A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 95

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 95

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Davis has always been known as a Demo- crat and in 1881 was elected to the state legisla- ture and re-elected in 1883, serving for four years. To every question which came up for settlement he gave his careful and earnest con- sideration, and his was a loyal support to all measures which he believed would contribute to the general good. He has also filled some local

Digitized by Google

549

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

offices, including that of justice of the peace, and he has long been recognized as a prominent and valued citizen of his community. Since 1865 he has been a prominent Mason, and now holds membership in Excelsior Lodge No. 41, F. & A. M., of LaPorte, and filled every chair except that of tyler. A member and elder of the Christian church, he has been a regular teacher in its Sun- day-school for many years. He is deeply inter- ested in everything that tends to promote its growth and extend its influence.

On the 9th of October, 1853, Mr. Davis was united in marriage to Miss Betsey Barnes, who was born in Onondaga county, New York, Janu- ary 30, 1835. Her father, Cyrus Barnes, was born April 11, 1808, in Onondaga county, was there reared, and in the year 1826 was married there to Eliza Elliott, who was likewise a native of that district. She was born April 23, 1809, and they took up their abode in Onondaga coun- ty, New York, where they remained until the spring of 1839, when they came to LaPorte county and settled in Galena township. There Mr. Barnes carried on general farming until his death, which occurred in 1883, while his wife survived him until 1887. They lived in one house in Galena township for exactly forty-four years. Of their eight children, one died in infancy while the others reached adult age. The father was a farmer and also pioneer nurseryman of north- western Indiana, and all of the orchards for miles around were planted with trees from his place and many were grafted by him. Phineas Barnes, the grandfather of Mrs. Davis, was united in :narriage to Lois Foster, who was born in New York and there passed away. The grandparents on the maternal line were John and Hannah Elliott, the former born June 6; 1777, and the latter on the 17th of February, 1780. They were natives of New York, and were of English line- age, while the Barnes family was of Irish descent. The children of Cyrus and Eliza Barnes were as follows: Avery I., who is a resident of Galena township; Lois D., the wife of V. F. Smith, who died in 1864: Hannah, who died in 1834; James A., who is editor of the Auburn Courier, a daily and weekly paper published in DeKalb county, Indiana ; Betsey A .; Charles O., who is a farmer of Galena township ; and Lydia, who was a teach- er and died in 1864. Dr. C. G. Barnes, another member of the family, is a resident physician in Nebraska and was a pioneer settler of Boone county, that state. He served on the staff of Governor Poynter, as colonel and surgeon gener- al, and is very prominent in political circles. He

is one of the pioneers of Boone county, Nebraska, and a leading and influential citizen there.

Mrs. Davis, the fifth child of this family, came to LaPorte county in the spring of 1839, when a little maiden of only four summers. She was educated in the schools of Galena township, the little temple of learning being a log structure. She never went for one day to a frame school. In 1863 she joined the New Light church, and in 1870 became a member of the Disciples church, of which she is still an adherent. She has been a very active and earnest worker in the church and Sunday-school, teaching in the latter for many years. She possesses considerable literary talent, and in 1853 began writing poetry, much of which displays considerable merit. She has also been the correspondent for many papers, and in 1850 published her first article, which ap- peared in the Genesee Farmer, of Rochester, New York, of which Joseph Harris was the editor. Since that time she has contributed to many pa- pers, and is now writing for five different journ- als. Her poems have been published in the papers of Indianapolis and of Illinois, and she has received some very flattering notices from the press. Another side of her nature is manifested in her great interest in growing plants. She not only raises fine flowers, but also produces excel- lent fruit, and is a member of the Indiana State Horticultural Society. She has taken many first premiums in that society because of the excellent fruit which she has displayed and she is also a member of the American Foresters' Association.

To Mr. and Mrs. Davis have been born three children, of whom one died in infancy. The others are Arthur C. and Fannie E. The former was born December 31, 1854, and on January 23, 1896, was killed by the bursting of a balance wheel on a wood-sawing machine. He married Hannah D. Maass on the Ist of January, 1881, and they had three sons and a daughter: Ed- ward L., Lester C., Elsa A. and Ernest R. The daughter Fannie is the wife of William J. Finley, and has eight children : Forest F., Eugenius W., Winnie, Nellie B., John H., Avery R., Grace D., and Bessie O. Mrs. Finley, like her mother, is also a correspondent of various newspapers, and has written for the Ladies' Home Jorunal and other publications besides the local press.

