USA > Indiana > Newton County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 38
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 38
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
While John B. Lyons has gained his prosperity chiefly by farm- ing, stock feeding, and the buying and shipping of stock on an extensive scale, he has also acquired other important interests. He is one of the directors and is treasurer of the Brook Terra Cotta Tile & Brick Company. On October 1, 1892, associated with John Esson and George Turner, he established the private bank now the Bank of Brook. Since that date he has had the practical manage- ment of the affairs of this prosperous institution, and now owns most of the stock. The Bank of Brook has a paid up capital of $54,000 with $10,000 surplus fund, and the integrity of the institu- tion and its stockholders have always been above question. The officers are: John F. Lawrence, president ; John B. Lyons, cashier; John B. Lyons, Jr., and Fred Spangler, assistant cashiers.
While an active republican Mr. Lyons has performed his best service to the community as a leading business man and banker. For six years during the decade of the 'Sos he served as county com- missioner, has been township trustee, and in 1892-93 was a member of the State Legislature. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Brook.
ISAAC VANOSDOL ALTER. One of the very earliest families to settle in Carpenter Township, Jasper County, Indiana, was one bearing the name of Alter, a name that for over sixty years has been representative of good citizenship. Additionally it has been one that is linked with much of the development of this section, possess- ing energy and enterprise, foresight and ambition.
The Alters are supposed to have originated as a family, in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. From there, in 1752, they started for the American colonies, setting sail from Rotterdam, Holland, and in the following year are registered as residents of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania. The name appears in the list of Revolutionary patriots and its bearer was a direct ancestor of Isaac Vanosdol Alter, of Jas- per County, Indiana, to which section the Alters came in 1848, although as early as 1836 they came to the state from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, sojourning in the meanwhile in Henry and Hancock counties.
Isaac Vanosdol Alter, with two brothers, David and John Alter, came from Henry County, Indiana, and settled in Carpenter Town- ship when Jasper County was practically a wilderness. Isaac V. was a farmer and in following out his agricultural operations,
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ploughed up the virgin soil, with an ox-team, the present sites of Kentland and Goodland. Like many of the early pioneers he was fond of hunting and gained a local reputation as a trapper, there being at that time an abundance of game in this section. He also had note as a bee hunter, one of those, who, in a forest, through instinct and keen eyesight, could locate the stores of honey that were so welcome additions to the plain fare of the frontiersmen.
After his marriage to Eliza Willet, Mr. Alter moved to Wis- consin, where he lived for five years, at the end of which time he returned to Indiana and took up his residence in the village of Rensselaer, for about one year afterward operating a grist and sawmill, by steam power, on Curtis Creek. In 1862 he came to Union Township and here acquired the valuable land on which his descendants now live. He was a man of unusual enterprise and business view and soon after coming to Union Township bought an interest in a sawmill; of which he eventually became sole owner, subsequently adding a gristmill and operating both mills by water power. As other settlers along the stream were incommoded by the damming of the waters, they naturally objected, and, as Mr. Alter was a man of peace, he installed steam machinery and con- tinued his milling industries. Although possessed of but limited education, Isaac Alter was a man of quick intelligence and had little real need for the instruction that would have been given him in textbooks. He carried on his private business profitably and served with efficiency as a township trustee and with honesty that was proverbial.
The father of Isaac V. Alter, Rev. John Alter, was a pioneer preacher and exhorter and as a circuit-rider traveled all over this section. Thus Isaac was reared in a religious atmosphere but during the earlier part of his life united with no church. During the last thirty years, however, he was a very active religious worker and was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. He died Sep- tember 18, 1904, leaving a large estate and at one time had owned 500 acres of land. As stated, he married Eliza Willet, who was of French extraction. She died May 1, 1883, the mother of six chil- dren : John E., George W., Amos H., David S., Isaac F. and Eliza. Isaac resides in Clinton County, Indiana, and Eliza died in childhood. George W., after marriage, moved to Kansas and died in that state, but the other brothers live on adjoining farms in Union Township.
JOHN E. ALTER. Although the Alter family has largely been an agricultural one, some of its members have also achieved much in the trades and professions, diversity of gifts belonging to the entire kindred. John E. Alter, one of the best known members of this family in this section of the state, was born in Jasper County, Indi- ana, February 14, 1853, and is a son of Isaac V. and Eliza (Willet) Alter, both deceased.
