A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 27

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

USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana > Part 27

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by the firm as then organized until 1855, when Mr. Barker bought an interest amounting to one- third of the whole, and became actively identified with the business. Mr. Sherman retired and the firm name was changed to that of Haskell, Barker & Aldridge. In 1858 the interest of Mr. Al- dridge was purchased by the other two members of the firm which now took the name of Haskell & Barker until 1871, when it was incorporated under the name of the Haskell & Barker Car Company. Thus was laid the foundation of a con- cern which soon became, and which remains, the largest business interest of the place, which has contributed very materially to its upbuilding, and any serious misfortune to which would be a sad blow to Michigan City. The business felt the general depression and suspension of manufact- ures throughout the country in 1857. But it emerged from the panic in 1862, since which time though there have been fluctuations, there has been no break in its prosperity. It is one of the largest institutions of its class in the United States, employing two thousand men. Mr. Bar- ker's active connection with the business ceased on the advent into the concern of his son, Hon. John H. Barker, now the president of the com- pany. Mr. John Barker moved to Chicago in 1869 and made investments in various enterprises there, seeking such dispositions of his capital as would not require his continued personal atten- tion, that he might obtain relief from the cares of a long, active and extensive business career.

He was married in 1842 to Miss Cordelia E. Collamer, of Sandy Hill, New York, whom he first met when she was visiting her brother, Dan- vers G. Collamer, then cashier of a bank in Mich- igan City. Of the union were born five children, the first of whom died in infancy; the second is Hon. John H. Barker, the present head of the car works. The third son, George Tyler, born in 1846, died February 24, 1852. Wallace C., who was born in 1848, was drowned from a yacht in Chicago, June 1, 1878. The only daughter be- came Mrs. Ann R. Austin, of Chicago.

Mr. Barker passed away in Chicago, March 22, 1878, and his remains were buried in Green- wood cemetery in Michigan City, the city wherein most of his adult life was passed, and which was the scene of his greatest activity and success in business. His widow survived him until Decem-

ber 24, 1894, when she passed away, and her re- mains lie beside those of her husband.

Mr. Barker was a man of strict integrity and broad capacity for commercial business, careful and prudent, with a first-class reputation, study- ing the wants of his customers. His practical, hard common sense and knowledge of trade en- abled him to avoid the losses which so often wreck tradesmen embarking in business in new countries. He had good judgment, tenacity of purpose, foresight, and public spirit. He was president of the Michigan City Harbor Company from its organization until its dissolution after having accomplished its purpose of constructing a safe and capacious harbor. He belonged to that class of men whose energy and ability de- velop the resources of a state, whose generous deeds and honorable dealings make friends, and whose kindly disposition and domestic traits make happy homes.

Another of Michigan City's pioneer and en- terprising men was HARVEY TRUESDELL. He came to the place in 1836 when it was a mere hamlet, and engaged in business there as a mer- chant and continued a resident of the county until the date of his death, May 17, 1893, covering in all a period of fifty-seven years of active life. He came while in his young manhood, courageous, honest, resourceful and self-reliant, and was iden- tified with both Michigan City and LaPorte dur- ing the early history of these cities, ending his long and useful career in a rich and prosperous community, to the development of which he had contributed his full share. He was born in Gil- bertsville, New York, December 28, 1813. He made good use of his educational advantages and at the age of seventeen wasateacher in the schools of his native county. He engaged successfully in this calling until 1834, when he went to Ham- ilton, Ontario, and engaged in commercial pur- suits. He remained as a clerk in that city until 1836, when his active temperment led him to seek a broader field of enterprise in what was then the far west. At that time there were no railroads west of the Alleghany mountains, and water transportation was considered the one thing most essential to the building up of a city, provided it had tributary to it a sufficiently large area of fertile country. This consideration led Mr. Trues-

