ARTHUR EDWARD SMITH, who is filling the office of purchasing agent for Allen County, is a native of Fort Wayne, and for many years had an interesting commercial experience as a traveling salesman, building up a large acquaintance and commercial connections throughout Indiana and adjacent states.

Mr. Smith was born at Fort Wayne , August 14, 1872, son of Edward C. and Carrie (King) Smith. His father was born in Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan, and moved to Fort Wayne in 1868, and was married the following year. His wife was a native of Adams County, Indiana. Edward C. Smith was in business as a manufacturer of wagons and carriages at Fort Wayne until his death. His widow now resides at Fort Wayne, at the age of eighty-five. Their three children are Arthur Edward, Harry Alexander of West Virginia, and Mrs. John H. Vesey, of Fort Wayne.

Arthur Edward Smith attended school at Fort Wayne, and his early commercial training was gained while working for a Fort Wayne hardware company. His chief business experience, however, was as salesman for women's ready to wear goods, and for twenty-one years he was connected with the firm of George G. Wood & Company, of New York, traveling over the territory of three states, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. During these years Mr. Smith has made his home in Fort Wayne, and is a popular citizen of Allen County. He was appointed purchasing agent for the county in July, 1928.

He has been quite active in politics for twenty years. During the World war he had charge of the first drive for the Y. M. C. A., and also was chairman for the last Red Cross drive during the war. He has been team captain in numerous other Red Cross and civic drives. Mr. Smith is a York and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, member of the Fort Wayne Country Club, Chamber of Commerce, and the First Presbyterian Church. His favorite pastime is golf.

He married at Fort Wayne, April 20, 1911, Miss Katherine B. Chapin, who was born at Kendallville in Noble County, Indiana, daughter of Judge Agustus A. Chapin, of Fort Wayne. They have one son, Franklin Chapin, now attending the University of Michigan, class of 1931. In his junior year he received the Phi Beta Kappa.

Click here for photo.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


EDWARD TUHEY is a native son of Muncie, and for many years has been actively identified with the business affairs of that city. For fifteen years he has been a member of the Muncie board of education and much of the time secretary of the board.

He was born in Muncie, January 10, 1856, son of Patrick and Anna Tuhey. His parents were natives of Ireland, and his father came to the United States when about twenty-one years of age, while his mother was brought over when a child by her parents. They settle at Muncie in 1854. His father was a laboring man, an honest and industrious citizen who made every effort to provide for the proper education and training of his children. He died in 1899 and is buried in the Beech Grove Cemetery. The mother passed away in 1900. There were five children: Edward; John Patrick, deceased; Blanche, deceased, who married John C. Greisheimer; Anna, widow of John Sweigart; and Mary, wife of Henry Omera, of Muncie.

Edward Tuhey attended public schools in Muncie, also for a time attended a country district school. During his early manhood he taught for eight years, and ever since has had a keen interest in the educational progress of his community. When he was twenty-five he took up farming as a vocation, and later engaged in the contracting business, putting up buildings and doing sewer work. After five or six years he entered the iron business, operating the Muncie Iron & Steel Company for about ten years. His interests in this were sold to a consolidation of iron dealers. In recent years his name has been chiefly identified with the canning industry and the wholesale and retail coal business. Mr. Tuhey is president of the Tuhey Canning Company and president of the Tuhey Coal Company.

Fraternally he is a member of Delaware Lodge No. 433, A. F. and A. M., and in former years was active in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In a public way he is remembered for two terms in the office of mayor. As a member of the school board for fifteen years he had been a prominent part in the reorganization and development of Muncie's magnificent physical plant for educational purposes. He has been especially interested in the vocational program that has been made an integral part of the instruction in the junior and senior high schools. Mr. Tuhey is a Democrat in politics. He was much interested in the movement for the adoption of the blossom of the tulip tree as Indiana's state flower.

