Baxter, Albert. History of the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. New York: Munsell &
Co., 1891, p. 419. George H. WHITE, as merchant, lumberman, manufacturer and dealer in
real estate was prominently active among the businessmen of Grand Rapids during some 46
years. He was born at Dresden, Yates County, NY Sept 9, 1822; a son of Joseph and Lucy
Rowley White, who were born near Watkins by the head of Seneca Lake. He was the eldest of
5 children, but one of whom William B. White of this city - is now living. George in his
childhood attended the schools of his native town, and at 13 went with his grandfather,
Ezra Rowley to Fountain County, Indiana wehre he worked a year on a farm. In 1836 he
entered a store as a clerk, and in the following year went to Covington, the county seat
where he was also engaged as a clerk until 1842 in which year he came to Grand Rapids,
arriving May 2, entered the store of A and GB Rathbone, and remained there two years.
Afterward he operated for many years as a partner with Amos Rathbone in mercantile and the
lumber trade, conducting, meantime for some 5 years a store at Rockford, Kent County. In
1863, and for two or thre eyears, he was engaged int he manufacture of lumber on Rouge
River, Grand Rapids, in connection with William T. Powers, doing a successful business.
In 1865 with Amos Rathbone and others interested under the firm name of George White &
Company he purchased the 'old plaster mill" property, and in connection with it a
large tract of land; and there for upward of 20 years he with others carried on a heavy
and profitable business in themanufacture and sale of land and calcined plaster. With
Amos Rathbone he build 9 brick stores on Monroe between Ionia and Division Streets; also
in 1873-74 1/3 of the Aldrich, White and Godfrey Block, the fine 4-store stone building in
which are now the Grand Rapids National Bank and several large stores at the corner of
Monroe & Ottawa Streets. He also dealt much in real estate being one of the owners of
Godfrey & White's city addition. He was a stockholder in the Grand Rapids &
Indiana RR was chosen one of its Directors in 1867 and was also a member of the
Continental Improvement Company through whose efforts that railroa was completed to Ft.
Wayne to Petoskey. He was a charter member of the 11th lodge organized in MI of
Independent order of Odd Fellows, which he joined in 1848 from 1861 a member of the
fraternity of Freemasons; also a Knight of Pythias. In religious views Mr. White was
inclued to the Universalist Faith; through his family were regular attendants at St.
Mark's church. Politically, he was a Whig while the Whig party existed; afterward
through life a Democrat. December 12, 1853, he married at Rockford, Michigan Sarah A.
Hetfield of Covington IN who survives him. To them were born two daughtesr, now Mrs. CB
Judd and Hattie H. White. Mr. White held and creditably filled several official positions
of turst and responsibility; Register of Deeds in 1844-45; Supervisor of Algoma in 1855;
Mayor of Grand Rapids in 1861-62 two terms and Representative in the State Legislature for
the term 1863-64. From early youth Mr. White was dependent upon his own exertions. As a
business man he was energetic and enterprising; working his way to a handsome competenc
ein life and at the same aiding prominently in the progress and improvement of Grand
Rapids. In social contact he was genial and accomodating, and as a citizen public-spirite
- one who has left an abiding impression upon the town and community in which he lived.
He died Sept 10, 1888 at his home in Grand Rapids.
