LaPorte County, Indiana - Chapter 14: Founders and Builders, 1904

From the foregoing chapter it will be seen that the real founders of LaPorte were Walter Wil¬ son, Hiram Todd, John Walker, James Andrew, and A. P. Andrew, Jr. Dr. Hiram Todd, a rela¬ tive of John Walker, did not remain in the county ; and General Wilson remained but a short time. JOHN WALKER or Major Walker was about twenty-five years old at the time and was a man of great force of character and much shrewd business . ability. He bought of the government thousands of acres of land and seemed always to know and to select the best prairie and timber land in the county. He was also interested in several saw mills, building the first one that was operated in Michigan township. In politics he was an ardent Whig. As an instance of his rug¬ ged character, at the first land sale in Logansport, When Henly Clybum gave Mrs. Benedict's bid for her land, which was $1.25 per acre, some land speculator who was present bid $1.26. John Walker stepped forward and asked who it was that dared to bid against a widow and the first settler of her township, and said that if any one would point him out he would shoot him. The greedy land speculator gave it up, and Mrs. Bene¬ dict got her land at government price, while others had to pay in some cases $5 and $6 per acre.

Another of the early founders was CAP¬ TAIN A. P. ANDREW, Jr. He derived his title from having been a steamboat captain on the Mississippi river. With his brother James he was engaged in mer¬ cantile business in Dearborn county not far from Cincinnati, but they closed out their business to engage in a contract for building the Michigan Road, and finally bought lands in La¬ Porte and were among those who founded the town and took a leading part in the enterprise and business of the .city. They brought their families here in 1832 ; and ever since, they and their descendants and many of their relatives have been identified with the history of the county. A. P. Andrew was a builder of the county offices which stood in the second court-house yard; he was editor and proprietor of the LaPorte Whig, closing out that publishing business to become cashier of the State Bank at Michigan City; he was a California gold hunter, going to that then far-off country in company with his brother, Will¬ iam P. ; and beginning with 1869 he was a banker in LaPorte under the firm name of J. P. Andrew, Jr. and Son, a firm name which the bank still bears. In 1836 he was an elector on the Harri¬ son ticket, and in 1861 and afterwards he was

JAMES L. ANDREW, the brother, was bom in Hamilton county, Ohio, on March 31, 1799. His life touched the administration of every presi¬ dent of the United States up to his death except that of Washington, his existence beginning late in the presidency of John Adams. He was a small boy in school when Jefferson was president, was nearly sixteen when Jackson fpught the battle of New Orleans, .and through his life noted events transpired of which he was a careful observer. He helped the founders of LaPorte cut it out from St. Joseph county, and helped survey and iay out the town. He resided in LaPorte from that time until his death. He lingered longest of the original founders. When he was twenty-six years of age, previous to his coming to LaPorte, he came to Indiana and settled in Warren county, where he remained for five years. In 1824 he married Abigail Lane, sister of Elder Lane, long a well known Christian minister of this locality, and also of Mrs. Colonel Place. She passed away in 1842. They were the parents of three children ; Catharine, who married Dr. George L. Andrew ; James, who died while a child; and William L. Andrew, of LaPorte. In 1846 Mr. Andrew mar¬ ried Miss Sarah Ross, of Cincinnati, who passed away a few years before her husband. In politics Mr. Andrew was first a Whig and then a Re¬ publican. For four year previous to his death he was confined to his bed as an invalid though his mind was clear. He was quiet, unobtrusive, speaking plainly and bluntly when he spoke at all, and was thoroughly upright and honest. Re¬ ligiously he and his wife were members of the New Church of LaPorte. He passed away on May 20, 1895.

Another of the early citizens was RICHARD HARRIS, who came to LaPorte county with the Stanton and Fail party from Union county, Indi¬ ana, who located in the northeast part of what is now Center township, building their cabins within two or three miles of LaPorte. He voted at the earliest elections held in the county and was a member of the first grand jury, and in 1833 he bought of the government 160 acres of land in Kankakee township. His wife kept the first boarding house in LaPorte. He was past middle age then and has been dead many years. WIL¬ SON MALONE arrived in the county some time in 1830 and also settled in Center township, but in 1833 he moved to New Durham township and in 1836 to Porter county, where he died about twenty years ago at a ripe old age. He voted at the first presidential election in the county and owned several tracts of land. GEORGE THOMAS, a man of education and clerical ability, came along the old Sac trail in season to be elected the first clerk and treasurer of the county, April 9, 1832, serving as such until in 1835. He voted at the first elections, was first postmaster of LaPorte, bought 320 acres of gov¬ ernment land in Springfield township in 1834, and died in office January 19, 1835.

