St. Joseph County, Indiana - Chapter 9: Some of St. Joseph Countt's Illusteious Dead. Alexis Coquillaed, 1880 (part 2 of 2)

On Tuesday morning, Feb. 27, 1877, Colonel Wade left Soutli Bend for Crum's Point, about ten miles distant, to hunt ducks. He went alone, taking with him his dog, gun, sachel, pail of provisions, and a light metal boat built in two sections. On arriving at the Point he left his horse and wagon in charge of Cliristian Haller, launched his boat and started on the hunt. About four or five o'clock the same afternoon the di)g returned to Haller's, but nothing strange was thought of the matter. On Wednesday, while two men who were trapping along the river were examining their traps, they came across Col. Wade's boat, opposite the farm of Henry Burden. It had apparently drifted down stream until it lodged in the grass and bulrushes a short distance from the shore. They pulled it in, and also secured a buflalo robe a short distance below, floating on the water. On the seat of the boat lay the Colonel's gun case; close beside it was his breech-loading gun. The alarm was immediately given, and some fifteen or twenty men engaged in the search for tlie body and continued until compelled to abandon it on account of the darkness. Early the ne.xt morning the search was resumed, and the body of tiie Colonel was found about three-fourths of a mile above where the boat was found. The theory of the drowning was that he was sitting in the boat eating his dinner, when he was seized with one of his dizzy spells, which had been troubling him for some time, and falling to one side, careened the boat sufficiently to tlirow him out into the river; that the water revived him and he struck out for the sliore, but failed to reach it, though an excellent swimmer, on account of the icy coldness of the water chilling him into a state of numbness. , His body was at once taken to South Bend, where an inquest was held with the verdict of "accidental drowning." His funeral was conducted under the auspices of the South Bend Commandery, No. 13, K. T., and Crusade Lodge No. 14, K. of P.

Horatio Chapin

Indiana, tlien consisting of about a dozen log cabins. In this same year he called on the different professors of religion in South Bend with reference to the necessity of establisliing a Sabbath-school. A meeting was held and a union Sabbath-school organized. This school afterward, being suspended for a time, was bj- a similar effort re-organized in 1S33. At both organizations Mr. Chapin was elected superintendent. By old settlers Mr. Chapin was termed the "Pioneer of Sabbath-schools in St. Joseph county." In 1835 separate Sabbath-schools were organized in connection with the Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches. On the organization of the Presbyterian Church in ISSi, Mr. Chapin was one of the first members received, and was one of its officers from that time until his death. In 1S3S the South Bend branch of the State Bank of Indiana was established and Mr. Chapin became its cashier, which office he filled for over twenty years. In 1862 he became connected with, and manager of, the private banking house of Chapin, Wheeler & Co., in Chicago. Two or three years after he retired from the business, and returned to South Bend.

Mr. Chapin was a man of considerable culture, being more or less thoroughly acquainted with several branches of knowledge, such as medicine, theology, finance, horticulture and natural science. He was a man of great strength and decision of character. With Puritan firmness he stood fast bj' his convictions and principles. In his character was illustrated the rugged strength of the oak. From the day he came to South Bend his influence was continuously exerted on behalf of morality, intelligence and religion. In his long career as a business man, those who knew him most thoroughly testify to his life-long integrity. During the last years of his life, he seemed to ripen fast for the kingdom of heaven. Unceasingly he gave his dj'ing testimony as to the jireciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ as his only and all-sufficient Savior, in whom alone he trusted for salvation, or acceptance with God. He was called to his final home on the thirteenth day of May, ISYi.

Samuel Byeely

Samuel Byerly was born in Staffordshire, England, in 1796. His father was a partner and relative of Josiah Wedgewood, the great pottery manufacturer, and inventor of the " queensware " M'hich is now used everywhere throughout the civilized world. But in the days o-f the Wedgewood-Byerly partnership this ware had not acquired much celebrity, and before the firm became wealthy Mr. Byerly died, leaving his family in limited circumstances. Samuel was then thirteen years old, and had received only a limited education, but Staffordshire sends no drones out into the world, and young Byerly left to his own reasources did not long remain idle, but applied himself diligently to acquiring an education and securing a living. His aptitude for learning, untiring industry and strength of character soon attracted attention, his amenity of manners made him very popular, and before he was of age he found liimself on the highway to wealth, position and influence. He was a close student, and altliough self-educated, could speak seven different languages; was as conversant with the French, Italian, German, Spanish, Latin and Greek, as with his native tongue.

