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 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89
D. Burns Douglass is now numbered among the representative young- er members of the Fort Wayne bar and has been established in the general practice of his profession in his native city since the winter of 1905. His ability has been shown in results achieved as a resourceful trial lawyer and well fortified counselor, and his advancement in his profes- sion has been based upon hard work and close application, the while he has shown deep appreciation of and has insistently observed the un- written code of ethics by which the dignity and distinction of his chosen calling have been upheld. Mr. Douglass was born in Fort Wayne Novem- ber 24, 1879, and is a son of William B. and Hannah (Clark) Douglass. His father, who was born and reared in New Hampshire, a scion of sterling colonial ancestry, came to Fort Wayne in 1863 and for many years thereafter served as a conductor on the Pennsylvania Railroad lines. He was one of the oldest passenger-train conductors in the service of the company at the time when he retired, and he and his wife are now
141
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
deceased. Of the three children William V. and Curtis C. are deceased, and thus the subject of this review is the only survivor. D. Burns Douglass continued his studies in the public schools of Fort Wayne until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and he then went to his father's native state and entered historic old Dartmouth College, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1903 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Letters. He also pursued a course in the law department of the institution. He took lively interest in the athletic affairs of his alma mater while an undergraduate, and this gave him special facility and judgment when he assumed the position of sport- ing editor of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, his service in this capacity having covered the season of 1904. In December of 1905 Mr. Douglass was admitted to the bar of his native state, and he has since been actively engaged in the practice of law in Fort Wayne, where he has built up a substantial and representative law business. He is an active member of the Allen County Bar Association and has the confidence and good will of his professional confreres, who are appreciative of the ability which has enabled him to win success in his exacting vocation. In politics Mr. Douglass is a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and he and his wife are active members of Plymouth Congrega- tional church. In the Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty- second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite and now, 1917, is Worshipful Master of Home Lodge Number 342, F. and A. M. He is affiliated also with the Knights of Pythias, besides which he holds mem- bership in the Fort Wayne Commercial Club and the Fortnightly Club. On July 19, 1911, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Douglass to Miss Marian L. Bridgman, of Northampton, Massachusetts, their acquaintance- ship having been formed while he was a student at Dartmouth College. The two children of this union are William Burns and Robert Bridgman. Mrs. Douglass was born and reared in the old Bay state and is representa- tive of old and distinguished colonial families in New England, that graci- ous cradle of much of our national history. She is a daughter of Dwight S. and Mary (Lyons) Bridgman, who still restide in their native state of Massachusetts, the mother being a direct descendent of the distinguished Rev. Jonathan Edwards, the historic figure in New England colonial annals, and also of Mary Lyons, who was the founder of Mount Holyoke College, in Massachusetts.
Thomas C. Dowling .- A successful business man prior to his appoint- ment to his present position as postmaster at New Haven, Thomas C. Dowling brought to his duties as a government official an experience that fitted him admirably for the successful administration of the office. He is a native son of New Haven, born there on November 16, 1879, and his parents were Bartholomew and Mary (Moriarty) Dowling. The father was born in county Kerry, Ireland, and the mother was of New Jersey birth. Bartholomew Dowling came to America as a lad of seven years in the year 1849. With his parents he located in Sidney, Ohio, and there had his education in the parochial schools of that community. He was nineteen years old when the Civil war broke out and he promptly enlisted for the three months' period the government asked for the defense of the nation. He began his service on April 27, 1861, as a mem- ber of the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio Infantry, and after a service of one hundred days returned to Sidney and applied himself to work as a tinsmith. After seven years of attention to the work in Sidney he went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and secured employment with the
142
