Alpheus Test was the father of the first Charles Edward Test, who in turn was the grandfather of the present Charles Edward Test - the editor of these papers. No personal family recollections of Alpheus Test remain, but in Dunn, he is described as having been "early engaged in manufacturing, and followed branches of the same throughout his life, in the latter part of his life acquiring extensive interests in the flour milling business. Alpheus Test rules his home according to the Quaker idea of that time." [6]
In his obituary, [7] it is said that Alpheus Test was born in Salem, Union County, Indiana, spent his boyhood there, and came to Richmond in 1841 when he was twenty years old. Soon after he started the Fleecy Dale woolen mills. After the business was firmly established, he sold it and started the Test mills, south of Richmond. In 1866, this enterprise was sold to his nephews, William and Oliver Test. After this, he did not engage in active business to any extent, although in Beach he is said to have manufactured sod cutters, a patented implement of his own design, in 1871. He was married three times, his first wife (and mother of his children) being Elizabeth Moffitt, whom he married in 1850, and who died in 1883. The second wife was Phoebe Hiatt Paldert, whom he married in 1888, and who died in 1896. Martha Bond Little was his third wife.
According to Beach, "The Tests raised a son and daughter of their own and four adopted children including Julia. Interestingly enough, Test's own son, Charles E. Test, who later lived in Indianapolis, was also of an inventive bend and held the patent for an improved bicycle chain. Julia Test cared for her father in his late years and made a home for him." [8]
I never knew my grandfather, Charles Edward, who died in 1910, at the age of 55 years, before I was born. The following quotation is from Dunn:
Among these excellent home surroundings Charles Edward was born and reared. At an early age, he manifested a great love for outdoor life and animals and it seemed as if the happiest moments of his youth were spent in roaming through the woods in the neighborhood of Richmond. He completed his early education under private tutors and in private schools. He at that time manifested no more interest in books than the average boy, although he always seemed to possess a natural inclination and love for mathematics. In later life, Mr. Test often said that he must have inherited his love for machinery and shops from his father. As a young man, he became an employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad as a telegraph operator at Knightstown, Henry County, Indiana. In 1880, he became buyer or purchasing agent for the Nordyke Marmon Company, mill manufacturers, at Indianapolis, where he continued until 1891, when he associated himself with A.C. Newby and Edward Fletcher in the organization of the Indianapolis Chain Works, becoming president of the company. In 1900, he sold his interest in the above enterprise and in the same year assisted in forming the National Motor Vehicle Company, of which he was president at the time of his death, June 22, 1910. He had been in ill health for several months and death occurred at a sanitarium at Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he had been a patient for several weeks, suffering from a form of Bright's disease.
On November 7, 1888, Mr. Test was married to Mary Elizabeth Skiles, who was born at Richmond, Indiana, and is a daughter of Thomas and Mary Adaline (Strickland) Skiles.
The family home is a beautiful mansion, situated at No. 795 Middle Drive, Woodruff Place, Indianapolis, which Mr. Test erected in 1892. Mr Test was widely known, not alone in business circles but also in a number of organizations of a more or less social character. He belonged to the Commercial club, where he was regarded as a man of well-poised character and finely balanced judgment, also to the Columbia, Canoe and Woodruff clubs. In his political views, he was in no way bigoted, ever being willing to accord freedom of thought to others while he cast his vote with the Republican party. The members of his family attend the Presbyterian Church, but he always claimed connection with the Society of Friends, in which he had a birthright membership. Personally he was a man of unselfish nature, of hearty and genial manner and the circle of his friends spread far. On the occasion of his death, press notices appeared in all the leading journals of the country and many of those near home testified to his ability as a business man and his superiority as a citizen. He was not a man who preferred social recognition, but rather loved the quietness of his home. His first and greatest thought was always for his family, although he was a man widely known in business circles and to a lesser extent in some social organizations."
My father, Donald Newby Test, was the youngest of his three children. He was with his father in Waukesha, at the time of his father's death. It is my impression that subsequently my father took over the management of the family's financial affairs, with the help and guidance of Mr. J. P. Frenzel, Sr. of the Merchants National Bank in Indianapolis. My grandmother was a gentle soul who had been a music teacher and was quite inexperienced in practical financial matters. She was also quite deaf.
My father's older brother - Skiles Edward - married in 1913 and moved to a farm northeast of Indianapolis which my grandfather had acquired earlier. He gradually remodeled the old farm house, installed a diesel engine for the generation of electricity, built a swimming pool, and by 1925 was living very comfortably, at the same time operating a dairy farm, raising some crops, and conducting business in the city as the "Test Realty Corporation," with offices in the Test Building on Monument Circle. [9] He also operated the Circle Motor Inn, one of Indianapolis' first parking garages, located in the same building. A flattering although somewhat inaccurate biography of my Uncle Skiles - "The House of Blue Lights," was written in 1975 by Mrs. Kay Miclot, and privately printed.
Dorothy Elizabeth Test, my aunt, did not marry until she was thirty-two years old. From 1920 until 1923, she lived with my grandmother in the old family home in Woodruff Place. She continued to live there for many years after her marriage.
Both my father and my Uncle Skiles graduated from the Manual Training High School in Indianapolis. Uncle Skiles never went to college, and my father, Donald Newby, only finished one year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He married Marion Porter, a doctor's daughter, in 1916, joined the Navy shortly afterward, and served during World War I as second in command of a submarine chaser off the Carolina coast.
In this century, our branch of the Test family has been closely linked with the automobile. Grandfather Test manufactured the National motor car, and my father spent his entire working life in the automotive replacement parts business. In 1920, when he came into his inheritance, he founded the Central Motor Parts Company, with Ralph W. Boozer as his partner. The company grew, expanded, and prospered. In 1962, my father retired and my brother,
Donald Newby Test, Jr., became chief executive officer. The company headquarters was moved to Dallas, Texas, and shortly afterward "went public" as the General Automotive Parts Corporation. In 1982, this company became part of Genuine Parts Corporation with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. My brother was given a seat on the board of directors. He and his wife, who was born in Texas, have lived in Dallas, Texas for many years.
Perhaps under the influence of ancestral character traits, I studied medicine at the University of Chicago after graduating from Princeton University in 1937. I completed my internship in 1942, just in time to join the Army as a 1st Lieutenant in the Medical Corps. I spent the next three years in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippine Islands, while my brother Donald commanded an Ordnance Depot in the south of China. After some years of post-graduate medical study, I opened an office in Indianapolis, Indiana, where I have lived ever since.
My sister Cynthia, who died in 1971, also lived in Indianapolis, but her daughters are no longer residents of Indiana. Marion Sweeney Laue lives in Eugene, Oregon, and Margaret Sweeney Campbell lives in Birmingham, Michigan.
My own children are widely scattered. Deborah Test Rempis lives in Wellesley Hills, Samuel Taggart Test in San Francisco, California, Charles Davol Test in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Abigail Test Arkway in Providence, Rhode Island.
My brother, Donald Newby Test, Jr., has three sons. One lives in San Antonio, Texas, one in Logan, Utah, and one in Austin, Texas.
Skiles Test's daughter, Louellen Test Hesse, lives in Burlingame, California. Dorothy Test Hiatt's son and daughter both live in Indianapolis. Frank Test Hiatt has both a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
>> Part II: The Descendants of Samuel Test, Jr.