During the Napoleonic wars Mr. Byerly was chosen as dispatch carrier to Russia, a position of great importance, but surrounded with innumerable dangers. Once his route took liim across one arm of the Baltic sea. He whs obliged to make the crossing, some three or four hundred miles, in an open boat. It was in winter, and the sea was filled with floating ice. The trip was made, but nearly all his companions were frozen. At the close of tlie wars he traveled pretty much all over Europe, visiting among other places N'orway, Sweden, Italy, France, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Turkey and Turkey in Asia, He finally settled in Trieste and became a partner in a large commercial house. While there he became acquainted with and married the lady who survived him. She is a native of Tyrol, a niece of Andrew Ilofer, the Wallace of Tyrol, commander of the Tyrolese insurrection in 1S09, during the war between France and Austria. Hofer, whom the Tyrolese fairly worshiped, was betrayed and shot, but his brave and chivalrous deeds are still the wonder and talk in the mountains and valleys of Tyrol.

In 1832 Mr. Byerly severed his connection with the fii'm ia Trieste and came to the United States. His administrative and executive ability, his rare business qualifications and linguistic powers soon attracted the attention of Howell & Aspinwall, of New York, then one of the largest mercantile and shipping firms in the United States. He was admitted to the firm and soon took entire charge of the vast commercial and shipping interests. The firm had ships on every ocean; their trade extended to every cmarter of the globe. Many New Yorkers yet remember Samuel Byerly as the business prodigy of that city, laboring unceasingly, for years, twenty hours out of the twenty-four, and dispatching business with a celerity and accuracy of which few men are capable. Ten years of such life had their eflect on even as robust a life as Mr. Byerly possessed, and in IS-tS, then fifty years old, he retired from business and came West seeking a home where he might pass the rest of his time with his family," in quiet. Struck with the beauty of South Bend and its surroundings, he settled here, built him a country house and passed the remainder of his days in horticultural pursuits and with his books, for he was an unwearied, untiring student to the close of his life.

Mr. Byerly was noted for his kindness of heart and generosity of character. He scattered his bounties with an unstinted hand, hardl}' stopping to inquire if she objects of his beneficence were worthy or not; in short, he was generous to his own pecuniary injury. He was not less remarkable for his buoyancy and briglitness and his delight to labor over whatever work he had in hand. This was also characteristic of his brothers, several of whom held

Mr. Byerlj was a member of the Catholic Church. His death occurred Saturday, March 10, 1870. His remains were deposited in the cemetery at Notre Dame.

Eltsha Egbert

Elisha Egbert was born in New Jersey in 1806. At an early day his father moved to Lebanon, Ohio, where his boyhood days were spent. He studied law with Hon. Thomas Corwin, then a rising young lawyer. He removed to South Bend in 1829, and soon after engaged in teaching school. He was among the first teachers in the county. He was present at the organization of the first courts in Elkliart, St. Joseph and La Porte counties, and at the time of his decease was the last of the first members of the Bar of Northern Indiana. He was said to be the first admitted to practice in the courts north of the Wabash river, and was plaintift'in the third suit on the records of St. Joseph county. In 18.34 he was appointed probate judge. Witli the exception of one term, which time he spent in farming, he continued to hold that position until the ofiice was abolished in 1852, when he was elected common pleas judge, which position he held for 18 years, up to the time of his death. Many were the changes in political parties in the'course of his long, judicial career, but so fully did behave the confidence of his fellow citizens that his election seemed to follow as a matter of course. On the 4th day of November, 1870, he was called to his reward above. Judge Egbert was a member of the Masonic order and was buried by the members of the order in South Bend. The South Bend Commandery, in their resolutions of- respect thus speaks of him. "In paying an appropriate tribute to the memovy of our deceased Brother and Companion, it is eminently proper to state that during a long life, nearly all of which has been spent in our mid.^t, he has been the one to whom the sorrowing of earth could go and have their grief assuaged; that for more than a quarter of a centuiy he has been a faithful Mason, in early life having presided over St. Joseph lodge, of which he was so long an acceptable member; that he has filled highly honorable and responsible positions in the chapter in which he belonged, and feeling, as he often said, that he had a desire to travel the full length of the IMasonic road, a few months since he presented his application for the orders of Knighthood, and but quite recently passed througli these solemn ceremonies, exhibiting as he did his goodness of heart, when receiving the crowing glory of Masonry. He expressed a desire that he should be buried by the order. Judge Egbert was the courteous gentleman, the warm-hearted friend, devoted companion, afi'ectionate parent and true Mason."

