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 55
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FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
Dr. D. J. Mercer came to Poe in 1902 and here established himself in the practice of his profession. He has built up an extensive follow- ing in the community and stands well among his fellows throughout the county. He is an Allen county product, born in Madison township ou December 13, 1878, son of Robert and Nancy (McKeeman) Mercer, them- selves natives of Allen county and among the representative people of their community. Doctor Mercer was one of five children-three sons and two daughters, one of the daughters being deceased. He was edu- cated in the schools of Madison township, and following his high school training entered Fort Wayne Medical School, from which he was gradu- ated with the class of 1901. The young M. D. practiced his profession at Helmer one year and then came to Poe, where he has since been established. He is progressive in his work and has made a practice of attending Chicago clinics whenever possible, so that he has kept well abreast of the times in a professional way. Doctor Mercer was married on November 14, 1901, to Miss Nettie B. Fry, daughter of Jacob Fry, of Fort Wayne, Allen county, and they have three children-Charles Robert, David John and Harriet Elizabeth. The doctor is a Scottish Rite Mason and is affiliated with various Fort Wayne bodies of the order.
Robert Mercer, though a painter and decorator by trade, has de- voted his energies mainly to the farming industry, in which he has" achieved a very creditable success and is counted among the foremost men of his community today in point of his accomplishments in agri- culture. He was born in Hancock county, Ohio, on May 31, 1854, son of Jacob and Harriett (Whitcomb) Mercer. The father came from Am- sterdam, Holland, as a small boy, in company with his parents, and with them settled in Hancock county, Ohio. He devoted himself to farm life and as a young man bought an eighty-acre farm, which he later sold and came to Allen county, Indiana, settling in Marion township in 1858. He bought a farm of eighty acres, to which he later was able to add a purchase of three forties, and for years was counted among the foremost farming men of his community. He was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He had three children- Robert, Eliza Jane and Rebecca. The first named is the subject of this brief family sketch. The second married William Van Horn and is now deceased, while Rebecca is the wife of Michael Flaugh, a Madison town- ship farmer. Robert Mercer attended the public schools of Marion town- ship and was also privileged to attend what was known as a "select" school at Middletown. He was the leader of a singing school for some years in young manhood and continued on the home farm until he was twenty-three years old. He then bought eighty acres of farm land in his home community and settled down to farm life, which industry has claimed the greater part of his energies up to the present time. He is one of the well-thought-of men of his township and his standing is ex- cellent wherever he is known. A Democrat, he served his party as delegate at two National Conventions and has always taken an intelli- gent interest in local politics. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he is a Scottish Rite Mason, affiliated with Masonic bodies in his home village of Poe and also in Fort Wayne. He was married on February 28, 1876, to Miss Nancy McKeeman, daugh- ter of David C. and Marguerite (McConahey) McKeeman, who came from Ireland and who were well-to-do farmers of Hoagland, now both deceased. They were the parents of twelve children, named John, Cath-
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erine, Margaret, Jennie, Nancy, Belle, James, William, Alexander, David C., Ella, and Robert B. Nancy is the wife of the subject and Robert B. is a practicing physician in Fort Wayne. To Mr. and Mrs. Mercer five children were born. David J. is engaged in medical practice in Poe, and brief mention is accorded him in other pages of this work. Robert F. is located in Fort Wayne. Marguerite May is deceased. Verba E. is the wife of Charles Sherer and Leslie Bud is at home with his parents. Doctor Mercer has three children-Charles Robert, David John and Harriett Elizabeth. Robert also has three children. Margaret, deceased daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mercer, was married and left a son, Delbert. Verba is the mother of four, named Pearl, May, Alberta and Ruth. The Mercer family, it will be seen, is one that has contributed full measure to the development of the county, and the individual members are living well up to the standards set for them in their early homes.