After completing his district school training, John E. Alter kept
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his mind active by turning his attention, to some extent, to the study of the principles of civil engineering, in the meanwhile spending his winters in teaching school, 100 winter months being usefully passed in this way. That his engineering studies were of practical value was proved when he was called on to serve as county surveyor, for a long time being deputy surveyor prior to this, and serving three terms in the office, during his last term, when the gravel road ques- tion came up, through his scientific knowledge being able to be instrumental in getting this public improvement well started. At present he is one of the board of engineers employed by the trustees of Union, Newton, Barkley and Marion townships to plan for the improvement of the ditches in the section covered. Although engaged as above stated, Mr. Alter has never neglected his farm industries and owns 200 acres in Union Township on which he lives and additionally, forty acres lying north of Virgie, Indiana.
John E. Alter was united in marriage with Miss Hattie McColly, who is a daughter of Clark McColly, and they have four children : John Cecil, a brilliant young man, is now in the weather bureau service of the Government and chief of the Cheyenne agency ; Iva L. is the wife of Joseph Pullin; Leslie manages his father's estate and also his own estate of 100 acres. He married Miss Lottie Willet and their two children are Cecil E. and Gerald. Fern is the wife of Arthur McAuly, who is an electrical engineer at Chicago Heights. The grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. John E. Alter are as follows: John Winston, Edward Irving and Marion I., the children of John Cecil Alter, and Max and Donald, children of Mr. and Mrs. Pullin. Mr. Alter and family belong to the Methodist Protestant Church. In politics he is a republican.
In addition to the many other interests which have made Mr. Alter well and favorably known to his fellow citizens, he belongs to that distinguished body known all over the land, the Indiana Literary Guild, which, if organized, might insist on his membership because of a very valuable contribution he has made to the authentic history of this section. Reference is made to his romantic story entitled "The Hoosier Hunting Ground, or the Beaver Lake Trail." Although told in very interesting story form, the base is of fact and authentic in every degree. Mr. Alter passes some of the most enjoyable hours of his life in the companionship of his books.
HENRY C. PIERSON. He whose name initiates this paragraph may consistently be designated a representative of one of the sterling and honored pioneer families of Jasper County, where his parents established their home when he was a lad of nine years. Within the period of his adult life he has passed a number of years in other Indiana counties, but he finally returned to Jasper County, where he is numbered among the representative citizens and substantial farmers of Union Township.
Mr. Pierson was born in Butler County, Ohio, on the 27th of
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December, 1847, and is one of the three surviving children of Caleb E. and Emily (Meader) Pierson, both likewise natives of the old Buckeye State, where the respective families were founded in the pioneer era of its history. The Pierson family has been identi- fied with the annals of American history since the colonial period, and Moses Pierson, grandfather of the subject of this review, was a native of New Jersey, whence he removed in an early day to Ohio, where he passed the residue of his life.
Caleb E. Pierson was reared to manhood in Ohio, where his educational advantages were those afforded in the pioneer schools, and where in his youth he learned the trade of carpenter, though he had been reared on the homestead farm of his father and thus gained an intimate and practical knowledge of the agricultural in- dustry. He was identified with farming operations and the work of his trade in Ohio until 1853, when he removed with his family to Indiana and settled at Greensburg, Decatur County. In 1856 he came from that place to Jasper County and purchased a farm of eighty acres in Marion Township, east of Rensselaer. On this pioneer homestead, which had been but slightly improved, he in- stalled his family in a little house of two rooms, and this original domicile continued to be the family home until he was able to make better provision by the erection of a more commodious farm dwell- ing. Here Mr. Pierson continued his active association with agri- cultural pursuits during the remainder of his earnest and worthy life. He supplemented the somewhat meager education of his youth by broad and well ordered reading and study in later years, and he not only kept well informed on the questions and issues of the day but became a man of well fortified convictions and mature judg- ment, so that he was recognized as a person of more than average intellectual ken. He was reared in the faith of the democratic party, but was never lacking in the courage of his honest convic- tions, and thus he identified himself with the republican party at the time of its organization and gave his support to its first presi- dential candidate, Gen. John C. Fremont. Thereafter he was un- faltering in his allegiance to the republican party during the remain- der of his long and useful life, and he was specially zealous in doing all in his power to uphold the Union and the policies of President Lincoln during the climacteric period of the Civil war. While he devoted the major part of his time and attention to agricultural pursuits after coming to Jasper County, he found also a demand for his services as a carpenter, and builder, in which connection it is specially interesting to note that he erected in Rensselaer an edifice for the Church of God, and that this building is still in excellent preservation and still used for religious worship. Caleb E. Pierson was a man whose entire life was guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor, and thus he ever commanded the unqualified confidence and good will of his fellowmen. He was never known to indulge in a single expression of blasphemy during
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his entire life and his influence was fruitful in incentive and lesson to those who came within its compass. In early life he held mem- bership in the Unitarian Church, but he finally united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which both he and his wife were zealous members for many years prior to their death. He passed away at the age of about seventy years, and his wife's demise occurred in 1858, the names of both meriting enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of Jasper County.
