Person:Daniel Falls (1)

Daniel came to Allen County, Indiana, in 1843.

In the 1850 federal census, he was 21 years old and a blacksmith, who was living with his parents.

Biography Daniel M. Falls.— The firm of Bowser, Prentis & Falls has controlled a successful business in the installing of machinery and in its line has held precedence as one of the most important concerns of the kind in Northern Indiana. The late Daniel M. Falls was employed by the firm for a number of years before he became a member thereof and played an influential part in the development of the business. This firm had the distinction of having installed the machinery used at the Centennial Exposition of 1876, and Mr. Falls was in charge of this important work in the city of Philadelphia. He continued as a member of the firm and as one of the prominent and honorable business men of Fort Wayne until his death, which occurred December 16, 1916.

Mr. Falls was born in Pennsylvania, July 3, 1832, and thus was more than eighty years of age at the time of his death. He was a son of Thomas and Barbara (Staufer) Falls, both natives of Germany. The father was a cabinetmaker and came to Fort Wayne in 1843. both he and his wife having passed the remainder of their lives in Allen county and of their nine children the subject of this memoir was the last to survive.

As a youth Daniel M. Falls learned the trade of blacksmith, but after having been employed at this trade about two years he became associated with the firm in which eventually he purchased an interest and with which he continued his connection until his death. For some time he was engaged also in the rendering business, but he retired from that field of enterprise in 1905.

His old home, in which his death occurred, was erected by him in 1863, and there he continued his residence during the long intervening years. Mr. Falls married Margaret Gormely(sic), a native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and they became the parents of four children — Charles M., George E., Oliver M. and Etta F.

The three first named are deceased and Etta F. is the wife of Calvin K. Rieman, who is factory manager of the S. M. Foster Shirtwaist Company, Mr. and Mrs. Rieman have one child, Carrie K. Mrs. Falls passed to the life eternal, February 22, 1916, and her husband survived her by less than a year, so that in death they were not long divided. Both were earnest communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, and Mr. Falls was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, besides having been a charter member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana; by B.J. Griswold; pub. 1917