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 87
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ing vessel which did not reach its destination until after the lapse of six weeks on the ocean. His loyalty to the land of his adoption was manifested in his service of three years as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil War, and in later years he was affiliated with that noble and patriotic organization, the Grand Army of the Republic. He was a skilled carpenter and for many years was one of the successful and representative contractors and builders in Fort Wayne,-a man of sterling character and one who ever commanded unqualified popular esteem. He was an eanest communicant of the German Lutheran church, as is also his widow, and was one of the honored pioneer citizens of Fort Wayne at the time of his death, in 1914. William E. Woebbeking acquired his early educa- tion in the parochial schools of the German Lutheran church in Fort Wayne and his initial business experience was gained through his service as errand boy for D. S. Low, who was engaged in the retail millinery busi- ness at 11 East Columbia street. After a period of about three years there was a change in the ownership of the business and Mr. Woebbeking remained with the new firm until it sold the business. He then entered the employ of Frank J. Noll and George B. Saylor, who at that time were local representatives of the wholesale millinery house of Adams, Steeley & Company, of Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Woebbeking had charge of the com- pany's sample rooms in Fort Wayne while his employers were giving their attention to representing the house throughout their assigned trade territory. Finally the company opened a branch establishment in Fort Wayne, in a building that was on the site of the present Nuttman Bank, on Main street, and of this branch wholesale establishment Mr. Woebbe- king had charge for two years. Mr. Adams, one of the principals in the Dayton company, then formed a partnership with his half-brother, Mr. Armstrong, and the latter assumed the supervision of the wholesale mil- linery house which they then established in Fort Wayne, on Calhoun street. The subject of this review was placed in charge of the silk de- partment of the new concern and, in 1893, took the supervision of the buying department of the business. Later Mr. Adams sold his interest and a reorganization took pace, resuting in the former of the Armstrong- Turner Millinery Company. Still later this company was succeeded by the firm of Armstrong & Turner, and in 1904, the well established business was purchased by Charles T. Pidgeon and Mr. Woebbeking, who have since successfully conducted the substantial and prosperous enterprise under the title of the C. T. Pidgeon Millinery Company, this being one of the important concerns lending to the commercial prestige of Fort Wayne and its business extending throughout the large trade territory normally tributary to the city. Mr. Woebbeking is secretary of the company which bases its operation on ample capital, effective management and progressive policies, and he is essentially one of the alert and representa- tive business men of his native city. He is president of the C. T. Pidgeon Realty Company and a director of the Fort Wayne Concrete Tile Com- pany. Though never imbued with desire for publie office, he takes loyal interest in all things touching the welfare and advancement of his native city and county, is a staunch Republican in politics, and holds member- ship in the Fort Wayne Commercial Club and the local Country Chib. February 7, 1891, recorded the marriage of Mr. Woebbeking to Miss Cecelia H. Raidy, who was born and reared in Fort Wayne, where her parents, Mr. and Mrs. David Raidy, still reside, her father being now retired, after many years of service as a locomotive engineer on the Penn-
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sylvania Railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Woebbeking have seven children, namely : Irene, Marie, Raymond William, Clarence Edward, Margaret, Georgiana Ethel, Robert William and Marian Agnes.
