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 50
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Charles G. Linden .- He whose name introduces this review is the younger of the two surviving sons of the late George W. Linden, to whom a memoir is dedicated in the preceding paragraph. Mr. Linden was born on the homestead farm in Jefferson township, this county, and the date of his nativity was November 19, 1887. After having profited fully by the advantages of the public schools of New Haven he completed an effective course in the International Business College in the city of Fort Wayne. For three years thereafter he was absent from his native
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county, the period having been passed in California and other western states and in the Canadian northwest. After his return to Allen county Mr. Linden gave his attention for eight years to the management of the old homestead farm, and in January, 1913, he accepted the position of assistant cashier of the New Haven State Bank, of which office he has since continued the efficient and popular incumbent. He is affiliated with Home Lodge No. 312, at Fort Wayne, of the Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and he also maintains affiliation with the various bodies of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry. He is a member of the New Haven lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is a Re- publican in politics, is serving, in 1917, as city clerk of New Haven, and is one of the representative young business men of his native county, his name being still enrolled on the list of eligible young bachelors of the county.
George W. Linden was one of the venerable and revered pioneer citizens of Allen county at the time of his death, which occurred June 26, 1914, in the village of New Haven, and he was eighty-six years of age when he was thus summoned from the stage of life's mortal en- deavors. A man of sterling character and strong mentality, he showed throughout his earnest and industrious life a high sense of personal stewardship, and he contributed his full quota to the civic and industrial development and upbuilding of Allen county. There are many features of more than passing interest in connection with his personal and family history, and it is gratifying to present in this publication a brief tribute to his memory. George Washington Linden was born in the city of Rochester, New York, on June 7, 1828, a son of James and Sarah Linden, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of the state of New York, where their marriage was solemnized. James Linden was reared and educated in his native land and was a sturdy young man when he came to America, as a British soldier, at the time of the war of 1812. That this loyalty was deflected to the American cause at the time of this second conflict with Great Britain is indicated that he gave to one of his sons, the subject of this memoir, the name of George Washington, though he had continued his military service in the English ranks until the close of the war. After the war he continued his residence in the state of New York until 1832, when he removed with his family to the Territory of Michigan, which was not admitted as one of the sovereign states of the Union until five years thereafter. In the Wolverine state he was thus an early pioneer settler, and there he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. They became the parents of twelve children, and of the number only two are now living-Judson and Emmett. George W. Linden was four years of age at the time of the family removal to Michigan, and there he acquired a limited education in the pioneer schools. At the age of fifteen years, prompted by adventurous spirit and self-reliance, he ran away from home, and it was at this stage in his career, in 1843, that he made his way up the old Wabash and Erie canal to Allen County, Indiana. Here he found employment, principally at farm work, until he was able to purchase land of his own and initiate independent operations as an agriculturist. He applied himself vigor- ously and effectively to the reclaiming of land from the virgin forest that then covered much of the county, and finally, in 1870, he established his residence on the now fine old Linden homestead farm in Jefferson township. Here he developed and improved one of the best farms of the county and on the same continued to reside until 1912, when he re-
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tired from active responsibilities in connection therewith and removed to the village of New Haven, where his death occurred about two years later, on June 26, 1914. Mr. Linden was always known for his loyalty and public spirit and was influential in community affairs, besides which it was given him to render valiant service as a soldier of the Union during the later period of the Civil war. He served one term as trustee of Milan township and held for a number of years the office of justice of the peace. He was a Republican in politics and was affiliated with the Masonic and Odd Fellows' lodges at New Haven. In 1864 Mr. Linden enlisted in the Seventh Indiana Battery of Light Artillery and latter was transferred to the Eleventh Battery, as nearly all of his comrades in the gallant Seventh had been killed in action. He was in the thick of the fray in a number of fiercely contested engagements