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dell to locate in Michigan City. A broad expanse of country, rich in resources, stretched away to the center of the state, and this region was rapidly being settled by an industrious farming popula- tion. Michigan City seemed to be the natural market for their products and promised to be- come a trade center of some importance. The one factor which these men of enterprise did not con- sider was, the rapid spread of railroads and their immense carrying capacity. Attracted to Michi- gan City by the outlook, Mr. Truesdell located here and opened a drygoods store of the pioneer kind, and continued the business successfully for six years. During this period he formed the ac- quaintance of Miss Katharine Tyron, whose fa- ther, David Tyron, had also settled in Michigan City in 1836, and in 1838 they were married in Trinity Episcopal church by the Rev. D. V. M. Johnson, first rector of the parish, afterward a noted clergyman of Brooklyn, New York. Four years later-in 1842-Mr. Truesdell removed to LaPorte and at once became actively interested in the building up of this city. He at once be- came proprietor of the LaPorte Hotel, one of the famous old hostelries of northern Indiana, a land- mark long remembered by those who traveled over the old stage route between Detroit and Chi- cago. Mr. Truesdell also operated a stage line between South Bend and Michigan. City, an im- portant feature of which was the carrying of the United States mails. In this dual capacity he be- came a familiar figure to the traveling public, as well as to the pioneers of northern Indiana; few were more widely or more favorably known. The various enterprises in which he engaged pros- pered under his skillful management, and the keen foresight and good judgment with which nature had endowed him prompted judicious and profitable investments, so that while still a com -. paratively young man he was able to retire from active business pursuits. As a citizen of LaPorte he was among the promoters of some of its most important public enterprises. He was one of the founders of the state bank, and one of the originators of the Pine Lake Cemetery Association, of which he served as president for twenty years. St. Paul's Episcopal church was also indebted largely to him for its prosperity. For twenty years he was senior warden of this church, and was officially identified with its organization. In the history of

the city he took a prominent part in the conduct and management of its municipal affairs, and during the Civil war he was a staunch supporter of the Union, actively identified with local move- ments calculated to aid in the suppression of the rebellion. But he interested himself in public and political affairs only to the extent of dis- charging the duties of good citizenship, and was never a seeker after political preferment. He found his chief enjoyment in the domestic circle, where his relations were of an ideal character. His children are Charles H. Truesdell, a member of the LaPorte county bar, Mrs. Walter Vail, of Michigan City, and Miss Mary K. Truesdell, of LaPorte. He was physically a well preserved man to the last; he grew old gracefully until he finally yielded to the burden of years.

One of the prominent men identified with the business interests of northern Indiana for nearly half a century was OFFLEY LEEDS, who lo- cated in Michigan City in 1837. He was born in Newton county, New Jersey, in 1798, the son of a farmer in moderate circumstances, and one of a family of twelve children. He grew to man- hood on the farm, acquiring the rudiments of an education in the public schools. His father's family were Friends, he was brought up in that faith, and the effects of its peaceable principles could be seen in his character. He was gentle to his children, kind in personal intercourse, hon- est in dealing, and thrifty in life. While very young he taught school in winter and saved his meager salary. He raised grain on his father's farm and saved the proceeds of his crop. From these two sources he accumulated a small capital with which he embarked in mercantile business in his early manhood at Egg Harbor, New Jersey. Prudence and care in business brought him suc- cess, and he added to his capital year after year until he met with his first misfortune. A vessel which bore a large shipment of goods consigned to him from Philadelphia, was wrecked and the entire stock was lost. As it had been purchased largely on credit, the disaster fell on him with greater severity. Nothing daunted, however, he waited on his creditors in Philadelphia and in- formed them of the true condition of his affairs. He could promise to pay only in case they would sell him another stock of goods on credit, and wait until he realized the money for the sales.