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Pennsylvania Railroad, and in 1869 came to New Haven, engaging in the hardware and tinning business. He was identified contiuously with the business he then established to the end of his life and the business is still carried on under the same name by his son, James Dowling. Mr. Dowling died on May 13, 1912, when he was seventy years of age. He was a Democrat in politics, a Roman Catholic, a member of the Knights of St. John, and a member of the Ancient Order of Ilibernians at Fort Wayne. He was a good citizen, an honorable business man and one of the leaders in thought and action in his community. His passing was a loss to New Haven and he was mourned by all who knew him. His marriage to Miss Mary Moriarty took place on January 8, 1879, in Urbana, Ohio, where she was born and reared. They became the parents of six children. Thomas C., who is the immediate subject of this family review, was the first born. Mae is the wife of Dennis Daly of Fort Wayne. John is a resident of Fort Wayne. Bartholomew is deceased. James is in New Haven, in charge of the business the father left, and William was located in Detroit, but is now with Company E, Twelfth Battery, U. S. A. Thomas C. Dowling had his early schooling in the parochial school of St. John's church in New Haven, after which he attended the Brothers' School of Fort Wayne. His education finished, he secured employment in the offices of the Hibbard-Spencer-Bartlett Company of Chicago, where he spent five years, and gained a compre- hensive working knowledge of the hardware business. He then returned to his native place and took charge of the Dowling Hardware Store, re- lieving his father of much of the responsibility of the place, though the elder gentleman continued the nominal head of the establishment as long as he lived. On March 9, 1915, Mr. Dowling was appointed to the office of postmaster and he quitted the hardware business, leaving his brother, James, in charge. He has since devoted himself exclusively to the duties of his office. Mr. Dowling, like his father, is a staunch Demo- crat, a member of St. John's Roman Catholic church of New Haven, a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and he is also a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters, and the New Haven Commercial Club. He is one of the up-and-doing young men of the community and has a host of good friends in the town that he has always called home, while his acquaintance throughout the county is wide and varied.
Myron S. Downing .- The full measure of constructive service that justifies success was rendered by the late Myron Sexton Downing, who maintained his home in Allen county during virtually his entire life and who gained distinct prestige as one of the able and representative business men of Fort Wayne. In this city he was engaged in the wholesale baking business at the time of his death, which occurred June 10, 1913, and his character and achievement were such as to make most consistent the brief memorial tribute which it is possible to pay him in this publication. Mr. Downing was born at Sandusky, Ohio, in October, 1859, and was a child at the time when he came to Allen county, Indiana, with his parents, Jeremiah and Cynthia (Sexton) Downing, both of whom were born and reared in the old Buckeye state. Jeremiah Downing became one of the successful farmers of Allen county, and here both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, secure in the high esteem of all who knew them. The subject of this memoir was the only child and was accorded good educational advantages in his youth, including those of Heidelberg College, at Tiffin, Ohio. As a young man he proved a successful teacher in the public schools, but he did not long devote his attention to the
143
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
pedagogic profession. He became identified with the retail clothing business in Fort Wayne, and later he became a traveling salesman for the wholesale cracker and candy house of Louis Fox, in which connection he continued his effective services for many years. He finally was ap- pointed manager of the Fort Wayne plant of the National Biscuit Com- pany, and later purchased the local plant and business, to the control and management of which he continued to give his attention, as a manu- facturer and wholesale dealer in standard food products, until the close of his life, his energy, progressiveness and sterling character having made him the ideal business man and his high sense of personal stewardship having dominated his course in all of the relations of life. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party and he was well fortified in his opinions concerning governmental policies and public affairs in general, though he never manifested any desire for official preferment. He was affiliated prominently with the Masonic fraternity and the Benev- olent & Protective Order of Elks, and was a valued member of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club. On December 18, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Downing to Miss Lewella Donaldson, who was born at Goshen, the judicial center of Elkhart county, Indiana, and who is a daughter of William B. and Annie J. (Ferguson) Donaldson, the latter of whom is deceased and the former has the active management of the business formerly owned by the subject of this memoir. The parents of Mrs. Downing were born in Pennsylvania. No children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Downing and in her pleasant home Mrs. Downing is sus- tained and comforted by the companionship of her father, who is in charge of the business with which her husband was so actively identified at the time of his death.
