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 31
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maintains her home. Mr. and Mrs. Graeber have four children-Herman, Alvina, Inetta, and Minnie-and the pleasant family home is known for its generous hospitality and good cheer.
Philip Graf .- The late Philip Graf was for many years engaged in the grocery business in Fort Wayne, and was still occupied in that enterprise when death claimed him on September 11, 1910. He was a prosperous and prominent man in the city and was a dependable citizen and a credit to the community as long as he lived. He reared a fine family of sons and daughters who are filling places of usefulness wherever they are found, and viewed from the standpoint of worth, his career in Fort Wayne was a highly successful one. Mr. Graf was born in Ohio on September 8, 1854, and he died when in the prime of life. He was the son of John and Barbara (Ranning) Graf, both of them born and reared in Germany, and John Graf came to Fort Wayne to settle when Philip was a lad of three years. The father was in the employ of the Pennsylvania road from that time until the end of his life. Six children were born to him and his wife, but not one of the number is living today. The first independent work Philip Graf carried on was in a trunk factory on Columbia street in Fort Wayne, and he was there seven years. His next venture was in the grocery business. He had saved something from his seven years of labor in the factory and invested it in a small grocery store at 1813 Lafayette street. Some time later he erected a more roomy store on the site, and he carried on a thriving grocery busi- ness there up to the time of his death. The place is still carried on under the name of the Graf Grocery. After his marriage Mr. Graf built a fine home at 1930 Lafayette street, and his widow is living there today. Mr. Graf was married on May 13, 1879, to Miss Sophia Wessel, who was born in Michigan and came to Fort Wayne with her parents wlien she was about two years old. The Wessels are still living in Fort Wayne, and have lately celebrated their sixty-first wedding anniversary. Mr. Wessel was a stationary engineer for many years, and has been retired from the service for some time. He and his wife, who was before her marriage Elizabeth Keintz, have traveled extensively in this country and Europe, having crossed the Atlantic ocean fifteen times. He is now eighty-four and his wife seventy-eight years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Graf were born eleven children. They were named Philip, Elizabeth, Anna, Florence, Joseph, Philip, Marie, Laurette, Gertrude, Gerald and Charles. The first five named are dead, as are also the two youngest-Gertrude and Gerald. Philip Junior was named in honor of his father and is now em- ployed by the Armour Packing Company at Chicago as a mechanical engi- neer. Marie, the seventh child, is the wife of Amiel Bail of Fort Wayne, and Laurette is married to Joseph Lill, of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Graf was a Democrat all his life and a Catholic, with membership in St. Peter's church, in Fort Wayne, which he helped to build and which he always sup- ported most generously. He was a member of its board of trustees at the time of his death. Fraternally, he had membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and was one of the most popular members of that organization. He died while he might be said to be in the very prime of his life, and his passing was mourned by many who knew him for an honest gentleman, a good citizen and a staunch friend.
Frank C. Graffe is one of the progressive and dependable men of the younger set in Fort Wayne, his native city. He has been in the employ of the General Electric Works, since 1903, as a movement maker on
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watches and later was advanced to the post of supervisor of stock and materials entering into the make-up of the product of his department. Mr. Graffe was born on February 15, 1880, son of George and Mary Elizabeth (Boone) Graffe, the father a native New Yorker and the mother born in Wayne township, Allen county, Indiana. George Graffe, how- ever, came to Fort Wayne as an infant in arms and spent his mature years in the hardware business. He was a tinner by trade, and his knowledge of that work fitted admirably into his later activities as a dealer in hardware in Fort Wayne. He died in his home city and his widow still survives. Seven children were born to them; Rose is the wife of Frank A. Willis, of Jersey City, New Jersey ; Clara is the widow of John V. Kessell of Fort Wayne; Julian B. is located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Two daughters, Daisy and Amelia, have shed lustre on the family name by their vocations in the church, both being Sisters of Providence in Chicago. The sixth child was Frank C .and the youngest is Henry J., of Fort Wayne. Frank Graffe had his education in Cathedral Parochial school and engaged in the jewelry business with his uncle when he left his studies. Later, he went to Princeton, Indiana, and was there employed in the Princeton Clock Works for two years, finishing his training in the business, after which he accepted a position as man- ager of a jewelry establishment in Brooklyn, New York, where he de- mained for a year and a half. Returning to Fort Wayne for a brief period, he was offered a position in Logansport with J. E. Taylor, where he was engaged until 1903, when he returned once more to his home city and there became identified with the General Electric Works as has al- ready been stated. In 1903 Mr. Graffe was married in Logansport to Miss Laura M. Tucker, who was born and reared in that place. Their marriage took place on February 24. Mr. and Mrs. Graffe adopted two boys- Stephen and Raymond-and the latter met his death in an automobile accident on October 2, 1915. Mr. Graffe is a Democrat in politics, a member of the Roman Catholic church and the Knights of Columbus.