William Woebbeking .- Three generations of the family here named have contributed to the agricultural and industrial development of the state of Indiana in their respective localities, and a fourth generation is growing up to take its place in the world's work. William Woebbe- king is the son of Henry and the grandson of the first American ancestor, the latter coming to America, in 1844, and bringing his family with him. They settled in Adams county and the German immigrant became one of the substantial and successful farming men in his community. After his death, his son, Henry, who had hitherto been engaged in the carpentering business, turned his attention to the operation of the home farm and con- tinued actively in that work until his death, in 1913. Henry Woebbe- king was born in Germany, in 1832, and was twelve years of age when he first saw America. He married Wilhelmina Buuck, who was born in Adams county of German parents, and who survives her husband at this writing. They were parents of eleven children, named Mary, Fred, (de- ceased), Carl, Ernest, Theodore, Henry, William, Herman, Paul, Martha, and Sophia, all living but the first, third and fourth. William Woebbe- king was born in Adams county on September 21, 1873, and with his brothers and sisters had his education in the common schools of Adams county and the Lutheran school in Adams county. He began farming in Maumee township, Allen county, and it is there he is to be found active in his chosen enterprise at this time. He is the owner of a well developed farm of one hundred acres and his enterprise, industry and general good management have won him a place among the successful farming men of the township. The place is well equipped according to the best modern standards in agriculture and general farming is carried on, with special attention to the breeding of Shorthorned Durham cattle. On October 16, 1902. Mr. Woebbeking was married to Miss Minnie Rekeweg, a daughter of Deiderick and Louisa (Korte) Rekeweg, and they are the parents of two children-Luella and Welma, the latter deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Woebbeking are lifelong members of the German Lutheran church and Mr. Wo bbeking is Republican in politics. He is not active in local poli- tics, though fulfilling all the demands of good citizenship, and has no lodge memberships. He is content with his home life and finds occupa- tion in the many duties afforded by the proper operation and management of his home and farm.
Paul E. Wolf came from Germany to America as an ambitious and industrious young man of twenty-one years, and within a short time after his arrival in the land of his adoption established his residence in Fort Wayne. A skilled workman at the trade of upholsterer, his energy and ability have enabled him here to develop a prosperous upholstering busi- ness of general order, and in connection therewith he has built up also an equally successful enterprise in the manufacturing of high-grade mattresses. He has been a resident of Fort Wayne for more than forty- five years, and each successive year has counted in worthy achievement on his part, the while he has been deeply appreciative of the advantages that have here been afforded him for the gaining of independence along normal lines of business enterprise and has shown himself unequivocally loval and public-spirited as a citizen. He has been content to follow the quieter walks of life, has had no desire to bask in the glare of publicity,
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but his deep interest in community affairs has not been of merely senti- mental and quiescent order, for he has given staunch and intelligent sup- port to the cause of the Republican party and has served with marked efficiency as a member of the city council,-a preferment that indicates the high estimate placed upon him in the city that has long been his home and the stage of his fruitful activities. He is a substantial and popular business man and is well entitled to representation in this history. Mr. Wolf was born in the Kingdom of Saxony, Germany, on March 5, 1850, a son of Edward and Mathilda (Wehe) Wolf, who passed the closing years of their lives in Saxony, Germany, the father having been a tailor by trade and vocation and the family having held to the faith of the Lutheran church for generations. The subject of this sketch is one of the two surviving sons in a family of five children and was reared and educated in his native land, where also he served a thorough apprenticeship to the trade of upholsterer, of which he has continued an exponent during the long intervening years and through the medium of which he has built up his present thriving business, the headquarters of which are at 619-21 Clinton street. Both he and his wife, whose maiden name was Maria Knothe, are earnest members and communicants of the German Lutheran church.
Sol A. Wood is one of the representative members of the Allen county bar and is engaged in the successful general practice of law in the city of Fort Wayne. That he holds also the degree of Doctor of Medicine gives evidence of his versatility of talent and also of his broad mental attain- ments. He has been emphatically a man of ambition and resolute pur- pose, and in the various stages of his career has shown that high sense of personal stewardship that ever makes for effective service. Mr. Wood was born in Steuben county, Indiana, on April 11, 1857, a son of Dr. War- ren A. and Louvina B. (Thompson) Wood, the former of whom was born at Bainbridge, Chenango county, New York, and the latter in Wil- liams county, Ohio. The father prepared himself thoroughly for the exacting work of the medical profession and was for many years one of the leading physicians of Steuben county, Indiana, where his death oc- curred in 1868, the subject of this review being the only survivor of their four children. His widow continues to make her home in Angola. Sol A. Wood continued his studies in the public schools until he had profited duly by the advantages of the high school at Angola, the judicial center of his native county. In fortifying himself for the profession that had been dignified and honored by the character and services of his father, he finally entered the Fort Wayne Medical College, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1879, and from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. For the ensuing two years he was engaged in successful general practice in Steuben county and was then elected county auditor, a position of which he continued the incumbent for eight years. Within this period he gave close attention to the study of law and after his retirement from office and his admission to the bar was for two years associated with Judge Frank Roby in the general practice of law at Angola. At the expiration of the period noted the partnership alliance was dissolved, and thereafter he continued in the independent practice of law at Angola, where he built up a substantial law business to which he gave his attention until 1901, when he found a broader field of professional endeavor by establishing his residence in the city of Fort Wayne. For two years he was here a member of the law firm of Gilbert, Berghoff & Wood, and since that time has controlled
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a representative general practice of representative order. He has served as referee in bankruptcy for North Eastern Indiana, embracing eleven counties, since 1905, but has otherwise given his undivided attention to the demands of his substantial law business, in connection with which he is known as a resourceful trial lawyer and able and reliable counselor. Dr. Wood gives unqualified allegiance to the Republican party and has been a loyal advocate of its principles and policies. He is an active mem- ber of the Indiana State Bar Association and the American Bar Associa- tion, is identified with the Fort Wayne Commercial Club, has received in the Masonic fraternity the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, besides being affiliated with the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and both he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church. On April 10, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wood to Miss May Huss, of Wheeling, West Virginia, she being a daughter of John and Emeline Huss, both of whom are de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have two children-Carver C., who now re- sides in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Harold L., who has established his residence in Louisville, Kentucky.
