Newton County Biography

                                GEORGE ADE


George Ade was born February 9, 1866 in Kentland, Indiana, the sixth son of
John and Adaline Ade. He was known throughout the world for his plays and as
a humorist. He said he never considered himself a humorist although he was
labeled one; but he said, "I always stood at the head of my class when they
arranged us alpahabetically."  Few Hoosiers have had the distinction of
having a soft drink, a cigar, a town, a hospital, a country club, a college
football stadium, a highway, an Interstate Oasis and a Liberty Ship named in
their honor.  George Ade was one who had all of these distinctions.   He
graduated from Purdue in 1887in a class of eight.  Worked as a journalist
for Morning News in Lafayette 1887-90.  Moved to Chicago in 1890 to work on
Chicago News with his college friend, John T. McCutcheon.  In  1893 his
"Stories of the Street and of the Town" appeared November 20, in the
News-Record.  In 1897 his "Fables in Slang" appeared in print.  By 1900 his
columns were syndicated.  His light opera, "Sultan of Sulu" was produced in
1902, and he purchased his 417 acre farm near Brook with the proceeds.
Between 1902 and 1907 he wrote "Peggy from Paris", "The Shogun", "Just Out
of College", "The College Widow", "The County Chairman",  and had three
plays running on Broadway at one time.He built his Hazelden country estate
in 1904 and in 1908 was named a trustee of Purdue University.  His fables
were published in Cosmopolitan, Collier's, and The Saturday Evening Post.
Mr. Ade was a world traveller, collecting an assortment of souveneirs which
are now displayed in his Hazelden home.  One of Mr. Ades fables ended
with,"Early to bed and early to rise, and you will meet very few prominent
people".  Among the prominent people he met and entertained at Hazelden
were, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Warren G.
Harding, James Whitcomb Riley, Booth Tarkington, Will Rogers, Damon Runyon,
Gene Sarazen, Charles Winninger, Ernie Pyle, Constance, Joan, and Barbara
Bennett, and General  Douglas MacArthur.  Taft opened his successful
presidential campaign at Hazelden in 1908.  George Ade died May 16, 1944 in
town of Brook and is buried in Fairlawn Cemetery, south of Kentland,
Indiana.  He willed his golf course to the members. He was  noted for his
"Kid Parties" for the children of Newton County, at which time they got all
the hot dogs and ice cream cones they could eat.  For more information on
George  Ade, check in the History of Newton County published in 1985.



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Submitted By willpad@netnitco.net (Robert E. Williamson)