Her father, Daniel E. Fairchild, was an early settler in Keener Township of Jasper County, and from the land he owned and used as a farm he donated the right-of-way for the railway and the site of the depot at Demotte. Daniel Fairchild came to Indiana from Hancock County, Ohio. In the Civil war he was a Union soldier three years in Company D of the Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He married Hannah Fry, of Pendleton, Ohio. They were married at Ottawa, Ohio. Of their twelve children three died in infancy. Essie is Mrs. J. B. Erwin; Clifford and Della are deceased; Daniel lives at Monon; Miss Sadie B.; FIorence, Mrs. Charles P. Curtin; Charity, Mrs. F. Wolff; John F., of Monon; and Effie M., Mrs. S. C. Burroughs, of Monon.

Miss Sadie B. Fairchild was born at Demotte attended school there and the Lima Business College of Lima, Ohio, and after returning home took up office work and early demonstrated much ability to handle business affairs and executive responsibilities. She was first appointed postmistress during the President Wilson administration. Her services in that office have been retained at the request of the local patrons through the administrations of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover.

The Fairchilds have had much to do with educational affairs. Her sister Essie and her brothers John and Daniel were teachers, while Clifford was trustee of the schools when the Demotte schoolhouse was built.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

ARTHUR J. BAUER, M. D., was graduated from medical college just in time to join the colors for service with the Medical Corps in the World war. Since the war he has had a busy general practice, with service as a member of hospital staffs at Lafayette.

Doctor Bauer was born at Akron, Ohio, March 10, 1887, and the year after his birth his parents, James and Ida C. (Kurtz) Bauer, came to Indiana and settled in Delaware County. His father was a manufacturer and farmer. James Bauer was born in Eastern Pennsylvania, descended from an early Colonial family. Two Bauer brothers came from the border country between Switzerland and Alsace and joined William Penn's colony in Pennsylvania, They settled in Lancaster County. Both of them served under General Washington during the Revolution, were at Valley Forge and the Saratoga campaigns and their sons were soldiers in the War of 1812. Ida Kurtz was descended from a family of pioneers at Allentown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Arthur J. Bauer graduated from high school at Lafayette, Indiana, and in 1910 completed a course in industrial chemistry at Purdue University. Later he entered Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, where he was graduated M. D. In 1914. During the following two years he had practical experience and training as an interne in the Pottsville General Hospital at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and the Jefferson Hospital at Philadelphia. Doctor Bauer began private practice at Lafayette in 1917, and the following year enlisted in the Medical Reserve Corps. He was commissioned a first lieutenant and served from May, 1917 to December, 1918. During most of the time he was stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

Doctor Bauer was city health officer of Lafayette from 1918 to 1924 and since the war has acted as medical examiner for Battery C of the One Hundred Fiftieth Field Artillery in the Indiana National Guard. In addition to his private practice he is a member of staff of the St. Elizabeth and Home Hospital at Lafayette. In 1919 he was elected president of the Tippecanoe County Medical Society and is a member of the Indiana State and American Medical Associations.

Doctor Bauer married Miss Edna Clausor, of Berks County, Pennsylvania. He has a son Arthur J., Jr. Doctor Bauer is affiliated with Lafayette Lodge No. 492, A. F. and A. M., is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter, Council, Knights Templar Commandery, Murat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Indianapolis. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Phi Sigma Chi and Phi Alpha Sigma fraternities, is a Democrat and a member of the Salem Reformed Church. He takes much interest in outdoor sports and is a past president of the Izaak Walton League of Lafayette.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

ARTHUR BRADLEY ANDERSON is a native Kentuckian, entered the railroad service when a young man and his duties made his a citizen of Peru, where he became interested in public affairs. Mr. Anderson is now serving a term as city treasurer.

He was born at Mount Vernon, Rock Castle County, Kentucky, October 13, 1895, son of William F. and Nancy (Reams) Anderson, being one of a large family of thirteen children. The Andersons were Colonial settlers in Virginia. They moved from Tidewater, Virginia, across the mountains over the Boone Trail through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky and settled on Government land about 1828. Mr. Anderson's grandfather, George W. Anderson, was with a wagon train of the Government during the Civil war. The Andersons are of English ancestry and Revolutionary stock.