As previously stated, Henry C. Pierson was nine years old at the time when the family home was established in Jasper County, and here he was reared to adult age under the sturdy and invig- orating discipline of the home farm, the while he made good use of the advantages of the schools of the locality and period. His entire independent career has been marked by close and effective identification with the great fundamental industries of agriculture and stock-growing, and aside from his activities as a farmer in Jasper County he passed four years in White County, two years in Tippecanoe County, and one year in Benton County. There- after he was again in Jasper County for a time, and he then removed to a farm in Iroquois Township, Newton County, where he con- tinued his successful operations as an agriculturist for a period of fifteen years, at the expiration of which, in 1910, he returned to Jasper County and established his home on his present farm of fifty acres in Union Township. He is one of the careful, industrious and successful farmers of Jasper County, and as a loyal and public- spirited citizen of sterling character, he has the respect and con- fidence of the people of the county in which the days of his boyhood and youth were passed.
Mr. Pierson is found aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the republican party, though he has never manifested aught of ambition for political office, and both he and his wife hold member- ship in the United Brethren Church.
In 1870 Mr. Pierson wedded Miss Harriet Carson, and she was summoned to the life eternal on the 4th of February, 1889. Five children were born of this union: Jesse Bruce, Emily Grace (de- ceased), William Harvey, Lacey (deceased), and Marion. On the 28th of April, 1891, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pierson to Mrs. Anna L. (Wood) Knight, daughter of the late Moses Wood and widow of Albert Knight. No children have been born to this union.
WILLIAM H. ADE. Of the Ade family of Newton County it is hardly necessary to speak by way of introduction, though it is neces- sary to meet the expectation of everyone who uses this work for reference to include some of the biographical details in the careers of those representatives of the name who have been most conspicu- ously identified with the development of the country since pioneer times.
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First attention must be given to the veteran John Ade, who since Newton County was first formed as a distinct civil jurisdiction in Indiana has been prominent in its affairs and business activities. John Ade was born September 21, 1828, in Sussex County, England, the oldest in a family of six children born to John and Esther (Wood) Ade. In 1840 the family came to America, settling near Cincinnati, where Mr. John Ade, who was twelve years of age at the time of the immigration, had some further school advantages and then learned the blacksmith's trade, which was his regular occu- pation for several years. While living in Cincinnati he kept a toll gate near that city from 1849 to 1851.
, John Ade became identified with this section of Indiana more than sixty years ago. Coming from Iroquois County, Illinois, where he had spent only a few weeks of residence, he settled in Morocco, Indiana, in 1853, and was a resident of that town until 1860. That year Newton County was formed, and at the first election of officers he was chosen recorder and then took up his residence at Kentland, the new county seat. When his term as recorder expired in 1864 he was elected auditor, and held that office until 1868. Not long afterwards he became identified with the banking business, with which his name was most prominently associated for many years in Newton County. In the newly organized Discount and Deposit Bank of Kentland he accepted the position of cashier, and in 1875 acquired a partnership in the institution, but for many years con- tinued to hold the post of cashier. More than any other individual he was responsible for the growth and influence of the oldest bank- ing house of Kentland. He retired from active business affairs a number of years ago.
In politics he has been a republican since the organization of the party, has been officially identified with the Christian Church, and became one of the first members of Kentland Lodge of Masons. In 1851, two or three years before settling in Newton County, he mar- ried Miss Adaline Bush of Cheviot, Ohio. To their marriage were born seven children: Anna, who married John W. Randall on May 18, 1871; William; Alice, who became the wife of John G. Davis of Newton County ; Joseph ; Emma, who died in 1865 at the age of five years; George, whose name and reputation as an author and playwright have attained world wide fame; and Ella.
Of these children particular mention is made at this point of William H. Ade, who for years has been one of the strong and vigorous factors in the life of his community, and is well known by his attainments outside of Newton County. He was born in Mo- rocco, Indiana, August 3, 1859, and with the exception of two years, 1882-83, spent in Dakota, has always lived in Newton County. He was about six months of age when his parents removed to Kentland, after the establishment of Newton County, and he grew to manhood in that little country village of Northwest Indiana. He attended the public schools, but at the age of seventeen took up his regular
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career and vocation as a farmer. It is as a farmer that William H. Ade still prefers to be classed, though he has extensive interests in other lines of activity. For a number of years he has been very successful as an importer of Belgian horses, and has done much to make the livestock industry profitable in his section of Indiana. From 1896 to 1900 Mr. Ade was treasurer of Newton County. At that time he was a republican, the political faith to which he had been reared, and he continued to support that party until the national convention of 1912, after which he aligned himself with the pro- gressive cause. In 1914 he was the unsuccessful candidate of his party for congress. He has done much to advocate such progressive measures as the initiative and referendum, the cause of universal suffrage, and has been a strong advocate of temperance. It is only stating the estimate and judgment of others to say that William H. Ade is one of the foremost citizens of Northwest Indiana, and is a big man both mentally and morally. At the present time his prop- erty interests in Newton County comprise 1,015 acres of partly developed farm lands.
