A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 89

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 89

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· HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

John Walker Ludlow was born on the old ~ followed under the able management of its presi- Ludlow farm adjoining LaPorte on the south, dent, Mr. Niles. Throughout his business career he has been one of the active men of the county, closely associated with its enterprise and progress, and now he is numbered among the well-to-do of his native city. December 27, 1845, and in the public schools of the city he received his elementary education, which was later supplemented by a course in Earl- ham College, of Richmond, Indiana. After at- taining to years of maturity he chose the tilling Mr. Niles was born in LaPorte, September 27, 1835, his parents being John B. and Mary (Polke) Niles. The ancestral line can be traced back through many generations to John Niles, of Welsh descent, who came from Wales to America and who was one of the company that settled the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630. He took the freeman's oath on the 26th of May, 1647. of the soil as a life occupation, and for many years was regarded as one of the leading and representative agriculturists of the county. The deserved reward of a well spent life is an honored retirement from labor in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil, and in 1889, after a useful and beneficent career, Mr. Ludlow was enabled to put aside the more active cares of business, and removed to LaPorte, where he is now surrounded by the comforts that earnest labor has brought to him.

On the 4th of September, 1872, Mr. Ludlow was united in marriage to Miss Frances Allen, a daughter of James M. Allen, also a prominent pioneer of LaPorte county, and the history of whose family appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Ludlow passed away in death May 2, 1901, leaving one son, Oliver A., who is now serving as secretary of the Johnson Harness Company, of this city. In political matters Mr. Ludlow also gives his support to the Republican party, being an earnest worker in its cause, and in his fraternal relations he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. . Public-spirited and progressive in all his ideas, he lends his influence to all measures which he believes useful to the majority, and his is the record of a true and loyal citizen.

Mr. Ludlow's only living brother is Oliver P. Ludlow, Jr., who owns and resides on the farm formerly the homestead of his uncle, John W. Ludlow, deceased. His wife is Melissa (Bowen) Ludlow, daughter of Fitch D. Bowen, ex-sheriff and a prominent old-time resident of the county. To Oliver P. Ludlow and wife were born four children: Porter Bowen, Eliza C., Willard W. and Sarah Frances.

WILLIAM NILES. Among the earnest men whose depth of character and strict adherence to principle excite the admiration of his contem- poraries is William Niles. Banking institutions are the heart of the commercial body, indicating the healthfulness of trade, and the bank that follows a safe, conservative business policy does more to establish public confidence in times of widespread financial depression than anything else. Such a course has the First National Bank

Hon. Samuel Niles, the great-great-grand- father of William Niles, was graduated from Harvard College in 1731, and became a distin- guished and influential citizen of his community. He was judge of the court of common pleas of Suffolk county, Massachusetts, and was one of twenty-eight counsellors who exercised the func- tions of government before the constitution of the new republic was framed.

His son, Nathaniel Niles, the great-grand- father of Mr. Niles, was a graduate of Princeton College and became a trustee of Dartmouth Col- lege. He was both a minister and judge, promi- nent both at the bar and as a preacher of the gospel. He served as a member of the continen- tal congress, and was the author of a patriotic poem which attracted considerable attention in those days and aroused a loyal spirit among its readers.

William Niles, the grandfather of Mr. Niles, was a graduate of Dartmouth College, and it will thus be seen that the members of the family down through the different generations have been gen- tlemen of strong intellectuality and broad scholarly attainments.

John B. Niles, the father of William Niles, was born at West Fairlee, Orange county, Vermont, September 8, 1808, and he, too, was a graduate of Dartmouth. He studied law, and after pre- paring for the bar came to the west, making the journey on horseback in 1833. It was his in- tention to locate on a ten-acre lot in Chicago, but while enroute for that city he stopped at La Porte, and, being pleased with this place, purchased a lot here instead and continued to make his home in LaPorte throughout his remaining days. Open- ing a law office, he engaged in practice for many years and became prominent and a man of means. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of LaPorte, founded in 1864, and

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he gained distinction in connection with public affairs bearing upon the welfare of Indiana. He was elected a member of the convention which framed the new constitution for the state in 1850, and his influence was effective and far-reaching in behalf of general progress and improvement. His strong mind, his lofty patriotism, his marked success and his upright character made him a citizen whom Indiana regards as one of her honored sons. His death occurred in LaPorte on the 6th of July, 1879.