Samuel Wilson Greenland, general manager of the Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana Traction Company since 1911, is conceded to be one of the rising young men in his particular field. He has already filled a number of positions of some importance and he came to the present company as purchasing agent, bearing recommendations of the most pleasing character. Mr. Greenland is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Clarion, that state, on April 27, 1879, and he is the son of Walter W. and Sadie E. (Wilson) Greenland. Both were of Pennsylvania families, the father being born in Huntington county and the mother in Clarion county. Walter W. Greenland was engaged in the lumber and oil busi- ness all his life. He died in 1894, and his widow survives him, living at present in Clarion, Pennsylvania. Five children came to them as follows : Bird W., now deceased; Walter Jr., of Moberly, Missouri, there con- nected with the Wabash railroad; Elizabeth, the wife of W. S. Stephen- son, of Roanoke, Virginia; Samuel Wilson of this review, and J. Allen, who is general freight and passenger agent for the Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana Traction Company, of which the subject is general manager. As a growing boy at home, Mr. Greenland attended the public schools of Clarion. He later attended Pennsylvania Military College at Chester, Pennsylvania, and he had his technical training in Pennsylvania State College. He completed a course in electrical engineering there, after which he engaged for a short time in the lumber business in Pitts-
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burgh. He was next associated with the Bell Telephone Company, being located first at Pittsburgh, then at Wheeling and still later in eastern Ohio. In 1905 he was associated with Robert W. Watson at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in electric railway engineering, and in 1907 he went to Columbus, Mississippi, as general manager of the Columbus Railway Light and Power Company, and in 1911 was called to Fort Wayne to accept the position of purchasing agent for the Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana Traction Company. His appointment to the office of general manager followed soon after, and he is occupying that position at this time. Mr. Greenland was married September 14, 1909, to Miss Mary Eliza- beth Fox, of Bridgeport, Ohio, where she was born and reared. They have three children-Samuel Wilson, Jr., Sarah Elizabeth and Mary Fox. Mr. Greenland is a thirty-second degree Mason, with Knight Templar and Shriner affiliations, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He and his wife have membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and have an active part in the good works of that body.