Mr. Tuhey first married Miss Mary Edna McKinley, of Delaware County. Her father, Alexander McKinley, was a prominent farmer of the county, and the McKinleys have lived in this section of Indiana since pioneer days. Mrs. Tuhey left two children, Carl and Earl, both of whom are associated with their father in business. Mr. Tuhey's second wife was Mary Sabine McKinley, daughter of Joseph W. McKinley, of Delaware County. Her father was also a farmer. Mrs. Tuhey was educated in the schools of Delaware County and was an active member of the High Street Methodist Episcopal Church. She died December 16, 1917. By his second marriage Mr. Tuhey has eight children: J. Walter, a resident of Salt Lake City; Nellie, Mrs. Ernest Krug, of Los Angeles; Raymond, of Muncie; Erma, wife of Forest Fillman, of Detroit, Michigan; J. Edward; Henry Arthur; Miss Blanche Eliabeth, a teacher in the high school at Muncie; and Frederick, who is also a member of the faculty of the Muncie High School.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


CAPT. F. M. VAN PELT was one of the last of the old soldiers of the Union to answer the roll call of death, passing away suddenly at his home in Anderson on January 21, 1930.

He was born at Anderson, August 15, 1838, son of Uriah and Almira (Daugherty) Van Pelt. His early life was spent on his father's farm in Madison County. His education was the product of attending district schools during a few terms, and otherwise his training for life was the work and routine of the home farm. His apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade was interrupted by the outbreak of the Civil war.

In April, 1861, he enlisted, being mustered in at Indianapolis as a private in Company G of the Seventeenth Indiana Infantry. He saw service for three years, eight months, being honorably discharged at Nashville in January, 1865. His battle record included Chickamauga, Hoover's Gap, siege of Chattanooga, Farmington, Tennessee, and others. For meritorious service at Shiloh he was given two promotions, duty sergeant and later first lieutenant. In the fight at Farmington he was in command of his company, which made a splendid charge, capturing three Confederate field pieces and shattering the members of the battery and driving them across the Tennessee River. After the battle of Chickamauga in November, 1863, he was detailed for recruiting service by order of Governor Morton of Indiana. He was on recruiting duty until April, 1864, when he rejoined his regiment. While at Louisville, Kentucky, he was detailed to command sixty men and pursue a group of guerillas, and in the chase he was thrown from his horse and quite severely injured. After a period in a convalescent camp at Columbia, Tennessee, he rejoined his company and remained in command until January, 1865.

Following the close of the war Captain Van Pelt lived at Galesburg, Illinois, an employee of the Burlington Railway until 1870. He then became connected with a publishing house at Atlanta, Georgia, was in the railway mail service, and in 1880 was appointed deputy collector in the Internal Revenue Bureau, with headquarters in Atlanta. In 1889 he was made superintendent of the registry department of the Atlanta postoffice. He continued in this position until 1894, and after a year of residence at Lincoln, Nebraska, returned to Anderson in 1895.

During the last thirty-five years of his life Captain Van Pelt found interesting work and opportunities for contact with his fellow men. For many years he held the office of justice of the peace, and was succeeded in that position by his daughter, Minnie Van Pelt. He was commander of Major May Post, Grand Army of the Republic and in 1924 was chosen state commander of the Grand Army. He was for two years, up to the time of his death, state commander of The Loyal Legion, composed of commissioned officers of the Civil war.

Captain Van Pelt married, December 24, 1868, Miss Amanda M. Slater, of Galesburg, Illinois, a teacher in the city schools. The Slaters were a New England family, and were represented by soldiers of the Revolutionary war. The children of Captain and Mrs. Van Pelt were Minnie A., Fraces M. Bilyeu, Ada M. Phipps, of Indianapolis, and Myra S. Kegereis, of Anderson. They all completed their education in the Western Normal College at Lincoln, Nebraska. Miss Minnie had for a number of years been associated with her father in handling the duties of justice of the peace and is also a pension attorney and for eight years was a teacher in the Indiana S. & S. O. Home. Mrs. Van Pelt passed away in 1917. She had been prominent in the Woman's Relief Corps of the state and in civic affairs.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


HON. ROBERT FRANK MURRAY, present judge of the Superior Court of Delaware County, Indiana, and for three consecutive terms judge of the Grant-Delaware Superior Court, district in said state, is a native of Delaware County and member of an old and honored family in Eastern Indiana.

