Indiana

Fort Wayne Indiana Directories

These directories represent a large collection of Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana directories covering the years of 1858-1923 (not inclusive). These 15 volumes may provide the researcher with valuable data on their Fort Wayne ancestors such as specific address, occupation, business name. These directories are most valuable during the years of 1881-1899 as they can serve to supplement the missing 1890 census. 8 of the 24 directories which cover that specific period, with 6 of those in the 1890-1899 time span. One of the listings is a Bell Telephone Directory for Fort Wayne. As such, it will only contain a listing for those residences and business which had a telephone at the time.

Biography of Grover Chester Bowman

GROVER CHESTER BOWMAN – To be responsible for the proper and up-to-date management of modern schools, to endow them with an atmosphere which pervades both the teaching staff and the students, requires men of superior endowments who, as students have been in contact with high-class educational establishments of different types. In this respect Mr. Grover Chester Bowman, superintendent of schools of North Adams, has been singularly fortunate for having as a student, at a period of life when the mind is in a state for high receptivity and plasticity, come under the influence of the academic atmosphere of two of … Read more

Biography of Hon. William McEniry

In considering the prominent legal firms in Rock Island County one’s mind instinctively turns to the firm of McEniry & McEniry, a firm composed of the two brothers, Hon. William McEniry and Matthew J. McEniry, having offices both in Rock Island and Moline. It is the life and character of the former of these two gentlemen that we pro-pose to depict in the sketch that is to follow. The life and character of Matthew J. McEniry will be found elsewhere in this work treated at length. William McEniry was born in Rock Island County, Illinois, May 9, 1860, his parents … Read more

Biography of Matthew J. McEniry

It is said that the legal profession is one of the most difficult in which to achieve success. It is doubtless true that to be a truly successful attorney requires ability of a high order. We have spoken elsewhere in this work of; the success achieved by the legal firm of McEniry & McEniry, and one of the fruits of that success is a renown that is not merely local but that has spread throughout the northwest. In the article mentioned the life and character of one of the members of the firm, William McEniry, was taken up and discussed … Read more

Biography of Deacon John A. Boyer

A man remembered only by the older generation of Rock Island County’s citizens was Deacon John A Boyer, deceased. He was born at Bedford, Pennsylvania, October 16, 1809. During a portion of his boyhood his parents lived at Paris, Kentucky, and later removed to Indiana. In 1837 he came to this county and settled in what was then the town of Stephenson. In 1838 Mr. Boyer was united in marriage to Mrs. Zeruiah Phillips, whose maiden name was Zeruiah Robbins. The following year Mr. and Mrs. Boyer moved to the farm at the south end of what is now Thirtieth … Read more

Biography of Samuel A. Wilson

Samuel A. Wilson, professor of Latin and Greek at Cooper College, was one of the first body of instructors in that institution when it was opened in 1887. At that time he was given the chair of languages and his influence as a teacher and Christian gentleman had entered into the lives of all the students who in the past thirty years have passed through the halls of that institution. Mr. Wilson is of Scotch-Irish stock. His great-grandfather. Archibald Wilson, was born in Ireland May 17, 1772, and learned the trade of weaver. In 1791, when nineteen years old, he … Read more

Biography of James Noble Smith

James Noble Smith, now in his second term as sheriff of Harvey County, is a Kansan of thirty-five years residence and experience. He is a veteran railroader, having handled the throttle of an engine on the Santa Fe road for a score of years or more. He is a capable and trusted officer, and had long been a man of prominence in affairs at Newton and in Harvey County. Mr. Smith was born at Union in Pike County, Indiana, September 22, 1859, and had an interesting family lineage. His great-grandfather was a Scotch Irishman who came to America and founded … Read more

Biography of James B. Jones M. D.

James B. Jones, M. D. For almost a half century Dr. James B. Jones had been in the active practice of his noble profession in Anderson County, Kansas, and while widely known and universally appreciated in other honorable capacities, it is as the skilled and experienced physician and surgeon that his people love him most. Doctor Jones was born October 21, 1847, in Randolph County, Indiana, in one of the picturesque little pioneer cabins that have long since given way in that section to the march of progress, but the memory of which still lingers along with childhood’s recollections. His … Read more

Biography of John W. Simpson

John W. Simpson. The people of the Town of Tescott in Ottawa County recognize in John W. Simpson the man who more than any other individual had been identified with the growth and upbuilding of the community, and they have confirmed their choice of him as a natural leader by keeping him in the office of mayor continually for twelve successive terms, so that he is at once the first and last and only mayor the village had ever had. Mr. Simpson was born in Owen County, Indiana, March 26, 1854, and is of old Virginia colonial stock. His father, … Read more

Biography of William Q. Elliott

William Q. Elliott, who joined the pioneers of Rice County in the early ’70s, had been one of the conspicuous men in that section of the state for many years. His sturdy energy as a farmer brought him liberal rewards, and he had used his means and influence to do good in many directions. He sent a large family of children into the honorable walks of life, had stanchly upheld the forces of religion and morality in his home community and state, and at the age of fourscore his usefulness still continues, especially manifesting itself in his official work with … Read more