James R. Meriwether .- How little could the many friends of the late James Read Meriwether have realized that tragedy stalked at his heels when, on January 20, 1908, he set forth to make an inspection of his summer cottage at Rome City, and how pitiable was his fate was not revealed for some little time. It is supposed that in lighting the gasolene stove in the cottage his clothing became ignited, and when his body was discovered it was found that he had been burned to death in the fire that destroyed his cottage. Mr. Meriwether had long been one of the well-known and highly honored citizens of Fort Wayne, his genial, kindly and buoyant nature having drawn to him the staunchest of friends, the circle of which was limited only by that of his acquaintances. He had been long and prominently associated with the executive control of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, and at the time of his death was chief clerk to the division superintendent, Mr. Hudson, with headquarters in Fort Wayne, where the general offices of the company have long been established. Mr. Meriwether was a scion of a family whose name has been identified with American history since the colonial era and was born at Jeffersonville, the judicial center of Clark county, Indiana, in the year 1859-a son of James B. and Martha Agnes (Read) Meriwether. He was afforded in his youth excellent educational advantages, including those of the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York; Purdue College, Indiana; and one of the prominent educational institu- tions in Wisconsin. Upon coming to Fort Wayne Mr. Meriwether found clerical employment in the offices of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Rail- road, and his ability and faithful service brought to him consecutive advancement until he was finally appointed chief clerk to the division superintendent, of which position he continued the incumbent until his death, the road having in the meanwhile come into control of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. In politics Mr. Meriwether gave his allegiance to the Democratic party, though he had no ambition for political office. He was actively affiliated with the Fort Wayne Com- mercial Club and other representative civic organizations in his home city, and he was an earnest communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church. On November 12, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Meriwether to Miss Georgia Maier, who was born and reared in Fort Wayne and who is a daughter of John George and Elizabeth Jane (Taylor) Maier, her father having been one of the early and influential pioneers of Allen county and having ever commanded high place in popular confidence and good will. Mr. Meriwether is survived by two
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children-James Maier and Martha Jane-who remain with their widowed mother in the attractive home at 1238 West Wayne street, Mrs. Meri- wether having been a resident of Fort Wayne from the time of her birthi.
William Edmund Metcalf .- William Edmund Metcalf began the gen- eral merchandise business in Poe April 1, 1914, when he withdrew from the teaching profession in which he had been active for about ten years. His success in his new enterprise has been a pleasing one thus far, com- mensurate with the investments he has made in it in every way, and his future in the field of merchandise is a pleasant outlook. Mr. Metcalf was born in Perry township on October 29, 1881, and is the son of Martin V. and Mary Elizabeth Metcalf, who came from Ashland county, Ohio, in 1849. Mr. Metcalf was a prosperous farmer. He began in a small way with a government tract of one hundred and sixty acres, later inheriting a seventy-acre farm and still later adding another eighty through purchase. He was a leader in his community always. A Democrat in politics he was a member of the county board for four years and served well in that office. He was a member of the United Brethren church, with his family, and he died on December 28, 1911. His widow survives him. They were the parents of three sons. Samuel was educated for the medical profes- sion was engaged in practice in Fort Wayne when he died. William Edmund was the second son and Martin V. the third and youngest. William Edmund Metcalf, with his brothers, had his early schooling in the common schools of his community. Finishing with the high school, he entered the Tri-State College, where he pursued a scientific course, and later he went to Valparaiso University. His studies there equipped him admirably for educational work and for nine years thereafter he was employed as principal in various schools in Allen and other counties in this part of the state. He spent one year as principal of the schools at Harlan, Indiana; two years in a similar capacity at Huntington; three years at Leo; one year in Wayne township and two years at Hoagland. In 1914 the opportunity to engage in mercantile pursuits presented itself, and Mr. Metcalf did not hesitate about making the venture. He carried a general merchandise stock, succeeding Homer Brown in the business he had conducted in Poe, and later increased the stock to a great extent, bringing up the general standard of the establishment and increasing the volume of business. Mr. Metcalf is a Democrat and takes a genuine interest in the political affairs of his community. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is also his wife, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Knighths of Pythias. He was married on August 11, 1907, to Allie, daughter of George and Susan (Galloway) Hollopeter, who came to Indiana from Ohio, their native state, and spent the best years of their lives in Cedar Creek township.
