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 84
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and where also he made another and more important step in life, as he there married, when he was twenty years of age, Miss Florence May Folmer. Incidentally it may be noted at this point that of this union have been born seven children, all of whom are living and remain at the parental home, namely : Marydel, William, Sabina, Dallas, Richard, Helen and Camilla. For six years Mr. Waterfield continued his residence at Hutchinson, Kansas, and then established the family home at Coving- ton, Kentucky, where he identified himself with the manufacturing of tobacco as superintendent of the large and well equipped plant of the Lowell & Buffington Tobacco Company. He continued his connection with this concern until 1904 and for the ensuing six years held an execu- tive position in the Commercial National Bank of Covington. In March, 1913, he came to Fort Wayne as secretary and treasurer of the Wayne Tobacco Company, and in the development of the substantial wholesale business he has been the dominating force. Mr. Waterfield has been an active worker in behalf of the principles and policies of the Republican party, is one of the active and valued members of the Fort Wayne Com- mercial Club and the Rotary Club, in the latter of which he takes specially lively interest; he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The family is one of marked popularity in the representative social life of the Allen county metropolis, with residence at 136 East De Wald street.
John S. Waters .- The Waters family has long been honorably identi- fied with the agricultural history of Allen county, for it was as early as the year 1834, when Elias Waters, grandfather of the subject, migrated to Indiana from Pennsylvania, his native state, and engaged in farming. Elias Waters was a true pioneer, and he and his sons were leaders in the best development of their community in the early days. He acquired ownership of a thousand acres of land soon after his arrival and spent the remainder of his life in devotion to the task of developing and up- building that property. In his native state he had been employed as a teamster for years. He had saved his money carefully and when the time was ripe set out for newer fields, accompanied by his family. He first bought land in Wooster county, Ohio, which he later sold and bought a farm near St. Mary's, in Ohio, and in 1832 disposed of that place and came to Allen county, settling in Wabash township. It is said of him that he was about the only man in the neighborhood in those times who knew what money was, and it was a genuine treat for the men of the community to be employed by him, for he was able to pay their hire in cash and not in wheat or other produce, as was the custom. He was progressive and prosperous and was the first man in the township to build a frame barn. His grandson, the subject, tells many interesting stories of the experiences of that old pioneer, and it is worthy of record here that the journey of Elias Waters and his family from Ohio to Allen county was one fraught with many dangers-not the least of which was the attention bestowed upon the party by prowling wolves. At night they became so aggressive that it was necessary for them to protect the little party by building bright fires, and on the last night of the trip, when camping near what is now the junction of the Coldwater and Leo roads, they had felt themselves safe from attack, having seen no signs of wolves during the day, and so had retired to rest without taking the precaution of building up the fire. During the night Waters was awakened by a great commotion among the stock and hastily aroused
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his two eldest sons-mere lads, they were-to protect the stock from the wolves while he built up a fire. One of these lads was the father of the subject. Elias Waterfield died on his Allen county farm when he was sixty-five years of age. One of his sons was John, who married Sally Bowser. She was a daughter of S. F. Bowser, a native of Pennsyl- vania and a prominent man in Allen county for many years, concerning whom is to be found further mention elsewhere in this historical work. It is sufficient to say here that they came to Allen county as young people, and here met and married. They settled in Wabash township on a farm of forty acres and there spent the rest of their lives. John and Sally (Bowser) Waters spent their lives in devotion to the develop- ment of their forty-acre farm in Washington township, and John S., the subject, is the owner of that place today. They were the parents of five children-Lena, Elias, John S., Sarah and James Wesley. Lena and Elias are deceased. The parents died in advanced years, the father being seventy-six years old and the mother sixty-nine. They were worthy people, highly esteemed in their community, and were widely mourned in passing. John S. Waters had his education in the common schools of Washington township and all his active life has been spent in applica- tion to farming. He is today owner of four hundred acres of land in Washington township, on which he has made all modern improvements, with a fine farm home and appropriate barns and other buildings. The entire acreage is tiled and fenced and Mr. Waters himself cleared some of the land. In 1887 Mr. Waters was united in marriage with Miss Della Ramsey, daughter of Adam and Maria (Meyers) Ramsey, natives of Pennsylvania and Germany, respectively. They came to Allen county as young people, here married and settled down to a quiet life on a farm. Mr. and Mrs. Waters have four children. They are John Adams, Anna Elizabeth, Frank and Garnette. Mr. Waters is well advanced in Masonry and is affiliated with A. F. & A. M. No. 25 at Fort Wayne, and the A. A. O. N. M. S. at Fort Wayne.
