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 32
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and went to work in a department store. A suspicion that he was not exactly suited to department store life led him to withdraw from that field, and he was seventeen years old when in June, 1899, he entered the employ of the Cleveland & Marietta Railroad Company as a clerk and messenger in the auditor's office. On January 1st following this office was transferred to Pittsburgh, and he entered the office of the division freight agent at Cambridge as clerk. A little later he served as a machinist's apprentice in the shops of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chi- cago & St. Louis, remaining there as apprentice and full fledged machinist until October 1, 1904. It should be remarked that during the last four months of his service as an apprentice Mr. Griest was assigned to special work under the master mechanic, in charge of the machinery, taking out the steam engines and installing motors in connection with the work of changing the shop from steam to electric drive. This work completed, he was assigned to re-arrange the piece work prices, and work in con- nection with the introduction of high speed steel and generally improving shop methods. Not content with his accomplishments thus far, young Griest resigned from the service and on October 1, 1904, entered the school of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. He was gradu- ated from that institution in June, 1907. On July following he entered upon the duties of designer for the Crucible Steel Company of America, with offices at Pittsburg, in which position he remained until November 1, 1907, when he left the Crucible Steel people and entered the employ of the Erie Railroad as foreman of their machine shops at Hornell, New York. On February 1, 1908, Mr. Griest came to Fort Wayne as assistant machine shop foreman for the Pennsylvania Lines. A year later he was promoted to the office of assistant master mechanic, which position he held up to the time of his appointment to his present post as master mechanic, on January 1, 1915. It should be remarked here that the shops at Fort Wayne are the largest of the northwest system of the Pennsyl- vania Lines, employing about 2,300 men, and are among the principal shops of the entire system. Mr. Griest succeeded B. Fitzpatrick, under whom he had served as assistant master mechanic, and he was the logical successor to the post made vacant by the death of the veteran master. On September 8, 1909, Mr. Griest was married to Miss Marianna Lindley, the daughter of Charles W. Lindley, a retired farmer of Bloomingdale, Indiana. She was a graduate of Purdue University, also of the class of 1907. They have one daughter-Miriam, born April 4, 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Griest are both representatives of old Quaker families and are themselves adherents of the faith, but as that denomination is not suf- ficiently numerous in Fort Wayne to warrant the maintenance of a church, they have united with the First Presbyterian church of Fort Wayne and are loyal and active members of that body. Mr. Griest is a Republican, but has manifested no political ambitions at any time. He is a Mason, well advanced, and in Fort Wayne has membership in the Commercial Club, the Country Club and the Rotary Club. He has shown himself genuinely interested in the affairs of the Young Men's Christian Association and served as a member of the central board of that organiza- tion, as well as having served as a trustee and as a member of the build- ing committee. In the fall of 1916 he was elected president of the Asso- ciation. In line with his work he is chairman of the exccutive committee of the International Railway General Foreman's Association. He is a director in the Citizens Trust Company and a director in the Fort Wayne
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1
Morris Plan Company. It may be said that Mr. Griest has been identified with railroad work to the exclusion of all other lines of endeavor since he was seventeen years old, though an exception of one brief period might be named. During his university career he spent one vacation season, from June 1 to October 1, 1906, in a trip to Alaska, where he was engaged in the investigation of mines and investment propositions, in the interests of the New York Development Company. In that period he made a brief but agreeable acquaintance with the Alaska and British Columbia districts.
