USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A standard history of Elkhart County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume I > Part 14
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THE COUNTY CLERK AND THE THOMAS FAMILY
As the legislative act erecting the county also authorized the holding of court at any other convenient place than Mr. Sage's house, it was decided to hold the second session of court, which was to convene in April, 1831, at the residence of Thomas Thomas, the county clerk, about three miles east of Elkhart on Two Mile Plain.
Mr. Thomas, who was a native of Delaware and of an old Virginia family, had located on Two Mile Plain in 1828. Less than two years before, he had brought his family from Richmond, Indi- ana, to Carey Mission, Michigan, where he had received the glad tidings of a promised home in the valley of the St. Joseph in the State of Indiana. When he entered his land and built his log cabin his only neighbors were the French trader, Rosseau, and the German "squatter" Noffsinger; and they were several miles away.
Among the members of the family at that time was William A. Thomas, then twelve years of age, who not only assisted his father during a portion of the latter's fourteen years of service as county clerk (1830-44), but was associated with him in his mercantile enterprises. These included stores both at Goshen and Leesburg. The late Dr. William H. Thomas, the widely known physician of Elkhart, was born in Goshen in 1841, and Lewis D. Thomas, another son, served as county recorder in the early 'zos. In fact, there is probably no family in the county, the members of which have been
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prominent in such varied fields for so long a period as that under consideration.
BEFORE JUSTICE HAD A HOME
In April, 1831, when the second session of the Circuit Court- the Spring term-convened at Mr. Thomas' house, Judge Charles H. Test, presiding judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, assumed the reins of justice, and the associate judges retired to the background. One of his first acts was to admit to practice in his court three members of the Michigan Bar. A few months later the county bar was increased by the admission of John Sevey, Elisha Egbert, D. H. Colerick, M. Ray, William J. Brown and J. S. Newman.
The third term of the court was held in October, 1831, at the residence of Thomas Frier, on what was then called Elkhart Plain, but is now known as Elkhart Prairie. The place referred to is what has been known for many years as the McConaughy farm. The late Dr. E. W. H. Ellis, in an address delivered at the Elkhart County Fair in 1852, referred to this session of the court and stated that it was really the first session at which the full bench was represented, the Hon. Charles H. Test, the presiding judge, meeting with the court then for the first time. At the two sessions held after this, at the places above mentioned, only the two associate judges, Peter Diddy and William Latta, were present. The residence of Mr. Frier was then a log cabin and the court held its session under the stately trees which stood in front of it. It might also be added here that James Frier was the first treasurer of Elkhart County and was then serving in that capacity.
The fourth term, counting the two terms which were held by the two associate judges, as already mentioned, was held in April, 1832, and the sixth in May, 1833, both being held at the residence of Henry Dusenberry, which was located in Goshen at the northeast corner of Main and Washington streets, where the Dewey Block now stands. There is nothing in the court records to show where the fifth term was held, which was in October, 1832. The seventh term was held in the court house, which is the first mention of that building in the Circuit Court records.
The residences of Chester Sage, Thomas Thomas, George McCollum and Abner Stilson were also the meeting places of the Probate Court from 1830 to 1833, the year when the court house
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was completed, from which time that court also began to hold its sessions therein.
COUNTY COURTS AND JUDGES IN THE '40S
Mr. Henkel, in a paper entitled "Goshen Sixty Years Ago," has drawn a sketch of the courts, lawyers and county officials, in the early '40s, following the period during which Judges Test and Gus- tavus A. Everts had served as president judges of the circuit. The court house, which had been completed several years, stood in the middle of the public square, still unfenced. Extract from Mr. Henkel's paper : "The first courts were held semi-annually, spring and fall, and were limited to two weeks each term. Samuel Sample of South Bend was the presiding officer, with two associates, Joseph Beane and William Latta. The legal fraternity of that day con- sisted of Eben Chamberlain, Thomas G. Harris and Michael C. Daugherty, while Jonathan Liston and Joseph L. Jernegan of South Bend were among the regular attendants of the court. A separate court for the transaction of probate business was held at regular intervals and presided over by Samuel P. Beebe of Elkhart. Dr. E. W. H. Ellis was anditor and held his office in a small wooden building just north of the public square. Elbridge Chamberlain filled the office of recorder and kept his records in a small building on the west end of a lot owned by James H. Barnes. Thomas Thomas was clerk of the court, and his son William A. performed the duty of deputy and held the office in the upper part of the court house. Ellis Carpenter was county treasurer and performed the duty of collecting taxes at his residence, as there was no other place provided to perform that duty."