The Wayne Knitting Mills .- No history of Allen county would be complete without a record of the Wayne Knitting Mills and also its subsidiary and likewise important adjunct, the Thieme Bros. Company. For the purposes of this history no better method of outlining the de- velopment of this representative industrial concern can be followed than by making liberal quotations from the attractive souvenir brochure issued by the Wayne Knitting Mills, in 1916, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the business. Owing to minor paraphrase and elimi- nation in the reproduction it is not deemed necessary to use formal marks of quotation. About the year 1888-9 it began to dawn upon the American people that they were dependent upon Europe for certain manufactured products, as many leading industries were not then repre- sented at all in our country. To find employment for our people and assure future prosperity demanded more factories. For the purpose of offering capital and labor the advantages of tariff protection the Me- Kinley tariff bill was drafted and enacted into law. This was quickly taken advantage of by American business men, and the more adven- turous proceeded to Europe to find and study those industries which offered opportunities for establishment over here. Among those who grasped the significance of the new tariff law was Theodore F. Thieme, of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He sold out his well established drug store, at the corner of Wayne and Calhoun streets, and started for Europe in the summer of 1889. Europe was full of attractions, but a selection was
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made in favor of the full-fashioned hosiery business, the home of which was in Chemnitz, Germany. Mr. Thieme returned home and effected the organization of the Wayne Knitting Mills, with a capital of thirty thou- sand dollars, and with original executive officers as here noted: Presi- dent, Henry C. Paul; vice-president, Charles S. Bash; secretary and manager, Theodore F. Thieme; treasurer, William H. Dreier. This was in the spring of 1891. Another trip to Chemnitz followed, for the pur- pose of buying machinery and bringing over a colony of experienced hosiery-makers, both men and women. Men and machines arrived during the summer of 1891 and the mill started in a rented store building at the northeast corner of Main and Clinton streets, with twenty-five ex- perienced knitters and finishers. Under the most trying conditions, with a gas engine furnishing power, wood stoves supplying heat, and a dye department in the basement, the first stockings were turned out for mar- ket in January, 1892. The first year's operation proved conclusively that the business had a future, but it also developed the fact that much more capital, as well as modern factory facilities, would be needed. Many discouraging features developed, and it seemed impossible to secure the additional capital. Mr. Thieme says that many evenings the key to the factory door was turned for good and all, but that new hope and encouragement seemed to come with the morning. Finally, in the fall of 1892, the company was enabled to increase its capital stock to one hundred thousand dollars, and plans were laid for a two-story brick building, with separate power plant and dye house. When completed, the new building, at the intersection of the Lake Erie and Nickel Plate railways, was equipped with additional machinery from Germany, and the old plant was removed to the new quarters in January, 1893. About this time the capacity of the mill was materially increased by the pur- chase and addition of the machinery and other equipment of a new mill that had been unsuccessfully operated at Dover, Delaware. In 1896 the capital stock was increased to $125.000, and in 1898, by the enlistment of eastern capital, the stock was raised to $250,000. A New York office and stock-room was opened, in charge of the firm of Spies & Nissen, who were given exclusive sale of Wayne Knit hosiery in the eastern market. This was the beginning of a New York office, which has been a most im- portant factor in the growth of the business. Up to 1898 the Wayne Knitting Mills had confined itself to the manufacture of full-fashioned hosiery for men and women, but now began to feel the need of a line of children's hosiery, as well as a line of seamless goods. It was decided to make these in Fort Wayne, and under the direction of Fred J. Thieme the United Knitting Mills, an independent plant, began the manufacture of these goods, which were marketed by the Wayne Knitting Mills. The children's goods were put out under the now well known trade mark of "Pony Stockings," which is today the best advertised brand of children's hose in America. In 1902 the United Mill was taken over by the parent concern, the capital stock of which was then increased to $425,000. In this consolidation Samuel M. Foster became president of the corpora- tion; Fred J. Thieme was appointed superintendent; Edward Helmcke became treasurer; and Theodore F. Thieme continued secretary and man- ager. In 1904 the board of directors adopted a profit-sharing plan, which included all officers and heads of departments and special employees, and the result is the present Textile Industrial Club, which has become a valuable aid in the development of the organization and the business.