John E. Griffin is the owner of the fine old homestead farm on which he was born and reared and which is eligibly situated in Section 2, Perry township, and is not only a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of Allen county but has also proved conclusively that to him is not appli- cable the scriptural aphorism that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country," for, while claiming no prophetic powers, he has secure place in popular confidence and esteem, as indicated by the fact that the year 1917 finds him the loyal and valued incumbent of the office of township trustee of his native township. On his present homestead farm Mr. Griffin was born, November 14, 1870, a son of Alanson C. and Henrietta (Surfus) Griffin. His father, who is now one of the venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Allen county, was born in Union county, New York, June 29, 1836, and still resides in Perry township, to the development and progress of which section of the country he has contrib- uted his full quota. His wife was born and reared in Perry township and here passed her entire life, her parents having been numbered among the early pioneers of the county. She was born in 1844 and was called to the life eternal in 1876, her lineage having traced back to German origin. The original American representatives of the Griffin family came from England and the paternal grandfather of the subject of this review was a successful carpenter and contractor in Union county, New York. His son, Alanson C., likewise learned the carpenter's trade, but the major part of his active career was marked by close and successful association with agricultural industry, of which he became a leading exponent in Allen county. John E. Griffin was the fourth in a family of six children, all of whom are living. John E. Griffin was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and acquired his early education in the schools of Perry township. He continued thereafter to assist his father in the manage- ment and work of the farm until 1895, when he assumed control of its operation. Later he purchased the place, which is well improved, and has proved himself one of the most vigorous, progressive and successful farmers of his native township, the fine farm being devoted to diversified agriculture and stock-growing. Mr. Griffin gives special attention to the raising of short-horn cattle and is actively identified with the Indiana Short-horn Breeders' Association. He has been one of the influential workers in the local ranks of the Democratic party, served several years as a member of the advisory board of Perry township, and since 1914 has held the office of township trustee. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and he and his wife are zealous members of the Church of God. In 1895 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Griffin to Miss Alda Lige, daughter of Samuel J. and Nancy Jane (Bailey) Lige, her father being a prominent farmer of Jackson township, DeKalb county. Mr. and Mrs. Griffin have two children-Velma M. and Erma W. Mr. Griffin is a loyal supporter of all measures and enterprises tending to advance
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the best interests of his home county, is a vigorous worker and sagacious man, and finds his chief recreation in occasional hunting and fishing trips and in enjoying with his family the facilities and pleasures afforded by his fine automobile.
William M. Griffin .- The position of William M. Griffin in the com- mercial and financial activities of Fort Wayne affords him an exceptional opportunity to exert a decided influence in the forward movement of the city toward a higher place among the municipalities of the middle west. Always an active leader along business and industrial lines, the worth of Mr. Griffin was recognized in a marked degree, when, in March, 1913, the Commercial Club of Fort Wayne, which had chosen him to serve as its president in 1914, voted to revise its constitution in order to permit his re-election to the highest executive position in the organization. During the years of his presidency the club enjoyed exceptional growth in numbers and influence in the upbuilding of the welfare of the city. The growth from a membership of three hundred to more than one thousand took place during Mr. Griffin's administration. Mr. Griffin is a native of Brimfield, Noble county, Indiana. After attending the schools there he served for several years as an instructor in the schools of the county and then removed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, in which city he resided at the time of the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. As a member of Company E, of the Thirty-second Michigan volunteers, he served during the campaign in the south. Shortly after his honorable dis- charge he came to Fort Wayne and entered upon a commercial career. He is the president of the Wayne Oil Tank and Pump Company, manu- facturers of self-measuring oil-handling equipment and devices, which have a nation-wide sale. The business, under the general management of Mr. Griffin, who is surrounded by men of experience and skill, has grown to great proportions. The growth of the popularity of the auto- mobile, the increasingly stringent laws governing the handling and storage of oil, and the widespread demand for modern systems of handling oil, have combined to bring prosperity to this growing concern. Mr. Griffin is a director in several of the leading financial and commercial institu- tions of Fort Wayne, and his counsel is an important factor in the progress of the interests with which he is connected. He is a charter member of the Fort Wayne Rotary Club, a member of the Fort Wayne Country Club, of the Chicago Athletic Association, the Chicago Automobile Club, and the Columbia Club of Indianapolis. In June, 1902, Mr. Griffin was united in marriage with Maud C. Merillat, and they have one child, Jack M. The Griffin home on South Fairfield avenue is one of the hand- somest residence properties in Fort Wayne.