Dr. L. Park Drayer .- Possibly the best introduction of a sketch of the life of Dr. L. P. Drayer is a quotation from the columns of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette of September 11, 1917, referring to his appoint- ment as secretary of the board of health of the city of Fort Wayne. It says: "Dr. L. P. Drayer, one of the best known practitioners of Fort Wayne, yesterday was named secretary of the city health board by Mayor William J. Hosey, to succeed Dr. John H. Gilpin, now a captain in the Medical Officers' Reserve Corps at Fort Benjamin Harrison. The appointment was accepted by Dr. Drayer only on condition that the entire salary of the office, which is $125 monthly, be paid to Dr. Gilpin. The change is effective at once. Dr. Gilpin's resignation was made neces- sary because he expects to be absent for the duration of the war. The new secretary was the first health officer ever named in Fort Wayne. It was in 1895 that he was appointed by Mayor Chauncey B. Oakley, the first Republican executive for the city. During the next eight years, he serving two terms, Dr. Drayer organized the health system of the city and put it on the substantial and capable basis of today. He founded the first bacteriological laboratory, which also is the best in Northern Indiana. His work, from 1895 to 1903, put Fort Wayne on the map as a health center, and fruits of his efforts and foresight then have been apparent ever since in the workings of the health department. Although Dr. Drayer is a Republican, Mayor Hosey recognized his merits and the appointment ensued." The foregoing comment suggests not only the capabilities of Dr. Drayer but also the spirit of patriotism and true service which characterizes his activities. No one more than he has contributed to the welfare of the suffering and the needy, though the
144
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
service has been so quietly performed that it is only when it appears in connection with some great public project like the playground move- ment or matters connected with the city health department that the people get a glimpse of the truth. Dr. Drayer was born in Hartford City, Indiana, May 4, 1870, son of Dr. Peter and Matilda (Oldfather) Drayer, the former deceased and the latter a resident of Fort Wayne. The childhood of Dr. L. Park Drayer was passed in his native town, where he attended the public schools before entering upon a course in Hanover College. Following this course of preparation, he came to Fort Wayne and became a student in the Fort Wayne Medical College, then one of the foremost institutions of the Middle West. This was in 1892. He remained here one year and then went to Chicago, where he took a course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Returning to Fort Wayne, he re-entered the Fort Wayne Medical College and graduated in 1895. By this time his acquaintanceship had grown to such proportions that he decided to locate here permanently. The wisdom of his choice is plainly shown in the marked success which has attended his years of professional duties. Dr. Drayer's position among the members of the profession is indicated by his membership in the county and state medical societies and in the American Medical Association. He is a member of the Central States Pediatric Society, and the American Society of Teach- ers of Pediatrics, and holds the position of professor of diseases of chil- dren in the University of Indiana. As stated in the foregoing quotation, he served as the city chemist and bacteriologist from 1895 to 1902. His activities are by no means confined to his professional field. As a member of the Commercial and of the Rotary Clubs, he has always displayed a keen interest in civic affairs. He is a member of the Fort Wayne Lodge of Elks. Dr. Drayer was married, October 9, 1895. at Madison, Indiana, to Miss Gertrude Greiner, a native of that city. Two children-Gertrude Hillis and L. Park, Jr .- have been born to this union. Dr. and Mrs. Drayer are affiliated with Trinity Episcopal church. The handsome family home is located at the junction of West Berry and Webster streets.
