A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 58

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

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L. H. L. A. register officials and membership for 1903 :- Mrs. Mary Crumpacker, president ; Mrs. Julia Noble Smith, vice president ; Mrs. Virginia Clybourn Hatton, secretary and treas- urer ; Mrs. Lillian Warnock Hixon, librarian ; Mrs. Janie Stewart Boyesen, Mrs. Helen F. Miller, Mrs. Mary Baird Standiford, trustees ; Mrs. Margaret Webster, Mrs. Jane Cathcart Johnson, Mrs. Eliza Ansley, Mrs. Louise David- son Hollenbeck, Mrs. Charlotte Lucas Crum- packer, Mrs. Anna Cathcart Long, Mrs. Louise Small, Mrs. Netta Martin, Miss Belle Bloomhoff.

The Ladies Literary Society of LaPorte is an old and respectable organization, organized on March 25, 1878. Its emblem is the ivy leaf, and its motto, "Not what we give but what we share." Its object is expressed by its name; that is, lit- erary improvement in all its branches. Its first

president was the late Mrs. S. T. Hathaway, wife of the late Colonel Gilbert Hathaway. Its personnel has always been the best of the city. It is limited to twenty-five members, and gen- erally several candidates are waiting for vacan- cies. Of late years substitutes have been ad- mitted during the absence of members. The twenty-fifth anniversary was celebrated by a grand banquet at the Teegarden hotel on Wednes- day evening, March 25, 1903. Mrs. E. D. Daniels was president that year, at whose right, in the place of honor sat, Mrs. Samuel E. Will- iams, the only charter member now in the So- ciety. Toasts were given and responded to on "Our Society," "Our Charter Members," "Our Honorary Members," "The Sub," "The Women," "The Pastors' Club," "The Emerson Club," "The O .N. T. Club," and "The Press and Club." The occasion was presided over with tact, grace and ability, the menu was excellent and the president at the close congratulated Mrs. John A. Wood, wife of the superintendent of schools in LaPorte, in that her own anniversary occurred the day be- fore. Mrs. Wood is a former teacher in the high schools of Indiana, and has done university work in literature which has given her learned degrees ; every winter she teaches several classes in liter- ature, and when, a few years ago, the literary society made the new departure of having a teacher, they secured her services.

The O. N. T. club which during the first year of its existence was known as the "Hoosier Club," was organized in 1893. The object was the study of literature and the discussion of matters pertaining to literature, dramatics, art' and music as would prove of benefit and enter- tainment for the members. The charter mem- bers were Laura Wadsworth, Lulu Wadsworth, Sadie Swanson, Emma Lonn, Kittie Hews, Laura Butterworth, Mary Everhart, Lottie Closser, Sadie Whiting, Grace Holloway, Vode Ephlin, Lulu Moore, Lora Weir, Ruth Weir, Edith Buck, Jessie Buck, Mona Clark, Wynogene Fargher, Etta Replogle and Maggie Closser. For many years after the name had been changed to the O. N. T. club none but members of the club knew what these mystic letters meant, but in time it became understood that they were the initials of "Our Night Together." It is with considerable satisfaction that the members, especially those

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who were charter members, recall an expression used by one of the young men when he heard of the organization of the club-"It won't last 30 days." It is still one of the most flourishing so- cieties in the city. The club meets on Saturday evenings at the homes of the members. During the summer programs for the entire year are outlined and papers assigned for the various dates, thus giving each person ample opportunity to prepare. Occasionally a farce is presented or a feast is held, when the friends of the mem- bers are invited. At present nearly half the members are married but they retain their mem- bership nevertheless and take as much interest in the club as do those who are not married. But twice during its ten years' existence has the club been saddened by death in its ranks, when Miss Lora Weir passed away and when Mrs. H. C. Davidson, who was formerly Miss Katherine Moore, breathed her last. The club has a mono- gram, designed by Miss Mona Clark, which ap- pears on the cover of the annual programs. Miss Laura Wadsworth, now Mrs. B. C. Whitehead, served as president during the first four years of the club's life and since then those who have been honored by selection to this position are: Mrs. Lyle Hynes Pitner, Mrs. Rose Watson McGrew, Mrs. Ruth Weir Chipman, Miss Kittie Hews, Miss Fannie Scott and Miss Emma Ehrlich. The present president is Miss Grace Hood. The ac- tive members of the club are: Lavina Swanson Barnes, Cora Banks Barnum, Helen Buchtel, Grace Holloway Butterworth, Laura Butter- worth, Ruth Weir Chipman, Marta Davidson Carr, Lottie Closser, Mary Everhart, Emma Ehrlich, Edith Fildes, Bertha Grisinger, Lottie Grisinger, Kittie Hews, Grace Hood, Ora Hood, Gertrude Jackson, Vode Ephlin Kreidler, Nettie Paxton Leliter, Mollie Lorig, Emma Lonn, Rose Watson McGrew, Lulu Moore Manny, Harriet Miller, Marie Meyer, Jane Paige, Lyle Hynes Pitner, May Marble Rench, Grace Ely Shafer, Sadie Swanson, Fanny Scott, Edith Buck Van Trease and Maud Weir. The club also has a large number of honorary members, persons who were members here but have removed from the city. This list includes Kathleen Hughston McBain, Sadie Whiting Hart, Jessie McBain, Cara Daniels Test, Helen Blythe, Jessie Buck Bartholomew, Mona Clark, Elsie