marking the progress of the great conflict and continued in the service until the close of the war, when he received his honorable discharge. In later years he vitalized his interest in and association with his former comrades in arms by maintaining appreciative affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Linden became one of the stockholders of the J. F. Shell Loan & Investment Company, of Fort Wayne, and, with the other stockholders, he encountered heavy financial loss in this connection through the mismanagement of the company's business, the stockholders having been called upon to make good the company's securities that were held by banking institutions in the city of Cleveland and elsewhere. To meet these assessments Mr. Linden was compelled to dispose of nine hundred acres of valuable land in Allen county, his aggregate holdings having been ten hundred and fifty-six acres. These unfortunate reverses resulted in his estate being comprised at the time of his death in one hundred and forty-five acres of land in Jefferson township and his home property in the village of New Haven. The maiden name of the first wife of Mr. Linden was Pauline Johnson, and she died while a young woman, leaving no children. By his second marriage, to Sarah Mc- Intosh, he became the father of one child, George W., Jr., who is now a resident of the city of Fort Wayne. After the death of his second wife Mr. Linden eventually contracted a third marriage. On January 1, 1884, he wedded Miss Natalie C. Goehling, who survives him and who still maintains her home in New Haven, this county. Of the six children of this union four survive the honored father, namely: Josephine, Charles G., Mary and Etta. Nettie, the third in order of birth and Antonia the fourth died in childhood. Mr. Linden exemplified in his daily life and service the faith which he earnestly professed as a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his widow continues a zealous member. Mrs. Linden is a daughter of Rev. Charles and Abbeta (Kleinbeck) Goehling and was born at Brooklyn, N. Y. Rev. Charles Goehling was a man of fine intellectuality and served for many years as a clergyman of the German Lutheran church, with all of consecrated devotion. He was born and reared in Germany, where he was graduated in the great Heidelberg University and where also he prepared himself for the ministry. After receiving holy orders as a clergyman of the German Lutheran church he came to America and thereafter held various important pastoral charges-in Brooklyn, New York; on Staten Island, that state, where he remained twenty-five years; and later at Erie and Girard, Pennsylvania. He passed the closing years of his life in well earned and serene retirement at New Haven, Allen county, Indiana, where he died, November 16, 1905, at a venerable age. His wife pre-
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ceded him to the life eternal and of their five children three are living- Henrietta, Josephine and Mrs. Natalie C. Linden, widow of the subject of this memoir. The two sons, Charles and Frederick, are deceased.
Edward L. Litot .- In the year 1895 Edward L. Litot returned to Fort Wayne, the city of his birth and early training, to associate himself with the Pennsylvania Railroad in the important position of boiler in- spector in its boiler shops. In addition to his duties in that department he is inspector of piece work in the shops, so that he finds himself amply occupied in his particular field. Mr. Litot was born in Fort Wayne on January 12, 1868, son of George A. and Lucine (Beuret) Litot, the former a native of Alsace-Loraine (France) and the latter of Berne, Switzer- land. They met and married in Fort Wayne, the father having come to America in 1848, direct to Fort Wayne, where he went to work at his trade, that of a miller. For twenty-seven years he operated the well known Rudisill Grist Mill. He and his wife died in Fort Wayne. Eleven children came to them, of which number nine survive. They are Joseph V., of Fort Wayne; Mary M., the wife of Joseph Rondot, of Stockton, California ; Eugene, a resident of Wilkesburg, Pennsylvania; Louis A., living in Cleveland, Ohio; Edward L., the immediate subject of this review ; John B., of Des Moines, Iowa ; Peter J., of Fort Wayne; George J., of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Josephine, the wife of Joseph Gir- ardot, of Fort Wayne. Two sons died in boyhood. Edward L. Litot had fairly good schooling advantages in his youth and when he had quitted school entered a boiler shop in Fort Wayne as an apprentice to the trade. He spent seven years in the Fort Wayne shops and some time later he went to Alliance, Ohio, where he remained for a year in similar work, returning to Fort Wayne to accept his present position as in- speetor of boilers and piece work in the Pennsylvania shops. His record of twenty-one years in that position is one that speaks volumes for his efficiency and general ability in his work and he enjoys the confidenee and good will of employers and employees alike. On June 6, 1894, Mr. Litot was united in marriage with Anna M. Maguire, of Whitley county, Indiana. Five children have been born to them-Franees, John, Helen, Rosella and William, of which number the three first named survive. Mr. Litot is a Democrat, a member of the Royal League, and he and his family are communicants of the Catholic church.
