A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 77

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 77

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Mrs. O'Hara was but a child when she came to Noble township, LaPorte county, and she was reared in this county. Her primary training was begun in the common schools, and she finished the English course in the LaPorte high school. She took five terms of work in the normal school

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GEORGE O'HARA.

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MRS. GEORGE O'HARA.

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at Valparaiso, and could have graduated in the scientific department. She also did one term's work in the kindergarten. As a teacher in La- Porte county she taught one year in Noble town- ship, four years in Clinton township and three years in the intermediate department at West- ville. She was a teacher who took just pride in her profession.

Her father, Jesse Irwin, was born in Wiscon- sin, October 7, 1837, and is yet living in Noble township. He was reared to farm life, receiving his education in LaPorte county schools, and most of his life has been spent in this county. He is a Democrat in politics, and has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for many years.

Mrs. O'Hara's mother, Sarah (Belte) Irwin, was born in LaPorte county, August 7, 1850, and died at her home near Union Mills, March 9, 1898. She was educated in the city schools of LaPorte, and was also a student under Professor Laird in Westville. She was a lady of literary talent, and was an important factor in the organ- izing of the Ladies' Library Associaton of West- ville. Her father was a native of England, and during the gold excitement, in 1852, went to the Pacific slope and was never heard of again.

The following obituary of Sarah (Belte) Ir- win appeared in the Union Mills News, of March 17, 1898 :

Sarah Belte was born in LaPorte, Indiana, August 7, 1850. Was married to Jesse Irwin in Westville, July 23, 1873, and died at her home near Union Mills, March 9, 1898, leaving a hus- band, son and daughter to keep sacred her memory.

This briefly relates the principal events of a life full of good deeds and noble aspirations. Our recollection dates back to when she was a school girl of eighteen, the acknowledged leader of her circle of companions in class work as well as so- cially. In school she had a faculty of going to the bottom of every premise, and was noted as a deep thinker and an able reasoner. This trait predominated through her life so that her edu- cation continued to the end. Coupled with this desire for foundation facts was a command of language which enabled her to express herself ably upon all the living issues of the day.

She took a lively interest in the advancement of the human race, and was well posted on all social problems. She was an active worker in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and in all lines of temperance work. As a neighbor she was respected by those who knew her and her ad- vice was considered worth heeding. For eight

years she was a teacher in the public schools of the county and many young men and women are better to-day for her teachings.

She has gone to her reward, but the teachings of her life continue to live to help in making man- kind better.

Mr. and Mrs. O'Hara are interested in the dairy business, and he has the farm well equipped for carrying on this industry. He has the best grade of Jerseys and shorthorns, and his milk is sold entirely for table use. Mrs. O'Hara has filled the chairs in Mary Hilton Lodge No. 359, of the Rebekahs, at Union Mills, and was a dele- gate to the grand assembly at Indianapolis in May, 1902.

Mr. and Mrs. O'Hara are members of the Presbyterian church, at Union Mills, and he is chairman of the board of trustees. He is a sup- porter of the Republican party and its principles, taking quite an active interest in public affairs. For a number of years he has been a member of the advisory board and has never withheld his support from any enterprise calculated to pro- mote the moral, social and material welfare of the community in which he lives.

JOHN N. FAIL. From early pioneer times John N. Fail has been a resident of Kankakee township, and his home is on section 18, where he owns a good farm of one hundred and sixty-nine acres. He was born in this township on the 5th of December, 1834, and is the eleventh child in the family of Philip and Sarah (Nuzzum) Fail, whose history will be found in connection with B. S. Fail, his eldest brother, on another page of this work. Like the other members of the house- hold John N. Fail was reared to farm life, and his schooling was obtained in a log building such as was common at that period. His training at farm labor, however, was much more extended than was his opportunity for acquiring an edu- cation. It was necessary for him to walk three miles in order to attend school, but through the winter months he trudged almost daily to and from the little schoolhouse, and there laid the foundation for a practical education, which has enabled him to perform his business duties in a capable manner. He continued upon the old family homestead until 1857, when he left La- Porte county and went to Kansas, locating in Mound City, Linn county. There he remained through one spring and summer, driving a break- ing team. On the 3d of November, 1857, how-

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ever, he again arrived in LaPorte county. He of fifteen years he was enabled to take charge of spent the winters of 1856-7 and of 1857-8 as a teacher in the public schools.