Aristide Grosjean .- Within the pages of this history will be found individual reference to a number of the members of the Grosjean family, whose name has been identified with the annals of Allen county during a period of virtually three-fourths of a century, and he whose name initiates this paragraph is well upholding the prestige of the patrionymic. He was born on the old homestead farm of his father, a short distance from Fort Wayne, in Washington township, and the date of his nativity was September 15, 1864. His parents, John B. and Mary (Poirson) Gros- jean, were both born in the French province of Alsace-Lorraine, which became a part of German territory after the close of the Franco-Prussian war and which is again the stage of sanguinary conflict in the deplorable European war that is now raging. John B. Grosjean was about fourteen
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years old at the time of the family immigration to the United States and it was fully seventy years ago that he numbered himself among the energetic farmers of Allen county, Indiana, where he achieved success through his well directed endeavors and where both he and his wife died when venerable in years. Concerning their children brief data are given on other pages, in the sketch of the career of their son, John B. Aristide Grosjean found his childhood and youth compassed by the benignant and invigorating influences of the home farm and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of Allen county. When about twenty years of age he became associated with his brothers, Julian and Edward, in the lumber business at Wallen, this county, and after the lapse of eight years he purchased his brothers' interests in the business. He continued to operate the saw mill and conduct a general lumber business in an individual way for the ensning eight years, at the expiration of which he sold the plant and business and removed to Fort Wayne, where he devoted about eighteen months to the retail grocery trade. For the next year he was engaged in the sale of farm imple- ments and machinery, and his next occupation was that of foreman of city trucking operations, a position which he held for eighteen months. Since that time he has been actively engaged in cement construction work, as one of the representative and successful exponents of this im- portant line of enterprise in the metropolis of his native county. He takes a lively interest in all things touching the welfare of his home city and native county, is a Republican in politics and both he and his wife hold membership in the Congregational church. On October 22, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Grosjean to Miss Sarah Little, who was born and reared at Fort Wayne and who likewise is of distinguished French ancestry on the distaff side, her maternal grandfather, Colonel Louis Humbert, having served as a gallant officer in the French army under the great Napoleon and having taken prominent part in the Napol- eonic wars. Mrs. Grosjean is a daughter of Alfred and Mary E. (Hum- bert) Little, the former of whom was born in Maryland and the latter in Ohio, the father having devoted the major part of his active career to the painter's trade and business and having resided for several years past in the home of his daughter Sarah, wife of the subject of this sketch, his wife being deceased and Mrs. Grosjean being the elder of their two children ; Grace, the younger daughter, is the wife of George A. Stephans, of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Grosjean have two children, Wadge and Amber, both of whom remain at the parental home, and the former is associated with his father in the cement contracting business.
John B. Grosjean is another of the native sons of Allen county who has proved definitely alert and resourceful in connection with business activities and who is now one of the substantial citizens of Fort Wayne, where he conducts a large and prosperous business as a general con- tractor in cement-construction work. He was born on the old home- stead farm of his father, in Washington township, a few miles distant from Fort Wayne, and the date of his nativity was September 14, 1850, so that he may consistently be termed a scion of one of the pioneer families of Allen county. He is a son of John B. and Mary (Poirson) Grosjean, both of whom were born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, now a German province and the stage of much of the stupendous and horrible military activities of the present great European war. John B. Grosjean, a representative of sterling old French stock, was a lad of about fourteen
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years when he accompanied his parents to America, and he was reared to manhood in the United States. As a young man he became one of the industrious exponents of agricultural enterprise in Allen county, where he improved a good farm near Fort Wayne, and he passed the later years of his long and useful life in retirement and in the enjoyment of the rewards of his former earnest toil and endeavor. Both he and his wife were venerable in age at the time of their death and the names of both are held in lasting honor in the county that so long represented their home. Of their children the eldest is Felix, who is a representative farmer in Washington township, this county; John B., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Celia and Joseph are deceased; Edward is a resident of Fort Wayne; Felicia is the wife of John Irving, of Los Angeles, California; Mary is the wife of Benjamin Christian, of Fort Wayne; Julian, who likewise maintains his home in Fort Wayne, is individually mentioned in other pages; Aristide is likewise men- tioned; Ella is deceased; Clara is the wife of William Morrison, of Fort Wayne; and Frank died in childhood. John B. Grosjean acquired his early education in the public schools and continued to be associated with his father in the operations of the home farm until he had attained to his legal majority. For a period of about eight years thereafter he was actively and successfully identified with the lumber