Mr. Stockton was born in White County, Indiana, January 20, 1882, son of James C. and Katherine (Miller) Stockton, and grandson of Charles Stockton, who came to Indiana about a century ago, traveling by wagon overland from Ohio and down the Wabash River to Tippecanoe County. James C. Stockton was born in Tippecanoe County and afterwards settled on a farm in White County. He took an active part in local politics and for two terms served as treasurer of White County.
Forrest H. Stockton was educated in the grade and high schools of White County, taught school for a time and completed his education in Purdue University. For one year he was associated with E. M. Surface in the livery business. He then bought out the Seeger Transfer Livery Company and from 1907 to 1926 the business was conducted as the Seeger Transfer & Livery and in 1926 became The Stockton Transfer & Storage Company, of which Mr. Stockton is now sole owner. This business was established by Mr. Seeger in 1860 and for many years was a general livery business, using horses to provide a local trucking and transfer service.
Mr. Stockton is an active member of the La Fayette Chamber of Commerce and has served on several of the industrial committees. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club, in Masonry is affiliated with Lodge No. 492, the Royal Arch Chapter, the Council, the Knights Templar Commandery, all of Monon. He is a director of the Glenwood Country Club and did his part in promoting the success of the patriotic drives during the World war. Politically he is a Democrat and he was a delegate to the state convention which nominated the late Thomas Marshall for the office of governor.
Mr. Stockton married Margaret Bennett, of Benton County, Indiana. She passed away in 1918, leaving two children: Dean, who finished his education in Purdue University and took his place in his father's business in 1930; and Bette Morris, still in school. Mr. Stockton's second wife was Opal Harris, of Tippecanoe County.
The Stockton Transfer & Storage Company employs sixteen persons. It has a fleet of twelve trucks in operation. Since 1923 the company has had a contract with the Government to transport the local mails, and three trucks are constantly in service for that purpose. The storage plant has 24,000 square feet of floor space. In the Centennial Exposition held at La Fayette in 1925 the company made a wonderfully attractive display of an old-fashioned prairie schooner, which was one of the main floats, illustrating the type of conveyance which brought thousands and thousands of the early pioneers to Indiana.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
DAN BABCOCK is a native of Indiana, a college man, who joined the colors immediately after graduating from university, and is now practicing as an architect at Fort Wayne, member of the well known firm of architects, Bradley & Babcock, with offices at 221 West Wayne Street.
Mr. Babcock was born in Lake County, Indiana, October 2, 1894, son of Robert G. and Mary (Handley) Babcock. His father was born at Rock Island, Illinois, in 1861 and his mother in Lake County, Indiana, in 1862, where her people were pioneers. The paternal grandparents were Robert Fulton and Mary (Gilman) Babcock, Mary Gilman being a cousin of the great Illinois statesman, Stephen A. Douglas. The Babcock family were early settlers in Western Illinois and later moved to Indiana. Robert G. Babcock attended school in Illinois and Indiana, married in Lake County, and has followed the occupation and trade of tinsmith. He is a resident of Anderson, Indiana, is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Methodist Church.
Dan Babcock, one of a family of four children, attended public schools at Anderson, graduating from high school in 1912, and he received the Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Illinois in 1917. In the same year he answered the call to service in the World war, attending the Officers Training School at San Antonio, Texas, and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Aviation Corps. Mr. Babcock had one year of service overseas, returning home in May, 1919.
After the war he was associated with his father in the tinsmith business at Anderson for a time, but since 1923 has devoted his talents to the profession of architecture. He has been located at Fort Wayne since 1925, and in 1927 he became a member of the firm Bradley & Babcock.
Mr. Babcock has done some very interesting and distinctive work in his profession since locating at Fort Wayne. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Triangle fraternity at the University of Illinois, is a member of the Fort Wayne University Club, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. He and his family are Methodists.