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In 1904 a fine exhibit of Wayne Knit hosiery was made at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, in St. Louis, for which the jury of awards gave to the Wayne Knitting Mills the grand prize. In 1906 branch plants were established at Garrett and Roanoke, Indiana, and another on the east side of Fort Wayne. In this year also the capital stock of the cor- poration was increased to $700,000, and the Wayne Knitting Mills Benefit Society was organized. In 1908 the capital was again increased to $1,000,000. As the public demand for pure silk hose and combination stockings grew stronger, the management became impressed with the necessity of operating a special silk-hosiery mill. Since this work re- quired separate handling and equipment, the Thieme Bros. Company was organized, in 1909, with a capital stock of $150,000, all of which was acquired by the stockholders of the Wayne Knitting Mills. A three-story brick building was put up, across the street from the main office, and the manufacturing of ingrain thread silk hosiery for men, women and chil- dren was instituted. This enterprise proved so successful that, two years later, the capital stock was increased to $200,000, and an additional build- ing, with new machinery, was provided to double the original output. In 1909 John A. Thieme was made assistant manager, and both he and Mr. Helmcke became members of the board of directors of the Wayne Knitting Mills. At the annual meeting of the board of directors on May 10, 1910, Mr. Foster resigned the presidency in favor of Theodore F. Thieme, who still holds this office. The other officers of the company at the present time are as here noted : William E. Mossman, vice-president; Fred J. Thieme, secretary ; and Edward Helmcke, treasurer. In conncc- tion with the profit-sharing plan that was instituted in 1904 a special fund was developed, and in six years this was sufficient to build and equip the present fine Club House for employees. This building, of two stories and basement, was completed in 1910, at a cost exceeding $50,000, and the Wayne Knit Social Center is without doubt the most important and far-reaching subsidiary activity of the Wayne Knitting Mills. In May, 1911, the capital stock of the concern was increased to its present figure, $1,200,000. The Old Fort Knitting Mills was acquired by pur- chase in 1912, and its full equipment under the new control made such provision as to warrant the closing down of the branches at Garrett and Roanoke. With the purchase of this mill the total floor space of the gigantic plant was increased to 403,859 square feet-about nine and one- fourth acres. The corporation now has an old-age pension fund, for which a definite distribution system is being brought into operation. The foregoing resume can not but show to even the casual reader the great importance of the Wayne Knitting Mills as touching the general com- mercial, civic and material welfare of Fort Wayne, and the history of the concern is one of which every citizen should be appreciative and definitely proud.
The Wayne Tobacco Company .- The advantages of Fort Wayne as a distributing center have gained due recognition and have enabled many ambitious and progressive citizens to develop substantial commereial enterprises of important order. Such a business is that conducted by the Wayne Tobacco Company, which controls a large trade in the whole- sale handling of tobaccos, cigars, cigarets and general lines of smokers' supplies. The enterprise had its inception on February 13, 1908, and was originally conducted under the title of Albert H. Bunck & Com- pany, with headquarters at 827 Madison street. In the following April,
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however, removal was made to 1022 Barr street, and in October, 1910, as a matter of commercial expediency and for the purpose of making proper provision for the constantly expanding trade, the concern was incorporated under the present title of the Wayne Tobacco Company, with operations based on a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. At the time of incorporation Frank H. Bougher became president of the company and Albert H. Buuck the secretary and manager. About two years later the capital stock was increased to fifty thousand dollars, and at this time Mr. Buuck, the founder of the business. assumed the office of president, Henry F. Koeneman becoming secretary and treasurer and continuing the incumbent of this dual office until February, 1913, when he was succeeded by Dick F. Waterfield, who is still serving in the capacity noted. In the headquarters employment is given to fourteen persons, and eight traveling salesmen represent the house throughout its trade territory, the business having been expanded to an annual average of six hundred thousand dollars, so that it represents one of the flourish- ing and important commercial enterprises of the Summit City.