He was born on a farm in the vicinity of Selma, in Liberty Township, August 1, 1884, son of Capt. William H. and Margaret Jane (Orr) Murray. His mother was born at Selma, October 13, 1844. Her father, James Orr, was a leading figure in Delaware County political life, serving in both Houses of the Legislature.

Judge Murray's first American ancestor in the paternal line was William Murray, who came from Ireland and joined the colonists in their war for independence against Great Britain. After the war he lived in Western Pennsylvania, and his son, Cornelius B. Murray, was born in Westmoreland County, that state. Cornelius B. Murray was a pioneer settler in Eastern Indiana and married Lucinda Burroughs, a native of Madison County, Indiana. Cornelius B. Murray and wife were married in Randolph County in 1836, and about two years later settled on a farm in Henry County, but in 1864 returned to Randolph County, where his wife died in 1873. Cornelius B. Murray spent his last years in Wayne County, Indiana. His son, the late Capt. William H. Murray, former auditor of Delaware County, was born in Henry County, Indiana, January 11, 1840, grew up on a farm and at an early age began teaching school. On July 4, 1861, when he was twenty-one years of age, he enlisted as a private in Company K of the Nineteenth Indiana Infantry. He was with that regiment for over three years, receiving his honorable discharge September 4, 1864, as a result of wounds. He was honored with the brevet title of captain.

Captain Murray on February 16, 1865, married Miss Margaret Jane Orr. During the next five years he devoted his time to farming in the summer and teaching school in the winter. In 1870 he sold his farm and established himself in the mercantile business at Selma. Two years later he was elected trustee of Liberty Township and in 1878 was chosen county auditor of Delaware County. After his four years in that office he returned to Selma and he and his wife lived out their lives in their country home there. His wife died October 12, 1912, and he passed away March 15, 1915. They are buried in the Beech Grove Cemetery at Muncie. The seven children were Robert Frank, Lula M., James O., Donn P., Margaret M., Arthur L. and Edna K.

Robert Frank Murray spent most of his childhood and youth on a farm. He was educated in the public schools of Selma, graduating from high school there in 1902. In 1908 he graduated from the law department of Indiana University, was admitted to the bar and began practice at Muncie, and for ten years was one of the busy members of the bar of Delaware County.

In 1918 he was elected judge of the Grant-Delaware Superior Court District, was re-elected in 1922 and again in 1926, serving twelve years in that office. In 1930 he was elected as judge of the Superior Court of Delaware County, Indiana, for a term of four years and is now serving in that office.

Judge Murray has shown a public spirited attitude in every way to his community, and through his profession and as a private citizen his influence has always been for good. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner member of Muncie Lodge No. 245, B. P. O. Elks, and was formerly affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose. He is a member of the college fraternity Sigma Nu and was the first president of the Muncie Kiwanis Club.

Judge Murray married at Muncie, June 10, 1911, Miss Charline R. Knapp. She died June 30, 1922, and is buried in the Beech Grove Cemetery. On January 21, 1928, Judge Murray married Miss Marie Underwood, who was reared and educated in Muncie, attended high school and musical college, and has been one of the leaders in musical affairs at Muncie and taught music for several years. She is a member of the Jackson Street Christian Church. Her parents are Philip and Lillie Underwood, of Muncie. Her father for many years has been connected with the Muncie Malleable Foundry Company. Judge and Mrs. Murray have one son, Robert Frank, Jr., born January 6, 1929.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


HON. WILLIAM O. BARNARD of Newcastle, who has given over half a century to the cars and responsibilities of the profession of the law and public office, is a native of Indiana, his grandparents having been pioneers of the state. The Barnards represented the sterling Quaker stock which has been such a valuable element in the citizenship of Eastern Indiana.

Judge Barnard was born in Union County, October 25, 1852, son of Sylvester and Lavina (Myer) Barnard. His grandparents, William and Matilda (Gardner) Barnard, came from New York State, driving overland to Union County, Indiana, in 1816. Here William Barnard entered government land. He and his wife had a family of ten children, all of whom married and reared families, constituting an important contribution to the citizenship of the state. Judge Barnard's maternal grandparents were Jacob and Sarah (Landis) Myer, Pennsylvanians who were early settlers in Fayette County, Indiana. Sylvester Barnard was married in Union County, and after a few years moved to Fayette County and in 1864 to Henry County. He died in January, 1914, and his wife in April 1908.