=========
Peeke, Hewson L. A standard history of Erie County, Ohio . Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1916,
p1163. Edward L. COEN. A prominent figure in OHio banking affairs and one specially
influential in the furtherance of financial and other business activities in Erie Co is
Edward L. Coen, who has been the chief exectuvie of the Erie County Banking Company of
Vermilion during the entire period of its existence. He was formerly casheir of this
solid and well ordered banking institution, and is now its first VP. The greater part of
his time and attention is still given to the direction of this bnak one of the best in
Erie County. Born in Fountain County, Indiana Jan 24, 1864, Edward L. Coen is a son of
William S. and Caroline Hosler Coen, the former a native of OH and the latter of PA. His
mother die din 1886. His father, now in venerable years lives at Rensselaer, the county
seat of Jasper County, Indiana and celebrated his 85th birthday in 1915. His active years
were given to agriculture and stock growing and he has been a wellknown and honored
citizen of Jasper County. T he grandfather, John Coen was an early settler in the state of
Ohio. Edward L. Coen was about 3 when his parents removed from Fountain Co to jasper co
IN the new family home being a farm in Marion Twp near Rennselaer. Thus he had the fine
and wholesome discipline of the country during his boyhood and youth. His early
educational advantages were those of the public schools of his home township and the high
school at Rensselaer. He was a good student, made the most of his opporunities and on a
reading high school he did some very promising work for 4 years as a teacher int he county
schools of his home county. Soon after he reached his majority he went to southwestern KS
and for nearly 4 years was engaged in the real estate and farm loan business. He was also
one of the progressive, citizens who founded the town of Bucklin, Ford Co KS during the
late 80s. After leaving Kansas Mr. Coen spent a year in the general offices of the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific RR in Chicago and in April 1891, came to Erie County,
Ohio. Here he effected the organization of the Big Erie County Bank of Vermilion. The
following year this insitution was incorporated as a state bank and the present title of
the Erie County Banking Company was adopted. From that time to the present the practical
management of the bank has devolved upon Mr. COen, who is in many ways an exemplary banker
and an expert financier. When the bank was organized he became cashier, a position he held
until 1911. Since 1909 he has been first vice president and has given the bank the benefit
of his broad experience even after resigining his post as cashier. Mr. Coen is also a
recognized leader in Ohio banking circles. Form 1907 to 1910 he served as sec-treas of
Group 6 and from 1910-1913 as chairman of Group 6 in the Ohio Bankers' Association.
During his term as group chairman he was also a member of the council of administration
and served as its chairman during 1913. He served as vp of the Ohio Banker's
Association in 1914 and honored as president in 1915. He was also a primary force in
effecting the organization and incorporation of the Vermilion Telephone Company of which
he has been president and director since its organization. He is also a director and
treasurer of the Gallia Telephone Company at Gallipolis in Gallia County. Broad minded,
liberal and public spirited, as a citizen Mr. Coen has always been found ready to give his
cooperation and support to measures and enterprises tending to advance the general welfare
of his home city and county. He has served 15 years as a member of the Vermilion Board of
Education of which boar dhe has been president several years. His political allegiance is
given to ther republican party and and he and his wife are valiant members of the
Congregational Church in their home city. For full 20 years he has served as a member of
the board of trustees and has been chairman of the board a greater portion of the time.
His course has been in all respects guided and governed by the highest principles of
integrity and this fact, combined with his unfailing courtesy and consideration has gained
him the high regard of his home community and of all with whom he has otherwise come in
contact. In 1893 Mr. Coen married Miss Cora S. Lawless. She was bor and reared at
Vermilion and is a daughter of Capt. James Lawless and Laura E. Harris Lawless both
deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Coen are parents of two sons: Edward m. is a member of the class
of 1918 in Yale University at New Haven, Conn. Clarence L. died at the age of four and a
half years.
=====
Past and Present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co.,
1909, p 640. Daniel W. SIMMS -- it requires a master mind to rise superior to discouraging
environment and achieve honorable distinction in a profession which demands of its
votaries strong and well balanced mentality and a long and thorough course of intellectual
and professional training. The qualities essential to success in such a calling are
possessed in an eminent degree by the well known citizen of Lafayette whose name appears
at the head of this article, a gentleman who not only ranks among the ablest lawyers of
the Tippecanoe County bar but has likewise earned an enviable reputation in the courts of
northern Indiana where his services have frequently been utilized in the trial of
important cases and the adjustment of large and far-reaching legal interests. Daniel W.