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Such was the reputation which he had established for integrity and business capacity, that they gave him the credit asked for. And yet there are those who would tell us that honesty is not the best policy. The extra stock of goods was bought and in due time Mr. Leeds paid for it according to promise. His trade extended and in a few years he had accumulated considerable property. When trade was most prosperous he sold his business advantageously and removed to Staten Island, New York, where he engaged for a few years in milling, with the same good fortune which had before attended him. In 1837 he mar- ried Miss Charlotte Ridgeway, whose relatives were among the honored families forming the early settlement of LaPorte county. The same year he sold his milling interests on Staten Island and removed to Michigan City with a stock of merchandise and opened a general store. He first endeavored to procure a building in LaPorte for the purposes of his store, but failing in this he located in the lake city. His stock was shipped by way of the Hudson river, the Erie canal and the lakes to Chicago, and thence to Michigan City which then promised to be a commercial port of large proportions. His mercantile business con- tinued with marked success and unbroken pros- perity until 1852. He became widely known throughout the tributary trade region and was able to amass a comfortable fortune, as wealth was then estimated. The investment of his sur- plus profits as they accrued, in the purchase of lots and the erection of houses, was the basis of a still larger fortune. He began early to buy and improve property, with unfaltering faith in the growth of the harbor city. His enterprise in- augurated and completed many of the most valu- able improvements of those early times, some of which remain as land marks and conspicuous mon- uments of his public spirit and foresight. After closing out his mercantile business he became in- terested in extensive flouring mills and other en- terprises outside of Michigan City. For many years he was one of the directors of the State Bank of Indiana. His family consisted of two sons and a daughter, the only survivor of which, W. O. Leeds, became a business man of Michi- gan City. After a well rounded life of three score and ten years, Mr. Offley Leeds passed away, in his comfortable home, in 1877, leaving

a comfortable fortune and the more enduring legacy of a good name.

Another enterprising man who was identified with the business interests of Michigan City was CHARLES E. DEWOLFE, who was born in Wolfeville, Nova Scotia, March 6, 1814; at eight- een years of age he went to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and engaged in mercantile business for four years. In the fall of 1836 he moved to Toledo, Ohio, where he remained one year, and then came to Porter county, Indiana, where in 1841, he engaged in mercantile business in Val- paraiso. He continued in this business until 1850, when he moved to Michigan City, where he afterward resided. Here he began business anew and after some years had one of the largest dry- goods and notion houses in the city. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank, of which he was a stockholder and director, and of which he became president. He was married near Valparaiso in April, 1840, to Miss Mary E. Baum, and to the union several children were born. He was one of the organizers and stock- holder in the Michigan City Harbor Company, organized for the building and improvement of the harbor of that place, and remained a director of that institution until the company turned over the harbor to the United States government. Mr. De Wolfe held $3,000 of the stock of the company. The government has never refunded any of the moneys spent by the company for the improve- ment of the harbor, and the company never re- ceived anything from any source on the stock invested. This company was organized for the good of the public and received its return only in the public benefit. Mr. DeWolfe also platted and laid out DeWolfe's South Addition to the city, containing about seventy acres which is now largely built over with residences. He was not actively identified with secret societies nor with the church; his energies were spent in business. He was a very public-spirited man and was iden- tified with every movement for the improvement and advancement of the interests of the county and city, and his name is frequently heard today associated with such movements. He never sought office and rather felt an aversion therefor but such was his standing in the community that if he had consented to the use of his name he

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would have been chosen to fill many of the posi- tions of honor and trust in the county.

MR. GEORGE AMES was also one of the oldest settlers and one of the most enterprising men of Michigan City. He was born in Massa- chusetts, January 30, 1804. His early life was spent on the farm; from the farm he went into the blacksmith shop and the shovel works. He came to this county in 1834 and located at Michi- gan City, where he made some purchases of real estate and began building. His health being poor he took passage on a fishing vessel for the coast of Labrador and spent some time visiting the tribes along the coast. In 1835 he rode from this city to Washington, D. C., on horseback, making the trip in twenty-seven days. He engaged in the mercantile business in Michigan City in 1835, in connection with Mr. Fisher, the firm being known as Fisher, Ames & Company, which business they continued but a short time. He then bought out the proprietor of the drug store and in partner- ship with Mr. Holliday continued in that busi- ness for over thirty years. He was one of the