Arthur B. Anderson attended school at Mount Vernon and after high school was a student in Greer College of Kentucky. When seventeen years of age he took up a career of work for himself, and in the railroad service came to Indiana. He was at Logansport for a time and in 1915 moved to Peru, where he served fourteen years in the transportation department of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.

Mr. Anderson was elected city treasurer for the term 1930-34. He is a Democrat in politics, a member of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, and is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles. On December 15, 1917, he enlisted, joining the army air service, and was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He held the grade of sergeant. He was honorably discharged in March, 1919, and soon afterward resumed his railroad duties at Peru. He is a member of the American Legion and the Forty and Eight Society.

He married Alice Marie LaPierre, a native of Faribault, Minnesota. They have three children, Harold Edward, Eulalie Nancy and Charline Jean.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

MRS. ORA THOMPSON ROSS, of Rensselaer, was during the World war period the only member of the Jasper County Council of Defense, and since the war her fine talents and lovely character have been expressed in many forms of political and social service in her community.

Mrs. Ross represents one of the oldest families of Indiana. Isaac and Elizabeth Thompson came from Virginia to Ohio. Their son, David Thompson, married Elizabeth McCoy, and of their ten children one was Alfred Thompson, who became the pioneer banker of Rensselaer. Alfred Thompson married, June 12, 1855, Mary Ellen Travis. Of their children Florence, who was born at Rensselaer, June 12, 1858, lived in that city all her life, passing away January 2, 1899, the wife of Charles Gilbert Sears. Miss Ora was born at Rensselaer February 18, 1862. Delos Thompson born May 5, 1864, married, March 3, 1886, Julia Skinner.

Ora Thompson was reared and educated in Rensselaer and is a graduate of the University of Michigan, class of 1885. She was married, November 28, 1885, to Mr. Frank A. Ross, whose father at that time was mayor of the City of Terre Haute. Mrs. Ross has three sons and two grandchildren. Her son Thompson Ross, born at Rensselaer August 21, 1887, and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, married Miss Gertrude Clare Kennedy, of Highland, Wisconsin. Bradley Travis Ross, born July 28, 1889, at Rensselaer, is a graduate of the Boston Institute of Technology with the class of 1907, and married Ella Driscoll of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Livingston Ross, who was born at Livingston, Montana, December 11, 1890, is a graduate in agriculture of the University of Wisconsin.

Mrs. Ross at the present time is chairman of the Jasper County League of Women Voters and state treasurer of the Indiana League of Women Voters. She is a member of the Rensselaer Home Economics Club board and of the American Legion Auxiliary. Mrs. Ross has been a member of the Rensselaer Public Library board since its foundation in 1899 and has served as vice president for many years.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

JAMES ROBERT NEWKIRK is one of the well fortified and representative younger members of the bar of Allen County and is established in the successful practice of his profession in the City of Fort Wayne, where he is junior member of the law firm of Morris & Newkirk, with offices in the People's Trust Building.

Mr. Newkirk was born on the parental home farm in Jackson County, Indiana, and the date of his nativity was October 15, 1897. On that farm his parents, Charles W. and Carrie B. (Stockdell) Newkirk, still maintain their home, and the subject of this review is their one surviving child, the second having been a daughter, who died in infancy. Charles W. Newkirk and his wife were born and reared in Indiana and their marriage was here solemnized in Jackson County, where Mr. Newkirk is now a substantial farmer and influential citizen, he being a Republican in politics and affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while he and his wife are active members of the Baptist Church.