James Woods .- The Woods family came to Allen county from Wayne county, Ohio, in the year 1850, at a time when the subject, James Woods, was a lad of about fourteen years. He was born in East Union township, Wayne county, Ohio, July 15, 1836, son of George and Charlotte (Richie) Woods, the latter a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. When the family came to Allen county they bought a tract of 240 acres of land from one Josiah Hitchcock, a pioneer of East Union township, and paid for it the price of $2.50 per acre. That was considered a fair price in that day for wild land, and George Woods had no small task before him when he bought the land and settled down with the idea of making a home on it for his family. He proved himself equal to it, however, and neither the hard labor nor the danger from wild animals and Indians was sufficient to deter him in his purpose. He cleared the spot with his own hands where the first rude cabin home was erected, and lived to see his wilderness land grow into a productive and handsome possession. He was a Democrat in later life, active in the work of the party, and a mem- ber of the Church of the Brethren. He died in 1881 and his wife passed away in 1901. The children of George and Charlotte Woods were nine in number. Samuel, the first born, died in 1898. James was the second child. John, Alexander and Elizabeth are deceased. Milton lives in Fort Wayne; George is a resident of Pleasant township; Mary Jane be- came the wife of Allen Bushe and died in 1908 and Jacob is living on the old home farmstead. James Woods had his education in the subscription schools common to the period of his youth and was an important factor in the improvement of the farm his father settled on. Much of his youth and strength went into the development of the farm home, and he has spent all his life in Pleasant township. Mr. Woods is a Democrat, as was his father before him, and he is a member of the Church of God. He was married on March 10, 1858, to Margaret Hermine, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Kiester) Hermine, and they are the parents of five chil- dren. Augusta Ann, the first born, is deceased. Clement lives in Pleasant township. A third child died in infancy. Amanda is the wife of John Motz. Froney Elizabeth married Enoch Smith.
Charles H. Worden .- The elements which combine to prepare and equip a man for true service to his fellows are united in Charles Howard Worden. Although his energies are directed largely to the care and re-
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sponsibilities which group about his position as president and executive head of The First and Hamilton National Bank of Fort Wayne, his well ordered mind enables him to give attention not only to other business interests but to the needs of the people of his home city in many lines of endeavor. Mr. Worden was born September 14, 1859, in Fort Wayne. His parents were Judge James L and Anna (Grable) Worden. The mother was born on February 9, 1829. Judge Worden, the father, was one of Indiana's leading members of the bar. Born at Sandisfield, Berk- shire county, Massachusetts, May 10, 1819, son of John and Jane Worden, of sturdy New England stock, James L. Worden remained in Massa- chusetts until he reached the age of eight when the widowed mother and an elder brother, John Babcock Worden, brought him to Portage county, Ohio, where he passed his youth on a farm. Later he studied law and was admitted to the Ohio supreme court. After a brief residence in Tiffin, Ohio, James L. orden removed to Columbia City, Indiana, and later took up his residence in Albion, of the same state. In 1849 he came to Fort Wayne and continued to make this his home until the time of his death. During the succeeding years he served as prosecuting attorney of the Twelfth judicial district, in a like capacity for the newly-formed Tenth District, as judge of the circuit court of Allen county, associate justice of the supreme court of Indiana, judge of the supreme court, mayor of Fort Wayne, judge of the Superior court of Allen county, and in other places of responsibility. Such were the type of the parentage of Charles H. Worden. Following his attendance at the publie schools, Mr. Worden entered upon a course in the literary department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was a member of the class of 1883. In the previous year he had been admitted to the bar of Allen county, Indiana, of which his home was the county seat. He first read law in the office of Judge Robert S. Taylor, of Fort Wayne, and later was as- sociated with John Morris, son of the late Judge John Morris, under the firm name of Worden & Morris, from 1887 until 1893, the fathers of these two young men having in earlier years been associated together in the From 1894 until 1902 Mr.