first directors of the National Bank, and became its president. He owned a number of dwellings and stores, and was one of Michigan City's wealthiest men. He was married in 1849 to Miss Elizabeth B. Banks, of Massachusetts. He held the office of mayor several terms, and that of councilman six years. He was always a public- spirited man and many of the best improvements of the city were due to his untiring efforts. Not- ably among these were the improvements which he made on the high school grounds at his own expense and under his own supervision. Through successive years he set out choice trees on those grounds by the hundreds, for which he received the gratitude of the scholars and of his fellow citizens. At the high school commencement in 1879, the children presented him a gold-headed cane in token of their appreciation of his efforts in this direction. He also contributed largely to the fund for the improvement of the harbor, and spent much time and money in getting up peti- tions to Congress and in soliciting aid in behalf of the enterprise.

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CHAPTER XVII.

PRODUCTS.

"A crop so plenteous, as the land to load, O'ercome the crowded barns and lodge on ricks abroad. Thus every several season is employed, Some spent in toil, and some in ease enjoyed.

The yearning ewes prevent the springing year : The lade'd boughs their fruits in autumn bear. 'Tis then the vine her liquid harvest yields, Baked in the sunshine of ascending fields. The winter comes; and then the falling mast For greedy swine provides a full repast : Then olives, ground in mills, their fatness boast, And winter fruits are mellowed by the frost." The Georgies, DRYDEN'S TRANSLATION.

When LaPorte county was first settled there was a strip of timber from ten to fifteen miles wide along the northern border. As before re- marked, a large part of it was white pine; but there were also oak, ash, sugar maple, soft maple, elm, walnut and many other kinds. All this formed a source of wealth too little regarded, and hence much of it was wasted. A large part of it, however, was cut off for lumber ; some was shipped away but a large quantity was required for building purposes at home. After the harbor was opened at Michigan City, lumber was im- ported rather than exported, and several large firms engaged in the business. The white pine was gone before the fifties, and even the hard wood was rapidly cut off, so that only a few shingle and stave factories remained. In the forties we find dealers advertising for poplar, butternut, cherry, pine and other lumber. J. Whittem in LaPorte was one of these. He had a sawmill and from time to time was compelled to advertise for bills of lumber which he had to fill. Lumber dealers who came here in the fifties : found the native lumber used less and less for. building purposes of any magnitude, and hence

after the railroads came large quantities of lumber were. shipped into the county by rail as well as by water. Lumber, however, was one of the early products of the county, and even now there are a few sawmills in operation. But lumber . production to any great extent is a thing of the past, the sawmills have mostly disappeared or exist only in ruins, and many landowners, seeing the mistake of former wastefulness, are planting trees instead of cutting them off.

One very useful product of the county is huckleberries. In an early day these grew plenti -. fully in different parts of the county, especially on the sandy knolls north of the ridge. In Mich- igan township large quantities were gathered. The first marketable berries were picked in July, and an abundant daily crop was produced for about six weeks. In one day, Tuesday, July 21, 1863, three dealers in Michigan City took in two hundred and fifty baskets of the pleasant fruit. One firm received an order for fifty bushels a day till further notice. Great quantities were pur- chased and shipped to Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati. The picking of the berries gave em- ployment to scores of the German population,

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who reaped a large revenue from the brief season when this fruit was in the ascendancy. At that time the pickers received seven cents a quart for them. In the seventies the shipments in the height of the season reached nearly three hun- dred bushels per day, bringing an income of $10,- 000 per year. Cutting off the timber and drain- ing the lowlands, and the consequent changes of climate and moisture, have interfered with the growth of huckleberries, but even now in differ- ent parts of the county many bushels are gathered annually, so that some farmers declare that they make more money out of their berry patch than out of their farms. The industry, however, is nothing compared with what it was in the sev- enties.

