A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 98

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 98

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

three sons and a daughter, including Frederick Feallock, who was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, and in the year 1856 crossed the Atlantic to the new world, becoming a resident of Michigan City, where he has since made his home. Throughout the greater part of his life he has been connected with railroad interests, and for more than forty years has been in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company. He wedded Miss Sophia Schwartz, also a native of Mecklenburg, and a daughter of Joseph Schwartz, who came to America about 1857 and established his home in Buffalo, New York. Afterward, however, he removed to LaPorte county, Indiana, and engaged in farming near Westville. At a later date he sold his property there and took up his abode in Michigan City, where he died in 1899 at the age of eighty-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Feallock hold membership in the Lutheran church, and the former gives his political support to the Republican party. While living in Ger- many he had some military experience, serving for a time in the regular army in accordance with the laws of that country.

Throughout his entire life William J. Feallock has resided in Michigan City. He pursued his education in the public schools and in the business college. He began earning his own living by clerking in a grocery store, where he was em- ployed for two years, and then entered the ser- vice of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, being thus engaged for three years. He was after- ward employed as a salesman in a shoe store until January, 1885, when he embarked in business on his own account, forming a partnership with J. H. Peters. They purchased a stock of shoes and opened a store which they conducted together until 1894, when Mr. Peters retired, and Mr. Feallock has since been alone in business at 503 Franklin street. He is a progressive merchant, obliging and courteous, and through his honor- able business methods and earnest desire to please his customers he has secured a very liberal pat- ronage.

On the 4th of October, 1884, Mr. Feallock was united in marriage to Miss Minnie A. Peters, a daughter of John H. Peters. Four children were born of this union, two sons and two daughters: Arthur, Walter, Florence and Henrietta. The wife and mother died in 1894, when twenty-eight years of age. She was a member of St. John's Lutheran church, to which Mr. Feallock also be- longs, and his fraternal associations connect him with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he has always been a Republi-

can. He now lives with his parents at 402 East Eighth street, and he is a well known resident in Michigan City, where his entire life has been passed. That many who have known him from boyhood are numbered among his stanchest friends is an indication that his career has been honorable, straightforward and worthy of public regard.

EDWIN J. TEETER, a prominent farmer and old settler living on section 35, Galena town- ship, is numbered among the native sons of the county. His birth occurred January 7, 1843, in the township which is still his home. He is a son of Henry and Caroline (Fail) Teeter. The family is of Scotch-Irish and Dutch lineage, but the latter strain is more pronounced than the others. The family was established in America about two hundred and forty years ago by an im- migrant from Germany. The grandfather of Ed- win J. Teeter was Zachariah Teeter, a native of Columbia county, New York, and he followed the occupation of farming throughout his business career. He was a very large man, being six feet and seven inches in height and weighing two hundred and thirty pounds. His death occurred in the Empire state.

Henry Teeter, the father of E. J. Teeter, was born in Columbia county, New York, in 1812, and was only seven years of age when he went with his mother to Franklin county, New York, where he was reared. He came to LaPorte coun- ty, Indiana, in 1834, when twenty-two years of age, and entered land from the government on section 26, Galena township, in order that he might develop it and make a good farm of his own. He lived with his mother for some time, and in 1837 was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Fail, whose birth occurred in Wheeling, Ohio county, West Virginia, in the year 1818. She was a daughter of Philip Fail, who was born at Purdeestown, Maryland, and was a miller by occupation. In early life, however, he engaged in agricultural pursuits, and in March, 1830, came to LaPorte county, Indiana, casting in his lot with the settlers who were reclaiming this region for the purposes of civilization. His fam- ily was the fifth to locate in the county. Mr. Fail was of Dutch lineage, while his wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Nuzzum, was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, and was of Scotch- Irish lineage. Mrs. Caroline Teeter came to Indi- ana in 1830 with her parents, and the family home was established near LaPorte.

After his marriage Henry Teeter took up his

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MRS. E. J. TEETER.

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Edwin Teler

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

abode upon the old homestead, cleared the land there and made excellent improvements, contin- uing to engage in agricultural pursuits up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1879, while his wife passed away in November, 1871. They were both consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, took an active part in church work, and their home was the place of enter- tainment for all the itinerant ministers who visited this locality. Mr. Teeter voted with the Dem- ocracy, and in matters of citizenship was always progressive and loyal. To him and his wife were born seven children, three sons and four daugh- ters: Sarah, the wife of Rev. Daniel Grime, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church now living at New Carlisle, Indiana; Philip F., who was killed in the battle of Iuka, while serving in the Civil war, at the age of twenty-four years; George H .; Edwin J .; Mary A., who died at the age of nine years; Phebe, the wife of Captain A. W. Dolph, of Indiana; and Rosie, the wife of Noah W. Gorman.