Fred H. Meyer, who takes a prominent place among the agricultural men of Pleasant township, has been a resident of his community since boyhood. He was born in Adams township, Allen county, on August 6, 1867, son of John C. Meyer, a successful Adams township farming man, who came with his family to Pleasant township in 1876 and there passed the remainder of his life. The boy Fred had his education in the local schools and lived on the home farm to the age of twenty-four years. At that time his father presented him with a highly improved farm of 150 acres and the young man stepped out to farm on his own respon- sibility. He has prospered with the passing years and has devoted hin- self to the pursuits of general farming, with special attention to stock-
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raising. When he undertook independent farming Mr. Meyer also under- took the duties of a family man and married on November 5, 1891, Miss Bernhardena Mailand, daughter of Carl and Bernhardena (Berning) Mailand, natives of Germany who settled on a farm in Adams county and later settled in Allen county. They were the owners of a very fine farm of about 240 acres and were among the prosperous people of their community. In later life they retired from active farm life and lived quietly, enjoying the fruits of earlier labors. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have six children and three grand-children. Lawrence, their eldest, is a rail- road man. Agnes married Theodore Greiner, and the others share the parental home as yet. They are Irene, Edna, Carl and Edward. The son Lawrence has three little daughters-Dorothea, Eileen and Donald. The family have membership in the German Lutheran church and Mr. Meyer is a staunch Democrat. He is a man of influence in his com- munity and with his family enjoys the esteem and confidence of all who share in his acquaintance.
George Meyers .- Lafayette township, in Allen county, has in George Meyers one of the well established and successful farming men of the community. He is an Ohioan by birth, born in Franklin county, Ohio, September 4, 1857, son of Jacob and Laura (Ebbert) Meyers. The father died in Marshall county, Indiana, July 15, 1870, and his widow survived until the spring of 1916. The family came to Indiana in 1861, locating first in Marshall county and engaging in a farming venture that was more or less successful. . Of eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Meyers, three survive. Named in the order of their appearance the children were: Harriet, George, Anna, Mary, Catherine, Amanda, Ella, Caroline and Lucinda. The first, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh are deceased. George is the subject of this review; Anna is the wife of Peter Kayser, of Lafayette township, and Lucinda is married to Harley Myers. George Meyers was a lad of thirteen years when his father died and from that time to young manhood continued on the home place as manager of the farm his father left them. He had some schooling, but his advantages were limited, owing to the conditions existing in his community along educational lines at the time when he should have been having his early training. Mr. Meyers first owned land in Wells county, Indiana, and he bought first one piece and then another until he was the owner of several pieces of valuable Indiana farm land. In 1900 he bought his present farm of eighty acres and since that time has been actively engaged in its im- provement and development along modern lines. It is one of the finest places in the township today and reflects the energy and progressiveness of its owner in many respects. Mr. Meyers carries on diversified farm- ing and has enjoyed a very pleasing measure of success in his vocation. He is one of the foremost men of his community and is now serving as a trustee of Lafayette township. He is a Democrat and a member of the Church of God. He was married on April 18, 1878, to Miss L. Michael, daughter of Gottlieb and Salina (Broeckbeck) Michael, both of German parents and both now deceased. Mrs. Meyers was one of their seven children-the others being Elizabeth, Catherine, John, Carl, Mary and Christina. To Mr. and Mrs. Meyers nine children have come. Elnora, the first born, is the wife of E. O. Nicholson. Loreta is married to Clark Bradbury, of Fort Wayne. Jacob Frederick is the third in order of birth. Desse May is married to Webert Blumer, of Lafayette township. Gertrude is the wife of Homer Corll, of Zanesville, Ohio.
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Josephine Chloe, Lela Viola, Cecil and Gerald are at home with the parents. The family has long enjoyed the esteem and confidence of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in the county, and especially in Roanoke is its standing a highly satisfactory and commendable one.