Mr. Davis and his family are prominent in LaPorte county and well deserve mention in this work. He has carried on his business affairs along legitimate lines, has prospered in his under- takings, and is to-day the owner of valuable in- terests here. On the 9th of October, 1903. they

Digitized by Google

. 550

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

celebrated their fiftieth anniversary. One hun- dred and thirty-two guests took dinner at their place.

OTHIE WAY, the proprietor of a fine stock farm in Noble township, and whose beautiful homestead "Wayside Farm," is known as a model throughout. the township, belongs to a family of pioneers of this county, and one that has also furnished honorable and useful men and women to various places of activity in the American re- public. The ancestry is English, and one of the early.progenitors was Captain John Way, of Rox- bury, Massachusetts, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, thus entitling his descendants in this county to membership in the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. ..

. Isaac. Way, the father of Othie Way and the son of. Samuel and Betsy (Preston) Way, was born in Meriden, Connecticut, August 11, 1816, and died in LaPorte . county, March 23, 1893. He was reared in his native state, and received such , educational advantages as the common schools afforded. .. He came to LaPorte county in 1836, when all the present flourishing towns and cities and highly developed agricultural communi- ties were in their infancy or wildernesses. He drove through Michigan with a horse and buggy and in. 1837. returned to Connecticut. for a short time. . He purchased eighty acres of land in Noble township, and from one large tree on the land built a frame dwelling, which was his abode for some years. He was a successful man, as is shown by the fact that at his death he was the owner of fifteen hundred acres of land, all in Noble township. He voted with the old Whig party, and later espoused the cause of Republi- canism. He was one of the trustees of the town- ship for a number of years, being identified with its leading interests, and his name is found among those who laid out the town of Wellsboro.

In 1842 Isaac Way married Miss Rosanna Wellman who was born in Pennsylvania in 1823 and died in 1876, being also of English ancestry. She was a member of the Presbyterian church, and a very noble woman of high ideals. She was the mother of four sons and two daughters, three of whom are living: Ada is the wife of Charles Frederickson, a salesman of LaPorte; Ella. is the wife of Robert Crawford, a farmer of Noble township; and . Othie is the youngest.

Othie. Way was born in LaPorte county, De- cember 8, 1860, and has spent; nearly his entire life in the county. After a common school train- ing he took a commercial course at Valparaiso,

and then took up farming. He has three hundred and fifty acres in the "Wayside Farm," and he has so combined intelligence and labor that he has been successful to an unusual degree. His speci- alty, and the part of his business in which he takes most pride, is the raising of fine Galloway cattle, which he considers the best breed for all purposes. He has about thirty-five head of these fine regis- tered animals.

In 1882 Mr. Way was united in marriage to Miss Cornelia Drom and of their three children two are living: Irene is a student in the Michi- gan Agricultural College at Lansing, and will graduate in 1905 : Dena is in the sixth grade of the public school. Mrs. Way died September 3, 1891, and on January 4, 1893 Mr. Way married Miss Inez Drom, a half-sister of his former wife. She was born in New Durham township, LaPorte county, December 1, 1874, a daughter of John and Agnes (Callum) Dorm, the former a native of Pennsylvania and a farmer of LaPorte county, now deceased, and the latter, a native of Toronto, Canada, now resides in Chicago. Mrs. Way was educated in the public schools of Michigan City.

Mr. Way is a Republican in political principles and has represented his party in county conven- tions. In 1900 he was elected trustee of Noble township, and in this important office is. the con- servator of the best interests of the people, and can be relied upon to promote educational stand- ards and public improvements. He has been one of the directorate of the LaPorte Savings Bank for the past six years. His individual success has been such as to class him among the leading men of the county, and at the same time he has done his share in the development and upbuilding of those things which pertain to the good of his fellows.

GEORGE W. ALLEN, a well known archi- tect and merchant of LaPorte, was born in Dover, New Jersey, in 1864, a son of Charles and Sarah (Allison) Allen. Charles Allen was a native of Morris county, New Jersey, and for several gen- erations representatives of both the Allen and Allison families had resided in Dover and in Morris county. None have come to the west save the subject of this sketch .. Charles Allen en- gaged in teaching school in early life, but after- ward learned the mason's trade and became a contractor. He spent his entire life at Dover, and there passed away in 1882. His wife was born in Morris county and is still living at Dover.