Edwin J. Teeter, who is the fourth child and third son in his father's family, was reared in his native township. His early education in the com- mon schools was supplemented by four months' study in the academy at LaPorte, and afterward he engaged in farming. In 1876 he was mar- ried to Miss Emma A. Ocker, a native of Butler, DeKalb county, Indiana, and a daughter of Henry and Mary (Walter) Ocker. She came to this county when four years of age, with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Teeter began their domes- tic life where he is now living, and as the years have passed the family circle was increased by the addition of four children, two sons and two daughters, namely : Philip H., who married Cath- arina Holman and resides in Kankakee, principal of the high school at Rolling Prairie and also engaged in farming; Thomas H., who is attend- ing school in Lafayette, Indiana; Hattie Bell and Emma Leah, both at home.

Mrs. Teeter died August 5, 1903. She was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Rolling Prairie, and was stewardess in the same. At the time of her death she was superintending the putting down of the carpet at the church and was stricken with apoplexy and died in six hours after. She was a member of the Eastern Star and prominent in the work, holding an office in the order.

Mr. Teeter carries on agricultural pursuits in a very successful manner, and is to-day the owner of seven hundred acres of valuable land, on which is a fine brick residence. He has made excellent

improvements upon the home place, and has spent his entire life in this county, so that his fellow citizens are familiar with his history and know that his business affairs have been con- ducted along legitimate lines and have been char- acterized by the strictest integrity. He votes with the Democracy, and for two terms served as township trustee. He has also filled the office of justice of the peace, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity at Rolling Prairie and also of the Methodist Episcopal church. He takes an active part in church work, is interested in its growth, and has been a co-operant factor in many measures for the material upbuilding and the social, intellectual and moral progress of his community.

CHARLES PORTER, one of the well known citizens of Michigan City and for many years connected with the Haskell & Barker Car Works, is descended from old and prominent pioneer families of this section of the state. His maternal grandfather, Sylvester B. Wells, was born in Clinton county, New York, and there learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner. In the early pioneer days he took up his abode on a farm in LaPorte county, Indiana, near the city of La- Porte, and afterward made his home in both Michigan City and LaPorte, passing away in death when about sixty years of age. He was married to Louisa Morgan, and they became the parents of five children, two sons and three daughters.

The grandfather of Charles Porter was Henry Lee Porter, a native of Vermont, and of the seventh generation of the Porter family, which was founded in this country by John Porter, a resident of Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1635, born in England (probably Dorset) in 1596.

Abel Duncan Porter, the father of Charles Porter, was born in Dummerston, Vermont, but as early as 1834 he came west and for a time thereafter was employed as a clerk in Michigan City. Later he removed to Chicago, Illinois, but in 1836 returned to this city and embarked in the dry-goods business, in which he continued for a number of years. In 1856 he was elected to the position of county treasurer, remaining in that important office for two terms, and soon after his retirement therefrom enlisted for service in the Civil war, becoming chief clerk under Benja- min P. Walker, of LaPorte, in the quartermaster's department. After the close of the struggle Mr. Porter became a bookkeeper, remaining in that capacity until his life's labors were ended in

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death, passing to the home beyond on the 15th of October, 1886, in his seventy-first year. For his wife he chose Electa Wells, a native of Alburg, Vermont, and they became the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters, and of this number five are now living, namely : Henry Wells Porter ; William Frederick ; Carrie, the wife of George D. Griffin, of Chicago; Charles ; and Mary Porter Farrand, a resident of LaPorte. The mother of this family survived until December 17, 1897, when she, too, was laid to rest. This worthy couple were prominently identified with the Presbyterian church, in which she was a charter member. In his fraternal rela- tion Mr. Abel Porter was a member of the Ma- sonic Order, and politically he gave his support to the Republican party.

Charles Porter is a native son of Michigan City, his birth having occurred on the 12th of September, 1854. When three years of age he was taken by his parents to LaPorte, there re- maining until the winter of 1870-1, when he went to Chicago, Illinois, and entered the employ of a wholesale dry-goods house, that city continuing to be his home until after the great fire. Return- ing thence to LaPorte, he here spent the following winter, when he again made his way to Chicago and entered the employ of his former firm, re- maining with that house and a leather house until 1879. In that year he again returned to the city of his birth, where he has since been connected with the Haskell & Barker Car Works.