Mr. Babcock married, October 3, 1920, Miss Benice Warnock, of Middletown, Indiana. She died January 11, 1922, leaving a daughter, Mary Ann, born December 30, 1921. On January 26, 1927, Mr. Babcock married Miss Mary Stucky, of Muncie, Indiana, and they have one son, Robert Frederick, born February 26, 1930.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
AUGUST O. TRUELOVE, M. D., is a physician and surgeon who is contributing his quota to upholding the high standards of his profession in the City of Fort Wayne, where he supplements his regular practice by his effective service as manager of the physicians' laboratory, the headquarters of which are maintained at 228 Pharmacal Building and the service of which is of great value to the physicians and surgeons engaged in practice in this city.
Doctor Truelove was born in Daviess County, Indiana, April 6, 1882, and is a son of Hilary C. and Vienna (Allen) Truelove, both of whom likewise were born in Daviess County. Michael Truelove, grandfather of the Doctor, was one of the sterling pioneers of Daviess County, as was also the maternal grandfather.
Hilary C. Truelove was reared and educated in Daviess County and has been for many years one of the substantial exponents of farm industry in his native county, where he has likewise been influential in public affairs, he having served as trustee of Reeve Township and having given two terms of loyal and effective service as county treasurer. He is a Republican in politics and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Of his family of five children three are living.
The boyhood and early youth of Doctor Truelove were compassed by the invigorating influences of the old home farm, and his preliminary education was obtained through the medium of the public schools of his native county, including the high school. In preparation for his chosen profession he completed a course in the medical department of the University of Indiana, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1915. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he was engaged in practice in the City of Indianapolis one year, and he then established his residence at Warsaw, where he was successfully established in practice at the time of the nation's entry into the World war. He volunteered for service in the Medical Corps of the United States army and in the same received commission as first lieutenant, on the 1st of May, 1918. He attended the School of Roentgenology maintained at Camp Greenleaf, and December 25, 1918, he was thence transferred to service in General Hospital No. 10, Boston, Massachusetts, where he continued to be stationed until he received his honorable discharge, February 29, 1919. He soon afterward established his residence in Fort Wayne, where in his professional activities he has since specialized in roentgenology, in which he is a technical authority and through the medium of which he is enabled to render valuable aid to his professional confreres. The Doctor is a valued member of the Fort Wayne Medical Society, and has membership also in the Indiana State Medical Society, the Indiana Roentgen Society and the American Medical Association. As manager of the physician's laboratory in Fort Wayne he has available the best modern equipment for X-ray service and other laboratory work, and his special work in this connection demands the major part of his time and attention.
Doctor Truelove is a Republican in political alignment, is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he is a member of the Baptist Church.
August 17, 1907, marked the marriage of Doctor Truelove to Miss Esther Zinkan, of Washington, this state, and the one child of this union is a daughter, Mary Louise, who was born October 24, 1918.
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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
JOHN CHRISTIAN ALLMAN. The career of John C. Allman, proprietor of Allman's Coal & Building Supply Company, of Huntington, has been an active and varied one and has invaded several widely divergent fields of activity. A machinist by trade, in his young manhood he trod the boards as a member of several theatrical companies and subsequently, for a time, was employed in the city's public service. Since 1918, however, he has been identified with his present business, of which he is the sole owner, and which has become one of the leading enterprises of Huntington.
Mr. Allman was born at Huntington, May 6, 1881, and is a son of Christian and Elizabeth (Fisher) Allman. His grandfather, Charles Allman, was born in the State of Hessen-Hamburg, Germany, whence he immigrated to the United States in 1840 and settled in Ohio, where his death occurred in 1862. Christian Allman was born at Canal Dover, Ohio, February 4, 1854, and was eight years of age at the time of his father's death. He passed his life on a farm until 1872, in which year he came to Huntington County, Indiana, as agent for a farm implement company. Later he became the proprietor of a retail liquor store until 1908, disposing of his interests therein to engage in the coal and lumber business, until 1910. He then embarked in the business that formed the nucleus for the present large concern of which his son is now the proprietor. Mr. Allman commenced the business in a modest way, with a small capital, but his energy was boundless and he possessed good business judgment, so that soon he was noticed as one of the coming coal and building supply dealers of the city. He continued to increase and develop the business and at his death, March 17, 1930, was known as one of the substantial business citizens of Huntington. While he never mixed in politics, he was interested in civic affairs, particularly in those movements which had for their object the betterment and welfare of the city of his adoption, and could always be counted upon to give his hearty support to such enterprises. In 1880 Mr. Allman married Miss Elizabeth Fisher, who was born at Huntington, in 1858, a daughter of of Nick Fisher, a pioneer shoe merchant of the city. She still survives, as do four of her five children, of whom John C. is the eldest.