The influence of the home farm compassed the childhood and early youth of James R. Newkirk, and in the public schools of his native county he continued his studies until he was graduated in the high school at Brownstown, as a member of the class of 1916. He thereafter was a student in the State Normal School at Danville, and he has to his credit two years of effective service as a teacher in the public schools. In 1917 he entered the University of Indiana, and during the further progress of the World war he was there a member of the Students Army Training Corps. In 1922 he received from the university his degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in the meanwhile he had prosecuted studies in its law department, with the result that in 1923 he received the supplemental degree of Bachelor of Laws, with virtually concomitant admission to the bar of his native state. In the same year he selected Fort Wayne as the central stage of his professional activities and here became associated with the law firm of Breen & Morris. In September, 1928, Mr. Morris retired from the firm, and then was formed the representative law firm of Breen & Newkirk, the senior member of which was William P. Breen. At the death of Mr. Breen, April 22, 1930, Mr. Morris again joined the firm, under the name of Morris & Newkirk.

Mr. Newkirk has membership in the Allen County Bar Association and the Indiana State Bar Association, his political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Lambda Chi Alpha and Gamma Eta Gamma college fraternities, the American Legion and the Scabbard and Blade, an honorary military fraternity. He served in 1929 as president of the Exchange Club in his home city. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. On June 28, 1930, he was united in marriage with Miss Manetta Marie Schmieder, of Fort Wayne.

Click here for photo.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

MILTON JAY PORTER. The executive head of the substantial enterprise carried on in the City of Fort Wayne under the name of the Porter Construction Company, Milton J. Porter, is a progressive citizen who is well worthy of being numbered among the business leaders of his adopted city. A resident of Fort Wayne since 1910, he has developed a business which adds prestige to the city's commercial reputation, and as a citizen has at all times displayed his willingness to cooperate in modern movements along all lines.

Mr. Porter was born at Marion, the county seat of Grant County, Indiana, August 27, 1861, and is a son of Reuben W. and Rachel Jane (Willard) Porter. Both the Porter and Willard families were pioneers of Indiana and had large agricultural interests in Grant County. Reuben W. Porter was educated in the country schools of his day and reared in the midst of agricultural surroundings. In his youth he turned his attention to the business of house moving and this he developed into a large and remunerative undertaking. During the latter part of their lives he and his worthy wife resided at Marion, where both passed away. They were the parents of the following children: Adelia, the wife of Louis Powell, of Dayton, Ohio, and now deceased; Milton J., of this review; Ezra, who is deceased; and William, who resides on the old home place in Grant County.

Milton J. Porter acquired his education in the public schools of his native county, and as a youth became associated with his father in the house-moving enterprises and the handling of heavy machinery, which was made an adjunct of the business. He continued his education with his father's business until he had reached his majority, and has since devoted the major part of his time and attention to the same line, in which he was thoroughly trained through this alliance with the elder man. In 1910 he established himself in the same line of business at Fort Wayne, and here he has developed a prosperous business under the title of the Porter Construction Company, his contracting being of wide scope in both its direct and incidental lines, while he has extensive local interests also, including his attractive residence property. He has a splendid standing among his associates in the commercial world, and is justly accounted one of the most capable and progressive of Fort Wayne's business men. In a political way he has a reason for the faith that he possesses and signalizes this by his stanch support of the principles and candidates of the Republican party. Both he and Mrs. Porter hold membership in the Congregational Church, and as a fraternalist he is a Mason of high standing and a member of the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, including the uniformed rank of the latter, the Patriarchs Militant.

On July 1, 1882, Mr. Porter was united in marriage with Miss Nara D. Patterson, a daughter of Robert and Nancy (English) Patterson, and to this union there have been born six children: James W., of Marion; Lawrence, deceased; Margueretta, the wife of Percy Shockley, of Bryan, Ohio; Paul C., manager of the Porter Construction Company, a review of whose career appears following in this work; Charles Milton, of Fort Wayne and Ocalena B., the wife of Harold Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. Porter are the grandparents of eleven children.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

PAUL CLIFFORD PORTER. From the time of his graduation from high school Paul C. Porter has been identified with the Porter Construction Company, of which he has been manager for several years. This is one of the leading enterprises of its kind at Fort Wayne and a goodly share of its success may be credited to the energy and ability of Mr. Porter, who is numbered among the capable and aggressive young business men of the city.