In the public schools of that city George W. Allen acquired his literary education, and after

Digitized by Google

551

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

putting aside his text books began to learn the trade of a brick and stone mason, which he mas- tered thoroughly. This did not satisfy his ambi- tion, however, as he wished to become an architect and in. 1884 he began studying architecture at home, availing himself of every opportunity for advancement in that direction. He improved by the instruction of a number of teachers and among his tutors was C. Powell Carr, the noted architect and civil engineer of New York.

In 1885 Mr. Allen came to the west and lo- cated at Three Oaks, Michigan, where he re- mained for seven years as a mason and stone contractor. In 1891 he went to Valparaiso, In- diana, for the purpose of pursuing special courses in architecture and engineering in the Northern Indiana College at that place. He remained there for three years, pursuing his studies during the college sessions and working at his trade during the periods of vacation. He was employed on the construction of the new auditorium of the college, which has the largest seating capacity of any permanent building in Indiana outside of the city of Indianapolis. After completing a three years' course of study in Valparaiso, he came to LaPorte in 1894 and began business as an archi- tect. He also extended the field of his labors by establishing a dry-goods store on Main street, which has become one of the largest and most prosperous mercantile concerns of its kind in the city, having a large patronage, which is annually increasing. He has always continued his archi- tectural work, and has designed some of the finest structures in this city, which is noted for its beautiful homes. In 1902 he remodeled the Frst Methodist church, making it one of the most at- tractive pieces of ecclesiastical architecture in this part of the state, it having awakened wide atten- tion and elicited much favorable comment. He also designed the beautiful residence of Dr. Duth- erland on Jefferson avenue and many other lovely homes, and built the new school building at Hanna, LaPorte county, which was erected at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars.

In Three Oaks, Michigan, in 1884, Mr. Allen was happily married to Miss Ida Love, and they have two children : Willie and Clara. Mr. Allen attends the First Methodist church, of which his family are members, and fraternally he is con- nected with the Masons and the Tribe of Ben Hur. Mediocrity is abhorrent to him, and in the world of business he has therefore advanced to a leading position in his chosen lines of activity, being both a successful merchant and architect.

WILLIAM S. PHILLIPS was an honored and representative farmer of LaPorte county, liv- ing in Pleasant township, and although he has now passed away he is yet remembered by many who enjoyed his friendship, while he was an ac- tive and representative agriculturist here. He was born in Monroe county, New York, March 24, 1828, a son of Cyril Phillips, who was also a native of the Empire state and was of Irish line- age. Reared in his native place until fourteen years of age, William S. Phillips then accom- panied his parents to LaPorte, Indiana, where he became connected with his father in the shoe business, following that pursuit for many years. He afterward went to Michigan City, where he was in business with his brother for a long period but later he came to Pleasant township, where he engaged in farming, continuing in that pursuit until his demise.

Mr. Phillips was united in marriage to Miss Colista C. Taylor, who was born in the Empire state, January 4, 1834, a daughter of John W. Taylor, who was born in England and came to America about 1832, arriving in LaPorte county about 1836. (See sketch of James H. Taylor for family history.), Mrs. Phillips was his second child and second daughter, and was about two years of age when she accompanied her parents to Indiana, where she has resided the rest of her life. She first became the wife of Alvin Vander- warker, and by that marriage had one daughter, Alice, who is now the wife of Henry Amor, of Kingsbury, LaPorte county. It was on the 22d of April, 1858, that Mrs. Vanderwarker gave her hand in marriage to Mr. Phillips, and this union was blessed with two daughters: Colista, now the wife of Dr. James Cooper, a practicing phy- sician of LaPorte; and Phebe, the wife of Oscar Johnson, a resident farmer of Pleasant township. Mrs. Phillips has eight grandchildren: Cora, Willie, Ed and Dan. Amor, and Willie Riley, Emily, Alice and Florence Johnson.