Simms, of the law firm Stuart, Hammond & Simms is a native of Crawford County,
Illinois where his birth occurred 13 Feb 1862. The family to which he belonged, consising
of the father, mother, 3 sons and one daughter moved in 1870 to Fountain County, Indiana
where Daniel spent his youthful years on a farm. His parents being in humble
circumstances, he was early obliged to assume much of the labor and responsibility of the
family's support thus by a strenuous though valuable experience, learning the true
meaning of honest toil and the important lesson that success is only attainable by earnest
and long-continued effort. When but 10, he began making his own way in the world, as a
farm laborer and in addition to clothing himself and meeting other necessary expenses,
from his hard-earned wages, contributed a generous share to his parents, in this way early
becoming a helper and burden-sharer. During the winter months he attended the district
schools of the neighborhood and made commendable progress int he common branches, but
owing to adverse circumstances was obliged to discontinue his studies for the sterner of
life's duties, although a natural student with an almost inordinate craving for books
and learning. In 1875 young Simms went to northwestern Iowa where he spent the two
ensuing years working as a farm hand in the summer time and devoting the winter seasons to
school work. At the expiration of that period he discontinued farm labor and went west,
where he took up the life of a cowboy, spending the 3 succeeding years among the cattle
ranches of Kansas, the Indian Territory and Texas and sharing with comrades the hardships
and vicissitudes common to the wild free experiences of the prairies and plains. Mr.
Simmons went west in 1877 but after spending 3 years there (picture) decided to return
home and if possible secure a better education to the end that he might fit himself for
some useful occupation or profession. With this laudable object in view, he returned to
Fountain County, Indiana but finding his parents in very poor health and pratically unable
to earn a livelihood he at once abandoned the idea of attending school and with true
filial devotion lost no time in looking about for the first work to which he could lay his
hand, that he might minister to the necessities of the family. It was not long until the
secured employment on the Peoria division of the Big Four railroad then in process of
constrution, his first duty being the driving of spikes, very hard and exhausting work
which only strong nad able bodied men are capable of doing. After spending some months in
this capacity, he gave up the job and resumed farm labor to which he devoted considerable
time, saving sufficient means while thus engaged to carry hiim through a term of school.
Again the ambitious young man was doomed to a bitter disappointment for no sooner had he
perfected arrangments to begin his studies than he was stricken with a severe attack of
typhoid fever which within a comparatively brief period not only reduced his strength to
the lowest possible minimum but also exhausted his meagre capital. When sufficiently
recovered, however, he addressed himself with renewed courage and fortitutde to the task
of obtaining the much-desired discipline and in due time secured a place with a farmer who
agreed to board and lodge him while attending school in return for such labor as he could
perform of mornings and evenings and on the days when school was not in session. In
addition to close application to his regular studies during the following winter the young
man spent the long nights poring over his books, in this way adding not only to his
scholastic knowledge but becoming familiar with the writings of a number of authors and
well versed on many general subjects. By close and critical studying, Simms the following
year was sufficiently advanced to teach in the district school, which line of work he
followed for some time, in this way procurding the necessary funds to enable him to attend
several spring nad fall terms at the National American Normal University, Lebanon, Ohio
and a similar institution at Ladoga, Indiana. Actuated by a laudable desire to prosecute
his studies still further, he subsequently entered Asbury (now DePauw) University which he
attended until 1885 when he discontinued his scholastic work to devote all of his
attention to the study of law which he had taken up in the meantime as the profession best
suited to his tastes and inclinations. With an energy and ambition which would not be
satisfied with any but a high standing in his chosen calling, Mr. Simms applied himself to
his studies and researchers and possessing a naturally legal mind and a decided preference
for the profession it was not long until he was admitted to the bar and began the practice
at Veedersburg, Indiana in partnership with Freeman E. Miller, a well known attorney of
that place, the firm thus constituted forging to the front in due time and securing its
proportionate share of patronage. While a resident of Veedersburg, Mr. Simms was induced
to take charge of the schools of the town which he conducted for some time in connection
with his professional duties, but realizing that success in either calling could not be
attained in this way and with no desire to continue longer in as an educator he finally
resigned his position as principal of schools and in 1887 removed to Covington where he
became associated with OS Douglass, and within a comparatively brief period rose to a
position of prominence and influence among the leading lawyers of the county seat. Mr.
