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 64
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
456
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Rev. John R. Quinlan, rector of the Cathedral at Fort Wayne, was born April 19, 1858, at Valparaiso, Indiana, son of Michael and Hannah (Shanahan) Quinlan, both natives of Ireland. They came to America with their respective families and were married at Valparaiso, Indiana. Michael Shanahan worked as a foreman in the construction of the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad, a relative, P. T. Clifford, having a contract in the construction work. The mother of Rev. Quinlan died when he was about two years old, and in 1861 his father enlisted in the United States regular army. He served throughout the period of the Civil war, participating in the battles of Shiloh, Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain and many other noted engagements. After the close of the war he received an honorable discharge from the army and returned to Valparaiso, where he married and later removed to the state of Kansas, engaging in farming there until his death, in 1905. Rev. Quinlan was educated in the parochial schools of Valparaiso and took his classical course at the St. Francis Seminary, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in which institution he graduated with the class of 1890, being ordained to the priesthood on June 22 of that year. He came to Fort Wayne, on July 4 following, to receive his commission, and was appointed by Bishop Dwenger as assistant pastor of the Fort Wayne Cathedral. He remained in this position eight years and was then sent to Huntington, where he established St. Mary's parish, building a church, school, residence and Sisters' House. He remained in Huntington three and one-half years and then was recalled, on March 10, 1901, to Fort Wayne, where he was made rector of the Cathedral. Six months later he suffered a nervous breakdown and in consequence was given a temporary release from his duties and returned to Huntington, where he remained until July 6, 1910. Having fully recovered he again came to Fort Wayne, took up the duties of rector of the Cathedral and has remained in that position to the present time.
Christian Rahdert is one of the younger farming men of Washington township, who, in a community of prosperous men, has found a place among them well meriting his labors since he turned his attention to the serious business of life. He has progressed with each succeeding year and his holdings today are well worthy of mention. Mr. Rahdert is a native son of his home community, born in Washington township on June 27, 1876, and his parents were Fred C. and Martha N. (Arney) Rahdert. The father was German born, it should be said, and the mother was an Allen county girl, coming of one of the old established families in this part of the state. Fred Rahdert came to Allen county as a young man and there met and married his wife. They established a home in Washington township, reared a family of ten children, and made them- selves a part of the community life in every way. Their children were Mary, Louise, Sophia, Anna, Martha, Christian, Amelia, Fred, Eunice and Emma. Sophia and Fred are deceased. Christian Rahdert was schooled in the Washington township schools and his advantages were of necessity limited. He early identified himself with farm life and has since continued in that industry, enjoying more than average success and acquiring title to one hundred and twenty acres of fine land in his native township. He has made many improvements on the place and has a fine home. He married in 1902, Eliza Kramer being the girl of his choice. Concerning her family mention is to be found in a sketch refer- ring to her father, Charles Kramer, elsewhere in this work. Mr. and
457
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
Mrs. Rahdert became the parents of two children, Wilmer and Verna, and the wife and mother died on February 22, 1913. Mr. Rahdert mar- ried a second time, Sophia Rosebrock becoming his wife on March 24, 1914. She is a daughter of Christopher and Marie (Stroubil) Rosebrock, the parents natives of Germany. There are three children of the second marriage-Frederick, born January 23, 1915, Paul, born March 28, 1916, and Martha, born March 18, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Rahdert are members of St. Paul's Lutheran church at Fort Wayne.