practice of law under the same firm name.
Worden was associated with Judge Allen Zollars, the firm being known as Zollars and Worden. During these years Mr. Worden, through his strong personality, his clear grasp of the true phases of intricate and involved questions at law, and his energy of thought and action, attained a high place in the legal eireles of Indiana. However, in 1902, there came to him a call to another field of endeavor, and, withal, one which re- quired the application of the same elements which marked his career in the law-that of the acceptance of the vice-presidency of the First National Bank, which included the responsibilities of chief executive officer of this important financial institution. For fourteen years Mr. Worden occupied the place of vice-president, or until January 9, 1917, when he was elected president and this office he continued to fill until April 7, 1917, when the Hamilton National Bank was merged with the First National and the title of the institution became the First and Hamil- ton National Bank, of which he was elected president. The bank opened for business under its new name on April 9, 1917, and the wisdom of the call and of his acceptance of it is shown in the remarkable progress of the institution toward higher and better things in the financial world during this period. Of him, another writer has recently said with truth and clearness. "Mr. Worden is a man who brings to bear knowledge, in- dustry, public spirit and high character to a post with which he is
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qualified to deal, by long study, fine purpose and the possession not only of the facts of the case, but the confidence of all honored men interested in the duties and problems of the position. He knows what it is to struggle and what it is to achieve. He has worked up, until today he stands as a fine type of America's successful business man. He has the faculty of stating arguments, facts and conclusions in a clear, crisp and logical style-of saying without hesitation or embarrassment just what he means, and of using language precisely suited to the ideas set forth. He is a business man all the way through, and yet, with the air of a close student, fonder of books than of show and display. He has worthily earned the good will and respect of the most substantial and conservative members of the community and is looked upon as a man whose business ability, integrity and financial acumen have never been questioned. The thorough business training which he brings to bear is especially valuable to his important office, and there is every reason to predict for him an in- creased measure of success therein in time to come." Among the outside interests in which Mr. Worden is concerned in an official way are the Hartford Paper Company, of which he is the vice-president; the Fort Wayne Corrugated Paper Company, of which he is a director; and the Wayne Paper Goods Company, of which he is the vice-president and a director. He is an active member of the Masonic fraternity and holds the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. He is a thoroughly loyal member of the First Presbyterian church, in which organization he has served as an elder from 1885 until the present time, and for many years also as the superintendent of the Sunday school. In politics, Mr. Worden has been a consistent supporter of the doctrine of the republican party. On January 10, 1884, Mr. Worden was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Marshall Hoffman, daughter of Jacob and Susan C. Hoffman of Fort Wayne, and a grand-daughter of Marshall S. Wines and Elizabeth Wines, two of the pioneer settlers of Fort Wayne. To them have been born three children-Mrs. Alice Worden Condit, wife of Gex Pullen Condit, of Gary, Indiana; Marshall Wines Worden and Charles James Worden.