Jacob A. Weaver .- One of the pioneer families of Wells county, Indiana, was the family which Jacob A. Weaver is today representing in Allen county, where he settled in young manhood. The Weavers were of Ohio birth, David Z. Weaver, father of the subject, being born in Monroe county and there was reared to manhood. His first independent venture took him to Indiana, where he settled on land in Wells county. He was without means and was unable to buy improved land, but he com- promised with fortune by homesteading a tract of government land, which he improved and patented in due time. His early life was not void of hardships, and with no near neighbors loneliness in those first years was a foregone conclusion. He was friendly with the Indians, who were numerous, and with whom he frequently traded, buying his first team of horses from them. He married Susanna Kohr and together they attained a pleasing measure of success in their work. In later years Mr. Weaver owned and operated a grist mill at Zanesville, and was for some time engaged in stock-buying. They were the parents of six children: John B., Catherine, Elizabeth, Emma, Jacob A., and Alice. Jacob A. Weaver was born in Wells county, Indiana, October 13, 1863. His young life was as uneventful as that of most farmer boys, and he divided his time until his later teens between the work of the home farm and his studies in the village schools. When he was twenty-three years old he left the family home and began farming on his own responsibility, beginning operations with an eighty-acre farm to which he later added one hundred and two acres, so that he now has a considerable acerage under cultiva- tion. Stock-farming held his attention during most of the time, and he experienced a commendable success in that departure. In 1902 he with- drew from active farm life and settling in Fort Wayne identified himself
with the Fort Wayne Lumber Company, with which establishment he was associated until March, 1917, when he returned to his farm, where he now resides and is again giving his attention to his agricultural in- terests. In 1886 Mr. Weaver was married to Kate V. Jacobs, daughter of Elijah Jacobs, an old Wells county pioneer, and they are the parents of five children : Merlie E., Goldie M., Ivan O., Lela F., and Floyd A.
Marion A. Webb .- Those familiar with the life record of the late Marion A. Webb, of Fort Wayne, are impressed with the fact that as a man, as a citizen and as a representative of important business interests,
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he measured fully up to the high standard of personal stewardship and honor which he set for himself and which gained and retained to him the confidence and high regard of those with whom he came in contact in the varied relations of a signally upright and useful life. During the greater part of his active career he was employed as a traveling com- mercial salesman in the dry goods line, and concerning him the following consistent statement has been written: "As a traveling salesman he continued his services for a term of years, covered his assigned territory with perfect regularity and made a record of salesmanship that placed him in the front rank of the men of his concern." From the age of fourteen years until his death Mr. Webb maintained his home in Fort Wayne, and here his circle of friends was limited only by that of his acquaintances. Mr. Webb was born at Germantown, Montgomery county, Ohio, March 28, 1846, a son of Jonathan P. and Helen Webb. He estab- lished his residence in Fort Wayne when he was a lad of fourteen years, as previously noted. Mr. Webb acquired his early education in the public schools of Ohio and Fort Wayne, and initiated his association with business affairs by obtaining employment in a Fort Wayne banking institution. Later he entered the service of the A. S. Evans dry goods house, of Fort Wayne, and, with characteristic circumspection and dili- gence so applied himself as to gain a thorough and comprehensive knowl- edge of material values and all other details pertaining to the dry goods trade, so that he was well fortified when he became a traveling salesman in the wholesale dry goods field. His course as a citizen and as a business man was marked by high ideals and his genial and kindly nature won to him hosts of friends. He was a member of a family of three chil- dren, of whom one, Marcus, died in infancy, and the one survivor is Helen, who is the wife of George Davis, of Fort Wayne. Mr. Webb was a life-long adherent of the Republican party, loyal and public-spirited but never a seeker of official preferment of political order. He was long and actively affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity and was a zealous member of the Westminster Presbyterian church in Fort Wayne, in which his widow and daughters retain active membership. On May 9, 1871, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Webb to Miss May Hamilton, of Fort Wayne. Mrs. Webb is a daughter of John