A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 108

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273

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Mr. and Mrs. Rosenbaum are members of the Lutheran church of Cass township. The old homestead now falls by purchase and will to Mr. Rosenbaum. There are two hundred acres of fine land in Dewey township, besides which he has two resident properties in Lacrosse, so it is seen that he is prosperous. Mr. and Mrs. Rosenbaum are young and worthy German citizens who stand high in integrity and social worth, and we are pleased to present this brief text of them to be preserved in the annals of LaPorte county history.

GAYLORD JESSUP, who is successfully engaged in the grain trade at Durham Station on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, and is also interested in farming in New Durham township, is a self-made man whose strength of character and unfaltering enterprises have brought to him well deserved prosperity. He is one of LaPorte county's native sons, his birth having occurred on the 11th of July, 1849, on his father's farm in New Durham township. He is the fifth of seven children, three sons and four daughters, born to John S. and Mary (Young) Jessup. Of this number six are yet living. and two sons and two daughters are yet residents of LaPorte county, while the others are in Iowa.

John S. Jessup, a native of Ohio, pursued his education in the primitive schools such as were

common in this part of the country at an early day. He came to LaPorte county in 1833, and lived upon a tract of land which his father had purchased from the government, the original deed to which is still in possession of a member of the family. His father was one of the pioneer settlers of northwestern Indiana, and became the possessor of large tracts of land in this section of the state. John S. Jessup followed farming throughout his business career, and was a well known and respected agriculturist of his com- munity. In politics he was a Jackson Democrat, and ardently supported the principles of his party. Firm in his decisions and unfaltering in his sup- port of what he believed to be right, he trained his children in integrity and straightforward con- duct. When called to his final rest his remains were interred in the Jessup cemetery, the land for which was donated by his father for the pur- pose used. His wife, a native of New York, was of German lineage. A kind and affectionate wife and mother, she was also a friend to the poor and needy, and her many good qualities endeared her to all who knew her.

Gaylord Jessup was reared and educated in this county, attending the common schools when not engaged with the labors of the farm. He started out in life on his own account with no capital save a pair of willing hands and a strong determination to succeed, and as the years have advanced he has also progressed toward the goal of prosperity, and is now the possessor of a good farm and business as the result of his energy and enterprise. He was engaged in threshing for fifteen years. He first purchased fifty-five acres of land in New Durham township, and to this he has added twenty acres, while his wife owns fifty acres, and thus their landed possessions ag- gregate one hundred and twenty-five acres of rich land. After following agricultural pursuits for many years, he embarked in the grain busi- ness in Westville in 1895, and also established a meat market there. He resided in the town for six years and was successful in his business oper- ations there, but in 1899 returned to the farm, on which he now makes his home. In 1894 he entered the grain trade at Durham station, on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, and has since handled grain at that point, doing a large annual business as a shipper of the cereals raised in this district. He has won the confi- dence of the public as a reliable and trustworthy business man, and he does a large business, hand- ling annually about fifty thousand bushels of wheat, thirty-five thousand bushels of rye and

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twenty thousand bushels of oats, and in 1900 he also shipped sixty thousand bushels of corn. He pays the best market price to the farmers for their grain, and in his operations is meeting with very gratifying success.

Mr. Jessup was married April 25, 1870, to Miss Mary Flood, who was born Dec. 3, 1848, and was reared in LaPorte county, pursuing her education in the common school and in the ex- cellent Catholic school, St. Mary's Academy, near South Bend, Indiana. She herself taught school for a number of years in New Durham township. She is a member of the St. Peter's Catholic church of Laporte. By her marriage she became the mother of two sons and two daughters, but only two of the family are now living: Mary, the wife of J. F. Dolman, a resident farmer of Clinton township, by whom she has a little son, Donovan; and Daniel, who is now in the seventh grade in the public schools.

In politics Mr. Jessup is a Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Horace Greeley. He favors the gold standard and is an advocate of the present money policy of the country. So- cially he is connected with the Knights of Pythias at Westville, and he and his wife are leading and worthy citizens of New Durham township, who, having long resided in this county, are well known for their sterling worth and their many excellent traits of character.