The public schools of Huntington furnished John C. Allman with his educational training, and after he had graduated from high school he applied himself to learning the trade of machinist, which he followed for several years while thus employed the opportunity presented itself for him to join a theatrical troupe, at which the youth eagerly grasped, and for several years appeared on the stage. Deciding that the life of an actor was not his forte, in 1909 he accepted a position in the office of the city civil engineer of Huntington, and continued to be thus employed until 1918, when he became his father's associate. Since the elder man's death he has been the sole owner of Allman's Coal & Building Suuply Company, which is a wholesale and retail business, with a commodious coal yard and supply house, and a splendid new office building at 933 Second Street. Mr. Allman stands high in business circles and has an excellent reputation among his fellow-members in the Indiana Building and Supply Association. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce he cooperates with other public-spirited business men in the formation of new movements for the betterment of the city. A Catholic in his religious views, he is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Loyal Order of Moose. His hobbies consist of gardening and raising flowers.
Mr. Allman married Miss Mabel Clara Fahl, who was born on a farm in Union Township, Huntington County, Indiana, a daughter of Samuel Fahl, now deceased, a pioneer farmer of the county, and to this union there have been born five children: Frederick John, William Christian, Robert Burdett, Eloise Lucille and Virginia Lou. The pleasant and attractive family home is situated at 1325 North Guilford Street.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
WILLIAM ROBERT BRIGGS. The story career of the career of William R. Briggs, of Huntington is typical of that of many another man who has been forced to rely on his own resources for the gaining of success and business recognition. Perseverance and following one line of activity have played a large part in his life, for he was seventeen years of age when he started to work as a delivery boy for the concern of which he is today the owner.
Mr. Briggs was born at Columbia City, Indiana, December 7, 1872, and is a son of James M. and Eliza Ann (Jackson) Briggs. Briggs is an old and well-known name in England, whence came the great-grandfather of William R. Briggs, William Briggs, to America in young manhood. After a short stay in the East he braved the perils of the Western Reserve of Ohio, where he subsequently hewed a home from the wilderness., developed a farm and became one of the substantial men of his community. His son, the grandfather of William R. Briggs, was born in Ohio, where he was married, and where he passed the rest of his life as a tiller of the soil. James M. Briggs, the father of William R. Briggs, was born on a farm in Ohio, where he received a country school education, and was still a youth when the differences between the states of the North and South eventuated in the outbreak of the Civil war. He volunteered for service in the Union army and during the war fought bravely as a private in an Indiana infantry regiment. At the close of the struggle he returned to the trade of carpenter and worked at Columbia City and other towns, but eventually settled at Huntington, where his death occurred March 4, 1922. He and his worthy wife became the parents of seven children, of whom William R. was the third in order of birth, and three still survive.
William R. Briggs attended country schools near Columbia City and was about thirteen years of age when taken by his parents to Huntington. After leaving school he was employed variously in order to add to the family income. In 1889, as a lad of seventeen years, he became delivery boy for what was then the firm of Marion B. Stults Company, furniture and undertaking, and from the outset was imbued with a determination to make a success of his career with this concern. He saved his money carefully, and when the occasion arose took the opportunity of buying a fourth interest in the business, this being after he had graduated from the Champion School of Embalming, at Cincinnati, Ohio. At that time the name of the business was changed to Stults-Briggs Company, which it still remains, operating the finest, as well as the pioneer furniture store and undertaking establishment in Huntington County. In January, 1927, Mr. Briggs purchased the entire business, but did not change the name, and the policy of honorable dealing and prompt and efficient service has likewise remained the same. The large and well-equipped furniture and undertaking parlor are situated at 433-437 North Jefferson Street, Huntington, and the business is fully motor equipped, with every facility for the proper and reverent care of the dead. Mr. Briggs’ standing among the business men of Huntington is of the highest, and he has participated in the fullest degree in all measures making for the advancement and development of his community. He is a Blue Lodge Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Moose, the Rotary Club and of the Chamber of Commerce. His religious connection is with the Christian Church.
