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 63
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street, provided new and larger quarters for the conduct of the business. Here Mr. Pixley continued to guide the affairs of the enterprise to greater success, until about 1906, when he gave the business to a nephew who was named for him, a resident of Utica, New York. The new owner continued the business until 1914, when it was sold to the firm of Stellhorn and Neireiter. During his years of effort in the retail trade Mr. Pixley was regarded as a strict adherent to honest business principles, which gave to his enterprise a firm standing and a reputation for reliability and progress. In 1889, at the time of relinquishing the management of the clothing store, he cast about for some method whereby he could gratify the wishes of men who desired to become property owners. While Fort Wayne has many citizens financially well-to-do, its population, for the most part, is made up of men whose salaries preclude the possibility of their paying cash for a home. These were the men Mr. Pixley desired to aid, so, interesting other citizens in his project, he organized the Tri- State Building and Loan Association and was its president during all its life. Its mission met with instantaneous favor and the association devel- oped until it became the largest of its kind in the state of Indiana. From this association which had forged to the financial fore in Indiana sprang the Tri-State Loan and Trust Company, for the old association was merged with the Fort Wayne Trust Company, another financial insti- tution in which Mr. Pixley was active. On December 28, 1870, Mr. Pixley was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Lewis, of Kirkland, New York, daughter of Chauncey E. and Electra Lewis. They have one daughter, Louise, who shares with her parents the happiness of their beautiful home on West Wayne street. Mr. Pixley is one of the charter members of all of the different bodies of Scottish Rite Masonry and has served as treasurer of the same continuously. For years he has held the honorary thirty-third degree of the Scottish Rite. He is an attendant of Plymouth Congregational church, holds a lively interest in political affairs and serves in the ranks of the Republican party. However, his energies are displayed in a quiet every-day effort to be of real service in the circles in which he moves, and where those who know him best appreciate the kindliness and helpful motives which govern his daily life. The Pollak Waist Company, successor of the Paragon Manufacturing Company, represents one of the prominent manufacturing industries of the city of Fort Wayne, and the products of its factory, presented to the retail trade through the medium of a corps of eleven traveling sales- men, have proved their own best advertising, the "Wayne Maid Waist" being of recognized superiority in design and workmanship and the fac- tory's annual output of ladies' waists being now of extensive order, the while the trade of the concern shows a constantly cumulative tendency. In the factory employment is given to three hundred and fifty persons and the trade of the company extends into the most diverse sections of the United States. The Pollak Waist Company was incorporated in 1910, with a capital stock of thirty thousand dollars, and the business has been carried forward with marked energy and progressiveness, as its success fully denotes. Those concerned in the organization of the com- pany, as successors of the Paragon Manufacturing Company, whose busi- ness and plant were purchased by the new corporation, are the same prin- cipals who constitute the present executive corps, Herman H. Pollak being president of the company; Robert M. Pollak, vice-president; and M. Charles McDougal, secretary and treasurer. All of these officers had
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been residents of Cleveland, Ohio, prior to establishing the present thriv- ing industrial and commercial enterprise in Fort Wayne, and the latter city has had much to gain and nothing to lose by their interposition in its business activities. Robert M. Pollak, vice-president of the company, was born in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the 13th of January, 1884, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the public schools of the fair Forest City of the Buckeye state. After leaving school he gained broad and practical experience as an employe in a waist manu- factory in his native city, where he finally became associated in the estab- lishing of an independent enterprise of the same order, their operations having been continued in Cleveland until 1910, when they came to Fort Wayne and consolidated their business with that of the Paragon Manu- facturing Company, under the present corporate title of the Pollak Waist Company. The technical knowledge and executive ability of Robert M. Pollak have made him a vigorous and progressive figure in connection with the development of the substantial business now controlled by the company and he is one of the popular and representative young business men of Fort Wayne, where he is an active member of the Commercial Club and also of the Country Club.