Clark Parker, Ada Crawford, Lilla David- son Safford, Wynogene Fargher, Estelle Hynes Warren, Carrie Shanley Rohenkohl, Clara Serv- ice King, Alice Hynes, Bertha Rountree, Mattie Wilcox, Minnie Ginther, Libbie Miller Morrison, Maggie Closser Lord and Helen Andrew Patch.

The Emerson is one of the oldest literary so- · cieties in the county, composed of some of the best ladies in LaPorte and vicinity. It was or- ganized twenty years ago, and meets fortnightly on Monday. For some years this society has made an annual visit in June to Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Johnson on the Cathcart farm near Westville. The nine mile ride to this hospitable home is always delightful. When in the wide fielus on either side, the white clover and the red vie with each other in sweetness, when the new green earth and the old blue sky are in perfect accord, then do the Emersonians lift up their voices with the birds, and laugh as merrily as school girls, for some of them are fifty, sixty and seventy years young. A cordial welcome always awaits them, and a fine dinner. They throng joyously into the roomy farmhouse, and out again into the spacious grounds; for, although the house is full of interesting things-books, pic- tures and trophies of travel-nature peeps in at all the doors and windows with such a bright al- luring smile, that no one can withstand her charm. There are sunny spaces in the large and well kept grounds, for shrubs and lovely flow- ers, but dearer to the heart of the mistress than any flowers that grow are the venerable trees, that cast their shade and sheltering arms around the old homestead where she was born. To sit under them for an hour, is to receive a benedic- tion. There is a long and level view across the prairie toward the west, and the sun can not go down over the bay at Naples in more royal splen- dor than he often and often displays from here, for the delight of the eye, and the uplifting of the soul.

The other anniversary of the Emerson is held in June at Woody cottage, the home of Mrs. Matilda Wilson, on Waverly beach. There, amidst beautiful surroundings, the club enjoys its literary exercises and dainty repasts.

LaPorte county has its agricultural society. The meeting in 1903 was advertised as the fifty- second annual fair, but there was an agricultural

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society in the county much longer than fifty-two years ago. At the May term of the county com- missioners' court, in 1836, the clerk was ordered to publish notice of a meeting to be held at the court house the last Saturday in May to organize a county agricultural society. Not much suc- cess, however, attended the society for several years. On Saturday, April 3, 1841, there was a regular meeting of the society at which General Joseph Orr was elected president, Daniel Brown vice president, William Hawkins secretary, and Thomas D. Lemon treasurer. Mr. John B. Niles . delivered an address on the occasion, which he afterwards wrote out and published. In those days the society used to meet quarterly. At the meeting on Saturday, July 3, 1841, Alexander Blackburn was appointed president pro tem. and James M. Stuart secretary pro tem. On motion of Colonel W. A. Place it was resolved to ap- point committees to award premiums in accord- ance with the published list. The following com- . mittees were appointed : On horses, James Mc- Cord, John Brown, and Thomas Philips; on cattle, Samuel Treat, Aaron Stanton, and Josiah Bryant ; on sheep, John B. Niles, John Hobson, and John Moore; on hogs, W. A. Place, Henly Clyburn, Hiram Wheeler, Zebina Gould, and John T. Vail; on domestic manufactures, A. Blackburn, Joseph Lomax, Hiram Wheeler, Joseph Orr, and Stephen G. Hunt ; on farms of forty acres and upwards, Daniel Brown, Samuel Treat, and William Justice; on corn, James An- drew, John Steenbergen, and Daniel Closser ; on winter wheat, Preserved Wheeler, Benjamin Butterworth, and Abiel Lathrop; on oats and barley. B. Newkirk, Daniel Overmyer, and Am- brose Rucker ; on peas and beans, James Millard, Henly Clyburn, and Daniel Jessup; on potatoes and rutabagas, Philip Fail, S. Aldrich, and My- ron Ives; on baskets, Thomas Philips, J. M. Stuart, and Amzi Clark; on butter and cheese, Jacob Early, M. H. Orton, and J. Hobson ; on best one hundred pounds tobacco, J. Early, J. B. Steenbergen, and Reuben Munday ; on thresh- ing machines, W. A. Place, Theodore H. Wells, L. C. Andrew, Henry L. Vail, and Zebina Gould ; on best one half acre of plowing, B. Butterworth, Aaron Stanton, and Benjamin Beard ; on fanning mills, E. Provolt, S. Pulford, and E. Morrison ; and on wolf scalps, W. Hawkins, John Brown, 28