On April 8, 1896, Mr. Briggs was united in marriage with Miss Cora M. Evans, who was born in Stark County, Ohio, the daughter of David Evans, an agriculturist and Civil war veteran of Ohio. Two children have been born to this union: Mildred E., the wife of Paul M. Hurdle, associated with Mr. Briggs in the business, who has one son, William M.; Harley M., attending the Atkins School of Embalming, Indianapolis, and associated with his father, who is married and has one daughter, Helen Louise. Mr. and Mrs. William R. Briggs reside in a pleasant home at 827 Poplar Street.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
CARL ARTHUR MILLER. A business man, careful and yet progressive, Carl A. Miller has steadily advanced until today, although still little over thirty, he owns and operates one of the best hardware establishments at Kendallville. He is not a native son of Noble County, although now so thoroughly identified with it, for he was born at Archbold, Fulton County, Ohio, June 14, 1897. His parents, Jacob and Elizabeth (Buhrer) Miller, were both born in Fulton County, put they have lived at Kendallville since 1911. Prior to that year the father was a steel tank manufacturer, with his plant at Wauseon, Ohio, but since then he has lived retired. Seven children, all living, were born to the parents, and of them all Carl A. Miller is the fourth in order of birth. The family is a solid and reliable one, with enviable standing in Ohio and at Kendallville, its members being responsible citizens, interested in forwarding the cause of religion and education.
Carl A. Miller attended the public schools of Wauseon and the high school of Kendallville, and was graduated from the latter. From his youth up he has been connected with hardware and sheet metal, and understands his business in every detail. During the World war he served as a civilian at Washington, in the employ of the Government, but as soon as demobilized, returned to his work at Kendallville. Since 1924, when it was established, he has been the principal owner of Miller, Gisel & Lynch and when it was incorporated, under the name of The Miller-Lynch Company, in September, 1928, he became its secretary, treasurer and general manager. This store is well-equipped with modern fixtures and well prepared for effective service. Mr. Miller is also principal owner of Miller, Gisel & Lynch, sheet metal work, with office at 203 South Main Street, and work shop and warehouse corner of Williams and Lincoln streets. The territory served by these two establishments is not by any manner of means confined to Kendallville, but covers Noble and surrounding counties, and some of the contracts are large ones and connected with the extensive building operations in Northeastern Indiana. In addition to his large business interests Mr. Miller is secretary of the Kendallville Country Club, manager of the Kendallville Community Band and Orchestra, and he belongs to the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana State Hardware Men's Association. His fraternal connection is with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On January 29, 1919, Mr. Miller was married to Miss Leona Swartz, born at Kendallville, a daughter, of Mrs. Ed Swartz, also of Kendallville, a widow. Mrs. Miller died October 18, 1929. Mr. and Mrs. Miller had one child, Margaret, who was born December 28, 1919.
Mr. Miller is a man who has always worked very hard, and enjoyed every minute of it, so that taking on more responsibilities fitted in with his early determination to be of some service in the world. He has made a practice of cultivating good business judgment so that he can come to a wise conclusion with reference to the different problems as they present themselves, either in his business or community affairs. These rules, combined with a natural aptitude, have advanced him to his present high commercial standing.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
MARCUS ELROY SHAUCK has been connected with the industrial and business life at Kendallville at many points. He is one of the city's oldest automobile dealers, having been in that business since 1913.
