A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 46

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

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H. N. Cathcart, brother of Hon. C. H. Cath- cart, said that in 1833 he worked with his brother putting up a shop for Dr. Vaughn in LaPorte; that it was about the fifth frame house put up in the city; that while they were doing this work they boarded with Richard Harris, where also boarded Dr. Ball, wife and two children, Dr. Walks, Dr. Hemonway, Dr. Vaughn, and others. It would be difficult now to learn much about these doctors. Mrs. George L. Andrew says that she remembers Dr. Vaughn; that her im- pression is that he was from Richmond, and that he did not remain in LaPorte very long. She says that there was another young doctor here from Philadelphia, who attended' Chamberlain Andrew in a sickness, and that he remained but a short time. Hon. C. H. Cathcart tells us, as will be related further on, of a young doctor who was handled roughly at a land sale in 1835 for daring to bid on squatters' claims and there- fore left LaPorte. It may be that he was one of the two just mentioned. Packard says that the earliest physicians in LaPorte were Doctors Dinwiddie, Timothy Everts, Daniel Meeker, and G. A. Rose, who arrived prior to 1835, and that they were followed by Abraham Teegarden, who came in 1837, J. P. Andrew, George L. Andrew, T. Higday, L. Brusie, Thomas D. Lemon, L. C. Rose and others. Here we have something more tangible, for these men were well known and have left their mark on the county. The writer has sufficient data concerning the doctors of La-

Porte county to fill a large volume, from which he can only make a few selections.

Dr. G. A. Rose was a noted physician in Vir- ginia, left the state because of slavery which was odious to him, came to LaPorte county, established a high reputation as a physician, and latterly gave much of his time to the management of his large estate until his death in 1861. He was a fine representative of the old school Virginia gentleman. His sons became worthy men and. among them Landon Cabell Rose became a phy- sician of high character, thoroughly trained in his profession, and led a long and honorable career in LaPorte. His ideal of the responsibilities of his profession was very high, and he sought in every way to attain to it. He was a surgeon of the Twenty-ninth Indiana Regiment in the Civil war, and both in the army and at home performed some operations which were then con- sidered very difficult.

Dr. Daniel Meeker was another very remark- able man among the LaPorte physicians. He was born in Schoharie county, New York, De- cember 17, 1804. He was brought up on the Western Reserve in Ohio. He attended the pub- lic schools and the academy at Jefferson in Ash- tabula county, for the purpose of studying for some profession, finally selecting that of medi- cine. He studied medicine first under a pre- ceptor and then in two medical colleges, overcom- ing great obstacles to do so. In 1835 he decided to emigrate to Joliet, Illinois, and did so; pass- ing through LaPorte on the old Sac trail. He remained there for some days, returning by way of Chicago and passing around the beach of the lake to the county, and so to LaPorte. While waiting here for some medicine and books which he had shipped around the lakes to Michigan. City, sickness commenced in LaPorte in the form of typhoid fever which was very severe, and he suddenly found himself master of a good prac- tice, and here he remained. His specialty was anatomy and surgery, and he conceived the idea of giving a private course of lectures to a class. of students, and out of this grew the Indiana Medical College which flourished in LaPorte for a number of years. Dr. Meeker was pro- fessor of anatomy and physiology here, and after- wards in the Indiana Central Medical College at Indianapolis. Then he returned. to LaPorte and:

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entered into practice. But his reputation as a . by brevet, to rank as such from June 1, 1865, for teacher had spread abroad, and he was solicited to take the chair of anatomy in the medical de- partment of the University of Iowa, located at Keokuk, which he accepted. He remained con- nected with this college for five years, and at the close of the term, February 18, 1861, he re- signed and returned to LaPorte.

To show something of the esteem in which he was held, the class of 1856-57 presented him a cane at the close of the term, and the presenta- tion address contained the following :

It is no slight matter for one no longer in the youthful and athletic years of life, and in the ample enjoyment of the reward of long and la- borious professional service, to absent himself from those having social and professional claims upon him at home and come in the midst of winter with the prospect of considerable expo- sure awaiting him, and day after day discharge double duties in the lecture room, and, when the working hours of the week are ended, still re- main ready to give his time and valuable instruc- tion to those who seek it, and that too with ad- vice so lucid and profound, and with manners so social and cordial, that those who came at first only as students, came ever afterward in the double relation of student and friend.