Frank Greenwell, M. D., is to be he designated not only as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of his native county, where he has been established in the practice of his profession for the past forty years, but he has also been a signally prominent and influential figure in public affairs in the county, his maximum political preferment having come when he was elected a member of the senate of the Indiana legislature. His broad mental grasp and indomitable energy have found effective play in his support of measures and enterprises tending to advance the civic and industrial progress and prosperity of his native county, and his capacity for the giving of active service in varied lines has demonstrated his versatility and his civic loyalty, and that without impairing in the least his allegiance to the profession in which he has achieved prestige and unequivocal success. Dr. Greenwell was born in Perry township, this county, April 8, 1851, a son of George and Elizabeth (Blickenstaff) Green- well, both natives of the state of Maryland. The father was left an orphan when about ten years of age, and prior to coming to Indiana had lived for a number of years in Ohio, where his elder children were born. About the year 1848 he became one of the pioneers of Allen county, where he obtained a tract of land and instituted the development of a farm from a virtual wilderness. He continued as one of the substantial ex- ponents of agricultural industry in this county until his death, at the age of seventy-two years, and his name merits high place on the roll of those sterling pioneers who contributed generously to civic and industrial de- velopment and progress in this now favored section of the Hoosier State. His political support was given to the Democratic party. His wife was fifty-eight years of age at the time of her death. Of their five children two died in early childhood, and the other three still survive, the two brothers of Dr. Greenwell being Christian L. and George W., both of whom are representative farmers in Allen county. Dr. Greenwell passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the old home farm and after profiting duly by the advantages afforded in the public schools of the locality and period pursued a higher academic course in the Method- ist College at Fort Wayne. In consonance with his ambition and well formulated plans, he then entered the medical department of historic old Western Reserve University, in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and in this institution was graduated as a member of the class of 1876 and with
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the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In that same Centennial year he established his residence at Huntertown, Allen county, where he has since continued in the active general practice of his profession and has served long, faithfully and effectively in the alleviation of human suffer- ing and distress, his practice having extended over a wide section of country normally tributary to Huntertown. He has kept in close touch with the advances made in medical and surigal science and still gives much time to the study of the best standard and periodical literature of his profession, besides maintaining affiliation with the Allen County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. In the midst of the many exactions of his profes- sional service the Doctor has found time and opportunity to exert potent influence in community affairs of a public order and has been a leader in the local camp of the Democratic party. He served two years as county councilman at large, and in 1910 was elected representative of his district in the state senate, in which he served the regular term of four years and was an influential figure in the legislative sessions of 1911 and 1913. In the senate he was the staunch advocate of much constructive and progressive legislation. He was the author of the present Indiana law governing cold-storage institutions and business and championed this bill with characteristic energy and effectiveness, besides which he framed the Indiana park law, the enactment of which has met with rep- resentative popular endorsement. The Indiana cold-storage law has been the pattern on which many other states have formed similar legis- lative enactments. Dr. Greenwell was one of the organizers and in- corporators of the Huntertown State Bank, in 1913; was its first presid- ent and served in this executive office two years. He was re-elected for a third term but felt constrained to retire from the position, owing to the exigent demands placed upon him in the work of his profession, the claims of which he has never subordinated to any other interests. In 1910 he was concerned in the organization of the Huntertown Grain Company, and has served consecutively as president of this corporation except during one year when he was able to prevail upon his associates to release him from the responsibilities involved. The Doctor is at the present time president also of the Huntertown Live Stock Association, which was organized August 2, 1916, and there have been few matters of importance in his home community that have not enlisted his attention and felt his benignant and loyal influence. On May 26, 1876, the year that marked his reception of the degree of Doctor of Medicine, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Greenwell to Miss Mary Jane Hunter, who was born and reared in this county and is a daughter of the late William T. Hunter, of Huntertown, a village that was named in honor of this representative pioneer family. Dr. and Mrs. Greenwell became the parents of two children, of whom one is living, Eloise, who is the wife of Henry Nelson, their home being at IIuntertown and Mr. Nelson having come to Indiana from Windsor, Massachusetts, a suburb of the city of Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have one child, Mary Elizabeth. In years of continuous practice Dr. Greenwell may consistently be termed the dean of his profession in his native county, even as he is known and hon- ored as a representative citizen.
Charles E. Greer is one of the progressive young business men of Fort Wayne, where he has through his own ability and well ordered ef- forts achieved definite success and a position of influence in local business
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enterprise, this faet being assured when it is stated that he is now vice- president of the Seavey Hardware Company, one of the leading wholesale and retail concerns in this line of retail trade in the metropolis of his native county. Mr. Greer was born in Fort Wayne on September 24, 1874 and attended the publie schools of Fort Wayne until he was four- teen years of age, when he found employment in the local factory in which at that time wagon and carriage spokes were manufactured; and a few years later he entered the employ of the Seavey Hardware Company, in the year 1892. He began his service in the position of order clerk, later was a salesman in the retail department, next assumed the position of receiving clerk, later served as stock elerk and as represen- tative of the house as a traveling salesman. His course has been marked by well earned advancement and he has been indefatigable in his work, careful in informing himself thoroughly in all details of the business and full of energy and progressiveness. He finally became buyer for the concern and, since 1914, has been vice-president of the Seavey Hardware Company, with established vantage place as one of the representative business men and loyal and valued citizens of Fort Wayne. Mr. Greer has had no desire to enter the arena of practical polities but is thoroughly public-spirited and takes deep interest in all things pertaining to the welfare of his native city and county.