Herman A. Popp is making an excellent record as an executive of one of the important and successful educational institutions of Fort Wayne, where he has held the office of vice-president of the International Business College since 1899. Mr. Popp was born on a farm in Cedar Creek township, Allen county, Indiana, September 11, 1872, a son of Frederick and Barbara (Zchndner) Popp, both of whom were born in Germany and are now deceased, their surviving children being eight in number. Frederick Popp came to America when a young man and became one of the substantial farmers and highly honored citizens of Allen county, where for many years he lived and labored upon his own and well-improved farm. He was born March 6, 1827, and died, Feb- ruary 13, 1901, while visiting the land of his birth, his remains being laid to rest in his native country and his wife having passed the closing years of her life in Allen county. After having profited fully by the advantages of the public schools of his home county Herman A. Popp pursued a higher course of study in Taylor University, which was at that time located in Fort Wayne. Upon completing his education at the above named university, he taught in the public schools for a period of three and one-half years. He then retired from public school work to complete a thorough course in the business college of which he is now vice-president and to the upbuilding of which he has contributed in a large measure. He is a director of the Protective Electrical Supply Com- pany of Fort Wayne and he and Mr. Staples, president of the Inter- national Business College, are associated also in the conducting of similar institutions in the cities of Elkhart and South Bend. They are pioneers in this line of educational enterprise in northern Indiana and the colleges conducted under their direction are of the best standard maintained in the middle west. Mr. Popp is independent in politics, is an active mem- ber of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club and he and his wife hold mem- bership in the Wayne Street Methodist Episcopal church. On September 11, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Popp to Miss Eunice Matilda Chapman, who was born in Perry township, this county, a daughter of Solomon and Hannah Chapman, her father being one of the substantial
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farmers of the township mentioned. Mr. and Mrs. Popp have three children-Homer G., Herbert Leslie and Ralph Emerson.
Jacob Popp has passed the past forty-seven years of his life on the farm on which he was born on February 11, 1870. It is located in Section 30, Cedar Creek township, and was the property of his parents-Frederick and Anna Barbara (Zehender) Popp. They were born in Bavaria and came to America in about 1845, locating soon thereafter in Allen county and settling on the farm in Cedar Creek township which became the property of their son Jacob in more recent years. The mother died in July, 1899, and the father soon after returned to Germany, where he passed away on February 13, 1901. They were the parents of eleven children, of which number eight survive. Jacob always stayed on the home farm and after the death of the parents the place was divided up and eighty acres fell to his share. He later added thirty-three acres more, so that he has a very comfortable tract of land at his command. He carries on general farming and dairying, giving special attention to the Jersey as an aid to profitable dairying, and he is one of the successful men in the township in his work. Mr. Popp was married on November 9, 1899, to Miss Leila Otto, who was born in Allen county and is well and favorably known throughout the county. She is the daughter of Franklin Pierce and Delila (Foltz) Otto, both of them native Indianians, and is one of their three daughters. The others are Artie Meece, the wife of Kelsey D. Fitch, of Fort Wayne, and Josie Velda, wife of August Schlatler, of Perry township. Mr. and Mrs. Popp have three children. Otto Emmett was born April 17, 1901; Arthur Jenning on August 22, 1902, and Mabel Marie on September 25, 1906. Robinson Chapel has their staunch religious support as members, and they have many friends in their home community and throughout the county where both have been known from childhood. Mr. Popp is a Democrat in politics, but not active in those matters beyond the demands of good citizenship.