James L. Worden .- Among the distinguished names of Fort Wayne's development is that of Judge James L. Worden, lawyer, jurist and states- man. Of strong mentality, invincible courage and a warmth of heart which made him a friend to all, Judge Worden was one of the best- loved men of his time. James Lorenzo Worden was born in Sandisfield. Berkshire county, Massachusetts, May 10, 1819, son of John and Jane Worden whose respective families were founded in America in the early colonial period. When Judge Worden was a lad of eight years, his father died, and the widowed mother removed to Portage county, Ohio, where she located on a farm. Here James L. Worden received the rudi- ments of his education in the rural schools and during which period the boy gave evidence of a strong liking for literary pursuits. At the age of nineteen he began the study of law, and. in 1839 entered the office of Thomas T. Straight, a leading member of the bar in Cincinnati. In 1841 he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Ohio, at Lancaster, and for two or three years practiced at Tiffin, Ohio. In the spring of 1844 he came to Indiana and located at Columbia City, in Whitley county. In the autumn of 1845 Judge Worden removed to Albion, Noble county, Indiana, where he soon gained distinct recognition as a leader in his profession. At this time his reputation gained wider repute during the prosecution of a murder case which brought him to Fort Wayne on a
James L. Morelia
THE NF PUBLIC LIFE
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change of venue from Noble county. His new friends induced him to locate in Fort Wayne, which he was pleased to do, in 1849, and here he spent his days until the time of his death. In 1850 Judge Worden was elected prosecuting attorney for the Twelfth judicial circuit, embrac- ing the counties of Allen, Adams, Wells, Huntington, Whitley, Noble, Steuben, LaGrange and DeKalb. He held this office for three years. Two years after he was elected the state was re-distrieted for judicial purposes and Allen county became a part of the Tenth circuit, which also included the counties of Adams, Wells, Huntington, Wabash, Whitley, Noble, DeKalb, LaGrange, Steuben, Elkhart and Kosciusko. A year later the counties of Huntington and Wabash were taken from the cir- cuit. Of this Tenth circuit James L. Worden was appointed by Governor Joseph A. Wright, in 1855, to fill a vacancy. At a general elcetion, in the fall of that year, Judge Worden was elected to the bench of the circuit for a full term of six years, without opposition. Although he was dis- inclined to accept honors which would in any degree interfere with the further interests of his profession, his party associates made him the democratic candidate for congress, in 1857. The district was largely republican and he met defeat with the balance of the ticket. In 1858 Judge Worden resigned his position as judge of the Judicial circuit court, to which he had been appointed in 1855, to accept the appointment tender- ed him by Governor Willard as an associate justice of the supreme court of Indiana, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Stuart, of Logansport. In 1859 he was elected a judge of the supreme court for a full term of six years, ending in January, 1865. In 1864 he was re- nominated for another term, but the entire ticket suffered defeat. In January, 1865, upon his return to Fort Wayne, Judge Worden was in- duced to accept his party's nomination for mayor of the city and was elected in the following May. During his period of service in the mayor's chair, Judge Worden did splendid service, but, after serving about one year, resigned the place in order to give his undivided attention to his law practice which had grown to large proportions. From that time until January, 1871, he was associated in practive with Judge John Morris. In 1870 Judge Worden was again elected a judge of the supreme court, serving a full term of six years, at the expiration of which, in 1876, he was renominated by his party. He was re-elected by a large majority as the supreme judge of the court. Judge Worden entered upon his third term, in January, 1877. In 1882 his friends throughout the state insisted that he should become a candidate for re-election, but he felt that the exacting labors of the office during a period of nearly nineteen years entitled him to the right to decline further honors in this direction. Ilow- ever, upon his return to Allen county, he was nominated and elected to the office of judge of the superior court and remained in this office until the time of his death, June 2, 1884. Two days later, upon the occasion of a meeting of the Bar Association of Allen county, addresses expressive of the sorrow of the entire state were delivered by Judge Morris and Hon. J. K. Edgerton, and words of eulogy and sorrow came from repre- sentatives of the bar in all portions of Indiana. The late Judge Allen Zollars, writing of Judge Worden, gives this expression of the common estimate of the man: "Judge Worden made no pretense to florid oratory. but in his addresses to the court and jury he was logical, practical and convincing. In the trial of cases his thorough knowledge of the law and the rules of practice, his fine analytical powers and logical and methodic- al manner of thought, enabled him readily to discern and grasp the
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