It was on the 7th of November, 1901, that Mr. Phillips was called to his final rest. He was a life-long member of the Baptist church, and his political affiliations were with the Democracy. He held a number of local positions, discharging his duties with promptness and fidelity, and he en- joyed the favorable regard of a very large circle of friends, being well-known in the county in which he had made his home from the age of fif- teen years. In business affairs he was always prompt, energetic and notably reliable, and as a merchant and an agriculturist met with success,

Digitized by Google

552

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

gaining a comfortable competence, so that he left a good property to his widow.

Mrs. Phillips still owns the farm, which she conducts with the assistance of a hired man. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Salem, and is true to its teachings and its pre- cepts. Almost her entire life has been passed in Pleasant township, for she came when but two years of age, and now she is very widely and favorably known here, her many excellent quali- ties of heart and mind having endeared her to those with whom she has been associated.

GEORGE McMANIS DAKIN, M. D. There are few men whose lives are crowned with the honor and respect which are universally accorded George McManis Dakin; through more than half a century's connection with LaPorte's history his has been an unblemished character. With him success in life has been reached by his sterl- ing qualities of mind and a heart true to every manly principle ; he has never deviated from what his judgment would indicate to be right and hon- orable between his fellow men and himself; he has never swerved from the path of duty, and now after a long and eventful career he can look back over the past with pride and enjoy the re- maining years of his earthly pilgrimage with a consciousness of having gained for himself by his honorable, straightforward career the confi- dence and respect of the entire community in which he lives. Dr. Dakin has for years been a distinguished physician of Indiana, practicing at LaPorte, and has been the associate, co-worker and counsellor of many of the distinguished men of the nation in connection with affairs bearing upon the national history.

Dr. Dakin was born upon a farm at Oakland, Clinton county, Ohio, about forty miles from Cin- cinnati, on the 13th of May, 1827. The Dakin family is of English lineage and comes of dis- tinguished ancestry, the line being traced back to the time of William the Conqueror, and on through that line to early French kings, including Charlemagne and others who ruled the French nation. The name. of Dakin is inscribed on a tablet in Battle Abbey, Hastings, England, to comemorate the services of those who bore it in connection with the military conquests of William the Conqueror, at the battle of Hastings. The inscription being "Strike Dakin, the devil is in the rye." It was at that battle that William, Duke of Normandy, afterward King of England, gave the motto to the Dakins for their coat of arms, expressing bravery in battle.

Timothy Dakin, the great-grandfather of Dr. Dakin, resided near the Hudson river in the vicin- ity of New York city, where was the early home of the family in America. He had a family of seven sons, namely : Paul, Joshua, Preserved, Wooster, Timothy, John and Zebulon. Several of these were soldiers in the Revolutoinary war, and Joshua Dakin presented to the Doctor's fa- ther an old flint-lock gun and powder horn which he had used in the continental army.

Zebulon Dakin, the grandfather of Dr. Dakin, was a native of New York and in the Empire state was married to Miss Thankful Briggs. In the early part of the nineteenth century they re- moved with their family to what was then the far west, settling in the midst of the wilderness in Clinton county, Ohio, where Zebulon Dakin clear- ed a tract of land and developed a farm that re- mained the family home for many years.

Perry Dakin, the father of Dr. Dakin, was born in Columbia county, New York, in 1798, and was a youth of sixteen years when he accom- panied his parents on their emigration to Ohio. Reared to the occupation of farming, he made it his life work, although he learned the tanner's trade when a young man, and to some extent did work in that line for the neighbors in the absence of the regular tanner. He was united in mar- riage to Miss Phebe McManis, who was born in Kentucky in 1806, and who died in May, 1904, at the age of ninety-eight years, her home having been in Princeton, Bureau county, Illinois. When a child she accompanied her parents on their re- moval to Clinton county, Ohio, where she met and married Perry Dakin. Her husband died in 1846, and in later life she removed to Princeton to live with her daughter, Mrs. Margaret Dakin Trimble, the wife of Judge Trimble, ex-com- mander of the Illinois Grand Army of the Repub- lic and a distinguished lawyer of that state. Mrs. Trimble is the Dakin family historian and is com- piling a complete genealogy of the representa- tives of the family in America. There is another sister living, the widow of Judge Cochran, who was a well known lawyer of Ohio and also a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic in that state. The sons of the family became physicians, and the sisters married law- yers, thus showing a predilection for professional life. Two of the brothers, James Briggs Dakin and Philip Rockefeller Dakin, were Union sold- iers throughout the Civil war.