Hiram Porter, one of the valued citizens of Allen county whose mem- ory of pioneer days reaches back over a more extended period of years than those of all but a few others in northern Indiana, was born in Scioto county, Ohio, November 17, 1826, son of John and Sarah (Null) Porter. At the time of this writing, in 1917, Hiram Porter is thus nearly ninety- one years of age. To this first marriage of John Porter were born four children-Elizabeth, Hiram, Samuel and William Harrison. The children of a second marriage of John Porter-with Bethena Goings-were Chris- tian, Hannah, Eliza, Anna, Allen, George, Joseph, Matilda, John, James, Ellen, David and two pairs of twins who died in infancy. John Porter came to Allen county, in 1833, and settled on the Breckenridge farm in St. Joseph township, on the site of the present Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth. After clearing a few acres for cultivation he removed to the Archer farm, in Washington township, in 1836. Three years later Mr. Porter located on the Coldwater road, on the farm now owned by Mr. Rodenbeck, and in 1842 settled on the John Archer farm, where he cleared forty acres of land. Then Mr. Porter purchased eighty acres near the Lima road, in Washington township, where he resided until his death. Here he cleared a large area of land and erected a substantial log house. Hiram Porter received his earlier education in the country schools and later came to Fort Wayne, where he attended the old Meth- odist College. He remembers with pleasure Professors Samuel Brenton and R. D. Robinson. For sixteen years Mr. Porter taught school during
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the winter months and engaged in farming during the intervening sum- mer seasons. In 1859-1861 he taught the Fletter school in St. Joseph township, No. 1. At the time of the homecoming celebration of old teachers of the county, in 1915, he was the only teacher present whose services extended back to the year 1861. Five of his pupils of that year enlisted in the Union army and all returned from the service. At the time of the roll call, in 1915, no one responded when the names of fifty- five of Mr. Porter's pupils of 1859 and fifty-eight of 1861 were called, nor were any of the patrons of the school present. Mr. Porter tells of the spot where Little Turtle, the Indian chief, is buried, as he remembers it being pointed out by Jack Hackley. He is an authority also on Johnnie Appleseed (John Chapman), who frequently visited the Porter home. He remembers the day of the burial of Johnnie Appleseed in the Archer cemetery. On February 26, 1857, Mr. Porter married Miss Hester Arnold, daughter of Elijah and Julia Ann (Mickey) Arnold, and their devoted companionship of more than half a century was broken by the death of Mrs. Porter, on June 23, 1910. After his marriage Mr. Porter continued to teach school and to cultivate the Schwartz farm in St. Joseph town- ship. He was prevented through a physical defect from enlisting for service in the Civil War. He improved the farm on the Ann Hackley reservation and lived here until his retirement from active life, in 1890, at which time he took up his residence in the Fort Wayne residential district of Bloomingdale, on Putnam street. In 1900 he removed to his present home in Washington township. To Hiram Porter and his wife were born eleven children: John Elijah, Melissa Jane, Henry Allen, James Sylvester, William Louis, Sarah Elizabeth, Oliver Franklin, Be- thena May, Hiram, Jr., Charles Walter, and Mary Viola. Mr. Porter has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1882. He is a Prot- estant in his religious views and has always been a staunch Republican in politics. In his advanced years Mr. Porter is in vigorous physical and mental health and is very active for a man of such patriarchal age.
Miles F. Porter, M. D., has been engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in the city of Fort Wayne for nearly forty years and is with all consistency to be designated as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Indiana. He has achieved special prestige as a surgeon and, since 1896, has given his attention almost exclusively to the surgical branch of his profession, in which connection he is professor of surgery in the Indiana University School of Medicine, in the city of Indianapolis. In his character and services he has signally honored a profession that was likewise dignified by the able interposition of his father and his paternal grandfather, and the names of few, if any, families have been longer or more prominently identified with the history of the medical profession in Indiana. Dr. Miles Fuller Porter was born at Decatur, judicial center of Adams county, Indiana, on September 27, 1856, a son of Dr. John Pomeroy Porter and Elizabeth (Darwin) Porter, whose mar- riage was solemnized in that place. Dr. John P. Porter received excellent educational advantages along both academic and professional lines, and in 1856 was graduated in the celebrated Rush Medical College, in the city of Chicago. Thereafter he was associated in practice with his father, Dr. Alexander Porter, a pioneer physician at Decatur, until the outbreak of the Civil War gave to him a higher call for service. He became assistant surgeon of the Eighty-ninth Indiana Infantry, and he virtually sacrificed his life in defense of the Union, as he continued his efficient