Mrs. John B. Niles was born in the old town of Vincennes, Indiana, June 13, 1811, and was a daughter of the Hon. William Polke, whose birth occurred in Brooke county, Virginia, in 1777. William Polke became one of the pioneer settlers of this state, removing from Kentucky in 1808, at which time he took up his abode in Knox county, in what was then the territory of Indiana. He was wounded at the battle of Tippecanoe, in which he served under the command of General Harrison. He was a member of the first state constitutional convention of Indiana in the year 1816. In 1829 and for a number of years after, he was commissioner for the sale of the Michigan road lands. In 1832 he removed to Fulton county, Indiana, and established a farm where the Michi- gan road crossed the Tippecanoe river. His was the first frame house built on that road north of the Wabash river and was known for many years as the White House. In 1836 he had charge of the removal of the Pottawottomie Indians to the Indian Territory. He was a member of the senate in the first legislature of the state. He also had something to do as a commissioner with the locating and naming of the state capitol. As an associate judge he opened the first court held in LaPorte county, the temple of justice being at that time a log cabin, containing two rooms. In 1841 he removed to Fort Wayne to accept the position as President Harrison's appointee of register of the land office, and there he died on the 26th of April, 1843.

William Polke was a son of Charles Polke, who removed from Virginia to Madison county, Kentucky, about the year 1785, and there en- gaged in the Indian wars. At one time he was captured by the Indians and held as prisoner until exchanged at Detroit about a year later. The ancestral line is traced still further back through John Polke, who was a son of John Polke, Sr., and a grandson of Robert Bruce Pollok, the last named born in county Donegal, Ireland, about 1630, and in 1680 came to America, settling in Somerset county, Maryland, where he assumed

the name of Robert Bruce Polke, the surname being a contraction of Pollok, which was the an- cestral name of the family. Robert Bruce Polke was a son of Sir Robert de Pollok, who joined the Scotch Covenanters in 1640. He was a native of Scotland and received from King James II a large grant of land in "Vetus Scotia," as Ireland was then called. His father was Sir John de Pollok, and the record goes back to Petrius de Pollok, who in 1153 held the baronetcy of Ren- frewshire and also of Roths and Aberdeenshire, the chevron of which is still borne on the shield of the Prince of Wales. The father of Petrius was Fulbert the Saxon, born in 1075, who held the vast feudal baronetcy of Pollok.

It will thus be seen that William Niles on both sides comes of honorable and distinguished ancestry. He acquired his early education in private schools, and later attended Urbana Uni- versity of Ohio and Dartmouth College, the latter being also the alma mater of his father and his grandfather. Mr. Niles was graduated at Dart- mouth with the class of 1859, and returning to his home took up the study of law in his father's office, being admitted to the bar in 1861. For a number of years he practiced in partnership with his father, but in later life increasing busi- ness interests compelled him to give up his law practice and devote his undivided attention to other affairs. The First National Bank of La- Porte, of which he is the president, was organized in 1864, and is thus one of the old national bank- ing institutions of the country, very few banks in America having obtained their charter at an earlier day. Its first president was A. Case, while the original directors were John B. Niles, Ezekiel Morrison, Sidney S. Sabin, James Ridgeway and Samuel E. Williams. Mr. Niles was one of the stockholders, and has thus been connected with the institution since its establishment. He was made president several years ago, and is therefore the chief officer in one of the most substantial institutions of the state. The excellent business policy inaugurated at the beginning has ever been maintained, and under the control of Mr. Niles and his associates the scope of the busi- ness has been increased.

Other enterprises have claimed the attention and received the assistance of Mr. Niles. He was one of the organizers of the Niles & Scott Company, manufacturers of wheels for agricul- tural implements. For many years only wood wheels were constructed, but since 1890 the com- pany has also made steel wheels, which are welded by electricity. This business was estab-

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lished in 1870, being then conducted under the name of the LaPorte Wheel Company, while later the name was changed to the present style of the Niles & Scott Company. This is a large and important industry, and with its control Mr. Niles was connected for some time, after which he sold out, although the business is still con- ducted under the old name. He has varied busi- ness interests and investments, including a fine farm in Lake county and one in LaPorte county, his landed possessions aggregating about two thousand acres.

