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 3

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 3


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J. Wade Bailey was born in Newtonville, Essex county, Massa- chusetts, on August 29, 1879, and is a son of Joseph Tilden and Mabel (Allen) Bailey, both natives of the old Bay state, and both coming from families that date their respective ancestries back to the first settlement of the new world, so that Mr. Bailey may safely claim a purely American genealogy. The elder Bailey was engaged in the banking business in Boston for many years. J. Wade Bailey had his early education in his native city, and when he was graduated from the Newton high school he entered the employ of Fenno Brothers & Childs, then the largest wool dealers in the United States. This firm later sold out to Hartley Brothers, a firm composed of three London and two American merchants, and it may be said in passing that during the panic in the wool market in 1909 this firm failed for about a million and a half dollars. Following that failure Mr. Bailey became connected with the United States Fastener Company, of Boston, and after a year in the Boston offices of the firm he went to Chicago to look after the middle west end of the business, mak- ing his headquarters in Chicago for about two and a half years. He


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left the employ of that firm to engage in the brokerage business, hand- ling manufacturer's lines on a commission basis, and while he was sufficiently successful in the work to warrant his continuation with it, he gave up the business because of the fact that it necessitated constant traveling, a feature that was extremely displeasing to him. Mr. Bailey exchanged his brokerage activities for a connection with the Burroughs Adding Machine Company of Detroit, and going to Peoria, Illinois, was located there for about ten months. He then took a city territory in Chicago for the same company, continuing there for six months, when the company gave him the agency for Northern Indiana, with head- quarters at Fort Wayne. Since locating in that territory Mr. Bailey has realized a generous measure of success in his work of popularizing a device which he claims is solely for the purpose of general betterment of business conditions through the installation of twentieth century methods of handling office records, and he believes that the record of such machines already placed by the majority of manufacturing, whole- sale and banking houses in that locality stands as an endorsement of that statement. Mr. Bailey was married in Chicago on June 27, 1912, to Miss Florence Tyler, daughter of Edward Tyler, a promoter of Detroit, Michigan. They have one daughter, Bertha Bailey, born October 29, 1913. Mr. Bailey is a Republican, and socially is a member of the Rotary Club of Fort Wayne. He is also a member of the Commercial Club.


Andrew J. Baker is a native son of Fort Wayne, is a representative of one of the old and honored families of this city, and has been for nearly thirty-five years an efficient and valued member of the city fire depart- ment, in which he has held the office of captain since 1894. Since 1899 he has held continuously the office of captain at Fire House No. 7, the preceding five years having been marked by his service in a similar capacity at Fire House No. 5. Captain Baker was born in Fort Wayne on March 6, 1859, and is a son of Henry J. and Mary (Doherty) Baker, the former of whom was born in Germany on August 3, 1828, and the latter in the city of Rochester, New York, August 26, 1836. Henry J. Baker was six years of age at the time of his parents' immigration to America and he was reared and educated in Fort Wayne, Indiana. As a young man, associated with two of his brothers, he became promi- nently concerned with the civic and material interests of Fort Wayne and Allen county, and later in life he became a member of the firm of Murray & Baker, which developed a prosperous enterprise in the manu- facturing of mechanical' and gas engines. He engaged also in the real estate business and as an exponent of the same did much to further the development and upbuilding of the present metropolis of Allen county. He laid out the plot of land on which is now located the Pennsylvania railroad depot in Fort Wayne, and his name is fittingly honored and perpetuated in the title of Baker street, in that section of the city. He was also in the saw-mill and general lumber business, and furnished the lumber for the Pittsburg Railroad Company shops. For a number of years he was superintendent of the Wabash and Erie Canal with head- quarters in Fort Wayne, and he was also one of the Directors and a stockholder in the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad. He was essentially a sterling citizen of much energy, progressiveness and versatil- ity. This honored pioneer was but forty-four years of age at the time of his death, in 1872, and he was influential in public affairs of a local order, his allegiance having been given unreservedly to the Democratic party, and though he was not a seeker of public office he served at one