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and faithful services with his regiment until he was shot and killed by guerrillas in Missouri, in the autumn of 1864. He whose name initiates this review was a lad of about eight years at the time of his father's death and his ambition was early directed along the line of service that had been that of his father and grandfather. He acquired his early education in the schools of his native town and in eastern Ohio, and under private tutors gained an excellent knowledge of both Latin and German. He finally entered the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, and in this institution was graduated as a member of the class of 1878. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he served a pro- fessional novitiate of one year at Geneva, Adams county, Indiana, and he then came to Fort Wayne, where he has continued his able professional activities during the long intervening years and where his personal pop- ularity has ever been on a parity with his recognized fidelity and ability in his exacting profession. The Doctor has held as satisfactory to himself nothing save the maximum fortification for the work of his chosen calling, and this implies that he has been a close and appreciative student and that he has kept in full touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science, the while he has gained high reputation as a surgeon. In addition to effective work in the educational branch of his profession, as a member of the faculty of the Indiana University School of Medicine, he has been actively identified with and influential in numerous profes- sional organizations of representative order. He holds membership in the Allen County Medical Society and the Indiana State Medical Society, of which latter he has served as president; he was formerly president of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; he is a trustee of the American Medical Association and is an active and appreciative member of the American Surgical Association. Doctor Porter is essentially loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, but has had neither time nor inclination for public office and is independent in pol- itics. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and he and his wife hold membership in the Wayne Street Methodist Episcopal church. On June 19, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Porter to Miss Lillian Anne Wilding, daughter of James and Anne Wilding, of Fort Wayne, and of the children of this union the first born, Grace, is deceased; Lucile is the wife of Dr. Ben Perley Weaver, of this city; Charles D. is now a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Clara is the wife of Page Yarnelle, of Fort Wayne; Dr. Miles F., Jr., is individually mentioned immediately following this; and James P. and Elizabeth remain at the parental. home.
Miles F. Porter, Jr., M. D., is, in line of direct descent, a scion of the fourth generation of the Porter family to be a representative of the medical profession in the state of Indiana, his father, Dr. Miles F. Porter, being at the present time one of the representative physicians and sur- geons of the Hoosier commonwealth and being engaged in the practice of his profession as one of the foremost surgeons in the city of Fort Wayne. Concerning him individual mention is made on other pages of this volume, with further reference to other generations of the family that have given able physicians to this state. He whose name initiates this paragraph is one of the well-fortified, successful and popular physi- cians and surgeons of the younger generation in his native city of Fort Wayne, where he was born, January 30, 1887. He continued his studies in the public schools until he had completed a course in the Fort Wayne
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high school, and then entered Williams College, in which historic old Massachusetts institution he was graduated, in 1907, and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In preparation for the pro- fession that had been honored by the services of his father, his paternal grandfather and great-grandfather, he was then matriculated in the medical department of Harvard University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1911 and from which he acquired his well- earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. On his return to Fort Wayne he became associated in practice with his father, Doctor McCaskey and Doctor Weaver, and this effective alliance has since continued, the while his cumulative success has fully justified his choice of vocation and also enabled him well to uphold the professional prestige of the family name. He maintains affiliation with the Allen County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Both he and his wife maintain membership in the Wayne Street Meth- odist Episcopal church. The Doctor naturally takes loyal interest in all things touching the welfare of his native city and county and is independent in his political status. On April 11, 1912, was recorded the marriage of Doctor Porter to Miss Hester Bash, daughter of Charles S. and Flora (Orr) Bash, of Fort Wayne, and the two children of this union are Nancy Ellen, who was born, March 11, 1913, and Lucy Jane, who was born May 23, 1914.