JOHN DEVINE STEWART was born at Connellsville, Pennsylvania, September 27, 1817, and was in his eighty-fourth year when he died* His parents were John Devine and Marian Scott Stewart. The Scotts came from Delaware, while the Stewarts were natives of Maryland. The father of the deceased was an extensive raiser of fine stock, particularly horses, of which he at one time had over 200 head. An accident which hap¬ pened when the subject of this sketch was but five years of age - the poisoning of all his stock in one night - induced the father to come to Indi¬ ana and locate at Connersville, where a brotherin-law, Rev. Scott, was then living. The family consisted of nine children in addition to the pa¬ rents, and the trip was made on a flat-bottom boat, which they floated down the Ohio river. This was before the days of the river steamers and the journey was not only long and tedious but also dangerous, owing to the river thieves who in¬ fested the district and who did not hesitate to kill in order to obtain what they desired. Shortly after the safe arrival of the family at Connersville the father died and when the son became of suffi¬ cient age to begin life's battle alone he went to Winchester, this state, where he engaged in the mercantile business, though before that he had handled the mails between Winchester and one of the nearby towns.

while engaged in tne mercantile business at Win¬ chester, and though he was admitted to the bar of Randolph county he never practiced. He was often consulted by his friends and others on legal points, and to them he gladly gave his counsel, which in almost every instance proved to be the proper advice. He often felt in after years that the mistake of his life was made when he did not continue in the legal pathway which had so auspiciously opened before him. He served as chief enrolling clerk of the house during one term of the Indiana legislature. In 1843 his brothers, Thomas Stewart, a publisher, and James Stewart, a merchant of this city, induced him to remove to LaPorte with his family, which he did, arriving here July 14 of that year. The place was new, the outlook for a prosperous legal career was not encouraging, and so the deceased in partnership with his brother, James, started a general store and produce purchasing establishment at Byron, this county. Being on the Michigan plank road, which enabled them to haul the grain to Michi¬ gan City and then ship by boat, they did a thriving business for many years. Upon his return to this city John Stewart engaged more or less in politics and held good positions in several county offices, being an expert and rapid accountant. He was engaged for a time in the running of a sawmill, and then in partnership with Samuel Hoover of this city he established a machine shop where the King & Fildes woolen mills are now located, for the manufacture of the Mann reaper and mower, and portable engines, but wl>en the Civil war broke out the shop was closed and Mr. Stewart was appointed deputy provost marshal under Colonel Shryock and served during the four years of that bloody strife. Upon his return to LaPorte he did not engage in any active business but as¬ sisted his son, John D. Stewart, Jr., in the hard¬ ware business.

The deceased was very active in the Sons of Temperance movement, being one of the organ¬ izers of that society and one of its best workers. He successfully fought the saloon element for years and his death removed the last one of the active participants in that movement. Politically he was an ardent Whig and when the Republican party came into existence he affiliated with that organization, being for many years one of its most prominent workers. As an organizer he had but few equals and his services as chairman of the central committee were invaluable. Morally he was one of the most upright and conscientious men that ever lived. He had no bad habits and lived without ostentation, doing much good in many ways of which not even his friends had any conception. He had one distinction which seemed to please him greatly, and that was the fact that he assisted in the construction of the first brick building erected in Indianapolis, his uncle, James Scott, being the builder. Though an Odd Fellow at one time, he had not affiliated with that lodge for years. He was a devout Methodist and be¬ longed to the LaPorte church.

There were nine children in his father's family, and John Stewart was also the father of nine chil¬ dren. He was the last of his family and of his children but five are now living, they being Thomas Stewart, of Chicago, Garland R. Stewart, of Indianapolis, John D. Stewart, of LaPorte, Mrs. Minerva S. Wallace, of Indianapolis, and Miss Hjden Stewart, of LaPorte.

He passed away on Saturday evening, Janu¬ ary 18, 1901, and in his demise LaPorte lost one of its earliest residents and a man who for many years was prominent in the political history of the city. For the last quarter of a century he had lived a quiet, retired life and for the past five years he had been an invalid. He gradually failed and the end came peacefully and without a struggle. The funeral was held on Monday, Jan¬ uary 20, at the family residence, Rev. A. H. De- Long, then pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church, officiating; and the remains were buried in Pine Lake cemetery.

The parents of Dexter A. came to LaPorte in 1838, with three children, the subject of this sketch being the youngest, and they settled two and a half miles northwest of LaPorte, where they followed farming sixteen years, and then removed to "Clay Hill," three and a half miles northwest of LaPorte, where they followed dairying for a number of years. The cheese which Mr. Buck made at this place for a long time bore the highest price in the market. In 1871 their dwelling was