Frank C. Rahe passed his entire life in Fort Wayne, gained secure status as one of the city's representative business men, and was a citizen whose sterling character and worthy achievement gained to him the invio- lable confidence and esteem of all who knew him. His father, Carl Rahe, was born and reared in Germany and upon coming to America became one of the pioneers of Fort Wayne, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. He to whom this memoir is dedicated was born in Fort Wayne on January 23, 1853, and here his death occurred on July 10, 1900, his mortal remains being laid to rest in the beautiful Linden- wood cemetery. He was a lifelong and earnest communicant of the Lutheran church, and his widow, who still resides in Fort Wayne, con- tinues an active and devoted member of the same religious organization. Mr. Rahe acquired his youthful education in the Lutheran parochial schools and the public schools of Fort Wayne, and in finding a field for successful activity in the commercial world finally engaged in the man- ufacturing of cigars, of which line of enterprise he continued as a prom- inent and successful representative in Fort Wayne until the time of his death. By energy and good management he built up a large and prosperous business and as a citizen was always ready to lend his influ- ence and co-operation in the support of measures and enterprises pro- jected for the general good of his native city and county. Though he had no desire for political activity or public office he gave a staunch support to the cause of the Democratic party, and, as previously noted, his religious faith was that of the Lutheran church. In the year 1881 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Rahe to Miss Katherine Pierman, who was born in Germany and was a child of four years at the time of her parents' immigration to the United States. She is a daughter of Zachariah and Emma (Feldman) Pierman, who were residents of Allen county, near Maysville, at the time of their death. Mrs. Rahe is the owner of three valuable residence properties in Fort Wayne, including her own attractive home, and the city is endeared to her by the memories and associations of the past. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rahe-William Frank and Frederick C. (twins). The former died at the age of one week and the latter is bookkeeper for Wolf and Dessauer. He married Miss Elizabeth Popp and they have one son, James Franklin.
Frank J. Rahe .- One of the prosperous and rising young business men of Fort Wayne today is Frank J. Rahe. He began his business career at the age of thirteen, starting out in the employ of the D. N. Foster Furniture Company. One promotion followed another until today Mr. Rahe is treasurer and manager of that well-known concern. Mr. Rahe was born on March 3, 1881, in Cincinnati, Ohio, son of Henry and Amelia (Ellerman) Rahe. The father was born in Germany, coming to America in 1852, and for years was engaged in the contracting business in Cincinnati and Fort Wayne. The mother was born in Brookville, Indiana, and with her husband is now deceased. They were the parents
458
BIOGRAPIIICAL SKETCHES
of six children. Elizabeth is the wife of Henry Wiegmann, of Fort Wayne. Edward is established in business. Ella lives in Fort Wayne. Emma is the wife of H. L. Dunkle, of St. Joe, Indiana. Frank J. was the next in order of birth, and Will is living in Fort Wayne. Frank J. Rahe attended the German Lutheran school and also the public schools of Fort Wayne up to the age of thirteen, when he left his books for the serious business of life. As stated above, he went to work for the D. N. Foster Furniture Company and from that time on his rise was rapid. He was a hard worker, determined to succeed from the beginning, and his present important position has come to him as his just due in return for faithful service, cheerfully rendered. Mr. Rahe is Republican in politics and a member of the Presbyterian church. He has served as president of the Merchants' Association, in 1910-11, and was president of the Indiana Retail Furniture Association in 1912-13. He is a member of the Rotary Club, the Commercial Club and the Modern Woodmen of America. He was married, in 1905, to Miss Claire Pearl Foster, daughter of D. N. Foster, who is mentioned elsewhere in these pages. Two children have come to Mr. and Mrs. Rahe-Maxine Foster and David Foster Rahe.