WILLIAM BLINKS. The fitting reward of a well spent life is a period of rest in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. This has been vouchsafed to Mr. Blinks, who for many years was an active factor in industrial circles in Michi- gan City, but is now living retired at his pleas- ant home at 514 Franklin street. Of English nativity, he was born in Tenterden in the county of Kent, November 15, 1833. His paternal grand- father, Edward Blinks, also a native of England, was a farmer by occupation and came of a large family. He died about 1843 when past the prime of life.

Edward Blinks, the father of William Blinks, was born on the "merrie isle," and he, too, became an agriculturist, engaging in the tilling of the soil until 1853, when he severed the business connec- tions that bound him to his native land and crossed the ocean to the new world. Making his way into the interior of the country he settled in Cook county, Illinois, and engaged in farming, residing upon the old homestead there until with- in five years of his death, when he sold that farm and removed to Elgin, where his remaining days

were passed. In early manhood he wedded Miss Ann Wicken, also a native of England, as was her father. Mr. Wicken was a cooper by trade, and as the result of his well directed efforts in a business way he retired well-to-do when in the evening of life. He came of a large family, and reached the very advanced age of ninety years. To Mr. and Mrs. Edward Blinks were born seven children, four sons and three daughters, five of whom are now living: William; Thomas, of Linn county, Iowa ; John, of Cook county, Illi- nois; Susan, the wife of David Sharp, of Min- nesota ; and Ellen, the wife of William Wicken, of Elgin, Illinois. The father passed away in 1883, when seventy-eight years of age, having survived his wife for about a decade. She died in 1873, when seventy-three years of age. Both were Baptists in religious faith, and Mr. Blinks gave his political support to the Republican party.

William Blinks spent the first eighteen years of his life in the land of his nativity and pursued his education in a grammar school there. After putting aside his text books he served an appren- ticeship in a dry-goods store, and when eighteen years of age he sought a home in America, for he believed that he would have better business op- portunities in this country. He came with his brother Edward to the United States and lived in Ohio for about six months, after which he went to Chicago, Illinois, where he learned the molder's trade, following that pursuit there until 1855. Throughout his entire business career he was con- nected with that line of labor. Coming to Michi- gan City almost a half century ago, he took charge of the foundry forming a part of the plant of the Haskell & Barker Car Works, and was there employed with the exception of three inter- vals until 1883. In 1880, because of impaired health, he went to Europe for a rest and recrea- tion. In 1882 he acquired an interest in the gas plant in Michigan City, forming a partnership with Michael Romel, now deceased. After leav- ing the car company he gave his entire attention to the development of the gas business until 1897. The firm became known as the Michigan City Gas Company, organized in 1882, and Mr. Blinks was chosen the president. He remained in that position for fifteen years, on the expiration of which period he sold out to a syndicate in Port- land, Maine. Since that time he has practically lived retired from further business cares. He has, however, some financial interests, being a stockholder in the First National Bank, of which at one time he was a director and vice president. Close application, unfaltering fidelity to duty,

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Williams Bleiko

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thorough understanding of his work and untiring perseverance, these have been the salient features in the success which has attended Mr. Blinks in his businss career.

On the 21st of November, 1859, Mr. Blinks was joined in wedlock to Miss Louisa A. Gus- tine, a daughter of William B. and Eliza A. (Booth) Gustine: Her father, William B. Gus- tine, was a native of New Hampshire and became one of the early settlers of Michigan City, while her mother was born in Auburn, New York. They had a son and two daughters, but one daughter is now deceased. The. brother of Mrs. Blinks is Albert Gustine, a resident of Meriden, Connecticut. The father died August 7, 1877, when sixty-four years of age, and the mother passed away in 1861 at the age of forty-one years. Mrs. Gustine was a daughter of Samuel Booth, who was an uncle of Governor Booth of Califor- nia.

To Mr. and Mrs. Blinks were born three chil- dren, but the eldest, Grace L., died in infancy. Edward G., now a practicing physician of Michi- gan City, wedded Miss Florence Tillotson and they have two sons, Harold T. and Edward T. Walter M. Blinks was for some time manager of the Michigan City Gas Works, but now resides in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He married Miss El- mira L. Rogers, a daughter of N. P. Rogers, of Michigan City, and they have two interesting little sons, Lawrence and William N.