Another product mostly of the past is that of cranberries which grew wild on the marsh lands. When the season was not too dry the wild vines yielded good crops. When the marsh was drained and the natural growth of bushes and weeds de- stroyed and the vines were planted there and overflowed by water during the winter, there was a much greater yield and the berries were larger and better flavored. In the seventies, about two miles west of Michigan City, there was a marsh of sixty acres of planted or cultivated vines, which yielded annually from one hundred to two hundred bushels of berries to the acre. This shows that where the conditions are favor- able for the raising of this berry, it is a profit- able industry. Formerly large quantities of cran- berries were shipped from the county, but many places which once were overflowed with water during the winter, and where cranberries grew in abundance are now dry and there are but few persons in the county who engage in the culture of the cranberry.

Still another product of the county abundant in the past, but now comparatively scarce, is that of fish. There was a time when fishing was a great industry at Michigan City. This was in the sixties and seventies. Even in the forties it was no uncommon thing to see advertisements in the Michigan City papers like the following : "For sale, fifty barrels of white fish and twenty half barrels of the same. Hitchcock & Co." In catching them, both trap nets and gill nets were used. The supply consisted of white fish, Mack- inaw trout, sturgeon and muskalonge, with white fish predominating. In the spring and fall large

quantities of trout were caught in gill nets. Old fishermen state that they have brought up as many as fourteen thousand pounds of fish in one net in a single day, consisting largely of white fish. On some days as many as forty tons of white fish were caught. Taking all the fisheries together, it was no uncommon thing for one hun- dred thousand pounds of fish to be caught in a day. The fish were shipped by rail to Indianapolis, Louisville, and other places. Cars were side- tracked at convenient places and the fish were hauled to them in wagons, and sometimes a team was whipped along the street at a rapid pace to get a load of fish on board after the train was made up and was ready to start. The sturgeon were often so abundant that no market could be found for them and holes were dug and whole loads of them buried in the ground. The Heise brothers (Henry and Frank) and Messrs. Fair- childs, Lutz, Peo, the Wilson brothers, and the Kimball brothers were all engaged in the fisheries and some of them are yet. Peter Johnson, a Ger- man, who located in Michigan City in 1856, owned in 1880 a steam tug and a large sail boat and employed eight men and caught a thousand pounds of fish daily. Lyman Blair also was an extensive fisherman. His pack of white fish often exceeded $40,000 a year. The late Frederick C. Drews, the second member of the firm which has the contract for the government work in Michi- gan City, and who on December 7, 1903, met his death by being run down by an Illinois Central express train at 39th street, in Chicago, was once engaged in the fishing business off the ports of Michigan City and Chicago. When the weather conditions were unfavorable for going to Chicago he would run into this port and ship his fish from Michigan City. Some of the fishermen amassed wealth at the business, but they continued their occupation too long after the supply began to fail, and so became losers. Charles H. Balow now fishes from the tug Hoffnung, August Mentz and Henry Gabbert fish from a gasoline launch, and Frank Kimball fishes from a skiff or trap- net boat. But the annual catch is a mere nothing compared with that of former years. It is said that the catch of whitefish now does not amount to two thousand pounds in a year. Compara- tively few fish are now in the waters near Michi- gan City. Different causes are assigned for their scarcity ; some say that the sewerage from the

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northern prison and from the city has driven them away, others that the supply is simply ex- hausted ; but whatever the cause, it is certain that this industry no longer exists in its former pro- portions, but has dwindled until only a few in- dividuals are engaged in it, with but compara- tively small returns.

Among the products mostly of the past we find also that of sugar. Many houses of the early settlers were built in the woods and sugar was made from the maple trees surrounding them and even the prairie farmers had their sugar camps in the groves. The pioneers found this a welcome product, but for which many of them would have been entirely without sugar. During the Civil war a very great quantity'of maple sugar was made in the county ; the people one and all urged and practiced this in view of the advanced prices of other sugars. They thought that too much pains could not be given to it. In the winter great preparations were made and when the weather became favorable all who owned "sugar bushes" were busily engaged. In the spring of 1862 more sugar was made in the county than ever before. The writer cannot find that maple sugar in any great quantities was ever shipped out of the county, though doubtless some was; but it was of great use to the settlers, supplying a necessary element of food and giving variety to an otherwise monotonous diet.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 27

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