Edward J. Longfield has achieved distinctive success in his chosen sphere of business and in addition to being proprietor of the popular and well managed Terminal Restaurant in the city of Fort Wayne is also retained as steward of the Standard Club, one of the representative social and business organizations of the city. Mr. Longfield was born at Plymouth, Indiana, August 24, 1873, son of John and Emma L. Long- field. His father, who was a wheel-finisher by trade, served as a loyal and valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war as a member of the Eighteenth infantry regiment of the regular army, and his service continued during the entire period of the war. He lived up to the full tension of the great conflict and in the battle of Stone's River was wounded. After the war John Longfield continued his residence in the town of Plymouth until 1874, when he removed with his family to Fort Wayne. Of his two children who attained to maturity the subject of this review is the elder, and the other was William J., whose death oc- curred August 2, 1916. Edward J. Longfield was not yet one year old at the time of the family removal to Fort Wayne, and here he received his early education in the Catholic parochial schools, including that
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conducted by the Christian Brothers.
After leaving school he found employment in the factory of the Olds Wheel Company, with which he continued his association several years. He then took a position with the D. C. Fisher Insurance agency, with which he was connected nine years, in general clerical and executive capacity. He next accepted a position as clerk for the Wayne Club, of which he was soon afterward appointed manager. His next position was in the meter department of the Fort Wayne Electric Company, and four years later he resigned his position to assume that of manager of the Standard Club. Six years later he resigned this post in favor of his only brother, the late William J. Longfield, and he then, in 1905, established the Terminal Restaurant, which he has made one of the popular and successful institutions of the kind in Fort Wayne. Upon the death of his brother, on August 2, 1916, he was prevailed upon to resume the position of steward and manager of the Standard Club, and of this position he continues the incumbent, besides giving close and effective attention to the conducting of his restaurant business. Mr. Longfield is a Republican in politics, and is a communicant of the Fort Wayne Cathedral parish of the Catholic church. At the time of the Spanish-American war, in 1898, Mr. Longfield entered service in the capacity of hospital steward, and later private in the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Indiana Infantry, with which he continued his service until the command was mustered out and he was accorded his honorable discharge. He is a popular and appreciative affiliate of the United Spanish American War Veterans Association. In 1902 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Longfield to Miss Edith E. Aiken, daugh- ter of Charles Aiken, of Fort Wayne. They have no children. Mr. Long- field is a baseball enthusiast and finds his chief recreation during the season in attending ball games and in fishing excursions, with a distinct predilection for out-doors sports.
Oliver J. Lopshire .- The Lopshires came from Ohio to Indiana and have been successfully identified with the agricultural activities of Allen county. Oliver J. Lopshire, the subject, is a son of George and Margaret (Miller) Lopshire and was born in Lafayette township, Allen county, on November 8, 1850. His parents lived through the pioneer stage of devel- opment and during their active years cleared and developed an eighty- acre farm, bringing it up to a high state of productiveness during their lifetimes and adding their full quota to the best interests of the com- munity wherein they lived and moved. They had six children. Frances, the first born, is deceased. Oliver J. is the immediate subject. David is deceased. Sarah became the wife of Frederick Bishop. George is a prosperous Allen county farmer. Lewis lives retired in Fort Wayne. Oliver Lopshire had little educational training, attending the old log cabin schools of the village perhaps three months in every year while he was a lad and spending the rest of the time at work on the home farm. After he had launched out for himself he rented a place, some time later buying forty acres, to which, in later and more successful years he added eighty acres and still later another tract of eighteen acres. He has carried on diversified farming with much success and the labors of his active years are everywhere apparent in the excellent condition of his farm. It was on October 23, 1873, that Mr. Lopshire married Elizabeth Bishop, the daughter of John and Charlotte (Keller) Bishop, who were natives of Pennsylvania and later pioneers to Indiana, where they both passed the last years of their lives. Seven children came to Mr. and Mrs. Lopshire. Frank lives on the home farm. Rosa
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is the wife of Edward Dalman of Wayne township; Minnie died in 1905; Ada married Frank Kohr of Wayne township; George is located in Allen county; Laura is deceased and Charles is at home. Frank is married and has two little daughters-Florence and Hazel. Rosa aiso has two children-Verdona and Virgil. Minnie, who died as the wife of Frank Neunemacher, left a son, Russell. Ada has two children-Cecil and Herman. George has two sons named Paul and Alvin. Laura, the wife of Frank Bishop, left three children-Donald, Lucile and Pauline. Mr. Lopshire is a man who has always enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his fellow men and has taken a praiseworthy part in the civic activ- ities of his township for many years. He is a Republican, true to the party in the matter of national issues, but in local politics he makes no party distinction, satisfied with what seems to him to stand for the best interests of the community, regardless of who is sponsor for it. He has lived well and to excellent purpose and his influence in his neighborhood has always been a creditable one.