Dexter A. Buck, at the age of eighteen, taught school, starting out in life for himself, following civil engineering in Iowa until the war began, when he bought a horse and rode one hundred and fifty miles to enlist, becoming a member of Company B, First Iowa Cavalry. In the fall, at St. Louis, he was appointed commissary by Colonel Fitz Henry Warren. After the death of General Lyon, at Springfield, Missouri, the First Iowa Cavalry was placed under the command of General Fremont, with seven ty-two other regi¬ ments, to meet the rebel General Price, said to be not more than ten miles distant; but before an opportunity was allowed for this anxiouslylooked-for engagement, Fremont was removed and the First Iowa was ordered back to spend its time fighting bushwhackers in Missouri. Near Sedalia it gained a signal victory, capturing 1 ,360 rebels, with wagons, horses, etc. Mr. Buck was prominent in this engagement. After two years' service in the saddle, his injuries compelled him to seek retirement, ^and he tried reading law for a time ; but his ambition would not let him rest in this way while enemies were destroying the coun¬ try ; he therefore went south and was engaged in dealing out rations to the troops from his bakery at Union City, Tennessee. The whole command at that place, however, was captured by General Forrest, Mr. Buck losing everything except his life. He then walked to Columbus, Kentucky, meeting with rebels and adventurers on the way. He kept a general store awhile at Alexandria, Tennessee, where he met a southern lady whom he afterward married. His method of acquiring her acquaintance was difficult, peculiar and romantic. He subsequently sold out at Alexandria and re¬ moved to the old farm, which he had purchased. After remaining one year on the farm, he found such a life too dull and inactive, then selling the farm to his father, he removed to Sedalia, Miss¬ ouri, where he engaged in business, meeting with success, and, desiring a larger field for operations, removed to St. Louis, Missouri, and secured the control of the states of Missouri, Kansas and Texas for the sale of a noted sewing machine, which he bought and sold on his own account for a number of years, building up an immense busi¬ ness. By effort and judicious management he secured a respectable fortune. He then sold out his business to the manufacturing company and became business manager for them for a number of years. At his earnest solicitation the company accepted his resignation, and he returned to his father's farm to care for his parents.

Mr. Buck was a member of Patton Post, G. A. R., and Excelsior Lodge, F. and A. M. Five children survive him, they being Mrs. W. H. Hailman, Miss Manon. Buck, Mrs. Edith Van Trease, Colonel Dexter Alvin Buck, of Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, and Cartright James Buck. James H. Buck, president of the LaPorte Savings Bank, is a brother.

OLIVER PERRY LUDLOW was born in Dearborn* county, Indiana, November 18, 1814, and was the son of Stephen and Lena Ludlow, who were natives of the eastern states. After a common school education Mr. Ludlow took up the occupation of his father, that of farming, which vocation he followed at his old home and in this county, the latter becoming his abiding place in 1840. Early in life he married Miss Elizabeth C. Walker, of Shelbyville, Indiana. She was the daughter of the late John C. Walker and the sister of B. P., W. J. and J. C. Walker, Mrs. Holcomb, Mrs. Mary J. McCoy, Mrs. Frances Cummings, Mrs. Dr. Theel and Mrs. Maria L. Rose. Mrs. Ludlow passed away thirty-three years ago. Born to this union were two daugh¬ ters, both deceased, and three sons, two of whom are living, J. W. Ludlow, of this city, and Oliver Porter Ludlow, of Pleasant township, both re¬ spected and valued members of this community. One son, Stephen Ludlow, is dead, as is also a brother of Mr. Ludlow, John Ludlow. Mr. Lud¬ low joined the Masonic lodge when a young man, but in late years had not affiliated with the order. In early days he was a staunch Whig, and upon the birth of the Republican party he became prominent in the councils of that party.

Once he was honored by being selected to pre¬ side at the Republican convention of LaPorte county, but he always refused to accept the offices that were tendered him. He never missed exer¬ cising his elective franchise.

ready to sacrifice all that he had for the principles which he held dedr. Through hard work, economy and good judgment he was successful in acquiring broad acres, a fine country home, and well filled granaries.

On November 18, 1903, he celebrated his eighty-ninth anniversary at his home just south of LaPorte, where a family dinner was given in his honor. It was the wish of those who gathered around the table that they might all be permitted to meet under like circumstances eleven years from that date and celebrate his hundredth anni¬ versary, but on December 9 he passed away.

JAMES M. ALLEN was identified for a half century with LaPorte county. He belonged to that class of pioneers who laid the foundation of prosperity in northern Indiana in the development of its agricultural resources. He came of the old school of Virginia farmers, who regarded indus¬ try as a cardinal virtue, who combined strict in¬ tegrity with business sagacity, and thrift with genial and charming hospitality. The Allen fam¬ ily settled in Virginia during the colonial period and were of English origin. They were originally Friends in their church affiliations, and Mr. Allen's father, Israel Allen, was brought up in that faith, and married Sarah Fifer, and was a prosperous farmer of the Shenandoah Valley, where James Monroe Allen was born, in 1818, and where he grew to manhood. In 1840 he left the old home¬ stead, fairly well equipped by education and ex¬ perience for a business career, and came to Indi¬ ana. Intending to follow the occupation in which he had been brought up, he purchased a farm in LaPorte county, near Kingsbury, and for the next three years devoted himself to its cultivation and improvement. He then abandoned farming opera¬ tions for a time and became a merchant in La¬ Porte. While there he married Miss Eliza Place, daughter of Colonel Willard A. Place. The names of the children of this union are given as follows : Willard P., Jamie, Fanny, Flora, Lizzie, Katie, and Hattie. Mr. Allen was a successful mer¬ chant. but by instinct and training he was a farmer and preferred the farm to the store; and hence after eight years of merchandising, having added materially to his wealth, he returned to agricul¬ tural pursuits. He purchased a farm a mile south of LaPorte and establised there an old fashioned homestead of kindly hospitality and pleasant asso¬ ciations. Here he lived until 1865, when he pur¬ chased the farm about five miles northwest of LaPorte, which was once the home of General Joseph Orr. After living here several years Mr. Allen returned to the "old homestead" and lived there until 1878, when he retired from active business pursuits and moved to the city of La¬ Porte, where he passed away on the 14th day of September, 1893. His religious affiliations were with the Disciples chui ch, and he was long honor¬ ably identified with the history of the county.