A local writer thus speaks of Judge Egbert: " lie studied law in tbe office of Hon. Thomas Corwin, of Ohio. That generous old Roman took him into his faniil}^, boarded iiim, and treated him as one of their number. When tbe j'oung student got through his studies, and was admitted to the Bar, he was. like most other Western students of law, without money and without clients. His old preceptor said to him: ' Now Lishe, you owe mc three or four hundred dollars, and it does not make much difference wliether you can pay it or not, but I advise yon to strike out into some new country and begin for yourself.' He did so, and pitched his tent amongst us. In eight or ten years afterward, Corwin was broken up bj' endorsement for friends. The grateful student, thouirh pushed with debts himself, did not forget liis benefactor. As soon as he heard of his misfortune, he sent him six or seven hundred dollars. I saw Corwin's reply. It was a warm and sympathetic reply, characteristic of the great and good man. For the tirst year or so after Judge Egbert settled here there was very little litigation in the country. The people did not have time to dispute much. All were intent on getting a home, and honest, hard work was considered the most legitimate way of accomplishing that end. Our young lawyer had to look to some other avocation for a living, in connection with his profession. One of the tirst houses built in the new town was a log school-house. I think it was four logs high, and 16 by 20 feet square. The logs were hewed, and not less than two feet wide. Tiiis was the common meeting-house for all religious purposes for several years. Mr. Egbert opened a school in this house in the summer of 1831 and tauglit for several quarters, at the same time practicing law and speculating a little. In 1834 he was commissioned probate judge and held tiie office until 1838, when he was elected a member of the Legislature over Captain Anthony Defrees. Both candidates were Whigs. In that day nobody regarded the politics of a candidate for tlie Legislature on national questions. A Whig would vote for a Democrat for the Legislature as quick as he would for one of his own political faith, and Democrats would as soon vote for a Whig under the same circumstances. The party lines were never drawn until 1840.

" After the Judge had got fairly on his feet, and feeling confident of his strength, he began to launch out in trade and speculation. In July, 1834, he laid out the town of Portage, on the river about two miles below South Bend. It was just below a very sharp bend in the river, now cut off as an island. But this bend suggested another name for the town, by which it has always been known - 'Pin Hook.' Under the Judge's fostering care, Portage began to thrive and grow. It soon had two taverns, two dry-goods stores, two physicians and a public ferry across the river, and quite a collection of new houses. In a year or so it became quite a snug, thriving little village. While the Judge's town was growing and everything looked prosperous, he branched out in a variety of enterprises, sucli as merchandising, milling and land speculations. When the hard times of 1837-'8 struck the country, he found himself, like all the enterprising men, carrying a heavier load than he was able to bear, and iinally did come out about where he started in, and his town of Portage did about the same thing. In 1852 Judge Egbert was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court, and held the office nearly 20 years, up to the time of his death, discharging all its duties as an impartial and upright judge."

Dwight Deming

Dwight Deming was one of the l)est known business men in Northern Indiana. He came to this county at an early day in its history from Castleton, Vermont, where he was born on the 16th of February, 1824. lie settled witli his parents, the late Judge John J. Deming and wife, at Mishawaka in 1834. His father was one of the leading spirits of Mishawaka at that time. With Col. John H. Orr, J. E. Hollister and Philo Ilurd he organized the same year he settled there the St. Joseph Iron Company, for the manufacture of iron from bog ore, which existed in large quantities in the vicinity of Mishawaka. Later in life Judge Deming was elected probate judge, and continued to reside in Mishawaka until 1856, wiien he removed to California, where his son, Theodore, and his daugliter, Mrs. Chas. Crocker, had preceded him, and he lived there until his death.