Henry J. Meyer, born on March 21, 1871, in Adams township, Allen county, Indiana, is a son of John C. and Mary (Schroeder) Meyer, na- tive born Germans who came to America as children in company with their parents. They settled in Adams township after marriage and there spent their active years. Henry Meyer had his education in the Adams township schools, including a high school course, and spent a year and a half as a student in Concordia College. He early turned his energies to farm life and settled on a farm of 222 acres, which he has since made his home and the center of his activities. He has improved the place vastly since it came into his possession, remodeling the dwelling and barns, improving the soil and bringing the standard of the place up to the highest point. He manifests a good deal of pride in the Durham cattle bred on his farm, a feature to which he has given a good deal of attention. Mr. Meyer is a Democrat in politics and a member of the German Lutheran church. He was married on June 6, 1898, to Miss Louisa Frier, daughter of Paul and Anna (Gelke) Frier, who are of German parentage and are now living retired in Fort Wayne. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have four children-Esther, Lydia, Christoph and Henry, Jr.
Robert Millard has been a resident of Fort Wayne for more than a quarter of a century and as a man of initiative and executive ability and wide and varied commercial experience has become one of the prominent figures among those who are upholding the city's prestige. as an industrial and distributing center. He is one of the interested principals in the firm of Moellering Brothers & Millard, which is here engaged in the wholesale grocery business and which constitutes one of the solid and important commercial concerns of northern Indiana, its trade extending into Michigan and Ohio. Mr. Millard was born at Adrian, the judicial center of Lenawee county, Michigan, August 15, 1856, a son of Alfred L. and Harriet (Truax) Millard, both of whom were born in the state of New York but the marriage of whom was solemnized in Michigan, the Truax family having been one of special prominence in the pioneer period of the history of the Wolverine commonwealth. Alfred L. long held prestige as one of the able and representative members of the Michigan bar, to which he was admitted by the supreme court at its first session after Michigan was admitted to statehood, and was influential in public affairs in the state, within whose borders he continued to reside until his death, in 1900, at the venerable age of eighty-six years, the wife of his young manhood having passed away at the age of fifty years. He married, second, Miss Grace Grieve, of Perry, New York, who bore him one child, a daughter, Miss Grace Millard, a prominent educator of Detroit, Michigan. Robert Millard profited fully by the advantages afforded in the public schools of his native city and at the age of eighteen years found employment in a wholesale dry goods house in the city of Toledo, Ohio, where he remained thus engaged two years. For five years thereafter he held a position with a leading wholesale grocery house in the same city, and for the next several years was successfully established in independent business as a broker in grocery supplies and specialties-first in Toledo and later in the city of New York. In 1891 he engaged in the same line of jobbing trade in Fort Wayne and two
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years later became a member of the firm of Moellering Brothers & Millard, with whom he has since continued his connection and to the upbuilding of the business of which he has been able to contribute much, as his thorough knowledge of the details of the business is equal to his recog- nized progressiveness and administrative ability. He is vice-president of the German-American Trust Company, a member of the local board of directors of the Fort Wayne Rollinm Mill Corporation and of the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company. He is one of the active and apprecia- tive members of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club and at one time its president; holds membership in the Fort Wayne Country Club, is a staunch Republican in his political proclivities and attends and supports the Presbyterian church, as does also his wife. In October, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Millard to Miss Ellen Easley, who was born in Lafayette, Indiana.