Cyrus J. Lose .- Contributing definitely to the success of Mr. Lose as a progressive representative of the printing and engraving business in his native city are his technical knowledge, his close application and his personal popularity. He has built up a prosperous general job- printing and engraving business in Fort Wayne, where he has a well- equipped plant in a suite of four rooms of the building at 818-20 Calhoun street. He gives employment to seven persons, with an excellent corps of skilled job compositors and expert pressmen, and in his general printing and engraving enterprise he gives his close and discriminating personal supervision to all details, so that the high-grade output of his establishment constitutes one of its best commercial assets. Mr. Lose was born and reared in Fort Wayne, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline. On July 15, 1876, he prop- erly observed the anniversary of our national independence by assum- ing the dignified position of errand boy in the office of the Fort Wayne Gazette, and on January 1 of the following year he entered upon a prac- tical apprenticeship to the printer's trade, in which he became a skilled workman within the eight years that he continued in the service of the Gazette office. After severing this association he was for several years employed in the job-printing department of the Fort Wayne Journal, and he next passed ten months in the employ of the Fort Wayne office of the Western Newspaper Union. Thereafter he was continuously with the Journal job department until July 15, 1903, when he retired from this position. The next day he established in one room a modest job- printing office, and from this beginning has developed his present modern job office, which he keeps up to the best standard in equipment of type fonts, paper stock and accessories and press facilities, with a depart- ment specially devoted to engraving. Mr. Lose has been an ambitious worker during his entire active business career and has fully merited the unequivocal success which he has achieved in his independent enter- prise. He is a loyal and valued member of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club, has received the maximum degrees of York Rite Masonry, as a member of the Fort Wayne Commandery of Knights Templars, besides having attained to the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the time-honored fraternity and being also identified with the Anclent Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the Knights of Pythias, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Both he and
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his wife are active communicants of Trinity Lutheran church. The 13th of September, 1893, gave record of the marriage of Mr. Lose to Miss Edith Cothrell, of Fort Wayne, and they have two children-Ralph and Kathryn. The son is now a member of the class of 1919 in the agri- cultural department of Purdue University, at Lafayette, this state, and the daughter is attending the high school at Fort Wayne.
Martin Luecke .- Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Indiana, is one of the largest and most influential Lutheran educational institutions in America. Dr. Martin Luecke is its president. The thousands of students from all portions of America who have come under the instruction of this splendid school have felt the marked advantage of the influence of Doctor Luecke throughout their college course. He is a man equipped by temperament, education and experience to inspire in the student the cultivation of those qualities which make for the highest and best citizenship. Concordia college was founded in the year 1839, in Perry county, Missouri, by Lutheran refugees from Saxony. The rapid growth of the school from its beginning in a log cabin determined its founders upon its removal to a more suitable location, and the city of St. Louis was selected as the most desirable site for the institution. However, as time went on, the town of Fort Wayne, in 1861, especially on account of the Civil War, was deemed to be a still better location for the school and here it was located, taking the place of a Lutheran seminary which had been established on a portion of the present campus. The growth of Concordia college to its present splendid position of supremacy among the Lutheran schools of America has been due to careful, conservative management and true service in fitting its students for their life work. Most of the students of Concordia enter the theological department, but the college prepares young men for many other useful and learned professions. There are now eighteen handsome, substantial buildings on the Concordia campus, six residences, lecture hall, dormitory, dining hall with stewards' quarters and kitchen, gymnasium, heating plant, swimming pool, shower baths, hospital, and armory, with social rooms. Much of the physical growth of the college has been accomplished during the administration of Doctor Luecke. In these years of service the student body advanced notably along many