When 22 years old Dwight Deming was married to Miss Cornelia L. Nicar, daughter of the late Robert B. Nicar, who was treasurer of this county from 1851 to 1856. The ceremony took place June 10, 1846, and was one of the great social events of Mishawaka, where the young couple were well known and very popular. Mr. Deming taugiit school for awhile, and then removed to this place, and went into the drug business. He bought A. B. Merritt'sdrug store on Michigan street, about where the horse-shoe store now is. He added books to the stock and did a very successful business. Elated by his success he purchased a building lot on Lafayette street in rear of the old jail and there erected, in i851-'2, the largest, as well as the most costly, hi^iuse there was in the city at that time. It was built of brick and was elegantly furnished throughout. The house stands to-day almost as he built it. He failed in business partly on account of this' expenditure, and A. G. Gushing became the owner of the drug and book store, while the residence became the property of Hon. William Miller, whose widow still occupies it.

After his failure, Mr. Deming went to Minnesota and staid nearly a year, but he had great faith in the future of South Bend, and in 1857 he returned here and engaged in the hardware business with his father-in-law, R. B. Nicar, the firm being R. B. Nicar & Co. The business was carried on in the corner now occupied by Peck's clothing store, and prospered finely. At the close of the war, on the return of Capt. Ed. Nicar, his father-in-law retired, disposing of his interest to Capt. Nicar and his brotlier Virginias, and the business continued under the name of Nicar, Deming & Co. After a few years Virginius retired to go into the stove and tinware business, and the firm was changed to Deming & Nicar. In 1874 Mr. Deming retired from the firm, which then became E. Nicar & Co. When Capt. Nicar was elected County Clerk, he disposed of his interest to A. B. France.

"While in the hardware business, Mr. Deming, who had by his untiring devotion to business acquired a competence, bought the " old E.xchange " property, on the corner of Michigan and Water streets, and refitted it for a hotel. He expended large sums of money in adding to it, bought the property directly opposite and erected an immense stable, and opened the hotel as the Dwight House. He made these improvements in lS6o-'G and ran the hotel himself Under his management it became the leading hotel in the city.

in 1871 he became owner, with David Warner, of the M. Stover lot on Michigan street, and in connection with. Mr. Warner erected the most imposing business block on that street. It was 16-5 feet deep, about 60 feet wide and three stories high. It was christened " Lincoln Block." Mr. Deming owned the north half of it and built its lower story for the model hardware store oftiie State. The block cost an immense amount of money, and together with his Dwight House and other improvements and speculations involved him badly in debt; and when the panic of 1873 struck the country it found him in bad shape for such a blow, and with thousands of other good men he was obliged to succumb.

Such a blow would have crushed most men, yet while it touched Mr. Deming's pride it could not shake his energy. He went to California at the special request of his brother-in-law, Charles Crocker, the famous Pacific railroad millionaire, who made him the most inviting proposals to come to the Pacific slope and engage in business. But Mr. Deming liked no place so well as South Bend. He returned here and opened a coal and wood yard, a business which he had been engaged in along with his other ventures. He showed his great energy and business capacity by building up a large and profitable trade in coal, wood, lime, etc., with no capital but his energy and pluck to start on. At the time of his deatli his business was in a prosperous condition, and he was looking forward to buying and building a home for his family in which to spend the remainder of his days.

Mr. Deming was one of the most active politicians in the county. Originally a Whig, as his father was before him, he identified himself with the Republican party when it was organized, and was an active member of that party up to 1874, when he joined the Liberals and finally became a Democrat and was a member of that party when he died. He was first elected to office by the Republicans in 1872 as County Commissioner, and lield the oflice continually up to the time of his death. His present term to which he was elected by Democrats would not have expired until 1882. He also held the office of councilman from the fourth ward in our city government, and was once candidate for Mayor, but was defeated by Prof. Tong. On Sunday evening, Sept. 26, 1880, between six and seven o'clock, Mr. Deming brought his wife from their residence in the fourth ward to the home of her mother, Mrs. Nicar, on the corner of Lafayette and Market streets, promising to call for her with the carriage at nine o'clock, and then went to the office connected with his coal and wood yard, on Michigan street, near the iron bridge. As he did not return at nine o'clock, Mrs. Demingbecame uneasy, and her brother, Oapt. E. Nicar, went to the office, where he found him lying on the floor in front of his desk. Dr. McGill was called in but life was extinct, he having died of valvular disease of the heart, or apoplexy. Tliat his death was very sudden was indicated by the surroundings. He had fallen prone upon the floor from his chair, which stood in front of his desk. On the desk were his eye-glasses and a pamphlet he had been reading.