John H. Rahe was for a long period of years one of the prominent business men and representative citizens of Fort Wayne, where he con- ducted a furniture store that received a substantial and appreciative patronage. He was a youth of eighteen years when he came from his native Germany and established his home in Fort Wayne, where he learned the trade of cabinetmaking, becoming a skilled workman and from the work of his trade being gradually advanced into the general furniture business of retail order. He was a man of the highest integ- rity, resolute, ambitious and endowed with excellent judgment, so that success came to him as a natural prerogative. He had no desire to come into the white light of publicity, but was most loyal and liberal as a citizen and took abiding interest in all things pertaining to the welfare of the city in which he maintained his home for nearly sixty years and in which his death occurred on February 27, 1911, his remains being laid to rest in the beautiful Concordia cemetery. He had been a lifelong and earnest communicant of the Lutheran church and was active in the support of the same, his widow likewise being a devoted member of this fine religious organization. Mr. Rahe was born in Germany on Novem- ber 26, 1835, and thus had celebrated his seventy-sixth birthday anni- versary about two months prior to his death. He was reared and edu- cated in his native land and was eighteen years of age when he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. Soon after his arrival in the United States he came to Fort Wayne, where he applied himself vigorously to the work of the cabinetmaker's trade until the time when he established himself in the furniture business. Of this line of retail enterprise he continued a successful and popular exponent for fully thirty years and through his association with the same gained substantial prosperity, the while he figured as one of the prominent merchants of the city. He was generous and kindly in all of the rela- tions of life and his circle of friends was limited only by that of his acquaintances. Though he had no desire to take part in active politics or to become a candidate for public office of any description, he was always ready to lend his influence and co-operation in the furtherance of the social and material prosperity of Fort Wayne, and his political
459
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
allegiance was given to the Democratic party. His strong and noble character manifested itself most luminously in the precincts of his home, and none could have been more devoted as husband and father, the fine residence which he provided being still occupied by his widow, to whom Fort Wayne is endeared by the gracious memories and association of the past. In 1859 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Rahe to Miss Sophia Blase, who was born in Germany and was a young woman of twenty-two years when she came to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Rahe became the parents of one son, Henry, who is now a resident of the city of Detroit, Michigan, and whose only child, May Stella, now lives in the home of her paternal grandmother, Mrs. Rahe, to whom she accords solicitude and companionship.
Alfred L. Randall is a citizen who has shown in deeds as well as words his loyal interest in his native city and county and is one of the prominent representatives of the automobile trade in Fort Wayne, his having been the first commercial garage established in the city. He was born in Fort Wayne on November 18, 1867, a son of Franklin P. and Mary J. (Read) Randall, honored pioneer citizens of Fort Wayne at the time of their death. Franklin P. Randall was born in the state of New York and became a resident of Allen county, Indiana, in 1835. He was one of the prominent and influential citizens of Fort Wayne and the high place that he held in popular confidence and esteem is indi- cated in the fact that he served fourteen years as mayor of the city, a record that has been equaled by no other man who has been the executive head of the municipal government. He was engaged in the insurance business for a long period and was about eighty years of age at the time of his death. Of his ten children six are living, in 1917. Alfred L. Randall attended the public schools until he had profited by the advantages of the Fort Wayne high school and thereafter attended the old Methodist College and Taylor University, in which latter he was a student for two years. After his school days he was employed in a local plumbing establishment two years and for the ensuing two years was employed in the office of the Kerr Murray Manufacturing Company. The next three years found him the incumbent of the position of cashier for the Seavey Hardware Company, and then, in 1893, he here estab- lished himself in the bicycle business. He continued one of the prom- inent representatives of this line of business in northern Indiana until the bicycle had begun to wane in popularity, and, in 1902, he established the first automobile garage and salesroom in his native city ; he developed a prosperous business as agent for various makes of automobiles until the fall of 1916, when he disposed of his business, but still continued to rep- resent automobile trucks, etc., in this field. He erected and owns the modern theater building of the Jefferson Theater Company, of which he is president. Mr. Randall is president of the Fort Wayne board of education, is president of the Fort Wayne Auto Trade Association, is secretary of the Fort Wayne Motor Club, and in his handling of auto- mobiles is president of the Randall Sales Corporation. Mr. Randall is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is one of the loyal and progressive members of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club, in which he is a member of the Lincoln Highway Committee, and is also actively identified with the local Rotary Club. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and both he and his wife are commu- nicants of the Protestant Episcopal church. On November 5, 1890, was
460
BIOGRAPIIICAL SKETCIIES
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Randall to Miss Grace Greenwood Hay- den, daughter of John W. Hayden, who is engaged in the real estate business in Fort Wayne. Mr. and Mrs. Randall have five children : Mary is the wife of Capt. Charles T. Williams, of the U. S. Army Engineers' Corps, of Washington, D. C., and Phyllis, Virginia, Sarah Grace and Alfred H. remain at the parental home.
