine and Helen, the daughters being twins. Westover, the beautiful suburban home of Dr. Dodez, on the Leesburg road, is one of the most attractive places in this vicinity.


Henry J. Doswell, the able and honored superintendent of beautiful Lindenwood Cemetery at Fort Wayne, succeeded his father in this office, in which he has admirably upheld the prestige of the name which he bears, with technical ability and artistic talent that mark him as one of the representative landscape gardeners of his native state. It is a matter of historical interest to record that from the time Lindenwood Cemetery was platted it has been consecutively maintained under the supervision of the Doswells, the father of the present superintendent having assumed charge in 1859 and the beautiful "God's Acre" having


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been developed and improved under his able management and direction. When he passed to the life eternal, in 1900, he was succeeded by his son, Henry J., and the latter has given equally loyal, earnest and effective service, with the result that Lindenwood is consistently to be designated as one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the state of Indiana. Mr. Doswell was born in Fort Wayne on December 23, 1864, and is a son of John H. and Catherine J. (Humphries) Doswell, both natives of Eng- land, where they were reared and educated, the father having been born in the city of London, November 3, 1827, and the mother in Glou- cestershire, in April, 1825. In his youth John H. Doswell served a thorough apperticeship under the direction of an able and successful florist in his native land, and he so extended his experience as to gain distinctive ability as a landscape gardener and architect. For a time he was in the employ of W. D. Page, of Southampton, and thereafter he was retained four years as an assistant in the fine gardens of the Earl of Radnor, near Salisbury, in Wiltshire. Upon his retirement from this position he had the distinction and valuable privilege of being employed in the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, and later he was head gardener on the estate of Sir William Medlican, at Venhall, Somersetshire. In September, 1852, he immigrated to the United States, and he passed the first winter in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he had charge of the greenhouse of the late William Resor. From the Buckeye state he finally went to Wisconsin, where he purchased a farm and, as a pioneer of that common- wealth, turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. In the autumn of 1859 he returned to Cincinnati, and in the following December came to Fort Wayne to assume charge of the newly established Lindenwood Cemetery, of which he became the first superintendent and landscape architect, the basic design and original beautifying of the cemetery having been perfected under his able direction and his earnest devotion and enthusiastic energy having been the principal medium through which the beautiful cemetery was developed to its present status. He loved his work and his stewardship was in consonance with his sincere and upright character and his appreciation of the sentimental value of his gracious endeavors. In addition to his work at Lindenwood he had charge also, in the summer of 1888, of laying out and initiating the improvement of all of the city park plats of Fort Wayne, and, all in all, the tangible results of his labors during the long years of resi- dence in Fort Wayne constitute a most consistent and enduring monu- ment to the memory of this sterling and honored citizen. The gentle and devoted wife of Mr. Doswell was summoned to eternal rest in July, 1902, both having been devoted communicants of the Protestant Episco- pal church. Of their ten children seven are living, in 1917. Henry J. Doswell is indebted to the public schools of Fort Wayne for his early educational discipline, which was here supplemented by a course of study in the old Methodist College. He was signally favored in his youth in being permitted to perfect himself in landscape work under the able and punctilious direction of his father. He was given most careful training, showed a natural predilection for the work and finds satisfaction and pride in the fact that he was chosen the successor of his honored father as superintendent of Lindenwood Cemetery, he having been assistant to his father at the cemetery until the death of the latter. in 1900. Mr. Doswell has not limited his civic loyalty to his service in the line of his profession but takes deep interest in all things per- taining to the welfare and advancement of his native city. He planned


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the landscape for Lakeside Park. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party. In Masonry he has received the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Masonic fraternity, his York Rite affiliation being with Fort Wayne Commandery of Knights Templars, and he is identified also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. On September 3, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Doswell to Miss Mary E. Taylor, who likewise was born and reared in Fort Wayne and who is a daughter of William C. and Mahala (Sudro) Taylor, the father being now a resident of California and the mother being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Doswell have two children: Harold H. is successfully engaged in the manufacturing of cement burial caskets, in Fort Wayne, and Helen S. is the wife of Arthur E. Kover, of this city.


Wallace E. Doud has in recent years been one of the most prominent and influential figures in connection with the well-ordered physical and civic development and upbuilding of Fort Wayne, and specially import- ant and valuable have been his real estate operations in the platting and exploiting of new additions and subdivisions that have inured greatly to the metropolitan advancement of the chief city of Allen county. Mr. Doud was born on a farm in Defiance county, Ohio, October 25, 1858, and is a son of Linas P. and Clarinda A. (Barden) Doud. His father was born on the shores of beautiful Lake Champlain, in the state of Vermont, and was a scion of a sterling family that was founded in New England in the colonial era. He established his home in Defiance county, Ohio, about the year 1840, and after having been identified with the mercantile business at Defiance about one year he purchased a farm about twelve miles northwest of the county seat, near the present village of Ney. He developed one of the fine farms of the county and was one of the leading citizens of his commnity, his death having occurred on his old homestead, in 1872, and his wife having survived him by nearly thirty years. Of their children, only three are now living: Frank E. and Mildred being still residents of the old Buckeye state and the sub- ject of this review being thus the only representative of the immediate family in Indiana. Wallace E. Doud was reared to the benignant and sturdy discipline of the farm and continued to attend school in his native county until he was sixteen years of age, when he proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors and began teaching in the district schools. Later he fortified himself more fully by a course in a normal college that was then established at Bryan, Ohio, and he continued his effective services as a teacher in the public schools until he had attained to the age of twenty-five years. He then became a representative of the Union Central Life Insurance Company, of Cincinnati, in the service of which he continued until 1894, when he resigned his position and came to Fort Wayne. Here he established an office in the Old National Bank building and engaged, with characteristic vigor and resourcefulness, in the real estate business, of which he has become one of the most influen- tial and successful representatives in Allen county. He retained his original office headquarters until the erection of the modern Shoaff building, when he removed to his present well appointed offices in this fine structure. More than a decade ago Mr. Doud began to specialize in the platting and placing on the market of well defined additions to the city of Fort Wayne, and it is in this field that his greatest achieve- ment has been made. He has sold thousands of lots and his transactions have aggregated millions of dollars, so that it may readily be seen that