On the 23d of December, 1858, Mr. Fail was united in marriage to Miss Roxy J. Morse, a native of Oneida county, New York, who came to LaPorte county when a little maiden of seven. years with her mother and step-father. Mr. and Mrs. Fail now have five living children, four daughters and a son: Phebe Ellen; Irena, the wife of Charles Bowell; Alpheus W., who carries on farming; Roxy Belle, the wife of J. Vance Dorland, a prominent real estate and insurance man of LaPorte; and Beryl May, the wife of Willard Baker, of Anderson, Indiana. They also lost two children in infancy.

At the time of his marriage Mr. Fail located on the farm where he is now living, his first home being a little log cabin. Since that time, howeve he has erected a fine residence and has improved a farm by clearing the land, fertilizing the fields and cultivating good crops. He erected his pres- ent home in 1872, and his barns were built in 1880. His farm covers one hundred and sixty- nine acres, and is divided into fields of convenient size by well kept fences. There are many modern equipments and accessories upon his place, and taken altogether it is a model property, indicating the careful supervision and progressive spirit of the owner.

Mr. Fail as one of the early settlers of the county has been a witness of al- most its entire growth and has contributed to its upbuilding. He cast his first presi- dential vote for James Buchanan, who was the only candidate for whom he voted that was elected. He has usually voted the Democratic ticket, but in recent years has advocated the plat- form of the Populist party. On one occasion he was a candidate for sheriff of his county. He be- longs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Rolling Prairie, and throughout his life has been true to the teaching of this old and honored fraternity.

REV. OLAF J. SILJESTROM, the pastor of the Swedish Lutheran church, at LaPorte, was born in Dalecarlia, Sweden, in 1837. His parents lived and died in that country, and he has a sister now living in northern Iowa and two brothers who are residents of Cambridge, Minnesota. His father was a farmer, and upon the home farm Olaf J. Siljestrom was reared. He acquired his early education in the schools of his native village, and his preparation was so thorough that at the age

a small school as its teacher. He remained in educational work for five years, and then feeling the need of further mental training for himself, he entered' the Swedish University at Upsala, where he remained for three years, devoting him- self especially to the course of study designed for teachers. After leaving the university he spent two years in elementary preparation for the min- istry, and this was followed by eight years spent as a teacher in Sweden. His service in that direction was most commendable and gave uni- form satisfaction.

In the latter part of the sixties some of his brothers emigrated to America, and then wrote back to the family telling of the need of Swedish ministers to look after the spiritual welfare of the Swedish emigrants in America, the great move- ment, which later brought so many of the sons of Sweden to this country, having just begun at that time. About the same time Dr. Hasselquist, a Swedish minister, who had been in the United States for ten years, returned to his native land in order to induce ministers of the Lutheran church to seek the mission field of the new world, and Mr. Siljestrom, in connection with six or seven others, crossed the Atlantic in 1870. To further prepare himself for the holy calling he spent a year in the Paxton Theological Seminary, at Paxton, Illinois, now the Augustana College, at Rock Island, Illinois, and on the 11th of June, 1871, he was ordained a Swedish Lutheran min- ister at Chisago Lake, Minnesota. His first pas- torate was at Madrid, Iowa, then called Swede Point, where he remained for seven years. On the expiration of that period he became pastor at Swede Valley, laboring at that place and vicinity for seven years. He then worked for two years in the mission field in Dakota, and in 1887 was called to LaPorte to take charge of the Swedish Lutheran church in this city, where he has since been located. In addition to his duties in the ministry, he has had occasion to utilize his early training and experience as a teacher in building up the parochial school and in Sunday-school teaching and other departments of the church work. His labors here have been most effective and far-reaching, and under his guidance the church has grown in numerical and spiritual strength; becoming a power for good in the com- munity.

The Swedish Lutheran church at LaPorte belongs to the Illinois conference of the Augus- tana Synod. It was organized in 1857, and the present house of worship, a beautiful brick struc-

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a.d. Siljestram

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ture, was erected in 1883. It is in a very flourish- ing condition, and all departments of the church work are enthusiastically maintained. The act- ual communicants number about four hundred, and the church enjoys an affiliated membership of about six hundred.