John A. Heneicks

The subject of this sketch was born in Pendleton count}'^, Kentucky, Aug. 10, 1811. "While quite young his parents moved to Champaign county, Ohio, where he lived with them on a farm until he was sixteen, attending at intervals the common schools of that day. At the age of sixteen he left the farm and studied medicine, in Urbana, with Dr. Carter, and afterward graduated at the Cincinnati Medical College, and in 1832 removed to South Bend and entered upon tlie practice of medicine with Dr. Ilardman. He was the second physician who settled in the place. Dr. Hardraan being the first.

In 1836 Dr. Henricks was married to Miss Comparet, a half sister of Mrs. Alexis Coquillard, and abandoned the practice of medicine to accept the proposition of Mr. Coquillard to engage in the drygoods trade. The store was opened in the old red brick on the corner of Michigan and Market streets, and conducted for three years, when failure followed. Afterward Dr. Henricks and John Rush formed a partnership and purchased a stock of goods of Mr. Coquillard and for a time did a very heavy business, wlien financial reverses again came and they went under. His wife and two children were taken from him by death, which, with his business reverses, was enough to have discouraged a less indomitable person.

A few years after he married Miss Sanger, and a third time entered the ilry-goods business with one of the Sanger boys, and again in the old red brick. In connection with other business enterprises he built a mill, using it for a time for a warehouse from which to ship wheat. In 181-9 he, in company with William Miller and others, went to California. After their return they eugageil in tlie milling business together, and also in the contract for building the State Prison at Joliet, Illinois. In 1863 Dr.

Henricks disposed of his share in the mill to Mr. Miller, and gave bis whole attention to the prison contract, from which he realized a handsome competence. When the First National Bank, of South Bend, was orejanized, he became the president, a position he held for manj' years.

Dr. Henricks always took a prominent part in politics, and his popularity always made him a desirable candidate for his part}', he being almost invariably successful. Diirini,' his first term in the Legislature, in which he served several terms, he was the means of having a branch of the State Bank located in South Jjend. He was a fluent, pleasing, and argumentative speaker, quick at repartee, slow to anger, and with a personal magnetism that easily swayed his audience and made him a powerful opponent. His last appearance in political life was as the Liberal candidate for Congress.

Mrs. Fraxcks C. Coquillard

Mrs. Coquillard was the most remarkable person in the history of St. Joseph county, sharing as she did the duties, the privations and honors of her remarkable husband. Her maiden name was Frances C. Comparet, and she was born in Detroit, April 9, 1805. In 1S2J:, at the age of nineteen, she was married in Fort Wayne to Alexis Coquillard and soon afterward came with him to the site of the present city of South Bend, where he had establislied a trading post. Being a woman of strong mind, active temperament, indomitable courage and shrewdness remarkable in a woman, she proved a strong aid to her husband in his dealings with the Indians. She accompanied him on his long, fatiguing journeys or remained to take charge of the post and cope single-handed with the Indian traders. The aid she was enabled to render her husband in his business was largely due to the strong influence she was not long in obtaining over the Indians, which was frequently manifested in councils, when a few words from her would restore good feeling and avert a threatened danger. She was to the poor, untutored Indians of that day a veritable Good Samaritan. She nursed them in their sickness, sympathized with them in their sorrows and troubles, and in every way made them feel that she was their true friend. That they learned to love her it is needless to state, and to the few Indians who remain, the announcement of her death will be sorrowful news. They frequently made visits to her during her life, and always looked up to her as a guiding genius.

The Indians were not alone, however, in being the recipients of her kind attentions and bountv. Like her noble husband she was of an open, frank, charitable and generous nature, and the suft'erings and sorrows of others never appealed in vain to her sensitive heart. To the women who came after her and settled with their husbands and families around her cabin she was frequently a friend in need, teaching how best to provide against the hardships of pioneer lite and rendering them every assistance that could be suggested to a kind and charitable nature. Mrs. Coquillard was the first woman who dared the dangers and endured the privations of pioneer life when the spot on which the city is located was a howling wilderness, inhabited only by Indians and wild beasts; the first woman to bring among the savages of this section the refining influences of civilized and Christian life, and through whose exertions and services the germ of civilization was deposited here. Death called her away Monday, Oct. 11, ISSO.

