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 58
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89
Edwin R. Moser .- The village of Woodburn, Maumce township, is situated in the midst of one of the finest agricultural districts of northern Indiana and as a trading and industrial center it is one of the vigorous and thriving towns of Allen county. It is but natural that here the principal industrial and commercial enterprise should be that represented by the Woodburn Elevator and Milling Company, which has developed a large and substantial business, with grain elevator and mills of the
414
BIOGRAPIIICAL SKETCIIES
best modern facilities. As secretary and treasurer of this company Mr. Moser is one of the representative business men of this part of the county, even as he is one of the prominent exponents of the grain busi- ness in northern Indiana. Edwin R. Moser was born in Moniteau county, Missouri, on June 2, 1872, a son of Abraham J. and Caroline (Welty) Moser, both of whom were born in Wayne county, Ohio, and both of whom were young at the time of the removal of the respective families to Missouri. In the latter state Abraham J. Moser passed the remainder of his life, and he was long numbered among the representative farmers and honored citizens of Moniteau county. His widow now resides at Fort Morgan, Colorado. Of the ten children the subject of this review was the second in order of birth, and all of the others still survive the honored father, namely: Martha, Esther, Oscar, Elizabeth, Dennis, Lawrence, Edna, Elvin and Orrin. Edwin R. Moser early gained prac- tical experience in connection with the varied activities of the home farm, and his youthful education was acquired in the public schools of his native state. As an independent young farmer in Missouri he continued operations four years, and he then, in 1898, came to Allen county, Indiana, and established his home at Woodburn, where he engaged in the buying and shipping of grain and eventually became one of the leading stockholders and executives of the Woodburn Elevator and Milling Company, to the affairs of which he now gives his close and effective attention. He is a Democrat in his political allegiance and he and his wife hold membership in the Missionary Baptist church. On September 14, 1902, Mr. Moser wedded Miss Elizabeth Rothgeb, a daughter of Jesse and Mary (Rushart) Rothgeb, natives of Ohio. Mr. Rothgeb has been a successful farmer in Allen county, Indiana, and he now resides in the village of Gar Creek, this county, where he is engaged in the general merchandise business, is station agent for the Wabash Railroad, and is serving as postmaster. Mrs. Rothgeb is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Moser have no children.
William E. Mossman .- The name of William E. Mossman comes instinctively to the mind of the people of Fort Wayne when the subject of broad service to the greatest number presents itself for consideration. With a keen appreciation of the true monument which a man, during his lifetime, is enabled to rear to endure beyond the years of a lifetime, Mr. Mossman has chosen to manifest his munificence in a way to attract the least attention and yet continue its good influence through the suc- ceeding years. As an example of this it is necessary only to refer to his gift of $50,000 to the fund for the establishment of the new building of the Young Men's Christian Association and the gift of the fund to add a modern swimming pool to the equipment of the Young Women's Christian Association. Mr. Mossman, ever active in the forward move- ments of the city, has entered earnestly into every worthy cause in which he could lend assistance either through the contribution of his personal efforts or his means. His connection with the industrial and financial life of Fort Wayne has enabled him to exert a particularly valuable influence through these channels. About eighty years ago the Mossman family located in Whitley county, Indiana, and it has been identified with that section in varied lines of activity from then down to the present day. Others of the name found their ways into Allen and adjoining counties, but none of them, perhaps, have been more successful in their business ventures than has William E. Mossman, who
415
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
is an influential factor in many prominent enterprises in Allen county and numerous other localities. Mr. Mossman is of Hoosier birth, born on a Whitley county farm on September 17, 1843, son of Francis and Rheua (Conner) Mossman. The mother was of Virginian birth and parentage, but Francis Mossman was born in Pennsylvania and came with his par- ents into Ohio in the old Western Reserve days. He was reared there and came to Indiana in 1838, pre-empting homestead land in Whitley county in about 1840 and settling down to farm life with his young wife. They prospered comfortably and were happy enough to be content to spend the rest of their lives on their farm. The mother died there in 1887 and the father survived her until 1904. Of the nine children born to them five are living at this writing (1917). William E. Mossman was reared to farm life and had such educational advantages as the county offered in those times. He was a young man of ambition and when about twenty-six years old determined to get into business on his own responsibility, being no longer content with the farm and its oppor- tunities. He chose to identify himself with the mercantile business as a dealer in groceries and provisions and for three years