One of the earliest settlers of LaPorte was COLONEL WILLARD ALLEN PLACE. When about six years old he moved with his father into Genesee county, near West Bloom¬ field, Ontario county, New York. His father was a mechanic, and was also engaged in the boot and shoe business, and at one time carried on a store in Homellsville, New York, where Willard was employed as clerk. His education was ac¬ quired in the common schools of New York and in the high school at Homellsville, which he attended a year and a half. The Thatchers, and Judge Hornell, who gave his name to the town, were relatives of Mr. Place, and had induced him to settle in that section. Even that country was then in a very primitive condition, there was not a house between Homellsville and Canisteo, a dis¬ tance of five miles, and wild beasts of various kinds were numerous. In 1818 Mr. Place re¬ moved to Burlington, ten miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he learned the cabinet-maker's trade and the wheelwright business, of one Thompson, and carried on the shop for several years, until* after his marriage. It was at Burlington that he was warned out to do military duty and was elected captain of a rifle company. Subsequently, when the regiment was organized, William Harrison, son of General Harrison, was elected lieutenant colonel, and Mr. Place major. He was after¬ ward promoted to the colonelcy of the same regiment.

On January 30, 1828, Mr. Place married Jane C. Lane, daughter of Aaron Lane, of Burling¬ ton, Ohio, of which union was born one child, Eliza, who married James M. Allen as stated in Mr. Allen's biographical notice. The Lanes were formerly from Holland and settled first in New Jersey. In 1831 Mr. Place made a tour of in¬ spection of LaPorte county and was so well pleased with the country that he determined to make it his home, and in the following year he moved his family to the place. His assisting to built George Thomas's house and his purchasing the first court house which was a frame building and moving it to his farm for a residence, have been related in the preceeding chapter. Mr. Place made agriculture his sole business for several years after his arrival in LaPorte, but he also served his fellow men in official capacities, being county commissioner for several years, associate judge, county treasurer, state representative, and county recorder. He was active as a railroad man, and when the Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana Railroad was being constructed he was employed to secure the right of way and was also appointed agent for the sale of railroad lands. He was one of the stockholders and land agent for the Indianapolis, Peru and Chicago Railroad, and traveled about two years for that company. When the state bank was organized he was appointed one of the directors and for several years was its president. He was exten¬ sively engaged in the stock business, at one time buying and shipping cattle to the New York market. He was president and one of the direc¬ tors of the gas works, a vestryman of the Episco¬ pal church, and, in short, was interested in nearly all the industrial, financial and religious enter¬ prises of the county and town, and was an active and useful citizen.

Prominent among the pioneer merchants of northern Indiana was EDWARD VAIL, who enjoyed the distinction at the time of his retire¬ ment from active business of having engaged con¬ tinuously in trade for a longer time than any of his cotemporaries in LaPorte county. During the later years of his life his establishment in LaPorte was regarded as a landmark in the city, a link connecting the primitive frontier town with the thrifty and prosperous little city into which it had developed. Mr. Vail was one of a family of eight brothers who became identified with north¬ ern Indiana at almost the beginning of its develop¬ ment. They were the sons of Isaac Vail, who was of New England ancestry and came to Indiana from Rahway, New Jersey, where Edward Vail was born May 13, 1817, and where he received his early education. At the age of fifteen years he went to New York city, where he served an apprenticeship of « five years and learned the jeweler's trade. He then came west, following his father's family, who had settled on a farm in St Joseph county. Here he divided his time be¬ tween the farm and his trade until 1845, when he established himself in business in LaPorte. For thirty-five years or more from that date he was engaged in merchandising at that point, and there was no more familiar figure than his among the merchants of that early period. He was brought up a Friend and carried with him through life much of the conservatism of that admirable people, coupled with a spirit of enterprise which made him conspicuious among those who aided in the material development and upbuilding of LaPorte. Generous in his impluses, genial and hospitable in his domestic and social life, he was one of the pioneers held in kindly remembrance by the few survivors among his contemporaries, and by the generation which grew up around him. He passed away in LaPorte February 2, 1884, followed in a few years by his widow, who was Miss Emily Allen before her marriage, a native of Connersville, Indiana. Eight children were born of the union, but few of whom survive. One of the sons, Walter Vail, conspicuously identified with the county, president of the First National Bank of Michigan City, is mentioned elsewhere.