John M. Stover

John M. Stover was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, in the year 1833, but while yet a boy his parents moved with him to this county. Pie received a fair education, and having a desire for the medical profession, shortly after attaining his majority lie commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Van Tuyl, then a leading physician of South Bend. He afterward entered the Jefi"erson Medical College, at Philadelphia, and graduated in 1858 in the regular course. lie then opened an office in South Bend, and built up a large practice, which be retained until failing health admonished him his time had come. Dr. Stover was possessed of a clear,' vigorous mind, great energy of character, and entered upon the duties of his profession with a zeal that proved too much for his bodily strength. As a physician he stood high in the community, and by his geniality and pleasant manners, attached to himself many and warm friends. In politics he was steadfast in the teachings of his youth, upholding with firmness and pertinacity the doctrines of the Democratic party. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and died in the full assurance of hope, Nov. 15, 1869.

John T. Lindsey

John T. Lindsey came to this county when a mere lad, and was partially raised in the family of T. W. Bray. In 1837 Mr. Bray was elected County Clerk, and young Lindsey showing great aptitude for business, was made his deputy. In 1844, Mr. Lindsey was a candidate for the same oflSce, was elected, and served until 1851. In 1856 he was appointed teller in the South Bend branch of the State Bank of Indiana, and held the position until the organization of the First National Bank of South Bend, when he was tendered the position of cashier, which he accepted. Through the course of a long and useful life, it was the good fortune of Mr. Lindsey to secure the confidence of every one with whom he had relations. It is not too much to say of him that he never knew how to follow a devious or dishonest course, and his name became to those having dealings with him the synonym of integrity. Mr. Lindsey was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He died, loved and respected by all, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 1869.

Isaac Eaton

Isaac Eaton was born in Loudon county, Va., in 1775, but was raised in Maryland, in the vicinity of Antietam and South Mountain, a locality made historic by the events of the late Rebellion. In the second war with Great Britain, Mr. Eaton enlisted and served to its close. In 1830 he moved to this county, then an almost unbroken wilderness. In his younger days he was a man of great strength, a lithe, wiry body, under medium size, and in the numerous personal encounters, quite common in that early day, became quite famous for never having "met his match." Many are the anecdotes related of him concerning these trials of strength. In the war of 1812, Eaton served with the Virginia Militia, under the command of Gen. Mason, a Virginian, born in the same county with Eaton, about twelve years his junior, and the most popular man in the army. It is more than probable that military discipline very lax in those times, and one daj' at a general review, Mason rode up and down the lines proclaiming that he had a man in his command who could whip anything in the entire army. This challenge, several times repeated, was at last responded to by a perfect giant of a fellow from a Pennsylvania regiment, who came stalking down the lines and asked Gen. Mason to bring out his man. The General ordered Eaton out of the ranks. He was eyed by the Pennsylvanian witli about as much scorn as Goliath was supposed to liave looked upon David. Word was given to begin the battle, and there, before the whole American army, formed in a hollow square, the two men stripped to the waist and engaged in combat, but in less time than it takes to tell it, Eaton lifted his herculean opponent from the ground, and twirling him over with apparently as much ease as a dandy would a cane, held him up before the whole army in this inverted position, until the giant Pennsylvanian begged for quarter. At another time, in Kentucky, Eaton was forced to accept a challenge to fight, and on the first encounter threw his opponent to the ground with such force as to break nearly all his ribs. Mr. Eaton died, in Clay township, Dec. 25, 1869, aged 95 years.

Judge Johnson

Peter Johnson was born in Pennsylvania in 1788. In early years he followed boating on the Monongaheia, Ohio, Mississipi and Red rivers, making trips with keel boats from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and up the Red river, which irequently occupied an entire year. It was upon one of these trips that he saw the first steamer that ever ran upon the Mississippi river. In 1812 lie was married to Miss Chalfant. Two years after his marriage he moved to Ohio, and after living there four years, moved to Wayne county, in this State, where he resided until 1828, when he went to Logansport, and two years after he moved to South Bend.