John Dreibelbiss was one who gave to the world distinct assurance of strong and worthy manhood, and his achievement was limited only by the confines that time and opportunity set for every individual person. He was a representative of one of the well known and sterling pioneer families of Allen county, became one of the prominent and successful business men of Fort Wayne and his admirable intellectual powers and business acumen enabled him to win success and to make for himself a place of special influence in connection with the abstract and real estate business in his native county, where he ever commanded unqualified popular confidence and good will, his death having occurred at his home in Fort Wayne on October 7, 1915, and a tribute to his memory being specially consistent as a contribution to this history. Mr. Dreibelbiss was born at Fort Wayne March 24, 1853, and was a son of John P. and Anna (Saurer) Dreibelbiss, the former of whom was born in Bavaria, Germany, November 28, 1829, and the latter in Switzerland, on April 24 of the same year, their marriage having been solemnized in Fort Wayne, and their children having been seven in number, namely: John, Christian G., Christina R., Conrad W., Mary L., Robert B., and Edward D. The honored father died December 31, 1886, and his widow survived him by a number of years. John P. Dreibelbiss was but three years old at the time of his parents' immigration from Bavaria to America, and the family
YORK LIBRARY
A HCR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATION
145
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
became early settlers in Fort Wayne, which was then a mere straggling settlement surrounding the old fort which gave title to the fine little city of the present day. The journey from Buffalo, New York, to north- ern Indiana was made with wagon and ox team, and John P. Dreibelbiss contributed his quota to the development and progress of Allen county along both civic and material lines. He to whom this memoir is dedicated received the best educational advantages afforded in the common schools of Fort Wayne in the period of his childhood and youth, and his alert and receptive mind enabled him eventually to become a man of broad information and mature judgment. Energetic and self-reliant, the youth early turned his attention to work that would enable him to depend largely on his own resources, and for a time he was employed as a clerk in the grocery store of the late Mason Long. Later he was employed by J. B. White, who conducted what was known as the White Fruit Store, and after severing this connection he found employment in a wholesale tea establishment in the city of Chicago, where he remained until this house, together with the greater portion of the business district of the city, was swept away by the historic Chicago fire of 1871. Mr. Dreibelbiss then returned to Fort Wayne, and for some time thereafter gave his attention to farming and floriculture, in the immediate vicinity of the city. Later he resumed the occupation of clerk in a grocery, and in 1883 engaged in the upbuilding of a general abstract business, work- ing out careful and authentic abstracts of title covering all realty in Allen county and making his records the authoritative data in this all important line. He completed the arduous and exacting task of copying from the county's deed, mortgage and court records all requisite data concerning the titles to real estate in every township of the county and then, on January 1, 1887, incorporated his business under the title of the Dreibelbiss Abstract of Title Company. His efforts caused the general public to come to a proper realization of the necessity of obtaining clear titles to property when the same was about to change owners, and the abstract business became an important adjunct of all real estate trans- actions in the county. Thus it was but natural that Mr. Dreibelbiss should, within a short time, expand the scope of his business to include the handling of real estate, the extending of financial loans upon real estate security and making these departments of his enterprise an im- portant feature of his well ordered activities. He further showed pro- gressive spirit and confidence in the continued growth of Fort Wayne by associating in a financial way with various manufacturing industries in his home city. John Dreibelbiss thus became one of the substantial and valued business men and influential citizens of Fort Wayne, and in his death the city lost an upright, loyal and valued citizen and resourceful and influential man of affairs. In connection with his business he became the author of an excellent little book, to which he gave the title, "Start Right," and in this he concisely and effectively defined the necessity for the authenticating of all titles to real estate, the publication, as placed in popular circulation, having had much influence in furthering the success of the abstract business that was founded by him. He never sought public office but was a staunch supporter of the cause of the Re- publican party. He attended the Christian Science church. In 1877 Mr. Dreibelbiss wedded Miss Kate M. Darrow, and after her death he con- tracted a second marriage, Miss Anna Fahlsing then becoming his wife and her home being still maintained in Fort Wayne.