and Gilbert Hathaway. It was resolved that Thomas D. Lemon, J. C. Howell, Samuel Stew- art, Amzi Clark, and Clinton Foster, be a com- mittee to examine and award premiums on all articles not enumerated above, together with such improvements in agricultural implements and the mechanic arts as may be deemed meritorious. It was resolved that all applicants for premiums on ". farms be requested to apply to the committee prior to the first of September, and on grains, beans, peas, potatoes, etc., previous to the twelfth of October next. It was resolved that all mem- bers who had not paid their annual fee be re- quested to pay it over to the treasurer, W. Haw- kins. Many of these names will revive old mem -. ories, and show how the affairs of the agricultural society were conducted in 1841. Legitimate im- provement was sought, and horse racing and betting were not made the main feature of the an -: nual fair. Could General Orr know of some of our modern county fairs, it is a question whether he would not turn over in his grave. No one vis- ited county fairs more widely and was a more . earnest patron of them, nor was any one more pronounced against "intemperance, gambling and horse racing," as he. used to express it, in con- nection with them.

In 1848 the annual fair was held on the 8th and 9th of October. Every year more acres were brought under cultivation, and it was argued that the county possessed the necessary elements to place it in the front rank. The cry of the county press was "virtue follows the plow." Every one was glad of the society, and wished its prosperity. The horses drew sixteeen prem- iums amounting to $24.50, the cattle sixty-five amounting to $93.62, and the sheep four amount- ing to $7.50, a total of $125.62. The premiums were announced after a speech by M. K. Farrand, Esq. The meeting was held in the Methodist Episcopal church building, and a vote of thanks was given to the church, and to M. K. Far- rand. On Saturday, April 1, 1848, the Agricul- tural society held a meeting and chose a com- mittee consisting of William J. Walker, Isaac B. Copelin, Samuel Stewart, George C. Havens, and Ferdinand Dunham, to report a revised con- . stitution and nominate officers for the ensuing year. The committee acted, a new constitution was adopted, and new officers chosen who were:

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President, William J. Walker ; vice presidents, Benjamin Beard and Alexander Blackburn ; sec- retary, Mulford K. Farrand ; treasurer, Thomas P. Armstrong ; directors, David G. Rose, Thomas D. Lemon, Fisher Ames, John Hefner, Curtis Travis, and William Parker. The society re- ceived a new impetus, and this probably was what made the fair in the fall so successful, as just described.

In 1856 politics were hot in the county; it was the Fremont campaign. But notwithstand- ing that, the county fair, held on October 15 to 18 inclusive, was a great success. Everybody was pleased, the weather was good, the corn did credit to the bottom lands in the south part of the county ; pumpkins, squashes, melons, turnips, beets, potatoes, etc., were not to be excelled, and were piled up in stacks at almost every stand ; there was needle work of every kind, there were flowers of wax and hair by the ladies, specimens of painting, daguerreotypes, etc. The display of machinery and agricultural implements was not large. The mowing machine just invented by Mr. Mann of Westville was on exhibition. The dis- play of stock would have done credit to any fair. There was an address by Dr. O. Everts. The sum of $700 was paid out in premiums, and $100 was left in the treasury.

In 1857 the society leased for five years the ground directly back of Dr. Rose's old residence, on account of which funds were solicited.

In 1861 the society was not so fortunate. The officers worked it up thoroughly and advertised it repeatedly, and great expectations were raised ; but the weather was exceedingly bad, there was continuous rain, and the fair was not well at- tended. Still, the exhibition was creditable, and on the last day the firemen with their machines were present on the grounds. The rainy weather and poor attendance decreased the receipts, and the directors had a meeting in December at which "matters of importance" were discussed. Quar- terly meetings were still held. In April of this year an attempt was made to burn the buildings of the society. The fair was held in 1863, and has been held in subsequent years ; and although often discouraged, especially of late years, by stormy weather at the time of the fair, the of- ficers have persevered; and, according to the

standard of such fairs, they have every reason to be congratulated for their success.