continued to enjoy moderate success. He then turned his attention to other lines, engaging in the manufacture of hardwood lumber. Here he found him- self, it seems, for Mr. Mossman has continued to be active in that industry from then until now. In recent years, however, he has given less attention to the mill business than heretofore, and his mills at Memphis, Tennessee, represent practically his only remaining interest in that enterprise. These mills operating under the name of Mossman Lumber Company, are one of the large industries of Memphis. Other industrial fields have claimed his attention, and the Wayne Knitting Mills, one of the leading concerns of its kind in Fort Wayne, has known him as vice-president and director for the past fifteen years. Another prom- inent enterprise to which he gives a considerable time and attention is the Mossman-Yarnelle Company, a wholesale heavy hardware house of Fort Wayne, in which he has been the senior partner since 1885, when he bought out the interests of Frank Alderman. The firm was then known by the name, Alderman and Yarnelle, but with the advent of Mr. Mossman into the business it took on its present style of title. He is also president of the Dudlo Manufacturing Company, a firm that spe- cializes in enameling copper wires and making insulation coils, and it may be said in passing that this concern is growing into one of the largest of the manufacturing industries of Fort Wayne. Financial insti- tutions, too, have come in for a share in Mr. Mossman's attention. He is a director in the Old National Bank of Fort Wayne, and twenty-five years ago he lent material aid in the organization of the Tri-State Loan and Trust Company, of which he has been vice-president and a director ever since. In all of these enterprises no little credit is due to Mr. Moss- man for the very creditable advancement that has been theirs in the years that he has been connected with them. The quality of what is usually termed "foresight," coupled with his splendid business integ- ' rity and good judgment, have resulted in a combination that seldom fails of singular success, and Mr. Mossman's associates have had reason to view their connection with him with a deal of satisfaction. Mr. Moss- man, in 1868, married Miss Lois Douglas, of Whitley county, daughter of Smith Douglas, a pioneer farmer of that district. Three children are theirs-Paul, Stella and Ethel. Stella is the wife of George A. Philbrick,
416
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
of Fort Wayne, and Ethel married George Jacobs, who is manager of the Dudlo Manufacturing Company. Mr. Mossman and his family are members of the Congregational church and he is a Republican, a thirty- second degree Mason, with Shrine affiliations, and a member of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club.
Raymond J. Mourey is one of the native sons of Allen county whose progressiveness has been demonstrated not only in the management of his individual business affairs but also in his liberality and public spirit as a citizen. His present fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Sections 18 and 19, Jackson township, includes the old homestead on which he was born and reared, and he is a member of a sterling French pioneer family of this county, where his father established his residence in 1850. It is specially interesting to record that the father, Paul Mourey, now resides with the subject of this review and is one of the patriarchal pioneer citizens of the county : he celebrated the ninetieth anniversary of his birth on March 30, 1917. He whose name initiates this paragraph is one of the most energetic and enterprising exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in Jackson township and has been influential in public affairs of a local order, especially in the furthering of the con- struction of good roads in the county, besides which he has been called upon to serve in various offices of public trust, indicating the popular appreciation of his ability and his sterling character. Mr. Mourey was born in Jackson township on August 17, 1868, a son of Paul and Frances (Vuilleman) Mourey, both of whom were born in Abbenaus, Department of Doubs, in northeastern France, where they were reared to maturity and their marriage was solemnized. As previous reference to his vener- able age denotes, Paul Mourey was born in the year 1827 and was a young man of about twenty-three years when he severed the ties that bound him to his native land and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. It was in 1850 that he established his home in Allen county, and he found employment in Fort Wayne. At that time wages were diminutive, and it was not until 1862 that he had accumulated sufficient money and made such other provisions as to justify his sending for his young wife, who had remained in France until he should be able to pay the expense of her journey to America. Mrs. Mourey arrived in Fort Wayne by way of the old canal, and she and her husband then located on an embryonic farm of forty acres, in Jackson township. The land had virtually no improvements and most of the same was covered with a heavy growth of timber. Mr. Mourey worked early and late in im- proving the property and was eventually able to purchase an adjoining tract of forty acres. The old homestead of eighty acres, as previously stated, is now an integral part of the fine landed estate that constitutes Fairview Stock Farm, the present place of residence of the subject of this sketch. On the original homestead Paul Mourey remained until 1885, when he removed to a farm of forty acres in Jefferson township. There the wife of his youth was summoned to the life eternal on August 26, 1889. and July 29, 1891, recorded the marriage of Mr. Mourey to Rose Mougier. The second wife died, January 7, 1916, and the venerable father has since resided in the home of his son Raymond, who accords to him the deepest filial solicitude. Of the six children of the first marriage the first three died in France, as infants. Frank was the first born after the mother had come to America, and he died at the age of two years; Raymond J., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; and Octavia died at the age of two years. No children were born of the second