146
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
William H. Dreier is one of the veteran and honored business men of Fort Wayne, where he has been identified with the retail drug trade for more than half a century and where, though he is now living virtually retired, he is still president of the well established drug business con- ducted under the corporate title of The Dreier Drug Company. Mr. Dreier has contributed a generous quota to the civic and material develop- ment and progress of the metropolis of Allen county and has long been known as one of the city's representative business men and unassumingly influential citizens, the while his is the further distinction of being a native of the Hoosier state and a scion of one of its honored pioneer families. William H. Dreier was born at Madison, the judicial center of Jefferson county, Indiana, in December, 1842, and is the only surviving member of a family of four children, in which he was the second in order of birth, the others having been Henry, Mary and Joseph. He is a son of Henry and Mary (Mitla) Dreier, both of whom were born in Germany. Upon coming to America Henry Dreier numbered himself among the pioneers of Jefferson county, Indiana, where he reclaimed and improved a farm and where he also conducted for a number of years one of the pioneer hotels in the now thriving little city of Madison, the county seat, both he and his wife having continued their residence in Jefferson county until their death and both having been earnest communicants of the Catho- lic church. William H. Dreier acquired his preliminary education in the Catholic parochial schools at Madison and supplemented this by higher academic studies in St. Mary's College at Lebanon, Kentucky. After leaving college he returned to his native town of Madison, and after having there been for several years employed as a clerk in a general store he came, about 1863, to Fort Wayne, in company with his brother Henry. They purchased the drug store of Caspar Schioer, and thereafter continued their partnership alliance until the death of Henry Dreier, in 1875. Wil- liam H. then assumed full control of the prosperous enterprise, and under his effective management it was developed into one of the largest and most important of its kind in Allen county. This pioneer drug business is now conducted under corporate control, and though Mr. Dreier retired from active association with the business in 1911 he still continues presi- dent of the company and is a valued counselor in the directing of its policies. He has been one of the liberal and progressive citizens of Fort Wayne, is a stalwart advocate of the cause of the Democratic party but has never been imbued with ambition for political activity or public office. He and his wife are numbered among the most venerable and honored communicants of the Cathedral parish of the Catholic church in their home city, and he has long maintained affiliation with the Knights of Columbus. On November 11, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dreier to Miss Mary Corcoran, who was born and reared in Fort Wayne, where her parents, Patrick and Bridget (Bartley) Corcoran, natives of Ireland, established their residence in the pioneer days, when the present city was a mere village. Mr. Corcoran was here engaged in the grocery business for many years and here he and his wife passed the residue of their worthy and useful lives. Of their five children Mrs. Dreier is the eldest; Frances is the widow of Teles F. Gerow and still resides in Fort Wayne; Owen died in this city, and the next two children died in infancy. To Mr. and Mrs. Dreier were born four children: Loreto is the wife of Edward Gilmartin, Jr., of Fort Wayne; Frances remains at the parental
147
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
home; Genevieve is deceased; and Mary Alma is the wife of Walter Hamilton, of Fort Wayne.
Charles Frederick Henry Dreyer was born in Germany, November 27, 1843, son of Philip and Engel (Brookmeirer) Dreyer, both of German birth and ancestry, who spent their lives in their native land. They were the parents of five children-Henry, Charles, Sophia, William and Getta. Henry, it should be stated here, served from 1861 to 1864 in the Union army during the Civil war and is now deceased. Getta, the youngest, is also deceased. Charles Dreyer had his education in his native land and came to America in 1870, arriving in Fort Wayne on October 24. He found employment in the blacksmith shop of the Pennsylvania Lines and was fifteen years in that work, coming to Washington township on May 8, 1885. He bought a small farm and devoted his energies to its cultiva- tion. Success followed his efforts and he is today owner of 170 acres in this township. He has developed the land to a high state of produc- tiveness and it is a modern and well kept place in every respect. Mr. Dreyer was married, September 18, 1873, to Miss Christina Salamon, daughter of Charles Salamon, of whom further mention is made on other pages of this publication. Eight children were born to them. William, born on June 18, 1874, died November 8, 1887. Charles was born No- vember 30, 1876. The others are Lizzie, Emma, Anna, Amelia, Frederick and Marie. Mr. Dreyer was highway commissioner of his township for seventeen years and with his family has membership in St. Paul's Luth- eran church in Fort Wayne.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.