and Agnes Hamilton, natives respectively of Albany, New York, and West Stockbridge, Mass. Mr. Hamilton was a saddler by trade and when he came to Fort Wayne, in 1842, established himself in the business to which he had been trained. He was one of the pioneers in the saddlery business at Fort Wayne but lived only a decade after here establishing his home, his death having occurred in 1852 and his widow having survived him by a number of years. Of their two children the son, Hugh, died in early youth, so that Mrs. Webb is the only living representative of this well known pioneer family of Fort Wayne. Mr. and Mrs. Webb became the parents of two daughters, Clara May and Marian Agnes, both of whom remain with their widowed mother in their native city. Mr. Webb passed to the life eternal on April 25, 1902, and to those nearest and dearest to him there remains a measure of compensation and reconciliation in the gracious memories of all that he was a devoted husband and father and as a man who stood "four square to every wind that blows." Though a measureable recapitulation, the following extract from an estimate that appeared in the Fort Wayne Morning Journal at the time of the death of Mr. Webb merits perpetuation in this memoir: "Mr. Webb was left
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an orphan at an early age, and somewhat later was taken into the home of D. S. Beaver. Mr. Webb first accepted employment at the old Bond bank, which occupied the site of the present First National Bank of Fort Wayne, and later entered the dry goods house of A. S. Evans & Com- pany. He became a member of the firm, and when it was succeeded by the wholesale dry goods house of Evans, McDonald & Company Mr. Webb still retained au interest in the concern. When the firm failed, in 1882, he commenced work as a traveling salesman. In 1894 he accepted a posi- tion with the De Wald Dry Goods Company, and thereafter was accounted one of their best salesmen until his death."
Fred Wehrenberg is secretary, treasurer and manager of the New Haven Lumber & Supply Company, which conducts a large and pros- perous enterprise in the handling of lumber, building supplies, wire fenc- ing, drain tile and various lines of farm supplies. The headquarters of the company are at New Haven, Adams township, and a lumber yard is also conducted at Monroeville, in Monroe township. The company was organized in 1906, by Henry C. Wehrenberg, Fred Albersmeyer, Charles Rodenbeck and Diederick Rodenbeck, and these men continued as the controlling principals until the spring of the following year, when the business was incorporated with a capital stock of twenty thousand dol- lars and with officers as here noted : Henry C. Wehrenberg, president; Charles Rodenbeck, vice-president; and Fred Albersmeyer, secretary, treasurer and manager. At this time Fred Wehrenberg, son of the presi- dent, began to assist in the practical management of the business, and his experience in the passing years covered all details of the enterprise. In January, 1915, a reorganization of the company took place and the ownership of the business passed to the control of Henry C. and Fred Wehrenberg, Theodore Thimlar and Diederick Rodenbeck. The present officers of the corporation are: Henry C. Wehrenberg, president; Theo- dore Thimlar, vice-president; and Fred Wehrenberg, secretary, treasurer and manager. In 1917 the capital stock was increased to $35,000. The business is founded on substantial basis of ample capital, effective service and fair and honorable dealings, so that the success of the enterprise has been normally and worthily achieved. Fred Wehrenberg was born in the city of Fort Wayne, December 29, 1890, and has gained place as one of the aggressive young business men of his native county. He is a son of Henry C. and Wilhelmina (Albersmeyer) Wehrenberg, both natives of Germany, the father having been born in the Kingdom of Hanover, February 22, 1859, and the mother October 24, 1862. Henry C. Wehrenberg was reared and educated in his native land and was a young man when he came to the United States, about the year 1880. He remained in New York city until 1881, when he came to Allen county, Indiana, and established his residence in Fort Wayne, where he worked two years at the trade of brick mason and then engaged in contracting business in the line of his trade, in which field of enterprise he still con- tinues his successful operations, he and his wife still maintaining their home in Fort Wayne and both being communicants of the Lutheran church. Of their children the eldest is Fred, the immediate subject of this sketch, and the other four, Paul, Henry C., Jr., Wilma and Alfred, still remain at the parental home in Fort Wayne. Fred Wehrenberg attended in his boyhood the parochial school of St. Paul's .Lutheran church in Fort Wayne, and supplemented this by continuing his studies in the Clay public school and the Fort Wayne Business College. After
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