Simms although practically a beginner, gained marked success in his profession and in his
new field was soon the peer of any member of the Fountain County bar. In 1891 Henry
Dochterman an able and popular attorney, tnedered him a partnership which was accepted and
which continued until dissolved by the death of the senior member in March 1893. The
firm, in the meantime was engaged in many important cases, which by reason of the failing
health of Mr. Dochterman fell to Mr. Simms, who in this way, forged rapidly to the front
as an able lawyer and a careful, judicious and eminently successful practitioner. In
April following the death of his partner, Mr. Simms became associated with Lucal Nebeker
under the name of Nebeker & Simms. The firm thus formed lasted 5 years, during which
time they built up an extensive and lucrative business in the courts of Fountain and other
counties, and became widely and favorable known in legal circles throughout the northern
part of the state. With a practice rapidly outgrowing the limits to which it was
principally confined and a reputation as an able and successful lawyer second to that of
none of his compeers, Mr. Simms at the expiration of the time indicated deemed it
advisable to select a larger and more advantageous field for the exercise of his legal
talent, accordingly in the year 1898 he removed to Lafayette where he was already well and
favorable known and where he at once atained prominence at a bar which had long been
distinguished for a high standard of professional ability. The same year in which he took
up his residence in this city he became a member of the firm of Hanly, Wood & Simms,
long regarded throughout the state as an exceptionally strong and successful combination
and which continued under that name until March 15, 1899 when the subject withdrew to
enter Stuart, Hammond & Simms. Sufficient has been said in the foregoing lines to
afford a tolerably dorrect idea of Mr. Simms' rise and progres sin his profession and
to justify the assumption that the eminent standing which he has attained has been
honorably earned and that in the future his fame as one of Indiana's most brilliant
and successful lawyers and enterprising citizens will be secure. Circumstances, as well as
a natural inclination led Mr. simms, while still a young man to take an interest in public
and politica affairs and for a number of years he has been quite an active politician and
leader of the Democratic party in his various places of residence. In 1896, he was a
delegate to the national convention at Chicago and two years later was the choice of his
party for congress but his removal from the district a short time before the convention
met, prevented his nomination. Though eminently qualified to fill with distinguished
success any position within the gift of the people, he has never aspired to public place
or official honors, having always been devoted to his profession and satisfied with the
simple title of citizen. Mr. Simms is preeminently a self-made man and as such deserves
great credit for his remarkable rise from poverty and obscurity to a place of distinction
and affluence. Personally he impresses all with whom he comes into contact, as a man of
strong convictions and great force of character, nevertheless, int he midst of the
multitudinous cares and demands of a busy life, he is always approachable and affable,
being gracious in his associations with his fellow men, and a true t ype of the
intelligent, broad minded polished gentleman. Possessing strong and discriminating
intellectual qualities, which have been developed by thorough training, he not only keeps
abreast of the times on all matters of moment but has likewise been a critical reader and
a student of events, whose opinions always carry weight and influence. He has gained a
reputation as a well-rounded man, admirably equipped with the solid and brilliant
qualities essential to success and distinction, but above these, his life has been ordered
on a high plane which bespeaks a deep sense of his stewartship as a representative
American of his day and generation. Mr. Simms is a gentleman of domestic tastes and finds
his greatest pleasure at his home, to all the noble and gentle influences which such
relations bring. His wife formelry Ezadora J. Wright has born him 3 children, a son who
died at age 3 1/2 and two daughters, the elder of which died at age 9.