business and the operation of saw mills. He finally erected a saw mill at Wallen, this county, and after operating the same about four years established a tile manufactory at Arcola, Lake township, where later he erected also a grain elevator, which latter he operated only one year. He continued to give his attention to the tile business about ten years, and then disposed of his interest in the well established enterprise, besides selling also three farms which he had purchased in the county. He then, in 1900, estab- lished his residence in the city of Fort Wayne, where for the first year he gave his attention to the retail grocery business. After his retirement from this line of enterprise he was for four years engaged in the real estate business, and he then established his present cement business, which has been developed to substantial proportions and involves various kinds of cement construction work, including the building of cement walks and also architectural concrete work. Mr. Grosjean is one of the progressive and highly esteemed business men of the Allen county metropolis, is liberal and public-spirited as a citizen, and though he is a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party he has had no ambition for political office of any kind. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. For his first wife Mr. Grosjean wedded Miss Mary Hudson, who was born and reared in Fort Wayne, and she passed to the life eternal in 1880, having become the mother of two children-Edgar, who resides in Fort Wayne, and Abbie, who died in childhood. On March 30, 1882, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Grosjean to Miss Mary Cook, who was born at Fort Wayne and who is a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Pegg) Cook, both natives of the state of New York. Jacob Cook was a boy of eight years when his parents became pioneer settlers of Fort Wayne, where he was reared to maturity, and he eventually became one of the prosperous farmers of Allen county, where both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. Of their eight children the first three-Carrie, Clarence and Arthur-are deceased, Mrs. Grosjean having been the fourth child ; James is deceased; Jennic resides in Fort Wayne; George is a resident of the
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state of Michigan; and Etta is the wife of Frederick Lemon, of Allen county. Mr. and Mrs. Grosjean became the parents of three children, of whom the first two-Ernest and Ralph-are deceased; and the third, Velma, is, in 1916-17, attending the James Millekin college at Decatur, Illinois.
Julian Grosjean, who is a successful and representative contractor in concrete construction work, with headquarters in the city of Fort Wayne, has been a resident of Allen county from the time of his birth, which occurred on his father's old homestead farm, in Washington township, a few miles distant from Fort Wayne, August 5, 1862. He is a son of John B. and Mary (Poisson) Grosjean, both of whom, as the names defi- nitely indicate, having been of French ancestry, and they were born in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, France, a district that is now a German province. John B. Grosjean was a lad of about fourteen years when he came to America and settled in Allen county, Indiana, about seventy years ago, his energy and ability having enabled him to gain place as one of the representative farmers of Washington township. Both he and his wife attained to venerable age and were honored pioneer citizens of the county at the time of their death. Of their children the eldest is Felix, a prosperous farmer of Washington township; John B. is specifi- cally mentioned on other pages; Cleia and Joseph are deceased; Edward is identified with business activities in Fort Wayne; Felicia is the wife of John Irving, of Los Angeles, California; Mary is the wife of Benjamin McQuiston, of Fort Wayne; Julian, of this review, was the next in order of birth ; Aristide is individually mentioned elsewhere in this publication ; Ella is deceased; Clara is the wife of William Morrison, of Fort Wayne; and Frank died in childhood. Julian Grosjean was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and in the meanwhile made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of his native county. At the age of twenty-one years he became concerned in the operation of a saw mill and continued thus to be identified with the manufacturing of lum- ber for a period of about ten years. For three years thereafter he was engaged in the grocery business in Fort Wayne, and after his retirement from this line of enterprise devoted five years to buying lumber for the Studebakers. He then engaged in his present line of businss, and as a contractor in modern concrete work has erected several high-grade build- ings, besides giving attention also to all other general lines of cement construction, his successful operations giving him place as one of the substantial business men of his native county, where he has secure van- tage-ground in popular esteem. Mr. Grosjean is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with the Tribe of Ben Hur, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. August 21, 1888, re- corded the marriage of Mr. Grosjean to Miss Grace M. Sechler, who was born at Ossian, Wells county, Indiana, and was a child at the time of the family removal to Allen county. She is a daughter of the late Jacob and Catherine C. (Horn) Sechler, her father having been for many years a prosperous merchant in Fort Wayne and Huntertown, and her maternal grandfather, Hon. Patrick Horn, having served as a representative in the lower house of the Indiana legislature. Mrs. Grosjean was the fourth in order of birth in a family of five children, the first born having been Cyrilus, who is deceased ; Milo H. is a resident of Fort Wayne and Charles of Sugar Loaf, Colorado; and Nellie is the wife of Charles W. Warcup,
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of Marshalltown, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Grosjean have four children- Ethel, Arthur, Harold and Bernice.