In 1875 Rev. Siljestrom was united in the holy bonds of matrimony, in Boone, Iowa, to Miss Annette Thorson, and to them have been born eleven children, namely : Martin Emanuel, Han- nah Cecelia, Paul Bernard, Esther 'Amelia, Alma Hildred, Leonard Luther Nathaniel, Linus An- tonius, George Livius Constantine, Walter Ben- jamin, Anna Seraphia, and Ruth Annette Elle- onora. Rev. Siljestrom has been a member of the Chicago Pastors' Club (Swedish Lutheran), and still keeps in touch with that organization. He is considered a very scholarly man, an able divine and one who is greatly esteemed by his congregation and by the outside public as well. .

ABIEZER JESSUP is without doubt one of the very oldest of the living pioneers of the county of LaPorte, Indiana, and it is a pleasure to be able to record in historical form some of the details of his long career while he is yet living in the county with whose development he has been so intimately connected. Where there are now populous towns and cities, flourishing manufac- tories, and beautiful farmsteads ; all the improve- ments wrought by modern commerce and trade; social, religious, educational institutions,-in the first years that Mr. Jessup spent in this county there were only devious highways where now many trunk lines of railways pass; settlements were few and far between and supplies had to be transported by water for iong distances; farms were sometimes miles a part, people who lived five miles away called themselves "neighbors"- such were only a few of the contrasts between conditions at the beginning of Mr. Jessup's life and the end.

Abiezer Jessup was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, June 26, 1820, and is the fourth of a family of eleven children, four sons and seven daughters, born to Daniel and Anna (Seward) Jessup, and there are four still living: Elrich, a widow, re- siding in Kansas; Angie, wife of Mr. Gould, of LaPorte; Viola, wife of John Grout, of LaPorte; and Abiezer.

Daniel Jessup was a native of Pennsylvania, and was a mechanic, a wagon-maker, and an agri- culturist. He came with his parents to Hamilton county, Ohio, in an early day, and purchased a large tract of land. In 1830 he came to northern

Indiana with his sons, and located near South Bend at first, where he remained during the win- ter, and in the following spring (1831), on mak- ing a trip to New Durham township, LaPorte county, was so pleased with the surroundings that he decided on a claim and at the government land sale in the fall purchased a tract which he and his sons at once set to work to develop. The Michigan state line, when afterward surveyed, ran very close to the place, and this sparsely set- tled district was called the "three mile strip." Politically Daniel Jessup was a Jackson Demo- crat, and was a prudent, cool-headed citizen, much respected and looked up to by his neigh- bors. He and his wife were members of the Christian church. Mrs. Jessup was a native of Virginia, and was a relative of William Seward, Lincoln's secretary of state. She was a good, motherly woman, and possessed of the feminine virtues and strength that make the pioneer woman so worthy of honor.

Abiezer Jessup was about nine years old when he became a resident of LaPorte county, with the rest of the family, in 1830, and most of his educa- tion was obtained in the very primitive schools that existed in that part of Indiana. So many pictures of the rough, uncomfortable and poorly equipped schoolhouses of that epoch have been portrayed that the hardships incident to obtain- ing an education are familiar to all. The school was supported by subscription, lasted only about three months in the year, and the three R's were the only stock in trade of the master and the only knowledge he endeavored to inculcate in the minds of his pupils. Mr. Jessup also has some of the crude agricultural implements used by him in his early farming operations, such as the cradle and flail used for harvesting and threshing the grain.

He has also been in the Indian camp near Westville many times, and knew personally the Indian chief Chailo, as also his successor, She- vango, and recalls the method of balloting for this latter brave, when pieces of buckskin were used for ballots, covered with Indian characters, and the election was carried on in much the same manner as that of civilized nations. Mr. Jessup has also seen many deer, bears and wolves where now are only the domestic animals. Michigan City in his time was able to boast of only two or three cabins, which he now sees to have grown to ten thousand souls, and he has witnessed the same progress in the city of LaPorte. His father was county commissioner of LaPorte county when the first court house and jail was erected.