It is no small matter also that the vigorous and flourishing young school of medicine to which we are hereafter to refer as the guarantee of our claim to public confidence, should have enrolled among her faculty one whose experi- ence as a teacher, and whose name as a surgeon and anatomist, not only has no superior in the west, but is familiarly known in all sections of our country. It is an evidence to those who may be contemplating medical studies, of the grow- ing influence and dignity of the University of Iowa, and it will enable those of us who com- pose the present class, when asked for an en- dorsement of our competency, to point with pride and confidence to our alma mater.

Dr. Meeker went into the army as surgeon of the Ninth Indiana Regiment, commonly called the "Bloody Ninth." It was not long before he was made brigade surgeon. He served with different armies, and in different departments of the country, always faithfully and efficiently, and on July 24, 1865, President Johnson, by special order, appointed him lieutenant colonel

faithful and meritorious services performed by him while a surgeon in the United States army. While in the army he wrote letters to his home paper which had a wide in- fluence in favor of the Union cause, and which are interesting reading even to-day. While in the Indiana Medical College at LaPorte, he and his co-adjutors performed surgical operations which were considered difficult, and advanced in those day. On December 25, 1826, he mar- ried Lucy H. Sprague, a daughter of Nathan Sprague, a member of the well known and wealthy Rhode Island family by that name. Nine children were the result of the union: Louisa R., who married Richard Sarle; Lucius R., who was drowned in California; Lysander, who married Cornelia Vansicklen and made her home at LaPorte; a son not named; Henry H., who married C. C. Coquillard and made his home in South Bend; Etta D., who married Norman Hays and made her home in Elkhart; Sarah E., who married Charles D. Wetherby and passed away in 1872; Mary C., who married Arthur A. Sheldon and made her home in LaPorte, and Jennie F., who married Mortimer Nye, who be- came lieutenant governor of Indiana.

Next comes Abraham Teegarden, M. D. He was a genius, a character. If Scott or Dickens could have known him, he would have been in- corporated in some of their works. He came to the county in an early day, thoroughly furnished for his work, and advertised himself as a botanic physician. He bought a pony and saddle bags and made his professional rounds. He was a tall gaunt man, of a build something like Presi- dent Lincoln's, and when he was riding his pony his long legs almost touched the ground. Some of the other physicians laughed at him; but he who laughed at Dr. Teegarden laughed at one who sooner or later was bound to turn the tables. He let them laugh and attended to his business. And in a few years instead of a pony he had eight fine horses and two drivers, and his prac- tice covered the county. He rode night and day. taking his rest while on the wing. He would jump into his buggy and give the driver direc- tions and say, "Go!" but he himself would lie back and take a rest. After making his profes- sional visit he would say, "Well, now to the next

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place !" and so he worked incessantly. In 1840 he took one, Dr. Hubbell, as partner. At that time he had a botanic drug store and did a large business. He advertised for certain roots and herbs, and used to pay the farmers and others well for bringing them. In one of his advertise- ments he specifies thirty-eight different medi- cines which he needs, and gives both their botanic and their popular names. He assures those who have brought him medicines that they have given him satisfaction, and urges them to bring more as his stock is diminishing. He did not always tell a person when that one had made a mis- take and brought him the wrong root or herb; he was too shrewd for that. Oh, no, it was all right. Yet he never curried favor, not he; he had the courage of his convictions, and did not hesitate to publish his political opinions at a time when political feeling ran high. We find him do- ing this in 1849. He not only had the courage of his convictions but could defend them by the "manly art." On one occasion, after suffering a most exasperating provocation, he did not hesitate to give a certain professional man of some consequence a thorough pommelling on the street. Hard fists at the end of those long arms were not to be despised. In 1857, in com- pany with J. P. Teeple, he went to Kansas in the midst of the political troubles there, and was not slow to express his opinion about them. He was a Whig, and then a Republican. When the war broke out he took his stand for the Union without a moment's hesitation, and his words gave no uncertain sound. By this time a large practice and fortunate investments had made him a wealthy man, and he used his money and his time for the Union cause. Again and again did he go south and visit and minister to LaPorte county's soldiers in the field, and his letters which he wrote home on such occasions were of great interest and benefit to the Union cause. When the army surgeons in the hospitals had more than they could do, he volunteered his services and worked hard over the wounded. He offered rewards for recruits, made them presents, ad- vanced them money, took care of the widows and orphans of the war, and of the families of soldiers in the field, and at times dined whole companies of soldiers. He was appointed on important commissions by Governor Morton, and, in a

