Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A Standard History of Starke County, Indiana McCormick, Joseph N. - 1915 [263-264] WILLIAM S. DANIEL. A progressive and influential business man and prominent citizen now residing at Knox, judicial center of Starke County, MR. DANIEL has been a potent force in the development and up- building of the splendid business controlled by the Winona Telephone Company, of which he is secretary-treasurer as well as superintendent. He has been identified with the company from the time of its organiza- tion and incorporation under its present title, in 1903. The enter- prise dates its inception back to the year 1898 and its projectors were I. N. COTTER and A. M. SWARTZEL, who initiated operations under the title of the Knox Telephone Company. In 1901 PHILLIP and J. G. STEINMAN became the controlling factors, and by them the business was transferred to the present company on the 1st of January, 1903, WILLIAM S. DANIEL soon afterward becoming a director of the new com- pany and assuming also the office of general superintendent, a posi- tion of which he has since continued the efficient and resourceful incumbent. The original principals associated in the organization and incorporation of the Winona Telephone Company were SAMUEL TOMLINSON, of Plymouth, Marshall County, who became president of the corpora- tion; A. B. DIGGS, who assumed the position of general manager; and besides these two officials the directorate included WILLIAM S. DANIEL, L. E. DANIEL, and L. A. TOMLINSON. The board of directors remains with the same personnel to the present time, Mr. DIGGS being a resident of Winamac, Pulaski County, and L. E. DANIEL maintaining his home in Kewanna, Fulton County, Indiana, while L. A. TOMLINSON is a resident of Waynesville, Ohio. At the time when the present company assumed control the system operated had in commission 178 telephones, and the splendid growth of the enterprise is indicated by the statement that the present number of subscribers is in excess of 800 in Starke County. The original system had no toll lines or service, and to-day the company has more than 400 miles of toll lines, with direct operations in the counties of Starke, Marshall, Fulton and Pulaski and with extension facilities into other counties in this section of the state. The service is of the best modern kind, the business is constantly expanding in scope and importance and the fine system has proved one of the most valuable public utilities in the counties which it covers. Local exchanges are maintained by the company at Knox, Hamlet, Winamae, Kewanna, Grass Creek, Plymouth and Monterey, and the list of rural subscribers is representative in each of the four counties. WILLIAM S. DANIEL was a resident of Randolph County, Indiana, for five years prior to his removal to Starke County, in 1903, and he claims the old Buckeye State as the place of his nativity. He was born in Highland County, Ohio, ou the 27th of December, 1860, and was there reared to adult age under the benignant influences and discipline of the old homestead farm, the while he duly availed himself of the ad- vantages of the public schools. MR. DANIEL came to Indiana and assumed a clerical position in the office of an extensive grain and lumber firm at Winchester, Randolph County, the proprietors of the business, the TOMLINSONS, being kinsmen of his. With them he later became associated in the organization of the Winona Telephone Company, and after serving for a time as local manager of the company at Knox he was made superintendent, later becoming secretary-treasurer and having since been the directing executive of the practical affairs of the company. MR. DANIEL is a son of JOSEPH and RACHEL (TOMLINSON) DANIEL, the respective families having been founded in North Carolina and Old Virginia in an early day. The maternal grandfather of MR. DANIEL was MOSES TOMLINSON, who was born in North Carolina and who became a pioneer settler in Ohio, where he became a prominent and influential citizen of the community in which he established his home. He was a staunch abolitionist and in the climacteric period leading up to and culminating in the Civil war he was a zealous conductor on the his- toric underground railroad, by the means of which many slaves were aided in obtaining their freedom, his home having been a "station" on this famous system. In Ohio was solemnized the marriage of Mr. DANIEL'S parents and they continued to reside on their homestead farm, in Highland County, that state, until the close of their lives, the mother having passed away at the age of forty-seven years and the father having been sixty-five years old when he was summoned to the life eternal. MR. DANIEL is essentially loyal and progressive as a citizen as well as a business man. His political allegiance is given to the re- publican party and he has given effective service in behalf of its cause, including that rendered in the capacity of chairman of its county committee in Starke County and as a representative in its state conventions in Indiana. MR. DANIEL is affiliated with the lodge of Free & Accepted Masons at Knox, and also with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias, in the last mentioned of which he has served as chancellor commander. The year 1881 recorded the marriage of MR. DANIEL to Miss ANNA M. CHAPMAN, who was born and reared in Ohio, where she acquired her education and continued to reside until her marriage. Of the three children the following data are entered: CARRIE is the wife of EDWARD W. WELCH, who is representative of the Winona Telephone Company at Hamlet, Starke County, and they have one daughter, MARGARET: HOMER S., who is wire chief of the Winona Telephone Company, with residence and headquarters at Knox, wedded Miss BESSIE NAVE; and HAROLD is a student in the high school of Knox, a member of the class of 1915. ===========================================================================