Chester Greer .- Fifty-four years of continuous residence in Lafayette township and vicinity have established Chester Greer firmly in his com- munity, where he has been conspicuously identified with the agriculture and business interests of the district sinee he first identified himself with life as an independent factor. He has been prosperous, and is today connected with various moneyed interests, aside from his farming activities, and he has been associated with the eivie life of his township in useful and important capacities. He was born in Pleasant township on February 16, 1863, the son of Thomas and Sarah (Shives) Greer, who were born in Carroll county, Indiana, in the vicinity of Delphi. The paternal grandfather of the subject was a native son of Ireland, who came to America in boyhood, settling in 1841 and identifying the family name with the fortunes of Pleasant township in 1842. He was Thomas Greer, and he was truly a pioneer in the community wherein he ended his days. He helped to lay out Pleasant township, and the first township election was held at his home. He was a Democrat, always active in polities, and was a leader in his community as long as he lived. When he first located in Pleasant township he bought eighty aeres of canal land and there built a home for his family. He died July 4, 1910, and his wife passed away Oc- tober 29, 1902. Thomas Greer following in the useful career his father had begun and took his place as a prominent and dependable man in the com- munity. He was also active in local polities and served first as township assessor for four years and later as county assessor for a similar period. He devoted his agricultural activities mainly to stock-farming, and was very successful in that work. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and was high in Masonry, both he and his father having attained to the thirty-second degree of that order. In later life Thomas Greer lived retired from active farm life, and he died July 7, 1910. To him and his wife twelve sons and daughters were born. John, the first born, is a member of the Fort Wayne police force. Sarah J. is the wife of William Gray, of Ohio. Chester is the subject of this family review. Mary died in infancy. William is a resident of Salt Lake City. Thomas lives in
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Fort Wayne. Ellen, George, Joseph and Charles are deceased. Clara is a graduate nurse in Fort Wayne. Cora married Ray Keyser of Lafay- ette township. Chester Greer was brought up on his father's farm and had the usual farm training. His education was limited to the schools of his community, and when he reached manhood he rented a farm and turned his attention to the business of gaining material independence along the lines for which his training best fitted him. He rented a farm for six years and, in 1898, bought a place of eighty acres in Lafayette township, where he has since made his home. He has made much progress in the years of his residence there and his success in stock-farming is an accepted fact wherever he is known. He is a Democrat and was town- ship assessor of Lafayette township for ten years. He has long had membership in the Christian church and his fraternal connections are with the Independent Order of Odd. Fellows and the Modern Woodmen, being a charter member of the latter order at Zanesville. Mr. Greer is a stockholder in the Uniondale Rural Telephone Company and for four years was treasurer of the company, while he has been a member of its board of directors for nine years. He was married on October 5, 1889, to Miss Sarah J. Earl, a daughter of Charles and Margaret (Cartwright) Earl, and to them have come six children. Margaret is the wife of Samuel G. Zirkle, of Marion township. Edith married William T. Mc- Allister, of Marion township. Nora is in training in Hope Hospital in Fort Wayne. Sarah Fern and Ruth are now attending the high school in Roanoke, and Naomi, the youngest, is at home with the parents.