Mr. Shauck's maternal ancestors were among the first pioneer settlers of Noble County. His mother was Margaret Foster, who was born in Ohio, in 1832, and the following year her parents, Jehu and Margaret (Levering) Foster, moved from Ohio to Indiana and settled in Jefferson Township, in Noble County. They took up Government land six miles west of Kendallville, and went through all the experiences of pioneers in building homes and improving the land from a wilderness condition. The father of Marcus E. Shauck was Jacob Shauck, who was born in Ohio, in 1837. He was well educated, attending public schools, the college at Westerville and Wooster College, and learned the trade of miller. He first came to Noble County, Indiana, in 1860, and in 1862 married Miss Margaret Foster. The year after his marriage he returned to Ohio to join the Thirty-sixth Ohio Infantry, and was a soldier of the Union until the close of the war. In 1865 he established himself in the flour milling business in Ohio, but in 1872 returned to Noble County. In 1875 he moved his family to Kendallville, where he conducted a hotel for several years, held the office of city marshal, and from 1890 to 1894 was sheriff of Noble County. He died in 1911 and his wife in 1916. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Baptist Church. There were three children: Clifton, now deceased, Marcus E. and Wilmer. Marcus E. Shauck was born on a farm in Noble County, January 11, 1865, and except for a few years in his early childhood has always lived in the county. He is a graduate of the Kendallville High School, and after leaving high school learned the trade of tool maker. For nine years he followed this trade with the Fleet & Walling Manufacturing Company at Kendallville. For three years he was with the Michigan Engine Company at Grand Rapids, and after returning to Kendallville was manager of the local electric light plant for five years, was connected with the White Automobile Company for a time, and from 1906 to 1909 was abroad at the City of Manila, Philippine Islands. He returned to Kendallville to look after his father's affairs, and after his father died he was connected with the Rooney Construction Company for a year or so. Mr. Shauck in 1913 began handling automobiles, bringing to that business a long knowledge and experience as a machinist. He is now local sales agent for theGraham-Paige cars, with sales room and service station at 224 South Main Street at Kendallville.
Mr. Shauck is a member of the B. P. O. Elks and the Lutheran Church. He married, December 27, 1891, Miss Matilda C. Householder. She was born in Noble County, in 1870, daughter of Frederick and Emily Householder. Her father died at the age of eighty-four and her mother lived to be seventy-four years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Shauck have one son, Harold William, who was born at Kendallville, November 14, 1892.
Harold W. Shauck graduated from high school in 1910, and for many years has been associated with his father in the automobile business. His business career was interrupted by the World war. On April 18, 1917, about two weeks after America declared war, he enlisted, was trained at Camp Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, later at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama, was sent to Camp Upton, New York, thence to Montreal, and sailed from Halifax July 4, 1917. He landed at Liverpool and was overseas nearly two years, returning home in May, 1919, and in the same month was granted an honorably discharge at Camp Taylor, Louisville. He served overseas with the Thirty-seventh Division, made up almost entirely of Ohio troops. He was in the Motor Transport Corps. Harold W. Shauck is a member of the American Legion and the B. P. O. Elks.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
SAMUEL D. SLUYTER, M. D. Nearly a century ago the Sluyter family gained pioneer precedence in White County, Indiana, here Doctor Sluyter was born and reared, as a scion of the third generation in the county, and here he now has standing as one of the veteran and honored physicians and surgeons of this section of his native state, his benignant professional activities having now covered a period of virtually half a century. The Doctor maintains his residence in the attractive little City of Wolcott and is still actively engaged in the general practice of his profession.
Doctor Sluyter was born on the parental farm in Liberty Township, White County, July 18,1857, and is a son of the late Hiram and Elizabeth (Debra) Sluyter, of whose three children he was the first born. Hiram Sluyter was born in the State of New York and was a boy when his parents, Johnson W. and Elizabeth Sluyter, came to White County, Indiana, as pioneer settlers in the year 1836. Johnson W. Sluyter here obtained Government land and reclaimed the same into a productive farm, both he and his wife having here passed the remainder of their lives and the names of both meriting place on the enduring roll of the sterling pioneers of White County. Hiram Sluyter had his full share of the labors in the development of the pioneer farm in White County, and in this county he and his wife remained until death terminated their earnest and useful lives. Mr. Sluyter never severed his allegiance to the basic industries of agriculture and stock raising, and he was influential as a substantial and honored citizen of White County, where he gave twelve years of service as justice of the peace for Liberty Township. Both he and his wife were zealous members of the Christian Church.