SUTTON VAN PELT, now deceased, be¬ longed to that heroic band of pioneers who braved the hardships, trials and dangers of frontier life to found homes and rear families in the wilder¬ ness. They not only accomplished much for them¬ selves, but the effect of their labors continues and will endure through many succeeding decades. They laid the foundation for the present progress and prosperity of the county, and their names should therefore be enduringly inscribed on the pages of history. Mr. Van Pelt was actively connected with events which shaped the early annals of the county, and was a representative of the agricultural life of this part of the state, and in whatever relations found he was always true to duty and the right.

Mr. Van Pelt was a native of Ohio, his birth occurred in Lebanon, that state, April 7, 1806. His parents were Alexander and Elizabeth (Cor¬ win) Van Pelt, the latter a sister of the distin¬ guished Governor Tom Corwin, whom, it is said, Mr. Van Pelt greatly resembled both in physique and facial contour, and of whom Albert D. Richardson, in "Garnered Sheaves," says: ' This age has given us Tom Corwin, the 'Ohio wagon-boy/ of wit so matchless, of voice so mellow and organ-like, of cheek swarthy as if smitten by the fiery orient; most American of men - at the fireside the greatest conversationalist of his day ; on the stump a series of transitions between Demosthenes and old Burton."

When a boy Sutton Van Pelt accompanied his parents on their removal from Ohio to Indiana, the family home being established in Shelby coun¬ ty. where he remained until 1834. That year wit¬ nessed his arrival in LaPorte county, which was then a frontier district, its lands largely unculti¬ vated, much of the country being yet in possession of the government. The work of improvement and progress was just beginning, and in this Mr. Van Pelt took an active and helpful part. He was elected the third sheriff of the county, and was brave and fearless in the discharge of his duties. He performed the first and only execution in the county, and when asked why he did not employ a substitute he replied, "I would make him a murderer. It is my duty and I will do it."

When his term of official service had expired Mr. Van Pelt engaged in farming and for ten years continued to engage in the tilling of the soil with excellent results. He gathered rich har¬ vests, and in the markets they brought to him a rich financial return. After ten years he took up his abode in LaPorte and turned his attention to the grain trade, being an extensive and pros¬ perous speculator. As the years passed he added to his possessions, gaining a handsome compe¬ tence.

Mr. Van Pelt was three times married. In 1828 he was joined in wedlock to Miss Juliette Squier, a native of New Jersey, and three chil¬ dren were bom to them, namely : Alexander, who died in LaPorte, Indiana, in 1885, at the age of fifty-five years ; David S., a resident oj Cincinnati ; and Camilla, the widow of Aurora Case, who is represented elsewhere in this volume. For his second wife Mr. Van Pelt chose Hannah Bridge, who was bom in Woodstock, Vermont, and they had three children : Tom Corwin and Halleck, who died in infancy ; and Corwin Beecher, who for a number of years was a manufacturer at South Bend, Indiana, but is now a resident of New York city. The mother of these children died in 1848, and Mr. Van Pelt afterward married Miss Rachel C. Andrew, who was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, a member of the well known Andrew family of LaPorte county. Her death occurred in 1895.

Mr. Van Pelt passed away July 10, 1882, after a residence in LaPorte county of almost half a century. The community thus lost one of its honored pioneers and valued citizens. He was an active member of the New church and a con¬ sistent Christian gentleman. He possessd a strong will, firm determination and resolute spirit, and his actions were at all times guided by justice and truth. He left the impress of his individual¬ ity upon the public life of the county and upon the policy which shaped the county's history, and his memory is still cherished by those who knew him.

The name of AURORA CASE was long an honored one in connection with financial circles in LaPorte county, and the First National Bank, of which he was the first president, still stands as a monument to him and his business colleagues who founded it. LaPorte honored him because of an irreproachable life and by reason of his devotion to the public good. His friends enter¬ tained for him the warmest regard by reason of his many excellencies of character; and his wife bestowed upon him the love which is ever given in return fpr the thoughtful care and consideration of a devoted husband.

Connecticut claimed him as a native son, his birth having occurred in that state August 22, 1813. He represented one of the old New Eng¬ land families. For over two hundred years the Case estate was transmitted from father to son. The parents of Aurora Case were Aurora and Elizabeth Case, and in their home the son spent the days of his boyhood and youth, amid re¬ finement and elevating influences. He acquired a good education in the public schools, and then resolved to establish his home in the great and growing west with its broader business oportunities and advantages. Accordingly he arrived in LaPorte county, Indiana, the population of which was then, in 1836, very limited. Through many years he was connected with the business life and commercial expansion of this section of the state, and his efforts wrought for the general good as well as his individual prosperity.

of the great lakes shipped them to Michigan City. He came here in advance of the goods to make arrangements for their sale, and engaged men, teams and wagons which he sent to Michigan City, and by the day his cargo should have arrived he was ready to send out his men to sell the clocks throughout the surrounding country. Mr. Case and his men waited and one day succeeded an¬ other, and still his shipment was not received. The men and teams were lying idle at the hotel at Mr. Case's expense. He bought the goods on credit and naturally became very anxious for their arrival. His anxiety caused him to lose much sleep, but early one morning he fell into a doze and dreamed that some one appeared to him and informed him that the vessel bearing his clocks was at hand and that he must bestir him¬ self and rouse his men and prepare to unload the freight. On awaking he felt that the dream was true, and so strong was this impression upon him that he at once arose, dressed and made his way to the beach. Far out upon the water he saw a tiny white sail, and feeling sure that this was the long-looked-for boat he returned to the hotel and called his men. In a short time the vessel came into port filled with wooden clocks consigned to Aurora Case, and the dream was thus realized. The venture* proved successful, for the clocks were sold throughout the country at a good profit. Thus he entered upon his active business life in LaPorte county, where he was destined to play such an important part.