word, he was a power for the right all through and after the war. As an instance indicating the character of the man, when he retired from practice he retired. He would take no patients. An old patron applied to him one day, and the doctor would have nothing to do with his case. "There," said he, "is Dr. Dakin, fully competent ; you go to him." The man disappointed and somewhat offended, did so; and a short time after Dr. Teegarden quietly entered Dr. Dakin's office and said, "Has so and so been here?" "Yes." "Well, did he tell you how mean I was? I won't practice! I have retired! I won't have anything to do with it, and I want it understood." At the same time, if the doctor knew that any of his old patrons were seriously ill and needed him, he would find it convenient to take his gun and go hunting, and "happen in." Many were the hunting trips which he took when the real hunt- ing was to help some old patient, without money and without price, and not appear to be resum- ing or continuing his practice.

Dr. George M. Dakin still lives. He is up in the seventies, but is still engaged in a most useful practice, honest, upright, respected and loved by all who know him. All his life he has been handicapped by a physical injury received in earlier days, but he has the brave victory. He is a splendid type of the well furnished, true confidential, fatherly family physician.

Dr. George L. Andrew, now living in Chi- cago, is another physician whose life has been interwoven in the affairs of LaPorte. He began practice in LaPorte in May, 1847, and soon took high rank among physicians in the county. When the cholera scare came in 1849, it was his pen in the local papers that in a scientific way helped to allay unnecessary fears. He was con- temporary with Doctors Keen, Higday, Cran- dall and others. In 1861 he was appointed med- ical inspector of the United States army on the Potomac, and, leaving his practice in the hands of Dr. Darling, he accepted and went to his duty in the army. A letter written by Hon. Schuyler Colfax from the seat of war in December, 1861, thus refers to him:

"I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. G. L. Andrew. of LaPorte, a few days ago. He is connected with the Sanitary Commission here, and, I learn from all quarters, has done great

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good. It is a capital sphere for the energy and zeal the Doctor has displayed in his humane labors."

In January, 1862, Dr. Andrew went to Port Royal, South Carolina, on business connected with his office. Later in the same month he re- turned to LaPorte on a flying visit from Port Royal and Fortress Monroe, but in February he returned to Washington. In 1862-63, and often during his term of service until he came home and resumed. practice, he wrote letters which were published in his home paper, and these let- ters from men who were in the army had a pow- erful influence in holding the county to the Union cause during the rebellion. Dr. Andrew was one of the originators of the Pine Lake cemetery, and, in connection with Drs. T. Higday, Henry Halloway, and H. B. Wilcox, he was one of the moving spirits in instituting the Library and Natural History Association. And had the plan of Dr. Andrew and several others been carried out, LaPorte would have had a beautiful park just north of the Lake Shore tracks, on the banks of Clear and Lilly lakes.

It is difficult to refrain from mentioning oth- ers in the medical fraternity, among whom are Higday, Keen, J. P. Andrew, O. Everts, T. D. Lemon, Brusie and many others. And among dentists, there might be mentioned Halloway, Fosdick, Kahan, Jessup, Hart, Parmelee, Sted- man and many others. From data at hand, a volume might be written concerning these men, but with one other mention we must pass on.

Dr. James Anthony Wilkinson came from Virginia in 1834, and located in LaPorte. He had an extensive medical practice in this and ad- joining counties. He practiced especially in New Durham township, where he had bought land. He would go to see patients in the winter when he was compelled to ride over fences on the snow crust. He was a man of firm opinions, a Democrat in politics, a good physician, and a forcible character. He sold his LaPorte prop- erty and some fine farming and timbered land in New Durham township near Westville, that he might invest in real estate at New Buffalo, which town then promised to become a lake port of importance. He practiced his profession for a time in Chicago. His son, James H. Wil-

kinson, Jr., is physician for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, living in Flomaton, Alabama.