lines, and, latterly, the organization of the young men as a battalion under the instruction and command of a United States army officer has proved to be a notable forward step. Doctor Luecke was born in Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, June 22, 1859, the son of Christian and Emily (Von Henning) Luecke. He was graduated from the preparatory department of Concordia college in 1878, and, three years later, from Concordia Theological Seminary at St. Louis. In the latter year (1881) he was ordained as an Evangelical Lutheran minister and entered upon his clerical duties as the pastor of the church of his denomination in Bethalto, Illinois. At the close of four years of effective work in this field he accepted the pastorate of the church at Troy, Illinois, and here he remained to perform valuable service for a period of eight years, when, in 1892, he was summoned to the charge of an important congregation in the Illinois capital, Spring- field. During this period he also held several important positions in the synods of Missouri, Ohio and other states. While a resident of Springfield he founded the Springfield Hospital and Training school, in 1897. In 1903, Doctor Luecke was called to the presidency of Concordia college, Fort Wayne, where he has served as executive head of the insti-
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tution at the same time that he has given his personal attention to the classes in the study of the New Testament, Greek, Sacred History and Religion. During his busiest years Doctor Luecke has given to the world a number of valuable historical and literary works, including the fol- lowing: "A History of the Civil War of the United States" (1892), "History of Concordia Seminary at Springfield" (1896), "A Synopsis of the Holy History of the Old and New Testaments" (1906), and "A Short Life of Christ" (1911).
Martin H. Luecke .- No member of the bar of Allen county occupies a more enviable position than Martin H. Luecke. As a representative of the younger group of Fort Wayne lawyers, none more clearly than he personifies the truest type of leadership in his profession, a condition due largely, no doubt, to the early determination to attain a l'gh degree of proficiency as a specialist in limited lines of a many-sided profession. Mr. Luecke devotes his attention to civil and probate practice, in which branches of activity he has attained recognized superiority. His well- ordered mind enables him not only to cope at all times with the problems of the many cases to which his skill is summoned, but he finds it his keenest pleasure and satisfaction to contribute much of his time and energy to the public good, a trait which finds one expression in his devo- tion to the cause of good roads throughout the state of Indiana. Mr. Luecke's endeavors in this direction were begun in 1913. By midsummer of 1917, he had organized the work in two-thirds of the townships in Allen county, acting under the authority of the board of county com- missioners. These splendid efforts drew him into the larger field of the state, and, as chairman of the Indiana commission on laying out the main trails and market highways of the state, he has been supported by the State Highway Commission to such an extent that the greater portion of the state has been thoroughly mapped. This success reflects Mr. Luecke's ability as an organizer and leader in the larger affairs of public life. Mr. Luecke was born in Bethalto, Illinois, May 23, 1883, son of Dr. Martin Luecke, president of Concordia College, of Fort Wayne, the leading Lutheran educational institution in America. The father is the subject of biographical mention in another portion of this work. Dr. Luecke served as the pastor of the Lutheran church at Bethalto during the childhood years of the son. Martin H. Luecke was graduated from the high school of Springfield, Illinois, which had become the home of the family upon the removal from Bethalto. An eagerness for learning prompted him to pursue his studies through Illinois Western University, at Bloomington, and from that institution he graduated with honors. During the period of his residence in Springfield, Mr. Luecke served as Deputy County Treasurer of Sangamon county, and as Assistant State Librarian under appointment of Governor Richard Yates. In 1903, Mr. Luecke came to Fort Wayne and was admitted to the practice of law. Under appointment of John W. Eggeman, judge of the Circuit Court of Allen county, he has served as probate commissioner of the county. In the years of his professional career Mr. Luecke has been associated with Zollars & Zollars, James M. Robinson, and William C. Geake, and, for a considerable time, has been associated with Edward O'Rourke, who, for a period of thirty-six years, occupied the bench of the circuit court of Allen county. The firm of O'Rourke & Luecke occupies a modern suite of offices in the Tri-State Building on Court street, opposite the court house. Mr. Luecke has ever taken a lively interest in the political
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