417
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
marriage, and thus Raymond J. is the only surviving child. To the district schools of Jackson township Mr. Mourey is indebted for his early education, which was supplemented by his attending a business college in Fort Wayne for one term. After leaving the home farm he established a general store at Payne, Paulding county, Ohio, and there continued his mercantile activities six years-or until his store was destroyed by fire, on July 4, 1898. He soon afterward returned to the old home farm in Jackson township and has increased its area until he now has a well-improved place of one hundred and sixty acres, the same being devoted to diversified agriculture and to the raising of the finer type of live stock. As a stock-grower Mr. Mourey has been specially progressive and successful and thus has consistently given to his farm the title of Fairview Stock Farm. When he returned to the farm the buildings on the same were represented by a primitive log house and a pig-pen, the while a considerable part of the land was still covered with timber and underbrush. The vigor and enterprise of the owner are now evidenced in a commodious modern house of cement-block con- struction, a fine barn and other substantial farm buildings, all of which have been erected by Mr. Mourey, who has installed also an effective system of tile drainage, built good fences and otherwise shown his spirit of thrift and his good judgment. He has been one of the active and influential figures in the Allen county ranks of the Democratic party and for ten years was a member of the Jackson township Democratic committee. From 1901 to 1905 he was a member of the advisory com- mittee of the township and thereafter served four years as township trustee, with marked loyalty and efficiency. Since 1914 he has held the office of county ditch commissioner. He was one of the foremost advo- cates and supporters of the good-roads movement in Jackson township and, with the loyal co-operation of four or five other progressive men of the township, succeeded in getting from the county an appropriation for the construction of twenty-one miles of stone road in Jackson town- ship. The land of the township is largely prairie soil, and while spe- cially fertile was in large part originally of low level, so that proper drainage has been necessary, while the construction of stone roads was almost imperative if the township was to come fully into its own. Mr. Mourey is an appreciative and valued member of the French-American Society in Fort Wayne-in fact, is a charter member of the same. He and his family are communicants of the Besancon St. Louis Catholic church, on the Ridge road. On April 26, 1892, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Mourey to Miss Ellen Lamont, who likewise was born and' reared in Allen county and who, like himself, is of sterling French line- age. Mrs. Mourey is a daughter of Alphonse and Victoria (Gladieaux) Lamont, the former of whom was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, and the latter in Stark county, Ohio. Alphonse Lamont was four years of age when the family came to America and has been a resident of Allen county since his youth, his marriage having here been solemnized. His home is near the Besancon Catholic church, in Jefferson township, and he has for many years been one of the representative farmers of that township, where he is known and honored as a venerable pioneer citizen at the present day, his devoted wife having passed away, May 21, 1901. Of their children the first, Louis, died at the age of two years; Charles is a farmer in Jefferson township; Mrs. Mourey, wife of the subject of this review. was the third child; Mrs. Ida Maire resides in Trumbull county, Ohio; Justin resides on the old homestead farm, of which he
-
418
BIOGRAPIIICAL SKETCIIES
has the management; Mrs. Rosalie Burns resides in Jackson township; John and Clement are engaged in the automobile trade in Fort Wayne; and Ernest and Clarence still reside in Jefferson township. All of the children are married except John. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Mourey: Leonard R., born October 10, 1893, is a resident of Jackson township. He married Miss Eva Dodane, and their one child is a daughter, IIelen. Amelia E., born January 7, 1895, is the wife of Arthur Oberley, of Jefferson township, and they have a daughter, Esther. Cecelia R., born June 17, 1898, re- mains at the parental home and is a successful and popular teacher in the district schools of Jackson township. Paul A., born May 17, 1901, and Edna E., born July 21, 1903, remain at the parental home; Clarence was born June 7, 1911, and died on the 14th of the same month; Francis L., born January 24, 1909, is the youngest member of the gracious family circle of the parental home.