Judge Beebe, mentioned by Mr. Henkel, was the character of Elkhart during the early days. He had been originally a merchant, but was then settled to the occupation of farmer, and had been elected to the office of probate judge. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, of great good sense and correct habits, and of honorable principles ; but withal a free thinker in religion, and a practical joker. He had a nickname for everybody, but a warm hand for his friends. He discharged the duties of his office with eminent ability and impartiality, but more men feared than loved him.
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JUDGE EBENEZER M. CHAMBERLAIN
Ebenezer M. Chamberlain, who succeeded Samuel C. Sample as presiding judge of the circuit, was one of the ablest and most honored members of the profession who ever practiced in Elkhart County. He was born in Penobscot County, Maine, and worked on a farm and in a shipyard until after he had passed his majority. After studying law and teaching for several years in Bangor, that state, he decided to migrate to the West where the laws did not require seven years of preliminary study before a young man could be admitted to the bar. In 1832 he arrived in Fayette County, taught again to replenish his funds, entered the law office of Samuel WV. Parke, of Connersville, and in August, 1833, was admitted to the bar. Then in his twenty-eighth year, a few months later he moved to Elkhart County for practice.
Mr. Chamberlain's rise to public and judicial preferment was steady and continuous. In 1835 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature as the representative of a district which covered nearly one-fifth of the entire state. In 1839 he was elected to the State Senate, for a three-year term, and took rank as one of the leaders of the democratic party. His famous address on the anni- versary of the battle of New Orleans, delivered before the Demo- cratic State Convention in 1841, exemplified before the people his strength and eloquence, and thereafter his political preferment was rapid and continuous. In 1842 he was elected by the Legislature prosecuting attorney of the Ninth Judicial District, and a year later presiding judge of the same district. At the expiration of his term in 1851 he was re-elected without opposition. So clear was the justice he gave out impartially to all that, when adverse criti- cism appeared in the whig press, the entire bar in attendance at court united in a letter to Judge Chamberlain testifying to the "creditable, dignified, courteous and satisfactory" manner in which he discharged the duties of his high office. The associate judges, both whigs, added their written encomiums of praise to the same effect. During the nine years he remained on the bench Judge Chamberlain retained the respect and esteem of the bar and people. The high regard of his party is illustrated by the frequent honors bestowed on him. In 1844 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In 1848 he was one of the senatorial candi- dates for presidential elector and aided in giving the vote of the
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THE LATE HON. WILLIAM A. WOODS, A LEADER OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF ELKHART COUNTY ; FORMERLY UNITED STATES JUDGE OF THE SEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT.
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state to General Cass. In 1841 he resigned the judgeship to accept the nomination for Congress, which his party had made in the reorganized Tenth District.
Following Judge Chamberlain on the circuit bench were Judges Robert Lowry, E. A. McMahon, James L. Worden, Reuben J. Daw- son, Moses Kenkinson, Edward R. Wilson, Hiram S. Tousley, James D. Osborne, William A. Woods, James D. Osborne (another term), John M. Vanfleet, Henry D. Wilson, Joseph Ferrell, Francis D. Merritt, James S. Dodge and James S. Drake.
JUDGE HENRY D. WILSON
Judge Wilson, who served his full term of six years from 1894 to 1900, inclusive, was at the time of his death in 1905 the oldest of the active practitioners. His father, Thomas H. Wilson, was a successful and intelligent Ohio farmer, who moved into Noble County, Indiana, when the son was seven years old, and in the Hoosier State became an associate judge and was twice elected to the Legislature. Henry D. received a thorough collegiate educa- tion in several of the Indiana institutions, finally graduating from the Wabash College, in 1854. For several years following he held important positions in several institutions of higher learning in both Indiana and Iowa, but in 1860, having previously read law, he returned to Indiana and entered into a professional partnership with Hon. A. Y. Hooper, of Columbia City. There he continued to practice, in association with Mr. Hooper and alone, until 1864.