In i86r Mr. Case removed from Michigan City to LaPorte. He had formerly been presi¬ dent of the bank in Michigan City, and was also the president of the old plank road company. Two years after his removal to LaPorte he as¬ sisted in the organization of the First National Bank of this city, was chosen its first president, and continued to act in that capacity until his death, which occurred October 7, 1872. He placed the institution upon a safe basis, and the sound financial policy which he inaugurated has since been followed bringing success to the bank.

On the 17th of May, 1866, was celebrated the marriage of Aurora Case and Miss Camilla Van Pelt, a daughter of Sutton Van Pelt, and theirs was a most happy married life. In matters of citizenship he was very public-spirited and pn> gressive, and was a co-operant factor in many movements for the general good. Social, in¬ tellectual and moral advancement were causes dear to his heart, and he did everything in his power for promotion along those lines. In poli¬ tics he was an earnest Republican, doing much to secure the growth and the adoption of party prin¬ ciples, and in several city offices he capably served, although he never sought office as a re¬ ward of party fealty. He held membership in the Episcopal church and was active in its in¬ terests. He was also a member of the LaPorte Library and Natural History Association, and was much interested in its establishment upon a basis of greater permanency and usefulness. He regarded it as an important means of culture and education and contributed liberally to its support. He lived in advance of his times. Hw ideas were most progressive, his labors most practical and therefore his efforts were attended with splendid results, whether they were for his own benefit or the public good.

Mrs. Case, who still survives her husband, was born in LaPorte county and has spent al¬ most her entire life in the county seat. The well known Case homestead is at 1007 Jefferson avenue, where she went with her husband as a bride soon after their marriage. She is a woman of spirit and intelligence and is greatly esteemed in LaPorte. Her religious views are those of the New church, in which she holds membership, and her efforts in behalf of the church have been most helpful and beneficial.

GEORGE S. SEYMOUR was another man who was early identified with the business of LaPorte. He was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, January 15, 1823, and passed away in LaPorte, Indiana, August 14, 1893. He learned the hat¬ ter's trade, working at that business until he at¬ tained his majority. Then he came west by the slow stages with which travelers were conveyed in those days. In the spring of 1845 he began the study of law in the office of Gilbert Hath¬ away, of LaPorte. The following year he re¬ moved to Chicago and assisted in taking the census of that place, then a city of about fourteen thousand inhabitants.

Being called to fill a position as clerk of the Commissioner's Court, he devoted himself to that duty and then spent a year studying law with Judge Skinner. In 1850 he was united in mar¬ riage with Miss Lydia Cummings Webster, a lineal descendant of Daniel Webster. They made their home in LaPorte, Mr. Seymour devoting himself to law; though later in life he took up insurance, loans and real estate to the exclusion' of all else. Seven children were the issue of the marriage, two dying in infancy, and Emma Florence, Arthur Webster, George Frederick, Walter Webster, and Paul Henry, all of whom attained to useful callings and respectable posi¬ tions in life. George F. now carries on the in¬ surance and agency business established by his father. The subject of this sketch served one term as city clerk of LaPorte, was for many years an active and prominent Mason, assisted in the first organization of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in LaPorte, was for many years and until his death a member of the New church society in LaPorte, and was a reliable business man of long standing, controlling large insurance interests. The widow still lives, making her home with the son Walter, who is engaged in business in Chicago, beloved by all who know her, a sheaf ripe but still standing uncut in life's autumn.