In this connection it will be interesting to note something of the maternal ancestry of Dr. Dakin. His mother was a daughter of Judge George

Digitized by Google

600 Ml Daklin M. A.

Digitized by Google

553

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY. 1

McManis, who was born in Kentucky, whence he removed to Ohio at an early period in the de- velopment of Clinton county. He was a farmer by occupation, but after removing to Clinton county was elected associate judge of the first circuit court which was held in that county. He became a very prominent and influential man there, aiding largely in shaping the early history of his locality and leaving the impress of his in- dividuality for good upon its development and progress. His father was a native of Ireland, and on crossing the Atlantic to America settled in Philadelphia, subsequent to which time he re- moved to Kentucky, where he was engaged in the Indian wars that made the state known as the dark and bloody ground because of the hostil- ity manifested by the red men against the white race.

Dr. Dakin spent his boyhood and early man- hood in a locality and during a period in which strong characters were developed and history was made, for Clinton county, Ohio, was at that time a hotbed of abolition sentiment and his par- ents, their relatives and other intimate friends were strong anti-slavery exponents in practice as well as theory. The Doctor's father took a deep interest in the movement which became known as the underground railroad, and on his first trip, while aiding negroes who were making their way from the Ohio river to Canada, he was accom- panied by his son George, who was then but a boy and who afterward made several trips of this kind on his own account. They experienced many stirring difficulties in secreting negroes from their pursuing masters, and in getting them to their destination. From the Doctor's earliest boyhood up to the time the Civil war was in- augurated, life in Clinton county was attended with excitement and momentous events, presag- in the great coming conflict. He took a great interest in these affairs and eagerly read such papers as theNational Intelligencer, National Era, National Anti-Slavery Standard, Boston Libera- tor and the Cincinnati Philanthropist. In addi- tion to the knowledge he thus gained he met and heard some of the noted abolitionists of that day, including William Lloyd Garrison, Salmon P. Chase and the members and students of the fac- ulty of the Cincinnati Theological Seminary, who were very prominent in the anti-slavery crusade. In fact, it was Dr. Dakin's good fortune to be con- stantly associated with great minds, and it is not surprising that under such influences he devel- oped a sturdy character and strong mentality to- gether with habits of thought and life that have

made him a man universally honored and es- teemed because of his own splendid and upright manhood.

His primary education was acquired in the district schools, supplemented by the knowledge which he gained from a good home library. Later he attended Wilmington Academy at Wilming- ton, Ohio, now Franklin College, and subsequent- ly pursued a course of study in the academy at Waynesville, Ohio, under the preceptorship of Professor David S. Burson, a noted educator and mathematician. During all his school days Dr. Dakin displayed splendid talent in the line of physics and physiology. The first money he ever earned, obtained by dropping corn for a neigh- bor, was invested in a copy of Comstock's Phy- siology. He took a leading part in the country lyceums of those days, and in one of these lyce- ums he became a teacher of physiology, instruct- ing a class of boys of his own age in that science. That marked the beginning of his medical studies and thereafter all his efforts in an educational line were spent in the direction of acquiring a medical training as a preparation for the practice of the science as a life work.

He began seriously the study of medicine with Dr. J. W. Scroggs in Warren county, Ohio, in 1846. The death of his father in that year greatly interfered with his plans, as much responsibility in connection with the household devolved upon him, but he was an intensely earnest and ambi- tious young man, determined to achieve success, and the difficulties in his path only served as an impetus to make him work the harder. He be- came a great favorite with his preceptor, Dr. Scroggs, who intrusted him with the com- pounding of medicines and pharmaceutical pre- parations, for there were no drug stores in those days at which physicians purchased their sup- plies, all medicines being compounded in their own offices. Dr. Dakin also visited patients of Dr. Scroggs, and in these and other ways obtain- ed excellent training and fine practical experi- ence in medical practice. During these years he also worked hard on a farm, and engaged in teaching school in order to gain the money nec- essary to enable him to pursue his professional studies. He worked night and day with little thought of rest, and in 1850 found that he had earned enough to enable him to enter the Cincin- nati Eclectic Medical Institute, where he com- pleted a two years' course of study. He was graduated in 1852, and in 1853 he decided to re- move to Bureau county, Illinois. Accordingly he located in Princeton and entered upon the

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 95

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