In November of the year named, Mr. Wilson located at Goshen, where he was a leader at the bar and on the bench until his death. The last of his long practice as a lawyer was as senior member of the firm of Wilson, Davis (Hon. W. J. Davis) & Wilson ( Harry C. Wilson, his son). In 1868 Mr. Wilson was elected the first mayor of the City of Goshen. In 1890 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. He was elected to the Circuit bench of Elkhart and Lagrange counties in the fall of 1894 and served with unusual credit for the six years' term, or until January 1, 1901. His law partnership was dissolved when he ascended the bench, and when he retired in 1901 he formed a professional connection with his son, Harry C. Wilson, who was then serving the last of his four years' term as probate commissioner. In April, 1855, Mr. Wilson married Miss Annjeannette Trumbull, at Fort Wayne, Indiana, the day fol-
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lowing her graduation from college. They have had six children, but Harry C. is the only one who has matured into a member of the legal profession.
JUDGES JOHN H. AND FRANCIS E. BAKER
It is seldom in the history of American jurisprudence that father and son have reached such eminence as John H. Baker, for a decade United States district judge of Indiana, and Francis E. Baker, one of the judges of the Seventh Circuit of the United States, which includes Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Since his appointment to the Federal bench in January, 1902, the younger man makes Chicago and Indianapolis his official residences, but Goshen is still his home. He succeeded his father to the position, the venerable John H. Baker having been appointed to the Federal bench by President Benjamin Harrison, of whom he was a stanch supporter both before and after the presidency.
Judge Baker, the elder, was a resident of Goshen for thirty-five years before he assumed judicial duties, and during that long period was in active and prominent practice, with the exception of his three congressional terms in the 'Sos. He died in his eighty-fifth year, in honored retirement at his old and pleasant home in Goshen. The judge is a New Yorker by birth, but was brought West to Fulton County, Ohio, while he was an infant; was hardened and educated on a farm, as well as at the Ohio Wesleyan University and else- where. In 1857 he was admitted to the practice before the Supreme Court of Michigan, and in the same year located at Goshen for practice.
Judge Baker rapidly advanced to a substantial standing and good practice. He was a strong republican when the party was young and in 1862 was elected to the State Senate, but his democratic opponents ousted him from his seat on the ground that he held the commission of a notary public, was the "incumbent of a lucrative office" already, and therefore could not sit as a state senator. In 1872 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress from the Thirteenth Dis- trict, but was elected for the three terms commencing 1874, 1876 and 1878. His record as a congressman was unimpeachable. At the close of his third term, when he was the ranking republican member on the important Appropriations Committee, he declined a renomi- nation and resumed practice at Goshen.
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When James A. Garfield became president he urged upon Mr. Baker the position of second assistant postmaster general, an office for which the latter was peculiarly well fitted, because of his experi- ence in Congress as an investigator of the Star Route contracts. But in that instance, as in subsequent offers of responsible public positions, he refused to resign his practice except for some office in line with his profession. In 1892 his opportunity came with the promotion of Judge Wood from the United States District Court to the Federal Circuit bench. President Harrison appointed Mr. Baker to the vacancy. He ascended the bench in March, 1892, and served with dignity and distinction until 1902, when he retired under the age privilege of the law, in his seventieth year. In his early manhood Judge Baker married Miss Harriet E. Defrees, of the well known family-so prominent in public, legal and journal- istic matters-and Francis E. is their only son.
Judge Francis E. Baker was born in Goshen in 1860. He gradu- ated from the University of Michigan in 1882, read law in the office of Baker & Mitchell, was admitted to the bar, and when his father's partner became judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana, the firm of Baker & Baker was formed. That was in 1885. Seven years later, when the father was appointed judge of the Federal District Court, Charles W. Miller, afterward attorney general of the state, and United States District Attorney for Indiana, associated himself with Francis E. Baker, as Baker & Miller. After Mr. Baker's judi- cial elevation the firm developed into Miller, Drake & Hubbell. In 1898 Judge Baker was elected to the Supreme Court of Indiana, tak- ing his seat in January of the following year. In December, 1901, he was appointed, and in the January following assumed his duties as a judge of the United States Court of the Seventh Circuit, of which there are four members. Judge Baker married a daughter of John W. Irwin, the pioneer lawyer, banker and public man.