Milton J. Porter, the executive head of the substantial enterprise carried on in the city of Fort Wayne under the title of the Porter Con- struction Company, is a progressive business man who is well entitled to recognition in this history. He was born at Marion, the judicial center of Grant county, Indiana, on August 27, 1861, a son of Reuben W. and Rachel Jane (Willard) Porter, natives of Indiana and representatives of sterling pioneer families of this state. Reuben W. Porter developed a prosperous business as a mover of houses and other buildings and both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives at Marion, Grant county. Of their children the subject of this review was the second in order of birth; Adelia is the wife of Louis Powell, of Dayton, Ohio; Ezra is deceased; and William still resides at Marion, Grant county. Milton J. Porter acquired his education in the public schools of his native county and as a youth became associated with his father's house-moving business and with the handling of heavy machinery, which was made an adjunct of the enterprise. He continued his connection with his father's business until he had attained to his legal majority and has since devoted the major part of his time and attention to the line of enterprise to which he was thoroughly trained in this alliance. In 1910 he established himself in the same line of business in the city of Fort Wayne, and here has developed a prosperous business under the title of the Porter Construction Company, his contracting being now of wide scope in its direct and incidental lines and his local investments including his attractive residence property. Mr. Porter in a political way has a reason for the faith that is in him and signalizes this by staunch support of the cause of the Republican party. Both he and his wife hold mem- bership in the Congregational church and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, including its uniformed rank of Patriarchs Militant. July 1, 1882, recorded the marriage of Mr. Porter to Miss Nora D. Patterson, who was born in the city of Indianapolis,
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a daughter of Robert and Nancy C. Patterson, and the six children of this union are: James W., Robert, Laurence (deceased), Marguerite, Paul C., connected with the Porter Construction Company; Charles Mil- ton and Ocalena B. All of the surviving children reside in Fort Wayne with the exception of James W., who maintains his home at Marion, Grant county. Marguerite is the wife of Percy Shockley, who is a trav- eling salesman for the Heit-Miller-Lau Company, manufacturing con- fectioners, and the other children remain at the parental home.
Christ Prange is a popular representative of that fine German ele- ment of citizenship that has played a very important and benignant part in the development and upbuilding of Allen county along both civic and industrial lines, and his fine dairy farm, in Washington township, is the old homestead on which he was born, the date of his nativity having been June 14, 1869. He is a son of Charles and Sophia (Brinkman) Prange, both of whom were born in Germany and came with their parents to America when they were yet children. The marriage of the parents was solemnized, January 4, 1855, and they settled in Washington town- ship, this county, where they passed the residue of their lives-earnest, upright and industrious folk who commanded the high esteem of all who knew them and who achieved definite success and prosperity through their long and active association with farm enterprise. Mrs. Prange passed to the life eternal on July 27, 1904, and the honored husband and father preceded her, as his death occurred March 20, 1897, both having been lifelong and consistent members of the German Lutheran church. They became the parents of six .children, namely: Henry, William, Charles, Sophia, Frederick and Christ. All of the children are living, in 1917, except William and Charles. Christ Prange was an alert and vigorous boy who did well his part in assisting in the work of the home farm and who made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of his native township. He has continued to pay honor and tribute to the basic industries of agriculture and stock-growing, remains on the old homestead, which comprises one hundred and two acres, and is giving special attention to the dairy department of his farm enterprise. He has a fine dairy herd of eighteen head of excellent cows at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1917, and finds a ready demand for his dairy products in the city of Fort Wayne. He has made the best of improvements on the home farm, including a large house of modern design and facilities, and has provided the most scientific equipment for the conducting of his dairy business under the best sanitary conditions. He is a man of energy and progressiveness, as the appearance of his beautiful farm well attests, and though he takes loyal interest in all that touches the social and material welfare of the community and is a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party he has never manifested any desire for public office of any kind. Both he and his wife are active communicants and liberal supporters of the German Lutheran church at West Jefferson. On June 19, 1899, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Prange to Miss Louisa Prange, a daughter of Henry and Minnie (Millbrook) Prange, of Washington township, this county, and she is the popular chatelaine of one of the beautiful rural homes of her native county. Mr. and Mrs. Prange have no children, but in their pleasant home they delight in extending welcome to the young folk of the community as well as to their many friends of mature years.
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