Among the first lawyers admitted to practice in LaPorte were William O. Ross, June 10, 1833; John B. Niles, December 16, 1833; John S. Lacey, December 16, 1833; William Hawkins, December 16, 1833; Robert Merrifield, October 13, 1834; B. B. Taylor, October 17, 1834; Wil- liam C. Hannah, October 18, 1834. In 1835 there were Charles McCleese and John H. Bradley. In 1836 Myron H. Orton, Jabez R. Wills, G. A. Everts, Thomas Tyrrell, N. W. Saxton, and A. W. Enos; and in 1837 Andrew L. Osborn, Gil- bert Hathaway, J. W. Chapman, and E. A. Han- nigan. Some of these lived in Michigan City.

At that time there were some thirteen to fif- teen counties in the circuit court, and the court met twice a year in each county, with sessions of some weeks if the business required it. The bar at LaPorte numbered many good lawyers, advocates and orators among its members. The English common law and equity practice, modi- fied by statutes, was in force. Judge William P. Andrew, Charles H. Reeve, now of Plymouth, and Samuel E. Williams are about the only mem- bers of the early LaPorte county bar who re- main, and even Mr. Williams came at a little later day. Reeve came in 1842. Among the lawyers of his day were John H. Bradley, E. A. Hannigan, William C. Hannah, John B. Niles, William P. Andrew, M. F. Farrand, and Myron H. Orton. Hannigan, Orton and Bradley were fine orators. Jabez R. Wills, A. L. Osborn, Gil- bert Hathaway, A. W. Enos, and J. W. Chap- man lived in LaPorte but practiced in Michigan City. It was not until afterwards that some of them opened offices in LaPorte. James Bradley came in the early forties. Another distinguished man was Barclay, who afterwards became chief clerk of the United States senate and held the office until his death. Gustavus A. Everts was another prominent lawyer, and preceded Judge Sample on the bench. The LaPorte county bar of to-day is strong and able, and no disparaging word is intended when we say, in view of an earlier time. "There were giants .on the earth in those days." Those were the men who left their impress on the jurisprudence of the state, and

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were largely influential for good in different phases of the early growth and development of Indiana.

Those were the days when the lawyers used to ride on horseback from one county to another on the circuit, put up at the hotel, and attend the session of court. They used to tell stories and have jolly times. Under such circumstances the character of each man was very apt to crop out, and every lawyer came to be understood very well.

Hon. John B. Niles was a scholar. It was no uncommon thing to go into his home and find him stretched on a lounge reading a book in Greek or Latin. He was odd, eccentric, digni- fied, not a juror advocate but a lawyer. His was the judicial rather than the oratorical and per- suasive mind. His diction was classical and his expression literary. He was a man of great mental power and had a reputation as a lawyer which was state and in some respects national. He might lose a case before a jury, but when it was brought before the judges on appeal he would gain it. He was unquestionably one of the ablest lawyers in the state, and it was this that made him sought after by the great railroad corporations as their attorney.

General Gilbert Hathaway was a man of strict integrity, pure-minded, discountenancing anything and everything that bordered on the obscene, in anecdotes and everything else. His supreme object was the practice of virtue, and with most determined and persevering self-discipline he sought to bring himself to conform to the high standard he had chosen. It was this that made him some times turn aside from his legal brethren in their jour- neys, pleasantries and convivialities. He had no countenance whatever for wrong-doing, and perhaps in some cases not quite forgiveness enough for the wrong doer. He was sternly true to his principles. He required no more of others than he did of himself, and it was this, combined with much ability, which made him a brave and efficient officer in the war for the Union, though he was a Democrat in politics, and he lost his valuable and useful life while gallantly leading his regiment in battle.