Among the early settlers of the county, we have mentioned GENERAL JOSEPH ORR, whose first interests were those of farming and whose residence was in the country. But he was so identified with the interests both of Michigan City and of LaPorte, and his personality is so effectually stamped upon the county itself, that we give an account of him here. He was born at Mount Rock, Cumberland county, Pennsyl¬ vania, July 28, 1794. His father, David Orr, was from Donegal county, Ireland; his mother, the wife of David, was a Pennsylvania woman of English descent. Joseph Orr was the eldest of eleven children. He emigrated with his father's family to the Northwest Territory, now the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and a part of Minnesota, landing in Cincinnati, April 1, 1799, when the town had barely six hun¬ dred inhabitants, and the whole Northwest Terri¬ tory less than the present population of LaPorte and Michigan City. Yet he lived to see the northwest contain nearly two million people. Joseph's first experience in squatter life was at the age of five, among the Indians* twelve miles north of Cincinnati, where for twelve years he assisted his father in grubbing, chopping, piling brush and other work common to settling in the backwoods. Meantime he received three quarters of schooling - one under the tuition of an Irish¬ man. It is remarkable how many Irish* school masters, with a somewhat shady history, there were in the country in those days. Joseph's second quarter of schooling was under the tuition of a Dutchman, and the third under that of a Yankee of eccentric character. Joseph's library privileges during the same period consisted of the Bible, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the larger and shorter Catechism, Dilworth's Spell¬ ing Book, and Pike's Arithmetic. His studies commenced with, "What is the chief end of man?" and a few years afterward he added to his articles of faith the teachings of Poor Richard on Industry and Economy. In spelling he pro¬ gressed as far as "crucifix" and in arithmetic he could "cipher out" that he was getting along towards eighteen when the war of 1812 broke out. He at once volunteered and was marched to Cincinnati to be mustered into service, but being examined by an Irish surgeon he was pro¬ nounced too slim a person to wade the black swamps of Canada, and therefore he was re¬ jected. Immediately afterwards he was bound to a nephew of the noted Colonel Ethan Allen of Ticonderoga fame, to learn the carpenter's trade in Cincinnati. His "boss" was the son of a clergyman who inherited a fair library, to which Joseph Orr had free access, and which was the means of stimulating his taste for reading. He also embraced an offer of a very liberal teacher of night schools, and for three winters in suc¬ cession was one of his most punctual scholars.

He reached his majority in 1815, when he went to work as a journeyman for a man from New York city who was a complete master of his trade. He worked for him six months at $1.25 per day, paying $3.00 per week for his board, and washing; the next six months he received $1.50 per day, after which he remained thirteen months longer at $2.00 per day. During these two years and one month he lost but two days and a quarter - one of the lost days was spent on Saturday in walking forty-five miles out to Union county, Indiana, to visit his father's family, the other day was spent on the following Monday in walking back again. The quarter day was spent the next morning in nursing his blistered toes. The round trip of ninety miles cost him a dinner

At the age of twenty-one Joseph was an ex¬ ceedingly poor young man, but at the end of his two years and one month's work he was the possessor of nearly six hundred dollars, besides having spent the first ten dollars of his earnings for tools -with which to work, and the second ten dollars for a right to the Cincinnati library. In these days of free libraries young men do not appreciate their privileges as Joseph Orr did.

Feeling the need of more schooling, especially in mathematics, he accepted the offer of two terms of four months each free of charge, from a very clever Yankee by the name of Solomon Terrell. Under his tuition Joseph made good progress until the middle of the second . term, when the master married a wife and gave up teaching.

Resuming the carpenter's trade Joseph ap¬ plied himself as usual until the completion of his twenty-fourth year, when he formed the ac¬ quaintance of a Yankee school-ma'am and se¬ cured her services to teach him for life. Her name was Harriet Foster, and she was of En¬ glish descent. The two were married September 17, 1818, and of the union were born eight chil¬ dren the two last in LaPorte county. After his marriage Joseph Orr continued at his trade in Cincinnati until June, 1823. He had made several trips to the new settlements of Indiana in search of a location to which he would move, and which promised health and an opportunity to grow up with the country, but none offered promising these advantages until the middle of 1823. Hap¬ pening in Putnam county, Indiana, some time previous, with the commissioners appointed to locate the county seat, through the personal kind¬ ness of one of those gentlemen young Orr was enabled to secure two good locations in land ad¬ joining the present town of Greencastle. He at once engaged in building a cabin sixteen feet square on one of them, and returned to Cincinnati for his family and goods to occupy it. He ar¬ rived at his new home in the latter part of June, 1823, with his family and all the goods he had been able to purchase, and busied himself for some time in selling goods and clearing lip land. He also trained the boys of the locality in mili¬ tary tactics and duties, and on the organization of a regiment in the county he was unanimously elected to its command. When the regiments of several counties were united and a brigade was formed, he was chosen to command it and was honored with a brigadier general's commission by governor James B. Ray. In December, 1830, he was agairr promoted and elected major general of the Eight Division of Indiana Militia. Thus he was a real general ; his title was genuine and not one of those titles so common in this country which are bestowed by flattery and appropriated by self-esteem.

Meantime General Orr had embarked in politics, and in 1828 he was not only placed in nomination and elected to a seat in the state legislature, but was also placed on the electoral ticket for John Quincy Adams, and was badly beaten in the state. But in November of the following year he was elected to fill a vacancy in the state senate, and in the following year, 1830, was elected for a full term of three years in the same body. Besides these offices he was for seven years the presiding officer of one of the branches of the old State Bank.

In the fall of 1831 he started on a flying trip to Door Prairie in company with some old friends from near Cincinnati who designed to visit Chi¬ cago, western Illinois, and return by way of Terre Haute and Greencastle. He joined the company at Crawfordsville with Major Elston, who had just purchased the site at Michigan City and who with his party was just starting to lay out his town. But on reaching the location the Major found that his prepared plat did not square with the shore of the lake and the banks of Trail creek. The General being something of a drafts¬ man quickly settled the question by drawing one that did, with his fingers, on the sand of the lake shore, for which he received a present of a comer lot.