John J. Muir .- A signally varied and interesting career has been that of this Fort Wayne scion of fine old Scottish ancestry, and his spe- cial technical ability has brought to him positions of distinctive executive responsibility. Since the early part of 1897, with the exception of an interim of six years, he has held the office of mechanical superintendent of the Bass Foundry and Machine Company, one of the most important industrial and commercial concerns lending prestige to the city of Fort Wayne. Mr. Muir was born in Waterford, Ireland, of Scottish parent- age, and was a child at the time of his parents' removal to the fine old city of Glasgow, Scotland, where as a boy and youth he was afforded the advantages of Blythswood Academy. He furthered his technical edu- cation by effective courses of study in Andersonian University and the College of Science and Arts, besides taking a course in naval architecture in Glasgow University. Thoroughness and mature judgment have dom- inated his course from his youth to the present time, and thus he con- sistently served a definite and effective apprenticeship in the line of marine engineering, his privileges in this field having been given him in the representative establishment of the firm of Muir and Houston, of Glasgow, of which his father was the senior member. After completing his apprenticeship he gained somewhat more than two years' practical experience in sea-going engineering on trans-Atlantic passenger steamers. He then assumed a position in the engine-drafting department of the famous Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company's works, in the city of Glasgow, and later received appointment to the position of deputy superintending engineer under a three-year contract or agree- ment with the India General Steam Navigation Company, of Calcutta, East India. On completing his term of service in this responsible posi- tion Mr. Muir became the incumbent of the office of assistant manager with the firm of John King and Company, Limited, shipbuilders and general contractors and engineers, at Howrah, Bengal, India. The con- ditions in the Orient caused his health finally to become so much impaired that he was virtually compelled to relinquish the position last mentioned, and, in 1893, he came to the United States and established his residence in Fort Wayne. For two and one-half years he was employed in the engineering department and drafting room of the Fort Wayne Electric Works, and then, in June, 1895, assumed the position of draftsman in the great Fort Wayne plant of the Bass Foundry and Machine Company. Early in 1897 he was appointed mechanical superintendent for this com- pany, of which important office he is the incumbent at the present time,
419
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
though from 1901 to 1907 he was in the employ of other concerns. Dur- ing this interval he served successively as mechanical engineer for the Sun Oil Company, at Marcus Ilook, Pennsylvania, and steam expert engineer with the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, a subsidiary concern of the United States Steel Corporation. On January 6, 1898, he was married to Mrs. Lee Ella Dodez-Nutting, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Dodez, of this city, who died May 9, 1899. There were no children by this marriage. December 25, 1907, at Trinity Episcopal church, Pitts- burgh, he was married to Miss Elizabeth S. White, whose father was a prominent journalist of Glasgow, Scotland. There are three daughters by this marriage-Elizabeth R., Janet J. and Alice M. Mr. Muir has been for a long period an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania. He is a thorough cosmopolitan, as the foregoing brief record fully indicates ; is a man of fine intellectual attainments and technical knowledge, and his genial personality has gained to him the staunchest of friends in the business and social circles of Fort Wayne.