=======
Past and Present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co.,
1909 p. 816 - Charles a. McCORKLE - in studying the interesting life histories of many of
the better class of men, and the ones of unquestioned merit and honor it will be found
that they have been compelled, very largely, to map out their own career and furnish their
own motive force in scaling the heights of success and it is such a one that the
biographer is pleased to write of in the following paragraphs. Charles A. McCorkle,
prominent farmer and well-known citizen of Jackson Township, Tippecanoe County, was born
in Montgomery County, Indiana July 2, 1865 the son of Andrew C. and Polly A. Meharry
McCorkle, people of sterling worth and higly honored during their residence in this
locality. The father is now a resident of Lafayette being 72 years of age, the mother of
our subject having passed to her rest August 17, 1887. For further record of this family
the reader is respectfully referred to the sketch of John McCorkle, banker at Wingate
Indiana and brother of the subject which appears on another page of this work. Charles A.
McCorkle was educated in the public schools of Jackson Twp spending the summer months
working on the home place where he became inured to the healthful outdoor life of the
farm. He was a very studious lad and not being satisfied with a primary education,
attended DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana and later Purdue University at Lafayette
making an excellent record in both institutuions, becoming thus well equipped for what the
poets call the "subsequent battle of life." When his school days were over Mr.
McCorkle returned home and resumed farming, having decided to make agriculture his life
work and he has since devoted all his time to the same with gratifying success. On
October 2, 1891, Mr. McCorkle was united in marriage in Tippecanoe County with Frances M.
Bittle (sic - Biddle?) the representative of a well-known old family. Her birth occurred
March 12, 1868 in Fountain County, Indiana she being the daughter of Silas and Fanny
DeVore Bittle the former a native of Putnam County, Indiana and the latter of Tippecanoe.
They were extensive farmers in this county, where the mother's death occurred in 1908
having been over 60. She was buried in Wheeler cemetery. Her husband, who is living a
retired life on his farm is 70 at this writing. They were the parents of 4 children, 3
boys and one girl, all living. Mrs. McCorkle (sic) being the second in order of birth.
The other children were Elmer J; Alonzo and Luther J. Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. McCorkle
reside on 370 acre farm in Jackson Twp which is one of the most valuable farms in this
favored section of the Hoosier state. It is all under a high state of cultivation and is
well improved in every respect. They have a modern, well-arranged and nicely furnished
hom, beautifull located, and many substantial outbuildings adorn the place, about which an
excellent grade of livestock is to be seen, especially cattle and horses - everything that
goes to make up an attractive and pleasant country home being seen here. General farming
is carried on in a manner that stamps Mr. McCorkle as fully abreast of the times. Besides
general farming, Mr. McCorkle feeds large nubmers of hogs, cattle and sheep for the market
and he usually commands the top prices for his stock, owing to their excellent quality.
Mr. and Mrs. McCorkle have labored hard for what they have and are, therefore, deserving
of the eminent success they have achieved, having started in life under none too favorable
environments, and they are among the most prosperous farmers int he township at present.
To Mr. and Mrs. McCorkle four children have been born all living at this writing: John
Russell who is in 1909 16 years old; Charles Leland 14; Bernice Ann 12 and Andrew Francis,
aged 9. Mr. McCorkle is a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Wingate Indiana and
takes a very active interst in the same. Although he is a loyal Republican, he has never
aspired to office of trust and emolument at the ahdns of his fellow voters. But he is
deeply interested in whatever tends to promote the welfare of his community in any way and
all movements looking to the upbuilding of the same find in him a ready helper. Mr. and
Mrs. McCorkle and their children are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church holding
their membership at Shawnee Mound, being active in all phases of church work and liberal
supporters of the same. Mr. McCorkle has for somet ime past been steward of the local
congregation still discharging the duties of the same in a conscientious manner. Because
of his recognized honor, industry, friendly disposition and genuine worth, Mr. McCorkle
stands deservedly high among the people of Jackson Twp, where he is recognized by all
classes as one of its most representative citizens.