Handbook N-P - Fulton County Public Library

Pl
The undersigned, bound for Salt River, for a little of the needful on the trip, and therefore
earnestly asks of those indebted to him to call soon and settle their accounts, as I want to pay all
my debts before leaving, and I cannot do it unless those oweing me come forward and help me to
do so. Now don’t be backward about calling, for I am in earnest, and money I must have. A. K.
Plank Rochester. October 28, 1858.
[Rochester Gazette, Thursday, December 9, 1858]
Physician, and dealer in Drugs, Medicines, Oils, Paints, Dyestuffs, Perfumery, Groceries,
&c. Store one door north of D. W. Lyon & Co’s. Rochester, Ind.
[Rochester Mercury, Thursday, March 1, 1860]
. . . Largest and Best Assorted Stocks of Drugs and Groceries . . . A. K. Plank, Rochester,
April 19, 1860.
[Rochester Mercury, Thursday, May 3, 1860]
A. K. Plank, Physician and Dealer in Drugs, Medicines, Oils, Paints, Dyestuffs,
Perfumery, Boots and Shoes, Groceries, &c &c. Store in the Mammoth Building, Rochester,
Indiana.
[Rochester Mercury, Thursday, April 10, 1862]
Dr. A. K. Plank and J. Dawson have formed a partnership, and hereafter the business will
be conducted at the old stand of Dr. Plank, under the name of Plank & Dawson.
[Rochester Chronicle, Thursday, May 22, 1862]
[Adv] Drugs, Medicines, Paints, Oils, Perfumery, Brushes, Lamps, &c - - - A. K.
PLANK, Old stand, Central Block.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, April 30, 1881]
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. A. K. Plank. - The ancestors of the subject of this sketch were of Holland-Dutch
descent. They were among the early settlers of the territory bordering on the Great Lakes,
particularly the part now comprised in the State of New York. They came to America, as many
others did, to avoid religious intolerance and persecution then practiced in their native country.
They found a home in the wilderness, but industry and sturdy habits soon made farms, built towns
and cities.
His parents, Abraham and Sallie Plank, were American born, being residents of New
York State. They lived on a farm in Schoharie County, with their family, consisting of eight
children, of whom the one whose name appears at the head of this writing was the seventh in
relation of age. He was born Fevbruary 22, 1827, and was only seventeen months old when his
father died, leaving his mother in charge of the whole of family affairs. He attended the common
schools of New York State till 1835, when the family moved to LaPorte, Ind., where he continued
in school to his thirteenth year; then he was bound to Dr. Teagarden, a prominent physician of
LaPorte, until he should become twenty-one years old. At the age of nineteen years he
commenced the study of medicine with his preceptor; he attended medical lectures at Cincinnati,
and in 1850 graduated, receiving the degree of M.D. He immediately located at South Bend,
where he practiced for three years with good success; he then came to Rochester; followed his
profession in connection with the drug business. This was in the early history of Rochester, and
he may be justly styled the “pioneer druggist” of Rochester.
On May 9, 1854, he was married to Mrs. Ann E. Sippy, then a widow, resident of
Rochester. Two children resulted from this union, the elder, Charles K., now a prosperous boot
and shoe merchant, located a few doors south of his father’s drug house; the younger, William S.,
at present attending school in the Pharmic Department of the Ann Arbor University.