Frank M. Randall, who, in the office of city engineer, is one of the able and popular executives in connection with municipal affairs in his native city of Fort Wayne, has also the further distinction of being a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of this section of the Hoosier state. His father, the late Franklin P. Randall, came to Allen county nearly eighty years ago and was one of the able and influential pioneers of Fort Wayne, even as he was one of the leading members of the bar of this section of the state in the formative period of the history of Allen county and its present fine metropolis. Franklin P. Randall was born in Madison county, New York, on June 2, 1812, and was a scion of the seventh generation of the Randall family in America, the original progenitors having come from England and here established residence in the early colonial period of our national history. His grandfather on the paternal side was a gallant soldier of the Continental Line in the war of the Revolution and was an officer of a regiment that took part in the battle of Saratoga, besides which he was a personal witness of the surrender of General Burgoyne. The father of Franklin P. Randall was an officer of the patriot forces that participated in the war of 1812, after the close of which he resumed his active association with agricul- tural pursuits, in Madison county, New York, where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. In his youth Franklin P. Randall received good educational advantages, and in this connection it may be noted that he attended both Cortland and Hamilton Academies, excellent New York educational institutions of the day. For a time he was engaged successfully in the teaching of school in his native state and then began the study of law under the effective preceptorship of Judge Ellis Lewis, who served fourteen years as chief justice of the supreme court of the state of New York. In February, 1838, Mr. Randall was admitted to the New York bar and a few months later came to Indiana and estab- lished his home at Fort Wayne, which was then a small village. He became closely, worthily and prominently identified with the develop- ment and progress of this section of Indiana, with loyal interest in all things touching the civic and material advancement of the community, and his character and ability made him a dominant force in connection with public affairs in the pioneer village and county. Very soon after he had established his residence at Fort Wayne he was called upon to serve in public office, and thereafter, during the long period of his resi- dence in Allen county, he gave much of his time and effective attention to service in public offices of varied orders. He was one of the best known and most honored pioneer citizens of Fort Wayne at the time of his death, in 1892, and his name must ever be given significant dis- tinction in the recorded history of the city and county in which he so long lived and labored unselfishly, loyally and effectively, with a supreme sense of personal stewardship in connection with those things that make for the general good of the community. Mr. Randall was a young man at the time of his marriage to Miss Mary J. Read, who was born in Kentucky, and who was one of the venerable and revered pioneer women
461
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY
of Fort Wayne at the time of her death, in 1913. Frank M. Randall, the immediate subject of this review, was born in Fort Wayne and in the public schools of his native city continued his studies until he had completed the curriculum of the high school. He then entered Purdue University, at Lafayette, in which he completed a thorough course in mathematics and civil engineering. Thereafter his first specific appli- cation of his technical knowledge was achieved when he became associ- ated with a surveying corps that was engaged in railway construction work in Ohio. Later he was identified also with the engineering corps of the Nickel Plate Railroad. In 1891 the city council of Fort Wayne tendered him the office of city engineer, and of this important position he has since continued the efficient and valued incumbent. Within his long period of service he has accomplished a large amount of important municipal engineer work of various kinds, and his administration has been signally discriminating, practical and progressive. Within his regime have been made vast improvements and extensions in the paving of the streets of Fort Wayne, the establishing and amplifying of the modern sewerage system, and other important work whose superiority clearly demonstrates his technical ability and executive resourcefulness. He has permitted no work to pass muster without being held to the highest possible standard, and his native city owes to him much for the effective service he has given during the period of its most remarkable development and progress along both civic and material lines, the pro- gressive trend of the city being still vigorous and normal and his loyalty to his home city being of the most insistent order. He has been unswerv- ing in his allegiance to his chosen profession and thus has had no inclin- ation to enter the arena of so-called practical politics, though he gives a staunch support to the cause of the Democratic party. In 1884 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Randall to Miss Calla Embury, and they have three children: Ruth is a successful and popular teacher in the high school of the city of Detroit, Michigan; May is the wife of Austin Melchers, of Detroit; and Franklin P. is a member of the class of 1917 in the law department of the great University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor.