Biography of Milton Wilder Browne

Milton Wilder Browne. The dining and hotel service par excellence and acknowledged without a peer in America is the Fred Harvey system. To hold the position of a manager in this system is about the highest word that can be spoken for any hotel man. Newton, as one of the division points on the Santa Fe road, had received the benefits of this system, and the finest hotel in Harvey County is the Arcade Hotel at Newton, now under the management of Milton Wilder Browne, who had been an employe of Fred Harvey for the past eleven years. Mr. Browne … Read more

Biography of John Charles Nicholson

John Charles Nicholson. To name John Charles Nicholson, of Newton, as one of the distinguished lawyers and citizens of Kansas is superfluous information for at least the present generation, since his services and position are too well known to require such introduction. Therefore the following paragraphs are confined to the simple and unvarnished statements regarding his individual career and those important achievements which he had been most influential in bringing about. He was born on his father’s farm in Parke County, Indiana, January 2, 1862, the oldest of nine children born to David and Mary Catherine (Dickson) Nicholson. The industry … Read more

Biography of George M. Hoffman

George M. Hoffman, president of the Citizens State Bank of Little River, came to Kansas in territorial times and is one of the oldest residents of the state. His life had been as varied in its activities and experiences as it had been long, and perhaps no individual had contributed more to the real advancement and upbuilding of the Town of Little River than Mr. Hoffman. His birth occurred in Franklin County, Indiana, February 7, 1843, and he is of German ancestry in the paternal line and his paternal grandfather was a German soldier in the magnificent army of Napoleon … Read more

Biography of Rev. John Walter Kliewer

Rev. John Walter Kliewer, president of Bethel College at Newton, one of the well ordered institutions at Kansas, referred to on other pages, grew up in one of the pioneer settlements of the Mennonite Church people in Western Kansas, and had spent his active career in the ministry of his church and as an educator. Rev. Mr. Kliewer is a native of Russian Poland, born near Berdichieff June 8, 1869. His ancestry is partly German. His grandfather, Peter Kliewer, was born in Danzig, Germany, and moved into the vicinity of Berdichieff in Russian Poland, where he followed farming and where … Read more

Biography of W. Scott M. D.

W. Scott, M. D. Among the original settlers of Republic County who lived to share in the prosperity which had came to this fertile section of Kansas as a result of the labors of themselves and those who have followed them was Dr. W. Scott, who had the distinction of being one of the first settlers of the present site of Norway and the only one of his company to survive to a recent date. Among the pioneers he served as physician, surgeon and dentist, and at the same time took part in the development of the soil and shared … Read more

Biography of G. W. Traylor Dr.

Dr. G. W. Traylor, who practices in association with Dr. J. Arthur Knoop at McCune, was born in Neosho County, Kansas, July 9, 1877, and is a son of Dr. J. B. and Mary Augusta (Meade) Traylor. The Traylor family came originally from France, where the name was spelled Trealor, and located in the Carolinas during colonial times. Dr. J. B. Traylor, father of Dr. G. W. Traylor, was born in Indiana, in 1846, and died at McCune, Kansas, in 1899. As a young man he went to Chicago, Illinois, where he attended Rush Medical College, one of the oldest … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Nathan Baker

NATHAN BAKER. – Mr. Baker is a native of Indiana, having been born in that state in 1837. When but a child of three years he accompanied his parents to Missouri. In 1849, he suffered the loss of his father, who died that year in California, whither he had gone to dig gold. In 1858, the young man went to Kansas, and, entering a tract of land, made that state his home for fourteen years. During this time he had been two years in the army, serving in the Fifth Kansas Cavalry, and a year in the Tenth Kansas Infantry. … Read more

Biography of Samuel Kimbrough Barlow

SAMUEL KIMBROUGH BARLOW. – Samuel Kimbrough Barlow was born in Nicolas county, Kentucky, January 14,1795. He was of Scotch origin, and inherited many of the sterling qualities of his ancestors. His race was remarkable for an unswerving fidelity to principles of right; and on every occasion these principles were disseminated or defended by courage which sometimes almost amounted to audacity. Freedom of speech and will and progression in all things were also marked characteristics of the ancestors of S.K. Barlow. Illustrative of these features of disposition in the Barlow family, a story is told of the fearlessness of the paternal … Read more

Biography of William Barlow

WILLIAM BARLOW. – The proprietor of the beautiful Barlow ranch in Clackamas county, which is on the line of the Oregon & California Railroad, and supplied with a way station and warehouse of its own, is the son of Samuel Kimbrough Barlow, a pioneer of 1845, who did so much to open Oregon to settlement. William Barlow, the subject of this sketch, was born September 26, 1822, in Marion county, Indiana, and in 1836 settled with his father in Illinois, and in 1845 came out to Oregon, performing a journey, the details of which are found in the sketch of … Read more

Biography of Eli K. Anderson

ELI K. ANDERSON. – There is no pioneer of whom volumes might be written with more propriety than he whose name appears above. Miner, Indian fighter, relentless pursuer of horse thieves, pioneer of the great fruit industry of Southern Oregon, and sterling temperance man, and singular, almost passing belief, in this age of defilers of themselves of tobacco, a total abstainer his whole life long from the use of the weed, – such is our subject. He was born in Indiana in 1826; and, after various transferences of residence in that state, during which he learned the carpenter’s trade, he … Read more