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December 18, 1844, Mr. Jessup married Miss Caroline Sharp, and all their six children are liv- ing except the eldest. William F. is a stock- buyer of New Durham township; Elizabeth A., the widow of Walter Geist, has a nice farm in Clinton township; Flora is the wife of William Woolly, of Sac City, Iowa; Eddie Miles, who resides with his parents, married Miss Cath- erine Korros, and they have one child, Zelma, now in the fifth grade at school; and Harmon Sharp, a resident of Chicago, has three children, Loretta, Lawrence and Raymond.

Mrs. Jessup was born in Rush county, In- diana, March 11, 1824, and is one of the six chil- dren of Thomas and Elizabeth (Hayward) Sharp, one daughter besides Mrs. Jessup sur- viving: Martha, wife of James Monohan, of Michigan City. Thomas Sharp was born in Ken- tucky and his wife in Virginia. They were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a farmer and came to LaPorte county about 1836. He was a second cousin of Abraham Lin- coln. He has served in the war of 1812.

Mr. and Mrs. Jessup began life together in a log cabin in New Durham township, on one hun- dred and sixty acres of land, and they thoroughly deserve the success which has come to them through their long lives of industry and honor- able toil. Mrs. Jessup wove some of the clothes which her husband wore, and she still has the old-fashioned spinning wheel and reel, which she used while her husband was away at work in the fields with the ox teams. They now own a nice es- tate of three hundred and thirty-three acres in this township, where their last days are being spent in peace and contentment in keeping with their strenuous endeavors of the past. Mr. Jessup has been a life-long Democrat, and has always main- tained the beliefs of the great leader of that party, Andrew Jackson. He has at various times been a delegate to the county conventions of the party.

JOHN B. FAULKNOR. Perhaps no enter- prise to which man directs his energies brings one into closer touch with the people and the vital interests of the time than the labor of the news- paper correspondent. Throughout his entire busi- ness career Mr. Faulknor has been connected with journalism, and he is now at the head of a leading paper in LaPorte county, the Daily and Weekly Dispatch, of Michigan City, his labors ad- vancing it to a foremost position in journalistic circles. He was born in LaPorte, Indiana, on the 29th of July, 1864, being a son of Matthias M. and Catherine (Worley) Faulknor, the former a

native of New York and the latter of Virginia. He is a grandson of John K. and Elizabeth (Mount) Faulknor, the former of whom was born in New York and died in LaPorte in 1850. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Faulknor was John Worley, a native of Virginia, as was also his wife, Sarah Morris, who came from Virginia.

Matthias M. Faulknor was born in Mont- gomery county, New York, and after coming to Indiana took up his abode in LaPorte, where he was afterward married. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Eleventh Michigan Volunteer Infantry, serving from the first call for volunteers until 1864, when he was honorably discharged on account of disability. He entered the service as a lieutenant, but was discharged with the rank of captain. After returning from the conflict he made his home in Plymouth, Indiana, for a short time, removing thence to LaPorte, where he was engaged in the chair-finishing business until 1879. Removing to Michigan City in that year, he thereafter followed the same line of trade until 1881, when he took up his abode in South Bend, this state, that city being still his home, and for a number of years past he has been employed as a commercial traveler. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Matthias Faulknor, three sons and four daughters, as follows: Luella, the widow of C. M. Steinbarger, of South Bend, In- diana; Jennie, the widow of Samuel Lockhart and also a resident of that city; Mary, of South Bend; Frank E., also of that city; John B., a resident of Michigan City ; Harry E., who makes his home in Mishawaka, Indiana; and Jessie, the wife of Myron D. Puterbaugh, of Elkhart, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Faulknor are members of the Presbyterian church, and in his political af- filiations he is a Republican.

John B. Faulknor made his home in LaPorte, his native city, until fourteen years of age, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Michigan City, receiving his education in the schools of both places. After leaving school he accepted a reportorial position on the Michigan City Dispatch, having ever since been connected with that journal. In 1890 he acquired a con- trolling interest in the business, and is now its editor and publisher. Michigan City is well rep- resented by its enterprising newspapers, and in the journalistic circles Mr. Faulknor holds an enviable position. He is also a director of the Michigan City Library Association.