Julian C. Gremaux .- One of the capable and progressive young farmers of Jefferson township and a native son of his community is Julian C. Gremaux, trustee of his township and a citizen of much merit. He was born in Jefferson township on August 31, 1885, son of Arsene and Melinda (Reuille) Gremaux, both of French birth and ancestry. They came to America as children, the mother being only four years old when she was transplanted with her family from their native France to American soil. The parents after marriage settled in Jefferson town- ship and are living there at the present time. They were ambitious peo- ple and succeeded in establishing a home in their new country, their suc- cesses enabling them to educate their children in some degree and to help them to become established in life. They reared a fine family of eight children, all living at this writing, and named as follows: Francis E., Mary, Adeline, Annie, Alice, Julian C., Lois and Clem. Annie and Alice, it should be stated, are twins. Julian C. Gremaux was educated in the schools of Jefferson township and at a business college in Fort Wayne. After completing his studies he turned his attention to the business of farming, settling on a farm in Section 24, where he is still living and enjoying a very satisfactory and well merited success. General farming and stock raising occupy him, and he has taken his place among the foremost farming men of his community in the brief period in which he has been identified with the work as an independent operator. October 6, 1914, Mr. Gremaux was married to Miss Eleanor Voirol, daughter of Louis and Mary (Bardy) Voirol, Jackson township people, still resident there, and two children have been born to them-Veronica and Eleanor. The family are communicants of the Catholic church and Mr. Gremaux is a Democrat in politics. He is now serving in the office of trustee of Jefferson township, having been elected, in 1914, for a four year term. He has
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given a creditable service to his community in that office and takes his place among the representative and progressive men of the township.
Euclid Eugene Griest .- The Griest family, of which Euclid Eugene Griest is a representative, dates its settlement in America back to a date prior to the coming of William Penn. John Griest was the first of the name to leave England. He was a Quaker, or Friend, and was driven out of his native land because of his religious belief. Like many another, he came to the new world as a seeker after religious freedom and found it in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he established a home and reared a family, worshipping God according to the dictates of his own conscience, without interference from any. All of the name in America today are said to be direct descendants of that brave pioneer. It is not clear just when the family made its first migration from Pennsyl- vania into the middle west, but in about 1820 we find the grandfather of the subject established in the state of Ohio. Later he moved to Iowa, and there he died when his son, A. P. Griest, father of the subject, was about fourteen years of age. Following the death of the father, the little family returned to Quaker City, Ohio, and the boy worked at odd jobs about the town for a few years. He was still in his teens when he made up his mind to better his condition somehow, and he did it by following a course of study in Duff's Business College in Pittsburgh. He completed a course of training in bookkeeping in three months, after which he held a position as instructor in the college for a few months. He then went to Baltimore, Maryland, there to accept a position with a commission house, and he was with that concern for two years, coming back at the end of that time to take a position as agent for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at their station in Quaker City, Ohio, his former home. From that time on Mr. Griest continued in the railroad service in one capacity or another. From his Quaker City office he was promoted to the post of agent at Shawnee, was later moved to Plymouth and still later to Zanesville, the latter station being then one of the largest stations on the B. & O. By that time Mr. Griest had come to feel that he had reached the end of his advancement with the B. & O., and he resigned from its service in 1887 to accept a position as clerk in the auditor's office of the Cleveland & Marietta Railway Company, at Cambridge, Ohio. About a year afterward he was appointed acting auditor, and a year later became auditor for the road, continuing in that office until January 1, 1900, when that road was absorbed by the Pennsylvania system. At that time he was made auditor's traveling agent, in which capacity he served until January 1, 1903, when he was appointed to the position of auditor of the ore and coal freight receipts for the Pennsylvania Lines at Pittsburg. On January 1, 1917, he was appointed auditor of miscel- laneous accounts. He died January 15, 1917. On August 27, 1878, Mr. Griest was married to Miss Arabella Moore, like himself a native of Quaker City, Ohio, the marriage taking place in that community. Five children were born to them. Ethel and Kate are deceased. Milton Moore is sales manager for the Carnegie Coal Company at Pittsburg. Helen is the wife of H. T. Cook, manager of the order department of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company, of Chicago. Euclid Eugene, the third born, is the immediate subject of this family review. He was born in Zanes- ville, Ohio, on November 28, 1882, and had his early education in the schools of Cambridge, Ohio, though his advantages in that early period were limited, for he dropped out of the high school during his first year
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