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time as a director of the northern state penitentiary of Indiana. His widow survived him for more than thirty years and was nearly seventy years of age at the time of her death, in 1904, both having been earnest and consistent communicants of the Catholic church. They became the parents of nine children: Julia, who was born February 12, 1855, is the wife of Charles E. Stapleford, and they maintain their home in the state of Colorado. Mrs. Stapleford is a woman of fine intellectual and literary attainments and is the author of an interesting published volume entitled "Wahseeola," an Indian word that signifies "The Light of the Tribes at the Meeting Waters," and in 1916-17 she is engaged in the prepara- tion for publication of another work entitled "Under the Yoke of Con- science," that is certain to find popular favor and enduring value. Henry J., who was born November 8, 1856, is bookkeeper for the Clifford Brothers Coal Company of Fort Wayne. Catherina likewise resides in Fort Wayne and is the widow of Victor Muller. Captain Andrew J., of this review, was the next in order of birth. Ambrose C., born July 22, 1862, still resides in Fort Wayne. Margaret, born April 27, 1864, is the wife of August Steinbrunner, of this city. Lawrence A. still maintains his home in Fort Wayne, where he was born April 4, 1868. Ellen A., born August 25, 1870, died in 1916. Gertrude F., born February 11, 1872, is the wife of James Orr, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Cap- tain Andrew J. Baker acquired his early education in the Catholic parochial schools of Fort Wayne, and as a youth he served an appren- ticeship to the baker's trade, as if to make even more consistent the name which he bears. He did not long devote his attention to this trade, however, and after quitting the same he was for some time in the employ of the United States Express Company. In 1883, when twenty-four years of age, he became a minuteman in the Fort Wayne fire department, and in 1893 he was made a full-pay member of the department. That his service and executive ability were of high order was made manifest in the following year, when he was promoted to the office of captain and assigned to Fire House No. 5, where he remained until 1899, since which year he has been captain at Fire House No. 7, as previously noted in this context. The Captain is a strict disciplinarian but invariably just and considerate, so that he has the implicit confidence and good will of his co-workers and has made an admirable record of service as one of the resourceful and courageous fire-fighters of his native city. His political affiliation is with the Democratic party and he attends and supports the Catholic church, in the faith of which he was reared and of which his wife is a zealous communicant. On January 28, 1885, wass olemnized the marriage of Captain Baker to Miss Matilda G. Weier, who was born in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Martin and Amelia (Weaineer) Weier, both natives of Germany. The name of Mrs. Weier's first husband was Richter, and the one child of this union is Benjamin Richter, who is employed as a tinner by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Martin Weier, a tanner by trade, established his residence in Fort Wayne in 1861, and here both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. Of their six children Louis J. and Eleanor are deceased; Mrs. Baker was the third and was reared and educated in Fort Wayne; Mollie is the wife of Frederick W. Yeager, of Chicago; Hattie is deceased, and Anthony is a resident of North Dakota. Captain and Mrs. Baker have but one child, Louis A., who is now a successful and popular traveling salesman for the Mossman-Yarnelle Company, of Fort Wayne.