JUDGE JOSEPH D. FERRALL
The late Judge Joseph D. Ferrall, who succeeded Judge Henry D. Wilson to the bench of the Thirty-fourth Circuit, had been in active practice at Lagrange for over thirty-five years. He was also a native of Ohio, and was a farmer's boy and a school teacher before he commenced the study of his profession with Judge Lyman Potter, of Lisbon, Ohio. After the Civil war, in which he served, he settled
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at Lagrange. In 1866 he was elected prosecuting attorney, served two terms in that capacity and declined a third term. His pro- nounced judicial temperament earned recognition quite early in his caréer, and he acted many times as special judge in the counties of Lagrange, Elkhart, Noble, DeKalb and Allen, before he was finally elevated to a regular position on the bench. In August, 1900, he received the republican nomination for the circuit judgeship and was elected in November by a large majority. As was expected, he gave unqualified satisfaction and his death in 1902, while on the bench, was deeply and widely regretted.
JUDGE JAMES S. DODGE
James S. Dodge, who succeeded Francis D. Merritt, as judge of the Thirty-fourth Circuit of Indiana, spent most of his life in Elk- hart County. Although born in Morrow County, Ohio, in 1846, at the age of three years his parents brought him to this county. He became an orphan by the death of his mother when he was four years old, and the death of his father in 1856. In 1863 he left his mother's people in Ohio, with whom he had been living, and joined the Third Ohio Cavalry, being a part of its fortunes and hardships for three years. He was wounded several times and participated in the raid and liberation of Union prisoners at Ander- sonville, as well as in the pursuit and capture of Jefferson Davis. When he located in Elkhart in September, 1865, he was still under legal age.
Mr. Dodge taught school for a time and in 1866 began the study of medicine under Dr. R. J. Haggerty, of Elkhart. In 1869 he graduated from the medical department of the University of Michi- gan and was a successful practitioner until 1884; so that he has the best kind of a title to the degree of M. D. But Doctor Dodge was so ambitious in another large field that he was admitted to the bar in the year named and at once took high standing as a prac- titioner of the law. He received the republican nomination for . Congress and was proposed as a gubernatorial candidate, but earned no positive public advancement until his party elected him judge of the Thirty-fourth Judicial Circuit in November, 1904.
Judge Dodge has a son in practice, James S. Dodge, Jr. The elder man has been commander of the Indiana Grand Army of the Republic, and is both popular and able.
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JUDGE JAMES S. DRAKE
James S. Drake, the present incumbent of the bench of the Cir- cuit Court, commenced his term of service in 1911 ; it will expire in November, 1917. He is one of the ablest lawyers and judges, and best known public men in the county. Judge Drake comes of a stanch and patriotic family. His father was a '49er in California, who, during the Civil war, was captain of a company in the famous Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, which had as commander Rosecrans, as lieutenant-colonel, Stanley Matthews, the noted jurist, as major, Rutherford B. Hayes, and as private, William McKinley. After being severely wounded at Antietam, Captain Drake was made pro- vost marshal of the Fourteenth Ohio District. After the war he moved to Lagrange, Indiana, where he died in 1886. Two of his sons were also in the war; and James S. undoubtedly would have been, had his age warranted military service.
Judge Drake was born in Holmes County, Ohio, in 1852, and was fourteen years of age when the family moved to Lagrange. He re- ceived his higher education at Hillsdale College and the University of Michigan, graduating from the law department of the latter in 1874, and at once commencing practice with Joseph D. Ferrall, who served on the Circuit bench from 1901 until his death in 1902. Mr. Drake was elected prosecuting attorney for Lagrange and Elkhart counties in 1878, and by reelection held that office for four years. He also served four years in the State Senate, from 1884; was also prominent at Lagrange in educational matters. In November, 1898, he came to Goshen and began practice with C. W. Miller, the firm later becoming Miller, Drake & Hubbell. Judge Drake is one of the stanchest of the old-time republicans, his prominence dating from as early a year as 1888, when he was a delegate to the Chicago con- vention which nominated Benjamin Harrison to the presidency.