Dr. Samuel D. Sluyter was reared to the sturdy discipline of the old home farm, attended the district school and thereafter a graded school, and he continued his active alliance with farm enterprise in his native county until he was able to follow the course of his ambition by entering preparation for the medical profession. He initiated the study of medicine while still on the farm and finally he entered the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1881. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he engaged in practice in his native county, besides assisting his father on the home farm one more year. In September 1882, Doctor Sluyter here opened an office in the village of Reynolds, where he continued his general practice nine years. He then removed to Chalmers, another town of White County, and during the ensuing nineteen years this village and community represented the stage of his earnest, able and faithful professional ministrations. He then accompanied his daughter, Mrs. Messenger, to Kansas, where he remained a short period at Garden City, he having then returned, in 1913 to White County, where he has since been established in the successful practice of his profession at Wolcott. The Doctor has membership in the National Eclectic Medical Association and the Indiana State Eclectic Medical Society, has been affiliated with the Knights of Pythias fully forty years and is a past chancellor commander in this fraternal order. He formerly gave a period of effective service as a member of the board of health of White County, besides serving two years as county coroner. He is a Republican in political alignment and has long been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1878 Doctor Sluyter was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Ross, whose death occurred two years later, in 1880, and the one child of this union was Margaret, who died at the age of thirty-two years. The second marriage of Doctor Sluyter was with Miss Geneva Woolley, who likewise was born and reared in Indiana. Their devoted companionship continued twenty-one years, and was terminated by the death of Mrs. Sluyter, in 1906. Of the three children the eldest is Miss Gertrude, who presides over the social and domestic affairs of the paternal home; Samuel Clayton is a chef by profession and resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Ray K., a printer by vocation, is a resident of Twin Falls, Idaho.
INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
ARTHUR JOSEPH GETZ, vice president and general manager of the corporation conducting business under the title of Getz Motors, with headquarters in the City of Fort Wayne, is one of the prominent figures in the automobile business in his native city and state and is one of the representative business men of the younger generation in Fort Wayne. Here his birth occurred December 25, 1892, and he is a son of Joseph and Louise (Perriguey) Getz, the former of whom was born in Salem, Ohio, and the latter of whom was born in Fort Wayne. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Feliz Perriguey, were born in France and became early settlers of Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Mr. Perriguey owned and operated a pioneer brick yard, besides which he became one of the prosperous farmers of Allen County. Both he and his wife were honored pioneer citizens of Fort Wayne at the time of their death.
Joseph Getz was reared and educated in the old Buckeye State and was about eighteen years of age when he established his residence in Fort Wayne. This city has continued the central stage of his activities during the intervening years and here he is now engaged in the undertaking business, as senior member of the firm of Getz & Cahill, which here conducts one of the leading mortuary establishments of Allen County. He has been long and prominently affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in which he has held both local and state offices. He and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church, and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus.
Arthur J. Getz was third in order of birth in a family of five children, all of whom are living, and his early education was acquired in Catholic parochial schools in his native city, where he had the distinction of being a member of the first class, that of 1910, to be graduated in the Central Catholic High School of Fort Wayne, he having depended mainly on his own resources in completing his high school course. After leaving school he took a minor position in the local offices of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, now a part of the great Pennsylvania Railroad system, and by loyal and efficient service he won advancement to the position of chief clerk to the superintendent of this road. In 1925 he acquired a half interest in the business of the Lauer Automobile Company, local dealers in the Ford automobiles, and in 1928, on the 1st of March, he became one of the organizers of the corporation of Getz-Payne, which here became representatives of the Ford automobiles. On the 1st of March, 1929, the title of the concern was changed to Getz Motors, Inc., and Mr. Getz has since continued vice president and general manager of this corporation, which has developed a substantial and prosperous business of wide ramifications, the enterprise having been built up on the basis of effective service rendered.
Mr. Getz is a loyal and active member of the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce and the local Optimist Club. He and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church, and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On the 7th of July, 1913, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Getz to Miss Bertha Byanski, who was reared and educated in Fort Wayne, and the children of this union are three fine sons: Robert Arthur, born December 1, 1914, and now (1930) a student in the Central Catholic High School of Fort Wayne; Richard Arthur, born August 11, 1918; and Joseph Arthur, born December 28, 1928.
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INDIANA ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OF AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT Vol. 3
By Charles Roll, A.M.
The Lewis Publishing Company, 1931