The party visited Door Prairie and all were struck with its beauty, but the General more than the rest. As the land was to be offered for sale the following week at Logansport, he asked leave of his party to return to the sale. After spending a day or two in looking up section corners, he passed on and was present when the sale opened. He first waited on the agent who had the sale in charge and told him he was like the Frenchman at the lottery who said he had no ticket and no money to buy one but wanted a chance at the prize, and the agent gave him the privilege of buying all he thought he could pay for by the meeting of the legislature on the following De¬ cember. The General chose a tract of eleven hundred acres and had his initial O placed on it. He was so mixed up with politics that moving was impossible for the present, but the next year found him again on Door Prairie just in time to witness the Black Hawk scare in that locality. The massacre of some fifteen whites near Fox river, Illinois, was a more serious matter, and he wrote to Governor Noble about it, stating that he would leave next day for Chicago and inform himself with regard to it. He did so, and gave what active service he could during that Indian trouble, as will be related elsewhjere. These services, regimental reviews, and legislative duties occupied his time and attention until after the first of February, 1833. But he had a prairie farm on his hands, and so, on the twenty-sixth of that month, he took leave of politics and set out for his new home in LaPorte county.

On leaving Greencastle his outfit consisted of his wife, five children, three laborers whom the General hired by the year, two wagons, seven yoke of cattle, one horse, four cows, sixty head of hogs, and his household furniture - quite a patriarchal procession ; that is, if he had possessed more wives, and sheep instead of hogs, which latter the Hebrews would hardly tolerate. The weather was cold and continued so to the end of his journey, so cold that he crossed the streams and marshes north of Lafayette, including the Kankakee, on the ice, halting three miles west of LaPorte on the tenth day of March, 1833, with the whole party in good health and spirits. From the time he crossed the Wabash his days and nights were spent entirely in the open air, except what shelter might be obtained in an open tent stretched before a log fire, the fire serving to keep the feet warm. On arriving in LaPorte county he found the snow a foot deep, but de¬ clared that it served well to sleep on instead of a straw bed until he could do better. In five days he had built a log house sixteen by eighteen feet, with a puncheon floor, a clapboard door, a loft, a ladder for the boys "to go up to roost," and a hole in one end of the cabin to let out the smoke. All hands were kept so busy that no one had time to complain and the days passed pleasantly. Rails were made, hauled and put up by the thousands and in due time seventeen acres were seeded with oats, fifty-five in corn, one hundred and sixty in

The General's first trip to mill was to Berrien county, Michigan, requiring four days with his ox team. He welcomed the incoming settlers, lived on friendly terms with his neighbors, and thought that for some years the flow of immigra¬ tion increased faster in LaPorte county than in any other county of the state, and that in enter¬ prise and general intelligence it was surpassed by none. His course of farming was a success. He himself set the example of industry and there¬ fore obtained the full worth of his money from his hired laborers. He added farm to farm and furnished to each of his sons a farm as soon as he reached the time of life when he could take care of it, so that when his youngest came of age, in 1857, he had given them quite a fortune. He was a devoted friend to horticulture and a lover of floriculture, as the neatness and surroundings of his home testified. In the cultivation of flowers and in the internal arrangement and decoration of the home, his wife was always a willing helper. He never regretted coming under the tuition of the Yankee school ma'am. Often in his travels, on business as well as on pleasure excursions, he had his wife accompany him, not only for campanionship but as he wittily said as "a word in ad¬ vance for civil treatment and good quarters." His frequent visits to agricultural and horticul¬ tural fairs, not only in his own county and state, but in surrounding states, kept him well informed as to the uses and abuses of these institutions. Fie condemned the objectionable features often tol¬ erated and permitted by their managers, but aside from these he regarded the encouragement of these fairs as useful to agriculture, the basis of our national prosperity. He held official connec¬ tion with these fairs for many years and was well qualified to give a mature opinion concerning them.

In 1867 the General, in connection with Hon. C. F. Coffin and A. C. Downey, was appointed by Governor Baker, a commissioner "to establish a House of Refuge for the correction and reforma¬ tion of juvenile offenders," and after a careful examination of a number of institutions of the kind, in company with his co-members, the fam¬ ily system was adopted, and the General drew up a plan for the same, which was fully approved and adopted by the board. The lands were pur- chased by the Governor, on consultation with the his farm and left a fine country residence for one board, and embraced a beautiful plat of ground of less pretensions, where he passed the remainnear Plainfield, some fourteen miles west of In- der of his days. He was a rugged character, of dianapolis. The plan originally embraced one great personal force, and his Irish extraction main and ten family buildings, besides shops, out- form his father's side continually manifested itself buildings, playgrounds, gardens, fountains, etc., in his ready wit. He made for the things which for the accommodation of five hundred boys with were honest and upright, and for the best good the officers of the institution. So arose the Plain- of the community. He was public-spirited, lendfield House of Correction. After the building of ing his aid to every movement which promised to the institution was well in progress the General promote the public welfare. He was a devoted resigned. member of the Old Settlers Association of the

At the age of seventy, the General felt the county, and his name heads the list of the death need of curtailing his duties and accordingly sold roll at their meeting on August 28, 1878.