In his political affiliations he is a Democrat, and throughout the period of his majority has given a stalwart support to its principles. In his

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fraternal relations he is a member of Acme Lodge No. 63, F. & A. M., having been its worshipful master from 1898 until 1904; is a member of Michigan City Chapter No. 25, R. A. M .; Michi- gan City Council No. 56, R. & S. M .; Michigan City Commandery No. 30, K. T., having presided both in the council and the commandery; is a member of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Valley of Indianapolis; of Murat Temple, A. A. N. M. S .; Washington Lodge No. 94, Knights of Pythias ; Halcyon Council of the Royal Arcanum ; and Michigan City Lodge No. 432, B. P. O. E.

On the 25th of November, 1897, Mr. Faulk- nor was united in marriage to Miss Esther Fran- cis, a daughter of Oscar and Mary (Dean) Fran- cis, the former a native of Michigan City and the latter of Ireland. Oscar Francis was a son of Thompson W. and Esther (Francis) Francis, who were married in Michigan City in 1839, the former being a native of Kentucky and the latter of Maine. Their son Oscar removed to the south shortly before the war and settled at Nashville, Tennessee, where he engaged in railroad work. His death occurred there in 1881, and he lies buried in Michigan City. Mrs. Francis came to this country from Ireland when four years old, locating in Nashville, and that city has continued to be her home to the present time. One daughter has come to brighten and bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Faulknor, Esther Frances Faulknor. The family residence is at 423 Pine street. Mr. Faulknor holds membership relations with the Episcopal church, and his wife adheres to the Catholic faith.

J. V. HICKMAN, who is now filling the po- sition of township trustee in Kankakee township and is a representative farmer and early settler, makes his home on section 8, where a well devel- oped farm of which he is the owner annually re- turns to him a good profit for his labors. He was born on section 16 of the same township, his natal day being February 19, 1846. His father, J. V. Hickman, was a native of Monongahela county, Virginia, and was a son of Rev. Joshua Hickman, a minister of the Baptist church, representing that section of the denomination known as hard-shell Baptists. In pioneer times he came to Indiana, settling in Henry county, where he proclaimed the gospel to the early settlers. There he re- mained up to the time of his death, and his in- fluence was a potent factor for good in the moral development of his community. The Hickmans are of Dutch descent.

of Union county, Indiana, in 1832, and in 1833 removed to LaPorte county, establishing his home on section 17, Kankakee township. He found here a district largely unimproved and unsettled, and in the work of upbuilding and progress he be- came an active assistant. By trade he was a blacksmith, and followed that pursuit in his earlier years, but later devoted his energies exclu- sively to farming. He lived to be more than seventy-five years of age, and well does he deserve to be mentioned among the representative pioneer settlers of LaPorte county. He voted with the Democratic party, and was a candidate for county commissioner at one time. He married Miss Rachel Coplin, a native of Virginia, where her girlhood days were passed. She lived to be sev- enty-three years of age. Her father was a prom- inent resident of the Old Dominion and was of Irish and Dutch lineage. He became well known as a stock-raiser, farmer and general business man. To J. V. and Rachel Hickman were born eleven children, eight sons and three daughters, all of whom reached years of maturity, while five of the family are now living.

Mr. Hickman is the seventh son. He was reared in his native township, the common schools affording him his preliminary education, which was supplemented by study in Hillsdale College at Hillsdale, Michigan. He afterward engaged in teaching school between the ages of twenty and thirty years, following that pursuit in LaPorte county, where he became well known as a capable educator. In 1878, however, he left the school room, locating on a farm in Kankakee township. He had been married in 1873 to Miss Harriet A. Downing, a native of Kankakee township and a daughter of Samuel and Eliza (Wagner) Down- ing, who were old settlers of LaPorte county. Mr. and Mrs. Hickman have one son, Eugene, who married Letha Taylor, a daughter of J. C. Taylor, of LaPorte. They are now residing upon the old homestead.

In 1884 Mr. Hickman located upon the farm where he now resides, in section 8, Kankakee township, and has since been engaged in the cul- tivation of the soil and the raising of stock. In his business affairs he has been active and ener- getic, and his possessions have come to him as the reward of his earnest and persistent labor. He has been a life-long Democrat in his political views, and since the age of nineteen years has taken an active part in political work. In 1886 he was elected supervisor, and in 1888 was nomin- ated for the position of township trustee, but was

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 77

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