The Hon. Morgan H. Weir, long a practicing attorney in LaPorte, impressed his personality on

the county to a remarkable degree. He was born March 1, 1830, at Elmira, New York. He was educated in the public schools of that state, but was mostly a self educated man. He taught school several years, studied law in Elmira, was admitted to the bar in 1852, and the following November located in Michigan City where he practiced law for two years, and then located in LaPorte which was his home until his death. In 1854 he was elected by the Republican party prosecuting attorney for the LaPorte circuit, then comprising ten counties, and held the office two years. In 1856 he was elected to the state senate for four years. In 1877 he was elected mayor of LaPorte by the Democracy, and re-elected in 1879. He was married July 12, 1854, at La- Porte, to Henrietta E. Teeple, daughter of John and Hannah Teeple, who settled in LaPorte in 1834. Two talented sons, Ellsworth E. and Fred H., were the fruit of the union. Mr. Weir was a man of great personal force, an easy and fluent speaker, kind to the poor, and possessed many estimable traits. He is well remembered and greatly missed in the county.

And so we might go on giving sketch after sketch of those remarkable men, as their char- acters have been photographed on the affairs of the county, but this chapter must close.

One article which properly belongs with the biographical sketches of this work shall be in- cluded here-that of one who was the seventh to die of twelve brothers and sisters, though he had attained to an age beyond any who had died before him-one who even in an early day was obedient to his parents-one who taught a school while in his teens and whose qualifications drew sixty scholars to attend his school, where the studies ranged from the alphabet to higher math- ematics, French and Latin-one who, when so young that he had to be held up to see the com- pass, would nevertheless be the first to solve a problem in surveying.

John H. Bradley was born at LaPorte, Indi- ana, on the 24th day of December, 1851, and died at LaPorte, February 16, 1900, of typho-pneu- monia, after a brief illness of four days. He was stricken with the disease of which he died while in the discharge of his professional duties in the LaPorte superior court, and thus fulfilled one of his dearest wishes-that he might be active to

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the end of his life. The deceased was the son of Judge James Bradley, who was one of the pioneer lawyers and jurists of this state, and whose memory is cherished and honored by all who knew him.

John H. Bradley was known in LaPorte. He lived his whole life in our city, and died at his residence on the same plot of ground upon which he was born. He was educated in the LaPorte public schools and at Earlham College, Rich- mond, Indiana, and afterwards attended law school at Bloomington, Indiana, and was a law student in his father's office up to the time of his admission to the bar. He then formed a partnership with his father, and for years and until the death of his father, they conducted a large and lucrative law business in this part of the state.

From the date of his father's death John H. Bradley continued to practice law without form- ing any copartnership with anyone. In his early practice he held some minor offices-city clerk, deputy prosecuting attorney, and was both city and county attorney-all of which positions he filled with credit and distinction to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the public. He was never an office-seeker. His sole aim in life was to be come a respected lawyer and a good citi- zen.

In October, 1878, he was united in marriage with Miss Myra B. Teegarden, who was a daughter of Dr. A. Teegarden, who was also one of our most honored and worthy pioneer citizens. The deceased leaves surviving his widow and two children, a son and a daughter, to whom he has left the most precious of all legacies-the remembrance of a well-spent life and an honored name.

John H. Bradley built his own monument, and builded it well. His position was conspicu- ously prominent at that place where Webster once said "there was plenty of room." He had the highest regard for the ethics of the profes- sion, and never on any account departed the least therefrom. By his quick perception and studious life he was always able to come into a case well equipped for any emergency, and by his clear

and wise expressions he was always able to be understood, and in practice met with such suc- cess as always attaches to an honest and earnest advocate. In the trial of a case he was always fair and honorable, and never resorted to any low cunning or trickery to gain any undue ad- vantage over his adversary. He always sought to present law and the facts in such a manner as his judgment told him was right, and would abandon a case in which he had been employed rather than consent to fraud or trickery by others on his side of the case.

He was never elected judge, and yet for years he served in that capacity in special cases, both in this and surrounding counties, and that ser- vice was so pure and so eminent that he was uniformly thought of and spoken of as "Judge." His mind was judicial. His bearing commanded admiration and respect; his rulings were clear and impartial, and, best of all inspirations for a judge, he inspired the lawyers who practiced be- fore him with the firm belief that his every rul- ing was honest and made with the sole purpose of arriving at the truth within the limits of the law as he understood it to exist.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 46

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