Peter Johnson was just the man for a new place. Industrious, energetic, enterpiising, he soon made his presence felt in that town, then struggling hard tor an existence. In less than nine months after his arrival, with no saw-mills nearer than Elkhart, and laboring under the geatest disadvantages, he, with the assistance of his two sons, Evan and Lee, built " Michigan tavern," the first frame house erected in Sonth Bend. It stood on the site where Coonley & Co.'s drug store now stands, and was known in later days as the "Old American." Transportation was then so difficult, and sawed lumber so hard to get, that the studding, rafters and joists were split from oak trees and afterward hewed into shape. The same year he built the keel boat " Fair Play," which made trips several years between South Bend and the mouth of the river. The next year, 1832, he built the "Comet," the "Hoosier" in 1841, and a fourth in 1842. lie also built a steam saw-mill, and was at one time engaged in the mercantile business. He was one of the first County Commissioners, was a Justice of the Peace, and was also appointed associate judge, and served in that capacity several years.

Judge Johnson lived 57 years of married life and raised nine children. He was a member of the Masonic order for 51 years, and all his sons, five in number, are now members of the same order. Death called him home Thursday, March 10, 18T0, aged 82 years.

Charles M. Tdtt

"Was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, Feb. Y, 1808, and died in South Bend, Indiana, Nov. 6, 1870. Mr. Tutt moved to the latter place in 1832, and was elected Sherift" of the county in 1838, and re-elected in 18'±0. In 1849 he went to California where he remained six j-ears, and returned to South Bend. At the time of his death Mr. Tutt was Justice of the Peace, which oflice he had held fo two years.

Archibald Defeees

Was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, October, 1792. He moved from Virginia to Shelby Co., Ohio, in 1810, and thence to this county in 1835. He purchased a farm about six miles west ot South Bend and followed farming as an occupation until 1849, when he moved to the latter place, where he resided until his death, serving most of the time as Justice of the Peace. He also served as County Treasurer one year. Mr. Defrees was an upright, moral and exemplary citizen, deeply respected by a large circle of acquaintances, lie was a member of the Metliodist Episcopal Church for over 45 years. His death took place March 3, 1869.

"Was born in Newington, New Hampshire, July 2, 1815, and came to South Bend in 1837. Here he opened a bakery and grocery store in a building that stood on No. 68 Washington street. Subsequently he removed his business to Michigan street. Mr. Bartlett was twice married; was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and of the Odd Fellows. He was a most estimable citizen, scrupulously honest in all his dealings, and in matters involving principle was as unyielding as the granite hills of his native State.

James A. Ireland

Was born near New Paris, Preble county, Ohio, Jan. 1, ISlif. He came to this connty in 1829 and first settled in Pleasant Valley; then in 1830 went to South Bend, but afterward returned to Pleasant Valley, and lived there a few years, and again to South Bend, where he resided until his death, Aug. 21, 1873. His first business in South Bend was teaming, which he followed for ten years, when he opened a livery stable, which business he carried on for 20 consecutive years, disposing of it in the spring of 1873. He was twice married. Mr. Ireland's business gave him an extensive acquaintance throughout this and adjoining States, and he was noted among all who had transactions with him, for his honesty and fair dealing. Generous to a fault, a warm s^'mpathizer with those in distress, he chose the part of a Good Samaritan in this life.

Henky Stull

In 1829, when there were but two houses where is now the thriving city of South Bend, Henry Stull came here and entered what has long been known as the Stnll farm, about one mile south of the city limits. Returning to his old home in Jeimings county, he gathered together his goods and chattels and moved here the following year, remaining upon the old farm until death called him away, which sad event occurred March 25, 1875. In his early days here, before his boys became old enough to help him, Mr. Stull worked hard clearing his farm, which was the first one opened south of the town. At that date the Michigan road had not been surveyed, or even thought of, and when it was located it ran directly through his farm and greatly increased its value. In early life Mr. Stull and his wife became earnest, faithful members of the Methodist Church, and remained so through life. Mr. Stull's religion was not of the Sunday kind, but carried itself into his every-day life.

Indeed, there never was a more upright and conscientious man, and his example had its effect on the community. One of his rules was never to go in debt, and it is said he never in his life bought an article, large or small, but he paid for it at the time. If he was unable to buy an article he desired, he was content to wait until he was able, and to that rule can be attributed his success in obtaining a competency. Mr. and Mrs. StuU were married over 60 years, and had 11 children, 8 of whom survived him.