Asa G. Grosvenor .- Technical ability, executive and initiative energy and a high sense of civic loyalty make Asa Walters Grosvenor specially eligible for the office of which he is now the valued incumbent, that of county surveyor of Allen county, a position to which he was elected in November, 1916, and the duties of which he assumed on the first of the following January. Mr. Grosvenor's reputation as a civil and construc- tion engineer far transcends local limitations and he has been identified with a large amount of important engineering work since establishing his home in Fort Wayne, even as he had been previously in the state of New York and elsewhere. Mr. Grosvenor has the unique distinction of reverting to Constantinople, Turkey, as the place of his nativity, his birth having there occurred, November 7, 1875. In 1867 his father became a member of the faculty of Robert College in that oriental city, where he continued his effective educational service for a period of twenty years, at the expiration of which he returned to the United States and assumed the chair of international law in historic old Amherst College, Massa- chusetts, where he still remains as a revered professor emeritus. This distinguished educator, Professor Edwin A. Grosvenor, was born at New- buryport, Massachusetts, and his wife is a native of Millbury, that state, both being representatives of fine old colonial stock in New England, that gracious cradle of much of our national history. Professor Grosve- nor was graduated in Andover Theological Seminary and was ordained a clergyman of the Congregational church, as a representative of which he went forth as a missionary and educator in Constantinople. He is a Democrat in his political allegiance and is affiliated with the Psi Upsilon college fraternity. He has given exalted service as a clergyman and educator, and, now venerable in years, he is revered alike for his noble character and his fine intellectual attainments. Of the three children, Asa W., of this review, is the eldest; Gilbert H. and Edwin P. are twins, the former being now in the newspaper business in Washington and the latter is associated with Harry W. Taft in New York City. Asa W. Grosvenor was reared in a home of distinctive culture and this in itself could not but prove a fortuitous condition and a spur to intellectual achievement. In early life he left his native city in the far Orient and carried forward his educational work in the United States until he re- ceived, in 1897, the degree of Bachelor of Science from Amherst College. He forthwith entered the celebrated Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology, and in the same was graduated with the class of 1899. There- after, under civil service, he held for two years a position as supervising architect in connection with the government at Washington, and for six years thereafter held the post of civil engineer on the lines of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad, west of Pittsburgh. He was thereafter assistant engineer in Ohio, and at New Castle, Pennsylvania, and finally was assigned to headquarters in the service of the Pennsylvania Company at Fort Wayne. He finally resigned his position to accept the post of superintendent of construction of tunnels under the East river, New York city, in the em- ploy of S. Pearson & Son, of London, England, the celebrated firm of contractors. After giving effective service in this important capacity and one year of professional work as assistant engineer in the employ of the New York Central Railroad, Mr. Grosvenor came again to Fort Wayne, where, in March, 1909, he opened an office and engaged in the
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