William F. Ranke .- The fiscal affairs of Allen county are being carefully and effectively conserved under the administration of Captain Ranke as treasurer of the county, and he is now serving his second term in this office, a fact that vouches for the inviolable place which is his in popular confidence and good will in his native county, and this object- ive attitude being the more significant when it is understood that in the election of 1916 he was the only Democrat elected to office on the county ticket. Captain Ranke, whose military title was gained through effective service with the Indiana National Guard and as an officer in the Spanish- American war, was born in Fort Wayne on January 20, 1865, and is a scion of one of the old and honored German families of northern Indi- ana. He is a son of William and Sophia W. (Jacob) Ranke, both natives of Germany, where the former was born, September 16, 1838, and the latter, February 18, 1845. Captain Ranke gained his preliminary edu- cation in the Lutheran parochial schools of Fort Wayne and thereafter attended the old Methodist Episcopal College in this city and also Con- cordia College. In 1885 he was graduated in the department of phar- mary of the University of Michigan and thereafter continued his active identification with the drug business in Fort Wayne until January 1, 1908, when he became an employe in the office of the treasurer of Allen
462
BIOGRAPIIICAL SKETCHES
county. His ability enabled him to profit fully by the technical experi- ence thus gained, and thus he was a normal and specially eligible can- didate when he was elected to the office of county treasurer in 1914. In his first term he fully justified the popular choice of an incumbent, and the estimate placed upon his administration was significantly shown when he was re-elected, in 1916, as the only successful candidate on the Democratic ticket in the county, his friends and admirers having rallied to his standard without reference to partisan lines. Captain Ranke has been one of the influential figures in Democratic politics in this section of the state and has been closely identified with the maneuvering of political forces in his native county. In 1906 he was elected senator from Allen county and served during the legislative sessions of 1907, 1908 and 1909, his record having been marked by characteristic loyalty to his constituency and by effective influence in the furtherance of wise legislation. Captain Ranke's identification with the Indiana National Guard had its inception in 1887, when he became a private in Battery E. In this fine organization he won promotion to the office of captain, and when the Spanish-American war broke out he enlisted with his command, which became the Twenty-eighth Battery of Indiana Volunteers. He served as captain of this battery from the time of its enrollment in the United States volunteer service, on April 26, 1898, until the organization was mustered out, on the 31st of the following October. The battery was mobilized in one of the southern reserve camps and was not called to the stage of active warfare in Cuba, much to the regret of its members. In 1899 President McKinley appointed Captain Ranke a captain in the Thirty-ninth United States Infantry, but he resigned this commission and did not join the regiment, owing to the exigencies of his private business affairs. The Captain is past department commander of the Indiana Department of the United Spanish War Veterans, is an active member of the Military Order of Foreign Wars, and also of the Naval and Military Order of the Spanish-American War. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and other fraternal organ- izations, and his religious faith is that of the Lutheran church. When the serried ranks of the eligible bachelors of Allen county pass in review it will be noted that Captain Ranke marches therein with true military nerve and precision.
Lyman H. Ransom is one of the most venerable and honored of the active business men of Fort Wayne, where he has maintained his home for more than forty years and now holds the dual office of secretary and treasurer of the Fort Wayne Mercantile Accident Association, a cor- poration that controls a large and important business in the extending of indemnity along clearly defined lines of insurance, the published liter- ature of the association giving adequate data concerning the province and service of the association. Mr. Ransom is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of the state of Michigan, his parents having there established their residence in the territorial period of the history of that commonwealth. He was born on a pioneer farm near Sturgis, St. Joseph county, Michigan, on July 17, 1837-the year that marked the admission of that state to the Union-and he is a son of Henry M. and Betsey P. (Banning) Ransom, who were born and reared in Connect- icut, where their marriage was solemnized, both having been represent- atives of families that were founded in New England in the colonial era of our national history. Upon his removal to the wilds of southern
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.