William O. Barnard was reared on a farm, attended the common schools and Spiceland Academy and for five years alternated between teaching winter terms of school and attending school himself. When he was twenty-four he began the study of law in the office of James Brown, at Newcastle. In 1877 he was qualified as a member of the Indiana bar, and since that date he has given an almost uninterrupted service in his profession. For a few years he practiced with Captain Chambers, was then alone and from 1886 to 1892 performed the duties of prosecuting attorney. In 1896 he was elected judge of the Henry County Circuit Court, serving until November, 1902. He left that office by no means richer in this world's goods but with the satisfaction of having performed his duty in a manner that reflected his learning and his devotion to the right. In 1908 Judge Barnard was chosen representative from his Indiana district to the Sixty-first Congress, but was defeated for reelection in 1910. He then resumed his practice as a lawyer, and for fifteen years had as his partner William E. Jeffery. In 1917 his own son came into the office with him, but from 1921 to 1926 he again practiced alone, after which George E. Jeffery, son of his former partner, joined him. Mr. Jeffery in March, 1929, was appointed United States district attorney of Indiana.

Judge Barnard married, December 27, 1876, Miss Mary D. Ballinger, who was born in Henry County, Indiana, daughter of Nathan H. and Margaret (Hubbard) Ballinger. Her father was born in North Carolina and her mother in Henry County, Indiana. Judge and Mrs. Barnard have four children: Paul, of Hagerstown, Indiana; George M., with the law firm of Van Nuys, Barnard & Walker at Indianapolis; Ralph W., of Kansas City, Missouri; and Ruth, Mrs. Herbert Griffith, of Los Angeles, California.

Judge Barnard is a trustee of the Friends Church of Newcastle, he is also a trustee of Earlham College at Richmond, is a Republican, in Masonry has affiliations with the Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter, Council and Knights Templar Commandery, has held chairs in the Knights of Pythias, is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, is an honorary member of the Rotary Club, and is a director of the Henry County Building & Loan Association.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


ASBURY W. PEASE is superintendent and general manager of the Hoosier Mill at Oolithic, Lawrence County, this being one of the oldest in the group of stone mills comprised in the Indiana Limestone Company. Mr. Pease has been identified with the stone industry since early boyhood, when he learned the cutter's trade. His experience embraces every phase of the industry, from cutting the stone on the job to executive responsibilities in the quarries and mills.

Mr. Pease was born at Louisville, Kentucky, March 13, 1862, son of Charles and Emma (Grimes) Pease. His father, a native of New York, was left an orphan when a boy and soon afterward went to sea, sailing before the mast for several years. Nature endowed him with a remarkable physique. When he was grown he stood six feet seven inches high and weighed about 280 pounds. One employment offered him by reason of his physical stature was in the famous old Dan Rice Circus. During the Civil war he became color sergeant in the Fifty-ninth Indiana Infantry, serving in the Army of the Cumberland. He and his wife had three children: Asbury W., Lottie and Edward.

When Asbury Pease was six years of age he entered the public schools at Louisville. About two years later the family moved to Orleans, Indiana, and after one term of school there the home was moved to Bedford, about 1869. Mr. Pease attended school later at Orleans and Mitchell. His father engaged in the stone business at Mitchell and when Asbury was fourteen years of age he left school and began learning the trade of stone cutter. He worked in a number of the plants around Bedford, and also cut stone for the Government canal locks. He was at Bloomington for a time and in 1900 came to the Hoosier Mill at Oolithic as night foreman of the planermen. He was promoted to superintendent and general manager, and is one of the best known and most capable superintendents of the various plants that make up the corporation known as the Indiana Limestone Company.

Mr. Pease is a member of the Industrial Club, the Knights Templar Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. He married, May 24, 1888, Miss Lillian Conner, daughter of Abner and Miranda (Henry) Conner. They have one daughter, Catherine.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


DAVID OLIN McCOMB is a native son of Allen County, and to that county he has given almost a lifetime of service in its educational interests. He began teaching in country schools more than thirty-five years ago, and for the past eighteen years has held the office of county superintendent.