In his fraternal relations Mr. Blinks is a prominent Mason, belonging to Acme Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M .; Michigan City Chapter, No. 25, R. A. M .; and Michigan City Commandery No. 30, K. T. He has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is connected with Indianapolis Consistory. He was the first master of Acme Lodge, was high priest of the chapter and the first eminent commander of the com- mandery. He is held in the highest regard by the brethren of the craft, and in his life repre- sents its teachings and its tenets, being true to the principles of mutual helpfulness and brotherly kindness. His political support was given to the Republican party until 1872, when he became a Democrat, and in 1886 was elected upon that ticket to represent his district in the general as- sembly, where he served for one term. He is now independent in politics. His wife is a member . of the Episcopal church, and both are highly es- teemed people of the community. Their home is at 514 Franklin street, and was erected in 1868 by Mr. Blinks, who also owns other city property, having made judicious investments of his earn-

ings in realty here. He has ever enjoyed an un- assailable reputation in business circles, and his name is an honored one in Michigan City. In matters pertaining to the public welfare he is progressive and helpful, and his co-operation has been given to many measures for the general good. Throughout his career of continued and far-reaching usefulness his duties have ever been performed with the greatest care, and his per- sonal honor and integrity are without blemish.

SAMUEL M. SIBBRELL, a well known and successful farmer of New Durham township, La- Porte county, is the only son of Benjamin F. and Margaret Ann (Glass) Sibbrell, the former of whom was a man of prominence in this township, to which he came in young manhood without capital, and at his death was possessed of a fine estate and the respect of all the community. Ben- jamin Sibbrell was born in Seneca county, Ohio, January 10, 1830, and was educated in the com- mon schools of his native state and reared to the life of a farmer and stockman. He came to La- Porte county in 1855, poor but honest and indus- trious, and for some years lived in a log cabin, but gradually advanced in prosperity until he was the owner of two hundred and ten acres in this county and of eighty in Porter county. He was at first a Whig, and afterward a Republican, and he and his wife were members of the Baptist church. Mrs. Sibbrell was born in Fulton county, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1836, and still lives at the old homestead, with her son.

Samuel M. Sibbrell, the only son of these parents, was born October 7, 1869, in the log cabin which still stands on the farm, and which was the home and shelter to the family during their first years in LaPorte county. He was edu- cated in the Otis public schools, and from his earliest years became accustomed to the life of a farmer, which he has followed with good suc- cess. He has the original farm of two hundred and ten acres in this county, and also forty acres in Porter county. He is a Democrat, and cast his first vote for Cleveland. He belongs to the Maccabees Tent No. 31, at Westville, and has served in all the important offices.

July 27, 1892, Mr. Sibbrell married Miss Nellie May Poston, who was born in Starke county, Indiana, September 28. 1874. a daughter of David and Catharine (Jenkins) Poston, being one of three sons and three daughters in the fam- ily. Her father, who is a native of Ohio, was a pioneer to LaPorte county, and is now one of the prominent farmers of New Durham township.

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He is a Republican in politics. Mrs. Sibbrell was educated in the public schools of this county. She is a member of the Christian church of West- ville. There were four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Sibbrell, but the eldest is deceased. The others are Benjamin F., a boy in school, and Barbara Anna and Florence Ellen.

ANDREW J. SHURTE, a prominent and respected resident of section 2, Cass township; has served his country well on the hard-fought battlefields of the Civil war, and as a citizen and farmer of LaPorte county for half a century has been identified with much of its progress and de- velopment in the agricultural industry.