The first grange in the county was organized in 1873, and soon there were sixteen, with a total membership of one thousand members. Granges were organized as follows: Clinton grange, P. Loomis, master ; Noble grange, Will- iam Crichton, master ; Hopeful grange of Clinton township, E. Phillips, master; Kingsbury grange, J. H. Donly, master ; Center grange, B. S. Fail, master; Wanatah grange, J. Osborn, master ; Rolling Prairie grange, I. N. Whitehead, mas- ter ; Scipio grange, Samuel Harvey, master; Wells grange, W. B. Young, master; Pleasant grange, Z. Bailey, master ; Pine Lake grange of Center township, R. G. Leaming, master ; Lin- coln grange, Ed Bear, master; New Durham grange, J. Livingston, master; Cool Spring grange, A. Thorpe, master ; Galena grange, J. Francis, master; Kankakee grange, H. L. Vail- master.

The county council of Patrons of Husbandry was organized February 24, 1874, officered as follows : W. A. Banks, master ; E. J. Dicks, over- seer ; George H. Teeter, lecturer ; B. H. Hollen- beck, steward; William Crichton, assistant stew- ard ; Z. Bailey, chaplain ; B. S. Fail, treasurer ; I. N. Whitehead, recording secretary ; J. Osborn, corresponding secretary ; D. Haskell, gatekeeper; L. J. Fitch, Samuel Harvey, and H. S. Webster, trustees ; J. W. Zigler, R. G. Leaming and Seth Loomis, executive committee.

At their regular meeting in January, 1904, the Patrons of Husbandry, No. 1044, installed officers for the ensuing year as follows: Worthy master, P. G. Hollenbeck; worthy overseer, August Hagland; worthy lecturer, Clara John- son ; worthy steward, Chas. Blank; worthy as- sistant steward, L. S. Fitch; worthy chaplain, Carrie Swartzell; treasurer, Otto Shultz ; secre- tary, Arthur Shultz; gate keeper, William Swartzell; Pomonia, Sophronia Blank ; Flora, Mary Fitch ; Ceres, Laura Shultz ; ladies' assis- tant steward, Emma Hollenbeck; trustee, Isaac Cowin.

The object of the grange-the promotion and advancement of the essential conditions of good husbandry, is a good one; but the grange move- ment has subsided, or put on other forms, though

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from what cause we will not presume to say. There used to be a county store in LaPorte kept by I. N. Whitehead. Twenty men went on the paper for $3,000, but in the end they had it to pay. There is being discussed the advisability of organizing a co-operative store in Michigan City by the car factory men of that place. It is proposed to form an association of a member- ship of 1,000 to name a board of directors as well as other officers to have general charge of the business. This is quite identical with the organ- ization of a similar association in LaPorte nearly forty years ago. The association was made up of railroad men employed in the shops of LaPorte. Their store was located just west of where the National Bank now stands. The association never purchased more than that one stock of goods. The affair soon "petered out."

Another association is the LaPorte County Farmers Institute. Under an act of the Legis- lature passed in 1884, authorizing the holding of Farmer's Institutes in each county of the state, Professor W. C. Lotta, professor of agriculture at the Purdue University, was appointed super- intendent for the state.

LaPorte county was one of the first to hold one of these meetings. William A. Banks was the first chairman, appointed by the state super- intendent, and continued to be chairman until 1901. The institutes are educational and de- signed to help the farmers in better methods of farming. Those who have assisted to keep the meetings alive and interesting are William T. Anderson, John P. Oaks, John Garwood, Will- iam Hall, J. T. Tury, Isaac N. Evans, and J. H. Fitzpatrick.

H. W. Henry was elected president or chair- man in 1901, and has been reelected each year. The institutes have been growing each year in interest and members. At the meeting of 1903 and 1904 a regular organization was made, of one hundred members; the following are the officials for the year 1904.

OFFICERS.

H. W. Henry President

Ed. J. Small Vice-President

Scott Wall

Secretary

Wm. Hall Treasurer

TOWNSHIP VICE-PRESIDENTS.