Mr. Niles is a Republican and is a member of the New church. On the 16th of December, 1885, occurred the marriage of Mr. Niles and Miss Judith King Anderson, a native of LaPorte county. She died December 13, 1902, in this city, her loss being deeply deplored by many friends as well as her immediate family. She was the mother of two daughters.

Judith King Anderson, the esteemed wife of William Niles, was the daughter of Robert T. and Mary M. Anderson. She was born on her father's farm in Scipio township, February 28, 1849. In her early life she attended the public schools of her township, and her education was completed at Hanover high school in Indiana, and at Monmouth College in Illinois. She spent about two years in Europe, and her mind was en- larged and liberalized by foreign travel. She was an extensive and discerning reader, and was many-sided in her attainments in art, music and literature, apt and clever in them all. She was a woman with a finely strung nature, intense and exuberant, the soul of devotion to her family and friends. Her home was her heaven, where she ministered to her family with never failing love and attention. She was very hospitable; it was her delight to entertain her friends, for which she possessed a peculiar aptness, and she was never more happy or more successful than when she was the moving spirit of some social company. It was when in this capacity that her gifts and cul- ture manifested themselves in a striking manner, the more so because she was always unassuming. She was a lover of music and possessed a rich contralto voice. She had a fine sense of humor, and was natural whatever the occasion. In her church relations she was a Presbyterian, but after her marriage she attended worship with her hus- band in the New or Swedenborgian church more frequently than in her own. She entered heartily into much of the church work of this society; though she never saw her way clear formally to change her church relations.

JOHN W. POTTINGER, one of LaPorte county's native sons and a prominent agricul- turist, is a representative of one of the county's old and honored families, three generations of which have been identified with its history from the period of early development to the present.

His grandfather, Samuel Pottinger, Sr., was born in Ohio in 1793 and came to LaPorte county in 1835, where he established a home in the midst of the wilderness, becoming an important factor in the upbuilding and improvement of this sec- tion of the state. He settled on the farm which is now the property of his grandson, and built a log house about forty rods from the present ele- gant residence of the latter. He made his home in this county during the remainder of his life, and died in LaPorte in 1861, honored and re- spected by all who knew him. During the gold excitement in California in 1849, he crossed the plains to the Pacific coast and was engaged in mining for two years. He was one of the founders of the first Christian church at LaPorte and remained one of its most active and promi- nent members until his death.

Samuel K. Pottinger, father of John W. Pottinger, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1824, and was about eleven years of age when he accompanied his parents to LaPorte county. In this county he married Miss Sarah Harvey, who was born in Hendricks county, Indiana, in 1830, a daughter of John Harvey, another pioneer of the state. She died December 27, 1890, hav- ing survived her husband about nine years. He followed farming throughout his life, and was a worthy citizen and good neighbor.

John W. Pottinger was born on the old home- stead in Scipio township, October 15, 1858. He was the only child, and has been absent from the parental home for only one considerable length of time; he was at Northwestern University for one year, in the literary department, and in Chi- cago for four years. He was graduated from the LaPorte high school in 1876. He aided his father in the operation of the home farm until the lat- ter's death, when he took entire charge of the place. He has a well improved and valuable farm of two hundred and seventy acres, supplied with all the conveniences and accessories of a model farm of the present century, and in connection with his general farming is engaged in stock- raising, making a specialty of thoroughbred short- horn cattle.

May 1, 1880, Mr. Pottinger was married, in Chicago, to Miss Maud L. Fisher, who was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1859. Their beautiful

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residence is a brick structure, neat and tastefully furnished, and a gracious hospitality adds charm to its material comforts.