Mr. Porter was born at Marion, Grant County, Indiana, January 8, 1891, and is a son of Milton J. and Nara D. (Patterson) Porter. His grandparents were Reuben W. and Rachel Jane (Willard) Porter, natives of Indiana, and representatives of early pioneer families, who followed farming for the most part. Reuben W. Porter, while reared to agricultural pursuits, left the home farm to engage in the moving of houses and other buildings, a line of work in which he gained a substantial success. He and his wife passed the closing years of their lives at Marion, where they were held in high esteem. They were the parents of four children: Adelia, the wife of Louis Powell, of Dayton, Ohio, and now deceased; Milton J.; Ezra, who is deceased; and William, a resident of Marion.

Milton J. Porter obtained a public school education in his native county, and as a youth became associated with his father's house-moving business and with the handling of heavy machinery, an adjunct of the enterprise. In 1910 he established himself in the same line of business at Fort Wayne, where he has developed an extensive patronage under the title of the Porter Construction Company. Politically he is a Republican, in religion is a Congregationalist and fraternally is affiliated with the Masons, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, including its rank of Patriarchs Militant. On July 1, 1882, Mr. Porter was united in marriage with Miss Nara D. Patterson, who was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, a daughter of Robert and Nancy C. (English) Patterson, and to this union there have been born the following children: James W.; Robert; Lawrence, deceased; Margueretta, the wife of Percy Shockley, of Bryan, Ohio; Paul C., of this review; Charles Milton; and Ocalena B., the wife of Harold Johnson, of Fort Wayne. A more extended review of the career of Milton T. Porter will be found in the preceding sketch.

Paul C. Porter received his education in the grade and high schools of Marion, and was nineteen years of age when he accompanied his parents to Fort Wayne, where he has since been identified with his father in the Porter Construction Company, of which he is now manager. He has a thorough knowledge of all the details of the business, and is reliable, energetic and thorough in directing the filling of contracts. Mr. Porter is active in local affairs and a member of the local lodges of the Masons and Odd Fellows.

On September 7, 1914, Mr. Porter was united in marriage with Miss Edith Iona Sarber, who was born at Fort Wayne, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Sarber, pioneers of Allen County, both of whom are deceased, and to this union there have been born five children: Edith Beatrice, Pauline Dean, Margueretta Emma, Robert Samuel and Phyllis Ann. Mr. and Mrs. Porter are members of the Congregational Church and reside at 340 West Williams Street.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

KARL BURKANDT, chief of police of Peru, is an interesting man of the world, an overseas soldier of the World war, and most of his early life in America was spent in the far West.

He was born in Denmark, March 30, 1893. He was brought to America after he had attended school for a year or so and completed his education at Rawlins, Wyoming. When he left school he entered the service of the Union Pacific Railway, was advanced from fireman to engineer and was in the service of the company until 1917.

In the meantime he had joined the Wyoming National Guards and as a member of Company A of the Third Wyoming Infantry was called out for Federal duty during the Mexican border troubles in 1916. During that time he was stationed at Deming, New Mexico.

When America entered the World war he was mustered into the national army with the One Hundred Forty-eighth Field Artillery and was sent to France in December, 1917. He arrived at Le Havre February 5, 1918, and on July 4 began continuous front line duty of 126 days, ending only with the armistice on November 11. During that time he was at the battle fronts of the Champagne-Marne, the Aisne-Marne, Saint Mihiel and Meuse Argonne. The One Hundred Forty-eighth Field Artillery was a part of the Sixty-sixth Brigade, handling the famous 155 guns. Mr. Burkandt was head of a gun crew with the rank of gunner sergeant, having eighteen men under him, two corporals and sixteen privates. His crew was trained to the minute and was unsurpassed in speed in execution whether in drill or in actual service. Mr. Burkandt was offered a position as instructor of artillery, to be returned to the United States in August, 1918, but he preferred the privilege of active service at the front. After the armistice his regiment was a part of the Army of Occupation and was stationed fifteen kilometers from Coblentz, Germany.