John Garwood, Jr. Center

Ora Bosserman Pleasant

Ed. Brink Scipio

Ed. Etherington Galena

Walter Organ Springfield

Frank Wickersham New Durham

Van Wilkinson New Durham

Wm. N. Osborn Cass

Geo. C. Cook Dewey

N. S. Rowley Hanna

C. J. Brown Noble

T. E. Garwood Union

B. E. Bear Wills

W. C. Haines Hudson

D. White Coolspring

F. M. Bowell

Kankakee

Jos. M. Bailey

Lincoln

The general meeting is held in LaPorte, and is always addressed by the best talent obtainable. The institute sends out registration blanks for membership. When signed by a member of a family it makes the whole family members. The fee is fifty cents per year. The object of this organization is to make the work more effective and interesting. The meetings are free to the general public that all may get close together and have more and better meetings. The officers have arranged for six meetings to be held next winter besides the regular meeting at LaPorte. It is hoped to make the membership the largest of any organization in the county, and to make it useful in many ways. While its object is purely educational and social, yet there are many ways by which the members can help each other by a good society of this kind. The first social meet- ing of the society was held at the residence of H. W. Henry, president, on Saturday, June 25, 1904, at I p. m., and was well attended.

There might be mentioned and described, as having existed in this county, histrionic socie- ties, gymnasiums, the old engine companies, and the present engine and hose companies, with their festivals, and many other organizations. There are the different labor unions such as the bartenders', the carpenters', the cigar makers', the clerks', the moulders', and the painters' unions, the United Brotherhood of Leather Workers, etc. There also are the Masons, the

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Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, the Elks, the Maccabees, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Woodmen, the Foresters, the Court of Honor, the Ben Hurs, the Samaritans, the Daughters of the Revolution, the Woman's Relief Corps, the W. C. T. U., the Lady Maccabees, the Eastern Star, the Rebekahs, the Royal Arcanum, and many others. Any one can see that to give even a brief account of the origin and progress of each one of these would require many of these pages. LaPorte county, both in the two sister cities and in the smaller centers, and in some instances even in the country, is well represented by these socie- ties. They have contributed very largely to the fraternal and social affairs of the county, they have been active in relieving the sick and needy, and in other forms of benevolence, and have added largely to the property of the county. In 1877 the fraternal societies of Michigan City benefited that town to the amount of $30,000 in buildings, among which was Mozart Hall, at the dedication of which there was a great time.

The first Masonic lodge of LaPorte county was established by Captain Abner Bailey and seven others, among whom was Doctor T. D. Lemon. These eight gentlemen met one night under an old oak tree on the ground near where the Park school now stands, probably in Patton's grove, and organized the lodge. Captain Bailey, who was the first master, came to the state of In- diana in 1822 and settled first in Connersville. He and Judge William Andrew were associate county judges of the circuit court. Captain Bailey died in LaPorte at the age of eighty-two, and was buried at Pine Lake.

The fraternal societies have been welcomed by the county, they have been allowed and in- vited to take the initiative in the laying of cor- ner stones of public buildings, even the churches have been open to them, and there has been very little of that opposition against them which is so strong in other places. So far as the writer has been informed there never was an anti-secret society in the county.

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CHAPTER XXXIII.

POLITICS.

"Avoid the politics, the factious fool, The busy, buzzing, talking, hardened knave, The quaint, smooth rogue that sins against his reason, Calls saucy loud sedition public zeal, And mutiny the dictates of his spirit."

OTWAY.

LaPorte county was organized the same year that Andrew Jackson was a candidate for a sec- ond term of the presidency. The county was sparsely settled and there was but little political excitement. The attention of the settlers was centered on the more pressing necessity of ob- taining a livelihood and providing homes for themselves and their families. An election was held on April 9, 1832, under the special act for the incorporation of the county, but there was not much interest in party politics. In August, 1832, an election was held for the purpose of elect- ing a state senator, a representative in the state legislature, one sheriff, one coroner, one probate judge, one justice of the peace, and one school commissioner. Seventy-seven votes were cast in the county, and where party lines were drawn on any candidate it resulted in a slight majority for the Whig, Samuel Hannah receiving a few more votes than his Democratic competitor, Pleasant Harris. Elisha Egbert and George Crawford were the opposing candidates for representative to the state legislature. At the presidential election in November one hundred and fifteen votes were cast, of which fifty-nine were for the electors for Henry Clay and fifty- six for those for Andrew Jackson.

The next annual election was held on the 5th day of August, 1833. Edward A. Hannegan was the Democratic, and Albert S. White the Whig, candidate for Congress, and White re-

ceived a small majority in the county. There were several candidates for representative to the state legislature, among them George Craw- ford, who led all the rest.

At the election on August 4, 1834, Noah Noble, Whig, received three hundred and twenty- eight votes for the office of governor, and James G. Reed, Democratic, one hundred and fifty, which shows the relative strength of the two parties at that time. The largest vote cast for any candidate was that cast for governor, which could not have been controlled by local inter- ests as was the vote for county officers.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 58

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