On the 13th of June, 1877, Mr. Porter was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Chamberlain. On the maternal side she is a granddaughter of Isaac and Armena (DeLong) Aldrich, the former a native of New York and long a resident of Chazy, that state, while the latter was of French descent. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Porter was also a resident of Chazy, and his death occurred there when well advanced in years. William Henry Chamberlain, the father of Mrs. Porter, was a dry-goods merchant in West Chazy, New York, and moved from there to Bristol, New Hampshire, about 1866, where he conducted a carriage factory. His death oc- curred there in 1893, when sixty-three years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Jane Aldrich, passed away in death in 1864, when but thirty-two years old. Both she and her hus- band were natives of the state of New York, and both were members of the Methodist church. Three children were born of their marriage: Jen- nie Louise, the wife of Mr. Porter: Nettie, the wife of Napoleon Plouff, of Orange, Massachu-

setts ; and Carrie, the wife of Dr. Morey L. Reed, of Chicago.

Mrs. Porter was born in Chazy, New York, January 25, 1854. When ten years old her mother died, and she then went to live with her aunt, Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell, with whom she made her home in Michigan City and Chicago until she gave her hand in marriage to Charles Porter. Three children have blessed their union : Louise Haskell, Julia and Jessie. Both Mr. and Mrs. Porter are members of the Congregational church, and he is a member of Acme Lodge No. 83, F. & A. M., and of the Royal Arcanum, while his political affiliations are with the Republican party. The family reside in a beautiful home at 913 Washington street, where they dispense a gracious hospitality to their many friends and acquaintances.

HON. LEMUEL DARROW. If "biography is the home aspect of history," as Wilmott has ex- pressed it, it is certainly within the provinces of this volume to present the life record of Hon. Lemuel Darrow. In fact, in an enumeration of the men of the present generation who have won honor for themselves and whose lives have been of the greatest benefit to the state, it would be incomplete were there failure to make prominent reference to him. He is a lawyer of distinguished ability, a capitalist whose means have been largely used for the benefit of others, and as mayor of the city he has done more for LaPorte than any other single official. He belongs to the class of representative American citizens who, while promoting their individual prosperity, have added greatly to the substantial upbuilding, de- velopment and welfare of the community with which they are connected. Public-spirited in an eminent degree, his labors have been of the greatest benefit to LaPorte, and his name figures conspicuously in connection with the Democratic party in the state. At the same time he has car- ried on his private business interests with such energy that he has attained a place among the most successful men of his native county, and he has pushed forward the wheels of progress to the benefit of the general public.

Lemuel Darrow was born upon a farm in Kankakee township, LaPorte county, on the 6th of February, 1867. His ancestry can be traced back through many generations. The Darrow family is of English origin, and Richard Darrow, a son of Sergeant George Darrow of the English army, came to America in 1675, locating in New London, Connecticut. Soon afterward. the fam-

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ily settled on what became known as Darrow Is- land in the Connecticut river. Hill Darrow, the .great-grandson of Richard Darrow, and the grandfather of Lemuel Darrow, resided in Bris- tol, Connecticut, in early life and removed thence to Kankakee, Illinois. He was a carpenter by trade, and after living in Illinois for some time came to LaPorte county, Indiana, casting in his lot among its early settlers.

Pliny Darrow, the father of Mr. Darrow, was born in LaPorte county and became a railroad locomotive engineer. It was while discharging his duties in that position that he was killed by accident on the railroad in Illinois in the year 1866. He had wedded Miss Susan Rynearson, in 1863. She was born in Pennsylvania of Hol- land Dutch parentage, her people having come from the Rhine district of Europe. After her husband's death she continued to live upon the home farm in Kankakee township and still resides there.

Hon. Lemuel Darrow obtained his preliminary education in the district schools, and afterward was graduated from the Rolling Prairie high school. He next became a student in the North- ern Indiana Normal College at Valparaiso, where he was graduated in 1888, completing a classical- scientific course. He then pursued a special course in civil engineering under Professor Bogarte of the same institution, following which he took up the study of law in that college. On leaving school he went upon the road as a trav- eling salesman, and soon afterward turned his attention to farming east of LaPorte. After about a year, however, he decided to remove to the city and complete his legal studies, entering the law office of the Hon. Mortimer Nye, now deceased, who was then lieutenant governor of Indiana.

In April, 1894, Mr. Darrow was admitted to the bar, and at once began practice in his pro- fession. He has since met with increasing suc- cess each year, and to-day is regarded as one of the most successful and capable attorneys of La- Porte. He has enjoyed a very large law practice, and his knowledge of the science of jurisprudence is comprehensive and exact. He was the first attorney to be admitted to the bar in the new courthouse, in April, 1894. In June of that year he was appointed county attorney and served for six months.