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Joseph J. Baker has been a resident of Fort Wayne from the time of his birth, is a representative of one of the honored German families that was founded in Allen county in the pioneer days, and from his youth has been closely and worthily associated with business affairs in his native city, where for the long period of thirty-one years he was an efficient and valued employe of the United States Express Company, with which he remained virtually until this corporation closed up its business and retired from the field of enterprise in which it had long been a dominating factor. Mr. Baker is now one of the two interested principals in the Zurbuch-Baker Coal Company, which controls a pros- perous wholesale and retail business and in which his coadjutor is Joseph F. Zurbuch, concerning whom individual mention is made on other pages of this volume. Joseph J. Baker was born in Fort Wayne, December 29, 1860, a son of Jacob and Agatha (Mayer) Baker, the former of whom was born in Hesse- Darmstadt, Germany, and the latter in Geisingeny, a town of the German grand duchy of Baden. Jacob Baker came to America as a young man, about the year 1839, and soon afterward became a resident of Fort Wayne, where he engaged in the work of his trade, that of wagonmaker, but soon afterward became the owner of a sawmill, to the operation of which he gave his attention for a term of years, as one of the substantial and valued business men of Fort Wayne. In 1878 he retired from active business and was ven- erable in years at the time of his death, in August, 1895, his widow having passed to eternal rest on February 4, 1899, and both having been zealous communicants of St. Mary's Catholic church, of which he was a charter member, his political allegiance having been given to the Democratic party. Of the children the eldest is Mary E., who is now Sister Helen of the Catholic sisterhood of Notre Dame and is giving consecrated service at the present time in the city of St. Louis, Missouri; Joseph J., of this sketch, was the second child; Father Joachim is a priest of the Catholic church and holds a pastoral charge at Remington, Jasper county, Indiana; and Johanna is the wife of Henry W. Kohr- mann, of Fort Wayne. Joseph J. Baker was afforded the advantages of the excellent parochial schools of St. Mary's church and as a youth entered the employ of the firm of Shaffer & Calbacker, with whom he remained three years. He then entered the local service of the United States Express Company, in the employ of which corporation he con- tinued for thirty-one years, at the expiration of which, in 1914, he became associated with Joseph F. Zurbuch, under the present title of the Zurbuch-Baker Coal Company. He is a loyal and public-spirited citizen and takes deep interest in all things pertaining to the welfare of his native city and county, the while he is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. Both he and his wife are active communicants of St. Mary's Catholic church, in con- nection with which he is a member of the Holy Name Society. On No- vember 18, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Baker to Miss Eliza- beth Miller, daughter of Joseph and Anastasia (Witz) Miller, of Fort Wayne, and they have three children-Helen, who is the wife of Thomas Harkenriter, of Fort Wayne; Leon J., who is attending the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland; and Agneta, who re- mains at the parental home.


Leonard M. Bane-As one generation has followed another on to the stage of life Allen county has not failed so to recruit its bar as to


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maintain at all times a high standard for the same, and the city of Fort Wayne has been the home and professional headquarters of many who have been distinguished figures in the history of Indiana jurisprudence. Leonard Morgan Bane is one of the successful and highly esteemed younger members of the Fort Wayne bar, and has been established in the practice of his profession in the Allen county metropolis and seat of government since the autumn of 1908. His close application and recognized ability have resulted in his developing a substantial law busi- ness and it is constantly and legitimately increasing in scope and im- portance from year to year-a condition that denotes the popular estimate placed upon his ability as an advocate and as a well fortified counselor. The ancestors of the Bane family came to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the year 1687, from Lancaster, England. The name is Scotch-Irish origin. The great-great uncle of Leonard M. Bane on the Bane side of the family, was a captain of militia and an Indian fighter during the French and Indian war. A great-grandfather, Lot Leonard, of the maternal side of Mr. Bane's ancestral line, was a captain in the Revolutionary war. The grandfather of Mr. Bane on his mother's side was of German descent. Mr. Bane was born in Greene county, Pennsyl- vania, on November 8, 1880, and is a son of Morgan A. and Mary E. (Bowser) Bane, the former of whom was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, May 22, 1845, and the latter in Greene county, that state, July 14, 1852. The parents now maintain their home in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where the father is living virtually retired, he having been a successful farmer and also having been for many years engaged in practice as a veterinary surgeon. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and while he has always taken a loyal interest in public affairs in his community he has not been a seeker of political office, though he held for twelve years the position of school director. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and he and his wife attend the Christian church. Of the children the eldest is David E., who is a resident of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where he is success- fully engaged in the practice of law; Leonard M., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Seth C. resides in the village of Lock No. 4, Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he holds the position of time- keeper in the American Wire Mills; Orpha R. is principal of the public schools in one of the thriving villages of Fayette county, Pennsylvania ; Veronia likewise is a successful teacher in that county; Pearl M. is the wife of Clyde Swancy, of Washington county, Pennsylvania; John R. is engaged in farming near Billings, Montana; and Joseph H. remains at the parental home. Leonard M. Bane acquired his preliminary educa- tion in the public schools of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and sup- plemented this by an effective course in Madison Academy, at Union- town, that state. Thereafter he was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of his native state until he initiated his preparation for the legal profession, his service as a teacher having continued for a period of six years. He finally came to Valparaiso, Indiana, where he entered the law department of the Valparaiso University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1907, and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws, his admission to the Indiana bar having been recorded on the 5th of June of that year. On the 13th of November, 1908, he began the independent practice of his profession in Fort Wayne, and by his ability and effective service he has built up an excellent law business that marks him as one of the representative