Edward C. Miller .- Fort Wayne has for her postmaster one of her native sons and a man who has been largely identified with the manu- facturing interests of the city in the past thirteen years. From 1903 to 1915 Mr. Miller was manager of the Fort Wayne Brick Company and withdrew from that position to enter upon the duties of his new office of postmaster following his appointment, in May, 1915. Edward C. Miller was born in Allen county, Indiana, November 30, 1872, son of Samuel and Matilda Miller. The father was born on January 14, 1850, in Wells county, Indiana, and was eighteen years old when he came to Allen county, Indiana, where he established himself in business and in Fort Wayne was for years the proprietor of the Fort Wayne Journal, one of the representative news sheets of the city. He died in 1887, young in years, but with a splendid record for progressiveness and general good- citizenship that is reflected in the career of his son. His wife, the mother of Edward Miller, was of Ohio birth and parentage, her family coming from Columbus and settling in Fort Wayne in 1863. She was born in September, 1856, and is still living in Fort Wayne. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller. Edward C., of this review; D. O., now living in Washington, D. C., and Glo D., the wife of E. J. Ricke, of Fort Wayne. Edward C. Miller had his education in the public schools of Fort Wayne. He was fifteen years old when his father died, and he left school then to take his place in the ranks of labor as carrier of a paper route on the Journal, of which his father had been the publisher. He did not remain long in that position, but soon found inside work, and his first position of responsibility was that of bookkeeper for the Western Fruit Company. From that firm he went to the Randall Wheel Company and. in 1893, accepted a post as traveling salesman with the McIntosh-Hunting- ton Company of Cleveland. He was similarly employed by the Bassett- Presley Steel and Iron Company of Cleveland for a number of years, and, in 1903, became manager of the Fort Wayne Brick Company, a well established concern of his native city. Under his management the in- dustry made creditable advancement and came to be one of the leading industrial plants of the city. Mr. Miller was honored, in May, 1915, by his appointment to the office of postmaster of the city and he is today serving capably and creditably in that position. His business experience had given him a training that is most essential in the equipment of the candidate for such an office, and, considered from every viewpoint, his appointment was a happy one. Various other interests have a share in Mr. Miller's attentions. Among them is the Fort Wayne Concrete Tile
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Company, of which he is secretary and treasurer, and he is a director in the Morris Plan Banking Company. The Fort Wayne Commercial Club has had an enthusiastic and spirited member in him and he is now serv- ing the organization as a director. Public-spiritedness has been a domi- nant trait in his make-up and he has been a leader in his community from earliest manhood. He was only twenty-six years of age when he was elected to membership in the city council and he held that office continuously until 1903. When the Centennial was celebrated in Fort Wayne, in June, 1916, Mr. Miller was general chairman of the executive body, and it is not too much to say that it was largely through his labors that the occasion proved to be the tremendous success it was generally conceded to have been. Mr. Miller is a Democrat and a leader in county politics. His fraternal relations are with the Masonic order, in which he has lately taken the thirty-third degree, the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Loyal Order of Moose. He is also a mem- ber of the Rotary Club and the Quest Club, representative social organi- zations of the city. On March 12, 1893, Mr. Miller was married to Nellie H. Fahlsing, daughter of Charles W. and Henrietta E. (Zollars) Fahlsing. She was born in Fort Wayne and there educated. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have one daughter, named Ednell, the name being an unusual and specially pleasing combination of the Christian names of the parents.
Rev. Jacob W. Miller has been the able, devoted and honored pastor of the parish of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church in Fort Wayne since 1896, and his zealous labors have inured to the spiritual and tem- poral prosperity of this important parish, even as they have proved equally benignant in other pastoral charges that have been his. He is one of the influential figures in the council and synod of the Evangelical Lutheran church and the parish over which he is in charge is the largest of the Lutheran church organizations in Fort Wayne. He is president of the Evangelical Lutheran School Association of Fort Wayne, Indiana, which organization has established and is efficiently conducting the Fort Wayne Luther Institute, a high-class business college that provides an admirable two-year curriculum. Rev. Jacob William Miller was born at Cove, Garrett county, Maryland, on the 16th of September, 1860, a son of Melchior J. and Barbara (Everlein) Miller, the former born in Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, and the latter in Maryland, of Bavarian ancestry. The subject of this review is the second child and eldest son in a family of twelve children, of whom eight are still living. He re- ceived his early education in the parochial and public schools of Accident, Maryland, and at the age of fifteen years came to Fort Wayne and entered Concordia College, in which staunch institution he completed the full six-year course. In 1881 he entered Concordia Theological Semi- nary, St. Louis, Missouri, and in the same was graduated as a member of the class of 1884, his ordination as a clergyman of the Evangelical Luth- eran church having taken place the same year. In the autumn of 1884 he received a call to the church at Stuttgart, Arkansas, and there con- tinued his service until 1889, his pastoral work having been amplified by his serving simultaneously as missionary of his denomination in east- ern Arkansas. In 1889 he was called to the pastorate of the Evangelical Lutheran church in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, and there continued his earnest labors until impaired health made it expedient for him to seek a change of climate. Accordingly, in 1893, lie accepted a call to Zion's Lutheran church in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, where he
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