Mr. Shurte is the son of Samuel and Jen- nette (Melville) Shurte, the former born in New Jersey, and the latter in St. Andrews, Scotland, May 9, 1809, whence she came to Ohio in 1819, and there in 1826 was married to Mr. Samuel Shurte. They lived in Ohio awhile, were then in Cass county, Michigan, also in LaPorte county, and later returned to Ohio, where Samuel Shurte died, but his widow and children returned to La- Porte county, where she died in 1889. Eleven children were born to them, of whom four are now living: Mary A., the wife of James Meeker, of Oregon; Andrew J .; Lewis M., a farmer of Cass township; and Olivia, the wife of Benjamin Skinner, of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Andrew J. Shurte was born in Cass county, Michigan, May 14, 1838, and was the fourth son of his parents. He came to LaPorte county at the age of ten, and was reared in Cass town- ship. The school-house which he attended in those days was of logs, had a "stick" chimney and a mud fireplace, which was a very inadequate means of heating the barn-like structure. A more thorough description of just such a school is to be found in the chapter on education in the first part of this history. Three months each year were spent in this temple of learning, and the rest of the time he found all the work he could do in clearing the farm and raising the year's crops. August 11, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, Eighty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and as a private served two years and eleven months. He was with the western army, and par- ticipated in the battles of Perryville and Hoover's Gap, and at the battle of Chickamauga, Septem- ber 19, 1863, was struck in the left thigh with an ounce ball, which put him in the hospital and soldiers' home for ten months. He is still a cripple from this wound, and bears palpable tes- timony of the brave part he took in the struggle

for the preservation of the Union. He received his honorable discharge in July, 1865, and re- turned to his farm in Cass township, where he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits ever since. He has a first-class farm, and knows all the ins and outs of managing it so as to make it pay.

Mr. Shurte was married, April 7, 1868, to Miss Charlotte Talbot, a native of England and a daughter of William and Sarah (Ruddick) Tal- bot, who came from England to LaPorte county in 1858. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Shurte: Roxy is now the wife of Charles Wills, of Hanna, Indiana, and he is a hardware merchant; they have one daughter, Ethel May; Mrs. Wills was educated in the Wanatah public schools, the Fort Wayne high school and at the Valparaiso normal, and taught five years successfully in LaPorte county. The son Robert is deceased. Benjamin has com- pleted the eighth grade of public school and is a practical farmer. Leora is the wife of Theodore Kapelski, of Chicago. Mary graduated in the class of 1900 of the Wanatah high school and was a student at Valparaiso, and she is now a teacher in the township of Cass; she is a member of the Christian church. Maude graduated in the class of 1899, was a student at the Valparaiso normal, and is now a teacher in Hanna township; she is only twenty years of age, and is now teaching her fourth term; is also a member of the Chris- tian church. Blanche is a student of the Wanatah high school. John is in the fifth grade of school. The daughters Maude, Mary and Roxy are mem- bers of the Rebekah lodge at Hanna.

Mr. Shurte is a stanch Republican, and a member of the Grand Army post at Valparaiso. He is well known in the county, and can be de- pended upon as a good and loyal citizen, who will give, as he has done, his best efforts for the general welfare and public progress.

DR. C. E. JOHNSON, now one of the young and promising practitioners of western LaPorte county, at Otis, and whose practice has rapidly and steadily increased since he first opened his office in the summer of 1902, is a young man who has worked his own way through difficulties, by means of hard work and business management. always with worthy aims in view, to a place in the world where he may be of utmost usefulness to himself and mankind.

Dr. Johnson's parents were Johannes and Lena (Johannes) Johnson, both natives of Ton- köping, Sweden, the former born in 1840. and the

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latter in 1852. They still reside in Sweden, and are people of integrity and members of the Swe- dish Lutheran church. They had eleven children, and of these Dr. Johnson is the oldest.

Dr. Johnson was born in Jonköping, Sweden, November 26, 1872, and at the age of twelve years had the hardihood to venture upon the voy- age to America, which he determined to make his home. He shipped at Gothenburg for New York, and was nineteen days in making the voy- age. He arrived with almost no money, and, making his way to LaPorte county, worked on his uncle's farm for board and the privilege of attending the public school, after a while also earning small wages. He was unable to speak a word of English when he first came, but his nat- ural brightness soon gave him a command over this language, and he has since gained a reading acquaintance with the French, Spanish, Dutch and Italian. He remained with his uncle till he was eighteen years old, and then set about to gain an advanced education and fit himself for a profession. Out of his savings he attended the normal school at Valparaiso, Indiana, for thirty- four weeks, and at the end of that period was granted, on examination, a teacher's certifi- cate. He taught in Cool Spring township for the next three years, putting away his money with the intention of studying medi- cine. He read medicine with Dr. Wilcox for three months, and in 1897-8 attended the State University of Indiana at Bloomington, where he intended to take the full course and graduate, but was taken sick and had to leave. On recovering he entered the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, taking the literary and medical courses, and was graduated with the class of 1902, in his junior year having won the second prize in the oratorical contest.