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younger members of the Fort Wayne bar. He is affiliated with the In- diana State Bar Association and the Allen County Bar Association, and he has been admitted to practice in the Indiana supreme court as well as in the United States distriet court for Indiana. Mr. Bane gives unequivocal support to the principles of the Democratic party, and in Fort Wayne he attends and contributes to the support of the Christian church. In the Masonic fraternity his ancient craft affiliation is with Sol D. Bayless Lodge, No. 359, and in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite he has received the thirty-second degree, his maximum York Rite affiliation being with Fort Wayne Commandery of Knights Templars, besides which he holds membership in the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Loyal Order of Moose. He is an active member and supporter of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club, and holds membership in the Uni- versity Club of Fort Wayne and the International Association of Motor elubs.


Mrs. Carrie B. Banning, M. D .- In according recognition to the representative members of the medical profession in Allen county it is in order to pay tribute to Dr. Banning, whose services as a physician and surgeon have been marked by success. Dr. Banning has been engaged in the practice of her profession in Fort Wayne since 1898 and gives virtu- ally her entire attention to the treatment of the diseases of women. A woman of culture, the Doctor takes active interest in civic affairs, and is a woman whose friends are many. Dr. Banning was born at Phelps, Ontario county, New York, on the 11th of February, 1857, and is a daughter of Dr. Calvin Hasselton and Jeanette K. (DeLano) Carpenter, both likewise natives of the old Empire state and both representatives of families that were founded in America in the colonial era, the an- eestral record of each family running back in this country to 1638 and both having given valiant soldiers to the patriot forces in the war of the Revolution, so that the Doctor is eligible for and holds membership in the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Dr. Calvin Hasselton Carpenter, a physician and surgeon of much ability, served with distinetion as a surgeon with the Union forces in the Civil war, in which he had charge of the Eighteenth Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac, besides having had supervision of hospital boats on the James river, in Virginia. After the close of the war he engaged in the practice of his profession at Geneva, New York, where he became one of the leading exponents of the Allopathy school of medicine and where he died when still a young man, his widow surviving him by many years; his father was one of the prominent elergymen of the Baptist church in the state of New York for many years prior to his death. Dr. Banning, of this sketch, is the elder of the two children, and her only brother, Jay DeLano Carpenter, died at the age of eleven years. Dr. Banning acquired her early education in well ordered private schools and later attended the University of Wisconsin, at Madison. She likewise gave effective service as a teacher in the public schools, and on February 11, 1879, she became the wife of Edmond P. Banning. Within a period of five years' residence in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, she gave special attention to the study of vocal music. Eventually she determined to prepare herself for the profession in which her father had gained distinction. In consonance with this ambition she finally entered the Cleveland University of Medicine and Surgery, at Cleveland, Ohio, and in this institution she was graduated as a member of the class of 1894.