Henry W. Muldoon .- When the father of Henry W. Muldoon came from his native land in his young manhood, he settled promptly in Ma- rion township and there acquired three hundred acres of farm land in that community and applied himself with all diligence to the task of making a productive farm of it. He succeeded in his efforts most admir- ably and was known among the most successful farmers of the township for many years. He was Henry Muldoon and his wife was Jane Drew. and they came from Ireland as young people. They were ardent Cath- olics and Mr. Muldoon was a Democrat in politics from the time of his coming to America to the end of his days. They reared a family of nine children. Alice, the first born, became the wife of Louis Miller, of Wells county. Mary married Marcellus Rauner and both are deceased. Henry W., the subject of this brief review, was the third born. Charles came next and is a farmer in Marion township. Jane is the wife of Isadore Rauner, of Fort Wayne. Elliott lives in Pleasant township. Elizabeth is the widow of William Drew, of Fort Wayne. William is located in Chicago and Albert is a resident of Fort Wayne. Henry W. Muldoon had his early schooling in Marion township and followed that with attendance at the Brothers' School in Fort Wayne. He early identified himself with farm work in an independent capacity and his first purchase was a place of one hundred and twenty acres in Marion township, to which he has added fifty-seven acres, all of which is in an excellent state of improvement and is highly productive, yielding its owner a nice profit annually. Mr. Muldoon has made many attractive improvements in the various buildings on his place, and the tenor of the farm is of a decidedly upward tendency. Mr. Muldoon is a Democrat in politics and a member of the Roman Catholic church. He was married on January 16, 1883, to Miss Gertrude Herber, daughter of Garrett and Gertrude (Wolf) Herber, farmers of Marion township for many years, and both now de- ceased. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Muldoon. Elva is the wife of Hubert Clever, of Pleasant township; Frank is his father's able assistant on the home farm; Oliver and Marie are also at home, and Grover, the youngest, died at the age of twenty years. Elva is the mother of three children-Farma, Ena and Violet, while Frank, who married Dora Fox, has two children-Beulah, born March 11, 1916, and Delbert.
420
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
born June 10, 1917. Oliver married Marguerite Barva, daughter of Joseph Farmer, of Cedar Creek township.
Samuel E. Mulholland .- Fort Wayne has enrolled among its "live- wire" younger business men Samuel E. Mulholland. Identified with every public movement which has marked the progress of the city since he came to Fort Wayne, in 1908, he has assisted in the lasting and sub- stantial movements enabling the city to hold its place among the live communities of the country. Mr. Mulholland is a native son of Indiana and has made his way forward to a status of prominence and influence in connection with important business affairs in Fort Wayne, where he is vice-president of the Northern Indiana Gas and Electric Company, besides being general manager of its southern division. Mr. Mulholland was born in Cass county, Indiana, on September 13, 1866, a son of Henry and Mary A. (Panabaker) Mulholland, the former of whom was born in Belfast, Ireland, and the latter at Lancaster, Ohio. The father was long engaged in the sawmill and general lumbering business and was a resident of Logansport, Cass county, at the time of his death, his widow still maintaining her home in that city. Samuel E. Mulholland is their only child. After having made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of Logansport, Mr. Mulholland became actively asso- ciated with the newspaper business in that city, where he was employed with the old Logansport Journal. After his retirement from this alli- ance with journalistic enterprise he held for several years an executive position in the First National Bank of Logansport. The ensuing five or six years found him engaged as chief bookkeeper for the firm of Wiler and Wise, of Logansport, and, in 1895, he allied himself with the Mur- dock gas interests in the same city. Later he was transferred to Lima, Ohio, where he continued his association with the same concern for seven years. For two years thereafter he had charge of the street rail- way system of South Bend, Indiana. In 1908 he came to Fort Wayne, where he succeeded Henry C. Paul as the general manager of the system of gas supply which had previously been controlled by the Fort Wayne Gas Company and its successor, the Indiana Lighting Company. His alliance was continued at the time the property was purchased by the Northern Indiana Gas and Electric Company, of which he became vice- president, as well as general manager of the southern division, in March, 1916. The corporation owns and operates ten or more gas, electric- light and water-power plants in the state. Within the period of his resi- dence in Fort Wayne Mr. Mulholland has become interested also in local real estate, in which he has made judicious investments. He is also a member of the directorate of the German-American National Bank of Fort Wayne. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party. He has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Rite of the Masonic fraternity, as well as being affiliated with the Mystic Shrine, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Commer- cial, Rotary and Quest Clubs of Fort Wayne. On October 20, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mulholland to Miss Flora Murdock, daughter of Andrew J. and Margaret (Chadwick) Murdock, of Logans- port. Andrew J. Murdock was for many years one of the influential capitalists and business men of Logansport, where he had been engaged in the mercantile business and where he was president of the First National Bank for a long time prior to his death. Mr. and Mrs. Mul- holland have two sons-Andrew Murdock and Henry Eric.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.