As a capitalist and promoter of large enter- prises Mr. Darrow has also become very promi- nent. He is a man of resourceful business ability, of keen insight and of ready comprehension and

understanding of the situations and their possi- bilities. He looks beyond the present to the future, and works not alone for his own day and generation but for coming years. His labors have been of the greatest possible benefit in the develop- ment of LaPorte and of this section of the state. As a boy upon the home farm and later when he was pursuing his engineering studies he had constantly in mind the working out of some plan whereby the marsh and swamp lands lying along the Kankakee river in LaPorte, Starke, Porter, Newton and Lake counties, adjoining that stream, could be reclaimed and made available for farm- ing purposes. In 1894 he personally made some preliminary surveys of the land in question, and incidentally began the discussion of his proposed project with capitalists in order to get them in- terested in the scheme. He met with a great deal of opposition among the citizens of his own home town and county, many of whom thought the scheme was absolutely impracticable and that its consummation would be a great waste of money. Mr. Darrow was undaunted, however, and finally awakened the interest of capitalists outside of the county to the extent of organizing a syndicate for the purchase of these low-lands and for putting in machinery for dredging and straightening the course of the river, constructing lateral ditches for drainage and doing other work in connection with the reclamation of the district. These ef- forts were carried on for several years until now they have been crowned with the highest success after an expenditure of several millions of dollars for the building of drainage ditches and other improvements. Thousands of acres of land which formerly produced only aquatic plants known as cat-tails, now yield enormous crops of corn of the best quality. A great many experienced corn- growers from Illinois, who have purchased these lands and taken up their abode thereon are now finding that their labors are crowned with pros- perity in the production of excellent corn crops. The soil is a very deep, rich alluvial, from cen- turies of silt and deposit, and is practically in- exhaustible, in fact, is the finest land to be found in the state. The syndicate which Mr. Darrow organized now controls fifty thousand acres of reclaimed land, and there are still thousands of acres along the river that will yet be brought under cultivation by these methods. This is a great enterprise and a highly commendable one, adding very largely to the wealth of the state, and Mr. Darrow certainly deserves the gratitude of Indiana for what he has accomplished in this particular.

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Another work which Mr. Darrow has done would entitle him to distinction if he had per- formed no other task throughout his entire career, and that is the building of the electric railway between LaPorte and Michigan City. Conceiving the idea and its value to the people, he did not accomplish his self-imposed task with- out much hard labor. He made several trips to financial centers before he could interest capital- ists in his proposition to build the interurban road, but, notwithstanding much opposition and discouragements, he finally triumphed in his un- dertaking, and in April, 1902, he removed the first brick from the street paving in LaPorte, which marked the beginning of the track laying, and the road was completed in February, 1903. It has proved successful beyond all expectations, and it is almost impossible to secure equipments sufficient to handle the greatly increasing traffic. The road is known as the Chicago & South Shore Electric Railway Company, and its officers are Warren Burns, of Chicago, president, Lemuel Darrow, vice president, and J. J. Burns, of La- Porte, manager. Mr. Darrow also promoted a deal whereby the Planet Manufacturing Com- pany, a large industry, was located in LaPorte, thus adding greatly to the population of the city and to the commercial activity.

It was but the logical result of the recogni- tion of his business enterprise and devotion to the public good that Mr. Darrow was called to the office of mayor of LaPorte, being elected in May, 1898, for a term of two years. In May, 1900, he was again chosen, and in May, 1902, was once more elected, so that at the end of his pres- ent term he will have been the chief executive of the city for six consecutive years. He is a remarkably enterprising and public-spirited of- ficial, and his has been a nature that has intro- duced improvements which, although meeting antagonism in the beginning and considered the cause of extravagant expenditure at first, are now recognized as being of the greatest value to the city. When he became the mayor there were one hundred and fifty empty houses in La- Porte, and now it is almost impossible to rent a residence here. Also at that time there were about one thousand feet of concrete sidewalk in the city, and now there are nearly fifty miles. Several miles of the finest brick, macadam and asphalt street paving have also been constructed under his administration, and he puts forth every effort in his power both officially and as a pri- vate citizen to promote the welfare, substantial improvement and moral advancement of LaPorte.

He is indeed a popular man, and the question of re-election is simply one of his own choice. He has also been mentioned as a candidate for cir- cuit judge on the Democratic ticket.

In 1889 Mr. Darrow was united in marriage at Lockport, New York, to Miss Mattie Cleg- horn, who is a native daughter of LaPorte, her father having been one of the early settlers of this county. He was an Indian trader, and in the fur business was associated with Colonel Ewing. He also acted as Indian agent, and was appointed by the government to superintend the removal of the Pottawottomie Indians from Indiana to Missouri and Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Darrow has been born a daughter, Dorothy D. The Dar- row home is celebrated for its gracious hospital- ity, and both Mr. and Mrs. Darrow occupy a very enviable position in public regard, their circle of friends being an extensive one. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 98

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