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After thus receiving her degree of Doctor of Medieine she was engaged in practice at Willoughby, Ohio, until 1898, in which year she established her home in Fort Wayne. In this city she has impressed the intervening years with faithful service. The Doctor is a medical inspector of the public schools of Fort Wayne and also for the General Electric Company. She is a prominent member in the Indiana Federation of Women's Clubs, besides which she is identified with college sororities. In a professional way she is affiliated with the Indiana Institute of Homeopathy. Of the children of Dr. Banning the first, Lydia, died in infancy; Carina is the wife of William H. Warrington, of Fort Wayne, is a lawyer by profession and the first woman to be admitted to practice in Allen county. Florida is the wife of Charles Hart, of Fort Wayne; and John D. is identified with the Doud real estate agency in this city.


William N. Barden .- The life of William N. Barden, which came to a close on the 21st of April, 1913, was typical of the men who have entered heartily into the life of the community and made valuable contribution to the true social order. Mr. Barden was born in Genesee county, New York, October 22, 1846, a son of Nathaniel and Loretta (Brown) Barden. His father was a native of New Jersey and his mother of the state of New York, and of their four children, Mary, William N., and Loretta are de- ceised, the only one now living being Charles, who is a resident of Wood- land, Illinois. William N. Barden was only sixteen years of age when he contrived to compass his enlistment for service as a defender of the Union in the Civil war. He became a member of the Eighth New York Heavy Artillery, and in this gallant command he continued his faithful and valiant service for a period of three years. The regiment made a glorious record in the eastern campaigns of the great conflict between the North and the South, and took part in every engagement following the battle of Rappahannock with the army corps and division to which it was attached. After the close of his military career Mr. Barden, a gallant young veteran, came to the west and established his residence at Union City, Branch county, Michigan, where he engaged in the work of the carpenter's trade, his desires and ambitions being centered in identify- ing himself with the higher phases of construction work. Within a few months he was found in Chicago, engaged as a bridge builder. In 1871 he entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, as a constructor of bridges. Later he established himself in business at Val- paraiso, Indiana, and while still a resident of that city he re-entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in the service of which he became eventually locomotive engineer of passenger trains. He was one of the valued and veteran engineers in the employ of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company at the time of his death, and in his forty-three years of faithful and effective service he made a record that inures to his lasting credit and honor. On Christmas day of the year 1872 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Barden to Miss Nettie Buell, who was born and reared in Branch county, Michigan, and who is a representative of one of the oldest, most numerous and most influential pioneer families of that county. She is a daughter of the late Chauncey and Elmira (Blanchard) Buell, both natives of the state of New York, the father having been born in Chenango county and the mother in Onondaga county. Chauncey Buell settled in the vicinity of Union City, Branch county, Michigan, as one of the pioneer farmers of that section of the state, and he had come to Michigan in 1838, the year following that of


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its admission as one of the sovereign commonwealths of the Union. He became one of the prominent and influential citizens of Branch county, and there both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, both of them having been zealous members of the historic old Congregational church at Union City. Of their five children the eldest was William Henry, who became more familiarly known to his host of friends as "Billie Hank" Buell and who served with honor as a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil War, in which he was a member of the Fourth Michigan Battery; he is now a resident of the National Soldiers' Home in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Ira B. became one of the representa- tive farmers and substantial capitalists of Branch county, Michigan, and passed the closing years of his life in Union City, he likewise having been a soldier in the Civil war; Mrs. Barden was the next in order of birth ; Frances is deceased; and Elnora is the wife of Phinious I. Simons, of Athens, Calhoun county, Michigan. William N. Barden was a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party, received the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite of the Masonic fraternity, was an honored member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and was an active member of the Third Presbyterian church of Fort Wayne, as is also his widow, who takes deep interest in the various departments of church work, her pleasant home being at 206 West Creighton avenue.




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