CHARLES W. MILLER
Charles W. Miller, who has served two terms as attorney-general of the State of Indiana, and since 1909 as United States district attorney, is one of the ablest members of the younger generation, as he is still in his fifty-fourth year. He is a native of Indiana, coming of an old Hoosier family, as his grandfather, Jacob Miller,
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migrated from Pennsylvania to Floyd County, the region of his nativity, in 1807.
After having laid a solid basis for his law studies in private schools and at the Ladoga Normal, Indiana, Mr. Miller entered the law department of the University of Michigan, from which he grad- uated in 1884. Immediately assuming active practice he formed a partnership with John H. Binford, at Greenfield, Indiana, and this continued until he came to Goshen, in January, 1885. In 1892 he formed a law partnership with Francis E. Baker, and the firm of Baker & Miller continued until the senior partner was elevated to the Supreme bench of Indiana, on January 1, 1899. At that date J. S. Drake became Mr. Miller's partner, and later, S. C. Hub- bell was admitted, the firm thenceforth being Miller, Drake & Hub- bell. As a member of these successive law firms Mr. Miller was interested in almost every lawsuit of importance in Elkhart County, and also had an extensive practice in other counties of Northern Indiana.
Politically an ardent republican, and a quiet, though effective worker for his party, Mr. Miller has given of his time and energies to political affairs for many years. He has served as chairman of the Elkhart County Central Committee, and for many years was a member of the executive committee. In 1888 he was elected mayor of Goshen, having the distinction of being the youngest mayor in the State of Indiana at the time, and he served two years with credit. He has been a delegate to all the republican state conventions since 1882, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated Harrison, in 1892. His ability as a lawyer and prominence in state republican circles brought him forward, in 1902, as the logical candidate for attorney-general. His service in that capacity covered 1902-06 (two terms), and, as stated, since 1909 he has filled the office of United States district attorney.
Since April, 1909, Mr. Miller has resided in Indianapolis as United States district attorney for Indiana, and in that capacity has necessarily had charge of many important cases. Besides gaining such broad professional prominence, he has always been a local leader in various financial and industrial enterprises. In 1900-05 he was president of the State Bank of Goshen ; since 1900 has been on the directorate of the Elkhart County Trust Company, and is identified with the management of the Home Telephone Company and of large lumber interests.
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AARON S. ZOOK
Aaron S. Zook, of Goshen, has been prominent in several fields of endeavor and accomplishment which have tended to advance the city and the county. As an educator, as a lawyer, as a Mason and as an earnest, honorable and able citizen, his influence has been widely and usefully extended. He was born near Bristol, Washing- ton Township, this county, in 1847, and during his earlier years as a teacher got over the line into Michigan. In 1868-9 he attended Hillsdale College and then secured the school at Millersburg. Dur- ing 1870-71 Mr. Zook was superintendent of the Mishawaka public schools. In 1873 he was elected the first county superintendent of schools, but resigned after one year to go to Chicago, where he was instructor in penmanship and mathematics at Bryant and Stratton Business College. At the same time he took the law course in Union College of Law. His teachers were such men as senators Doolittle and Trumbull. This occupied the years 1871-74. In 1875 he came to Goshen, entered the law office of Judge H. D. Wilson and was admitted to the bar in 1876. Associated with him in prac- tice during the period from 1876, at different times, were his brother, Daniel Zook, I. A. Simmons, L. W. Vail, Judge James D. Osborne and William Charnley. For six years, from 1885 to 1891, he was a member of the board of education and from 1892 to 1899 served as city attorney. Subsequently Mr. Zook has appeared as a lecturer in many parts of the country. He has been identified with Masonry for many years and has filled many of the offices in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Council. He served many terms as worshipful master in the lodge and high priest of the chapter. He is one of the board of deacons of the Presbyterian Church. On October 3. 1876, he was married to Miss Ida C. Mckibben. They have one daughter, Mary, a very accomplished young lady.
WILLIAM J. DAVIS
William J. Davis, one of the older members of the Goshen Bar, is a native of Fairfield County, Ohio, and in 1871 was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of that state. He commenced his professional career at Bluffton, Wells County, Indiana, but in 1878 located at Goshen. He was an active republican ; was elected to the State Senate by his party in 1884, and served as chairman
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