Since attaining his majority Mr. Pottinger has affiliated with the Republican party, and cast his first vote for James A. Garfield. He is a prominent Mason, having taken the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite at Indianapolis in 1891, and is a member of Excelsior Lodge No. 41, F. & A. M., at LaPorte, of LaPorte Chapter No. 15, LaPorte Council No. 32, and LaPorte Commandery No. 12, and has been presiding officer of each order ; in 1898 he was grand master of the Royal and Select Masters of the state of Indiana, and has been delegate to the grand lodge many times. Mrs. Pottinger is a member of the Eastern Star Lodge No. 52 at LaPorte. Mr. Pottinger is a public-spirited citizen, is popular in both business and social circles, and those who have known him from boyhood are numbered among his warmest friends.

HENRY CARL ROSENBAUM, one of the substantial and prosperous German-born resi- dents of LaPorte county, with a good farm on section 5, Dewey township, was born in Prussian Germany, July 12, 1844, and was brought across the waters to America and LaPorte county when he was eleven years old. The family settled in Cass township, and he finished his education in the common schools there. He has been ac- quainted with farm labor ever since he was old enough to perform his small part, and was an able assistant to his parents till their death. He remained on the old homestead, and has pros- pered in all his undertakings to such an extent that he is looked upon as one of the most in- fluential citizens of his community. He owns now six hundred and forty acres of land, and it is all well improved and excellent for farming pur- poses. He has been a resident of Cass township most of his life, but in 1903 moved over into Dewey township.

Mr. Rosenbaum was married in 1866 to Miss Calania Werner, and nine children were born to them : Emile, Herman H., William H., Powell R., Paulina (deceased, the eldest born), Amelia, Alvina, Augusta, and Bertha, deceased. Mr. Rosenbaum has been interested in local affairs, and is now serving on the advisory board for the second term. He affiliates with the Democratic party, but as a rule votes for the man he thinks best fitted for the office. In religion he is a mem- ber and trustee in the Lutheran church, and by his influence and purse contributes much to the

success of that body. Mr. Rosenbaum owes his advancement in material things almost entirely to his own efforts. He possessed a large amount of Teutonic perseverance and shrewdness, but these qualities would not have accomplished so much without his untiring industry. And as a man he is admired for his integrity and devotion to upright principles, and his position among friends and business associates is one of esteem.

JOHN L. CONBOY, one of the prominent representatives of agricultural interests of La- Porte county, residing on section 36, Clinton township, not far from Wanatah, is not only a thoroughly progressive farmer, understanding that calling in all its principles and details, but is also known by his fellow men as a worthy Chris- tian gentleman, and one whose part in life is not played along the lines of selfish interest but for the benefit and uplifting of humanity.

He was the son of Michael and Mary (Rey- nolds) Conboy, both natives of county Leitrim, Ireland, born, respectively, in 1796 and 1815, and were married there in 1836. Their wedding journey was a voyage to the new world, made with the intention of locating permanently in America. They settled in Wilkesbarre, Pennsyl- vania, and made their home in that state all their lives, Mr. Michael Conboy dying in Susque- hanna county in 1883. Thirteen children were born to these parents, whose names and dates of birth are as follows : John L., the eldest ; the sec- ond died in infancy ; Ellen, April 18, 1840; Pat- rick M., January 20, 1842; Michael A., April 26, 1844; Edward, January 30, 1847; one that was born and died in 1848; Francis, April 20, 1849; Mary, August 14, 1851 ; William J., July 6, 1853; Thomas, February 21, 1855, died in infancy; Cornelius, April 18, 1859; and Thomas, May, 2, 1861.

John L. Conboy was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1837. He grew to man- hood in that state, and was educated in the com- mon schools, finishing at Owego Academy. During his early years he taught school for a time, and he was such an active youth and was possessed of so much ability to manage affairs that he was often intrusted with responsibilities fitting those of more mature years. At the age of sixteen he drove fourteen hundred head of cattle, having four helpers under him, from Pennsylvania through to Connecticut. He has been along the whole course of the Susquehanna river on a raft, and knows its windings like a book. He early learned the carpenter's trade, and during a part of 1861-2