He received his honorable discharge in June, 1919, at Fort D. A. Russell, Cheyenne, Wyoming, and then for a short time was again in the service of the Union Pacific. On November 11, 1930, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the Four Hundred Ninety-second Field Artillery, Officers' Reserve Corps. In December, 1920, he came to Peru, Indiana, and for ten years was connected with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. Mr. Burkandt in January, 1930, was appointed chief of police. He has a metropolitan police system under his supervision, comprising nine patrolmen and two sergeants and two police cars. He is a Democrat in politics, and in 1928 was honored with election to the office of commander of the Peru Post of the American Legion. He is also a charter member of the Forty and Eight Society.

Mr. Burkandt married Mary M. Imhoff, of Peru. Her great-grandfather, M. Imhoff, settled near Butler, Indiana, over ninety years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Burkandt have one daughter, Mary Lorene.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931

CHARLES AUGUST FEISTKORN came to Fort Wayne when a youth, worked as a laborer, finding increasing responsibilities with increasing years, and for a long time enjoyed a highly respected position in the commercial and civic community. He was founder of a business still carried on by his sons, known as the Feistkorn Furniture Company, located at 3811-13 South Calhoun Street.

Charles A. Feistkorn was born in the City of Madgeburg, Germany, November 22, 1862. He attended public schools there and was a youth of seventeen when he came to America, in 1879, to visit some relatives in Ohio. He decided to remain in the United States, and for a couple of years worked on the farm of his Ohio relatives.

It was in 1881 that he came to Fort Wayne, and for three years was employed by the Moran Ice Company. His next work was with the Pike Grocery Company, until Mr. Pike sold out the business in 1889. During the next fourteen years he was one of the faithful men in the employ of the Foster Furniture Company. When he resigned, in 1903, it was to join Mr. Shell as a partner. Mr. Shell had bought the Pape Furniture Company, and he and Mr. Feistkorn carried on the business on West Main Street for eleven years.

In 1914 Mr. Feistkorn sold his interest in order to take his sons, Elmer and Harold, into partnership, and that was the beginning of the present business of the Feistkorn Furniture Company. Their first location was at 115 West Jefferson Street, afterward moving to 117 West Jefferson Street, their building there having been erected in 1923 and was occupied until May, 1930. They then moved to their own building, which is now their present location. It is one of the largest and best equipped stores of the kind in Northeastern Indiana.

Charles A. Feistkorn died in 1919, leaving his business in the worthy hands of his sons, who have continued it.

Charles A. Feistkorn was a member of St. John's Lutheran Church. He married at Fort Wayne, June 5, 1888, Miss Minnie Schmidt, who was born in that city June 2, 1864, daughter of Jacob Schmidt, who came from Germany and was a settler at Fort Wayne during the 1830s. He was a mason by trade. Jacob Schmidt was one of the founders of St. John's Lutheran Church. Mr. and Mrs. Feistkorn had just the two sons, Elmer C. and Harold E.

Elmer C. Feistkorn was born January 2, 1890, was educated in the Lutheran parochial schools, spent three years in the Fort Wayne High School and one year in the International Business College. For nine years he was an employee of the First National Bank of Fort Wayne, resigning his position in 1917 to engage actively in business with his father and brother. Elmer Feistkorn married Miss Leona Figel, of Fort Wayne. Both are members of St. John's Lutheran Church.

Harold E. Feistkorn was born September 24, 1892, and had the same educational advantages as his brother. After leaving business college he worked two years for Bowser & Company of Fort Wayne and then three years as assistant auditor of the Berghoff Brewing Company. He left this position in 1914 to join his father, and after the death of C. A. Feistkorn the sons took over the complete management of the business. Harold Feistkorn married, October 11, 1922, Miss Frieda Dannecker, of Fort Wayne. She attended parochial schools there, and for three years was a student in high school and also completed a course in the International Business College. They have one son, Charles Henry, born August 16, 1923.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931