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he has contributed greatly to the development and progress of his home city, while scrupulous integrity has marked his every transaction. Among the more recent additions that have been ably exploited and developed under the direction of Mr. Doud may be noted Pfeiffer Place, comprising nearly six hundred lots; Pontiac Place, with more than five hundred lots, and Calhoun Place, with more than one hundred lots. Mr. Doud was prominently concerned in the organization and incorporation of the City & Suburban Realty Company, the original capital stock of which was ten thousand dollars. The title of the corporation was later changed to the present form, the City & Suburban Building Company, and it now has a capital stock of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, the while it is undoubtedly doing the leading building business of the city and its environs. Mr. Doud has held the dual office of treasurer and sales manager of this company from the time of its incorporation, and its offices are just across the corridor from the private office in which he conducts his individual real estate business. In the fall of 1916, Mr. Doud became one of the organizers of the Enterprise Building Company. This organization specializes in the erecting of homes which sell at a moderate price. A broad-guaged and progressive citizen, Mr. Doud is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, though he has had neither time nor inclination for public office, and he holds membership in the Fort Wayne Commercial Club, of the fine civic and commercial policies of which he is a loyal supporter. He is a director of the Fort Wayne Country Club, is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has completed the circle of both York and Scottish Rite Masonry up to and including the reception of the thirty-second degree in the latter, besides being affiliated also with the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He and his wife are zealous members of the Wayne Street Methodist Episcopal church, and he is serving as president of its board of trustees. July 6, 1884, recorded the marriage of Mr. Doud to Miss Fannie J. Van Meter, daughter of Perry H. Van Meter, of Sherwood, Defiance county, Ohio, further reference to the family being made on other pages, in the sketch of the career of her brother, Homer L. Van Meter, of Fort Wayne. Like her husband, Mrs. Doud was formerly a successful and popular teacher, and she was an assistant in the school of which he was superintendent at the time of their marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Doud have two children-Olive A., who is the wife of Raymond W. Ellis, a stock broker at Wilmington, Delaware, and Ethel I., who remains at the parental home.


Frank Doughman-One of the prosperous farming men of Roanoke, who have added their full quota to the agricultural development of that community is Frank Doughman, born in Aboite township, Allen county, on February 17, 1869, and the son of Abraham and Sarah (Henderson) Doughman. The father was a Pennsylvanian by birth and he came to Allen county in his young manhood, in partnership with a twin brother, David D. Doughman, who had accompanied him to the west from their Pennsylvania home. They became the owners of a farm of 147 acres in Aboite township and were prosperous and prominent farming men there for many years. Abraham Doughman was a blacksmith by trade and gave some attention to that work throughout his lifetime. They retired from active life in their later years and were living quietly in the enjoyment of earlier labors at the time when death claimed them. The brothers were Democrats and were lifelong members of the Methodist


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Episcopal church. Abraham and Sarah Doughman became the parents of five children. William, the first born, died in childhood. Newton passed away at the age of forty-nine, his death coming very suddenly. Louisa is the wife of William Clark of Aboite township. Clara married John Flaugh and lives in Jefferson township, Whitley county, Indiana. Frank, the youngest, is the subject of this sketch. He was educated in the public schools of his native community and divided his time between his books and the more practical education incident to life on a farm. He had a commendable training in agriculture and when he left home and branched out for himself he rented a farm and applied himself to the task of accumulating sufficient to enable him to become a landowner. Later he bought his present homestead of eighty acres and there he has lived in the successful management of the place. Progressive methods have marked his activities, and he has one of the fine places of the township. Mr. Doughman married on March 5, 1891, Miss Laurina Jane Stoles becoming his wife. She is the daughter of Jacob and Anna (Reindfuse) Stoles, the family having come from Ohio. Mr. Stoles was a native of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and he settled with his parents in Ohio at the age of eight years, in 1848. He was a shoe-maker by trade, and in his young life taught school for some years. He turned his attention to farming after coming to Indiana and became quite suc- cessful in his work in that department of industry. Mr. Stoles was a Civil war veteran, serving three years as a member of Company F, One Hundredth Regiment of Infantry of Ohio, and was a sergeant of his company most of the time. While still a resident of Ohio Mr. Stoles spent some years in the railway service, first as a locomotive fireman and then as engineer. He had one serious collision near Toledo, from which his health suffered to such an extent that he gave up the work and retired to Fort Wayne, where he bought a small farm and passed the remainder of his life on it. Mrs. Stoles still lives on the farm in the vicinity of Fort Wayne. They were the parents of four children. Laurine Jane is the wife of the subject. Clara May lives in Iowa. Fred- erick W. is principal of the high school at Alexander. Albert Edward is a practicing physician in Fort Wayne. To Mr. and Mrs. Doughman were born four children. Albert, the eldest, lives in Chicago. Anna, Newton and Agnes are still at home with the parents. Mr. Doughman and his family have membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a Democrat in politics and his fraternal relations are confined to mem- bership in the Modern Woodmen of America at Roanoke.




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