August 5, 1902, Dr. Johnson opened up his office in Otis junction, where he has already won the confidence of the people, especially among those of his own nationality, and his practice ex- tends throughout Cool Spring, New Durham, and Pierce and Jackson townships of Porter county. He is located in the west part of the town, and his office is one of the neatest to be found anywhere. He uses his own drugs and pharmaceutical preparations, and does not de- pend upon the drug stores. In the office he also has a fine selection of medical works, where he is continually refreshing his mind and going deeper into the great science of which he is a devotee; and in addition he has a well stocked library of general works. He is a disciple of the homeopathic school of medicine.

Dr. Johnson is also interested in public affairs, and during the last campaign stumped the county and made many speeches among his own people, his forte being as a forceful and convincing ora- tor. But, in general, Dr. Johnson supports the man he believes best fitted for the office, and has made a record for his fair-mindedness and geni- ality in all his relations with the citizens of La- Porte county. While in college he was a member of the Alpha Nu society ; he belongs to Lodge No. 136, Independent Order Odd Fellows, at Westville, and the Maccabees of the same place, and to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Michigan City.

WILLIAM BUNDY, a prominent retired farmer of LaPorte county, has had a most inter- esting career of self-sustained progress, and for many years has been numbered with the county's esteemed and industrious citizens. He comes of ancestors who were among the early settlers of this country, his particular branch being resident in New Jersey. His parents were James and Maria (Kauffman) Bundy, the former of whom was born in New Jersey, June 25, 1798, and died December 1, 1857. He was reared to the calling of a farmer, and was also a good mechanic. He was conversant with the German language, and a man of industry and force of character. After his marriage, in the state of Pennsylvania, he came to Fayette county, Indiana, and thence to Elkhart county, settling five miles northeast of Goshen, where he entered eighty acres of gov- ernment land; this he afterward sold, and bought two hundred acres, much of which was timber, where he remained until 1841. He built a log cabin for a home, hewing many of the timbers and fashioning them into shape by himself. He was one of the pioneers of Elkhart county, and had many of the privations incident to that kind of life. In 1841 he came through LaPorte county to Porter county, the trip being made with char- acteristic prairie schooner and oxen, and he set- tled first in Washington township and afterward in Morgan township, where he purchased land on which he resided till his death. He was a Whig and anti-slavery man, and cast his vote for the first nominee of the Republican party, by whose principles he abided the rest of his life. He was of the Universalist faith, while his wife was a Lutheran. Mrs. Maria Bundy was born in Pennsylvania, August 18, 1801, and died June 14, 1854. She was of a Pennsylvania German family, and spoke the German language.

James and Maria Bundy were the parents of fifteen children, five sons and ten daughters.

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nine of whom are still living: Elizabeth, the widow of George L. Parshall, of Porter county ; James, a farmer of Porter county ; Julia, the wife of Russell Johnson, a farmer of Porter county ; Phoebe, the widow of Daniel Cross, of Ames, Kansas; Maria, the widow of Enoch Billings, of Valparaiso, Indiana ; William is the next in age of those living; Rebecca, the wife of Wesley Keeler, formerly a farmer, of Valparaiso; Mi- randa, the wife of R. P. Davidson, of Austin, Minnesota; George, the youngest, a farmer of Porter county.

William Bundy was born in Elkhart county, Indiana, March 18, 1833, and was a boy of nine years when he passed through Laporte county and settled in Porter county. He was reared to farm life and was educated in the common schools. He still remembers distinctly the old school where he, as also the girl who afterward became his wife, learned their lessons. The building was of hewn logs, with a clapboard roof, in size twenty by thirty; it was heated by a big wood stove; the seats were slabs with wooden legs, and were so high that the smaller children could not touch their toes to the floor ; the writing desk was a broad board resting on pins driven into the wall; and the window was simply a long opening where two logs had been left out. The text books were the Elementary speller and reader, and Daboll's and Pike's arithmetic. The school was supported by subscription. One of the fa- vorite methods of punishment which Mr. Bundy remembers consisted in placarding the offender with "This boy has violated the rules of the school," and making him walk around the room a number of times, with this opprobrious inscrip- tion on his back.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 108

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1273

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273