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was in the service of the Union army, building bridges and hospitals, under General Superinten- dent of Military Roads D. C. McCollum. He witnessed several battles, among them being the awful conflict at Fredericksburg. When he came to LaPorte he engaged in carpentering and build- ing. and had the contract for the wood work on the first high school building in the city. He continued in this line of business there until 1872, when he came to Chicago, shortly after the great fire, and for the next three years he was contract- ing and erecting many structures to take the place of those burned. He afterward engaged in the hardware business, which he carried on until 1880, when he returned to LaPorte county. He had previously purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Clinton township, and since that time his energies have been successfully em- ployed in agricultural pursuits. He became the owner of eight hundred and forty acres of land in this county, some of which cost him as low as two dollars and a half an acre, but his develop- ment of its productiveness and improvements added to its value until in 1902 he sold six hun- dred acres at forty dollars an acre.

On April 17, 1864, Mr. Conboy married, in Chicago, Miss Helen Sullivan, who was born in county Cork, Ireland, August 16, 1840. The following children have been born to this union : Michael, who died in infancy; Edward P., born March 11, 1867, who is proprietor of a livery stable at Wanatah, and a successful business man; the third child died in infancy ; Mary, born May 9, 1870, who was educated in literary courses and music at St. Genevieve's Convent, Chicago, is the wife of J. F. Tilden, a farmer of Indian Point, LaPorte county ; John T., born Sep- tember 18, 1872, was educated in the Hanna high school and the Valparaiso Normal, and is a stock- man and farmer ; Frank J., born February 18, 1875, graduated at the Wanatah high school and taught school for two years in LaPorte county, and in 1903 was graduated in the law department of Notre Dame University ; the next child died in infancy ; Charles P., born November 1, 1879, was a student in the Wanatah schools and spent one year in the commercial department at Notre Dame, and intends to take up a commercial life.

The family are communicants of the Catholic church of the Precious Blood at Wanatah, and Mrs. Conboy is a member of the sodality. It speaks volumes for the Christian spirit and kindly nature of these people that, in addition to the care of rearing their own children to useful and honor- able men and women, five orphan children owe

their nurture and early training to the philan- thropy and big-heartedness of Mr/. and Mrs. Conboy. These are Julia Calnan ; Katharine Cal- nan, the wife of William Conboy, of Pennsylva- nia ; Maude Derby, the wife of Albert Schunardt, a printer and foreman on the Milwaukee Sentinel; and two others, who are still under the hospitable roof of their foster parents. Mr. Conboy affiliates with the Democratic party, and is a member of the Royal Arcanum No. 569. He is a man of rec- ognized ability, is energetic, progressive and in- dustrious, and to these attributes he owes his success in life, for he started out with no capital or influential friends to aid him and has had to make his own way in the world.

WILLIAM M. BUTTERWORTH, who un- 'til about ten years ago was a citizen of LaPorte, and is now a lawyer and engaged in the real estate business in Chicago, and is also especially known as the efficient and graft-opposing alder- man of the thirty-first ward of Chicago, comes from one of the most prominent families in con- nection with the early history of LaPorte county, Indiana.

His grandfather, Benjamin Butterworth, was born in Ohio, a member of the Butterworth fam- ily of that state, to which Congressman Ben But- terworth belongs. In 1834 he moved to Indiana and became one of the very earliest settlers of La- Porte county, where he was one of the wealthiest and most influential residents. He bought from the government eighteen eighty-acre tracts of land at $1.25 an acre, and was one of the largest land owners of the county. He died in 1874.

Moses E. Butterworth, the son of Benjamin and the father of William M. Butterworth, was barn at Harveysburg, Ohio, in 1829, and when five years old was taken by his parents to La- Porte county, where he was reared on his father's farm in Scipio township. In 1849 he was one of the gold-seekers who crossed the plains to Cali- fornia, and subsequently made six other trips in. a like manner. His companion on one of these quests for gold was George M. Pullman, of Chi- cago, and on this occasion Mr. Butterworth in- stalled the first quartz mill west of the Missouri river. Moses Butterworth moved to Chicago from LaPorte county in 1893, and his death oc- curred in that city in March, 1900. He was one of the founders of the famous Quaker church of LaPorte, with which were connected some of the most prominent men of La Porte county. He was a Republican in politics. His wife was Martha Miller, who was a native of St. Joseph county,

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 89

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