Mr. McComb was born on a farm in Perry Township, Allen County, June 11, 1872. His father, James McComb, was a native of Ireland, of Scotch ancestry, was brought to America when three years of age, and during part of his boyhood was bound out to a family in Southern Ohio. He had only limited educational opportunities. He married Margaret Simonton and soon afterward, about 1850, came to Allen County, Indiana, and began his life as a farmer on 200 acres of wild land. He was long a substantial citizen of Perry Township, was elected in 1888 and served two terms as township trustee, was a leader in the United Brethren Church, and he reared a family of children whose careers have honored their parents.

The youngest of this large family is David O. McComb. He grew up on a farm, attended public schools there, spent one year in Taylor University at Upland, and was also a student in the Tri-State Normal at Angola. He began teaching in 1894. His work as a teacher brought him in close touch with the educational affairs of the county, and that early experience has been constantly utilized by him during the long period of years in which he has been the official head of the county system of schools. He has several time filled the office of justice of the peace, and in 1911 became deputy county auditor. Mr. McComb in March, 1913, was elected county superintendent of schools, an the splendid work he has accomplished in that office has well justified his repeated reelections.

Mr. McComb married, December 25, 1900, Miss Anna C. Matsch, of German ancestry. She was born and reared in Allen County. They have three children, James Christopher, Walter Allen and Dorothy Mae. Mr. McComb and his sons, Walter and James, conduct a prominent business as undertakers in Fort Wayne, at 1140 Lake Avenue, known as McComb & Sons, of which Mr. McComb is president.

Mr. McComb is a Democrat in politics, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and has been president of the Forty Wayne Council of the National Union. He has served on the board of trustees of the Crescent Avenue Evangelical Church, has taught a class of boys in Sunday School, and is now the superintendent of the Sunday School. For many years he has participated in civic, benevolent and war time campaigns as a team worker. For two years he was a chairman of the rural Red Cross membership campaign, captained a team in the Red Cross drive of 1917, was captain and township director of the Red Cross Christmas roll call of 1918, and has rendered similar assistance in subsequent years. He was during the war, Allen County director of the Boys Working Reserve, and while the normal quota for the county was 1660, he succeeded in enrolling 2459 boys in the organization, the largest enrollment of any county in the state, and Indiana was the leader of the nation in this particular auxiliary agency during the war period. After the armistice he was named on the special committee to assist returning soldiers and served on the Allen County rehabilitation committee to provide vocational training for disabled men. Mr. McComb was active in organizing and became the first president of the Northeastern Indiana Teachers Association, organized in 1922, and has been chairman of its executive board. He is a member of the State Teacher's Reading Circle Board.

Click here for photo.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


BERT O. COOK. One of the substantial and well conducted financial institutions of Parke County is the Bank of Mecca, and of this valued communal institution the efficient and popular cashier is Bert O. Cook, who stands forward also as one of the loyal and progressive citizens of the attractive little City of Mecca.

Mr. Cook was born in Indiana, July 16, 1879, and is a son of Andrew and Martha Cook. He received the advantages of the public schools and in his native state he has found ample opportunity for gaining success and prestige in business life, as is attested by his incumbency of this present position of cashier of the Bank of Mecca.

Mr. Cook gives his political allegiance to the Republican party, in the Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, besides being a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and he is affiliated also with the Knights of Pythias. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in their home community.

On the 20th of September, 1899, Mr. Cook was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Puntenney, daughter of John G. and Margaret Puntenney, the former of whom was long numbered among the representative farmers and citizens of Parke County, where the original representative of the Puntenney family made settlement more than a century ago, the old homestead place having remained in the possession of the family during all the long intervening years and being the present place of residence of Mr. Cook and his family. Mr. and Mrs. Cook have three children: Bernice, who was born June 18, 1900, is the wife of George Richardson, of Mecca, and they have two children, Theron and Mark A. Maxine, who was born February 11, 1903, is the wife of Walter Murphy, and they likewise reside in the Mecca community, their one child being a daughter, Rosemary. Madonna, the youngest of the children, was born May 18, 1909, remains at the parental home and is now assistant cashier of the bank of which her father is the cashier.

INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 5
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931


Deb Murray