On January 12, 1887, he married Miss Katie Shepard, daughter of Otis Shepard of Kentland. There are four children: Nellie, Mrs. J. D. Rathbun, Ardis, John O. and Charles R.
WILLIAM P. BENNETT. Hard work and intelligent manage- ment as a farmer and a public spirited relationship to all matters of community concern, have made William P. Bennett one of the best known citizens of Jasper County, which has been his home for nearly half a century. He is now living virtually retired, and has a beautiful country home in Section 26 of Marion Township on Rural Route No. 3 out of Rensselaer. His present farm comprises forty acres, but for many years he directed operations on a much larger area.
He was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, October 22, 1855, a son of Knicley and Louisa (Baxter) Bennett, his father of German and English and his mother of English descent. The parents were married in Ohio, and of their eight children five are still living. The father was also a farmer and in 1868 brought his family to Jasper County, locating near Pleasant Ridge, where for many years he conducted his farm. His first wife and the mother of his children died in 1882, and he subsequently married Emily Nicholson. They were both killed while driving across the railway tracks at Maple Grove Crossing, being struck and killed by a passenger train. This was in the fall of 1892. They were laid to rest in the Smith Ceme- tery, while the first wife was buried at the Prayter Cemetery. The father was a successful farmer and stockraiser and accumulated an estate of 120 acres. He was a stanch democrat, though originally he had supported the whig ticket. Though greatly interested in public affairs he never cared to hold office. In later years he took much interest and part in church work, and was a member and
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RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM P. BENNETT
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deacon of the Christian Church. The land which he secured in Jasper County in the early days he improved from a wilderness con- dition, and by his work and character enjoyed the thorough esteem of all who knew him.
William P. Bennett was about thirteen years of age when the family came to Jasper County, and thereafter he attended for a time the common schools in Barkley Township. His time and efforts were given to his father until he was nineteen years old, and he then worked out as a farm hand and contributed his wages to the house- hold exchequer until he was twenty-two. At that time he made his first purchase and started life independently, acquiring forty acres in Barkley Township. To that he subsequently added eighty acres more, and his prosperous career as a hard working farmer con- tinued until about eight years ago. He not only cultivated his land but engaged on an extensive scale in the raising of stock, being associated in that business with Robert Randle and R. B. Harris. About eight years ago Mr. Bennett left Barkley and moved to his present home in Marion Township. He put up a comfortable home for his declining years, also built barns and other structures, and has since pursued a somewhat leisurely career.
On September 14, 1877, he married Miss Ellen Moore, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Moore. Mrs. Bennett died in 1879, and on September 8, 1881, he married Ella Fielder, daughter of Richard and Eliza (Faulkner) Fielder. Her mother was born near Lincoln, England, and came to the United States when twelve years of age. Her father was born in Logan County, Ohio, and he and his wife were married there. Mr. Fielder came to Jasper County in 1865, locating in Barkley Township, followed farm- ing and stock raising, but about 1880 he and his wife went to Mason County, Illinois, where they are still living. Of their eight chil- dren, only one is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett are members of the Christian Church at Rensselaer. Mr. Bennett is a democrat in politics, and is one of the many zealous admirers of President Wilson. Their farmstead is known as The Riverview Farm, and is a credit to the county.
GEORGE KANNAL. Since the earliest dawn of history the trend of civilization has been ever westward. The face of the pioneer is turned toward the setting sun. The Central States of the Amer- ican Union have been settled by men from the Atlantic States and by immigrants from Europe, whose combined efforts have turned the old Northwest Territory into a number of great and flourishing commonwealths, among which is the State of Indiana. To Jasper County, in 1865, came George Kannal, who located in what is now a part of Rensselaer, south of the Iroquois River. He was accom- panied by his wife Mary and two children: Elizabeth, who later became the wife of Thomas Hollingsworth, and Emmet. Mr. Kan- nal was a native of Columbiana County, Ohio, born March 13, 1813,
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and there passed his earlier life. He came to Indiana to go into the banking business with A. McCoy and A. Thompson at Rensse- laer, and as time went on he became a large land owner. In all probability he was one of the best judges of human character that ever lived here. Often he would make loans when the security was insufficient, and when other lenders would refuse; but he rarely, if ever, lost, so accurate was his judgment of men. He died June IO, 1885.
Emmet Kannal, son of George Kannal, was born June 10, 1849, and died July 31, 1891, at the untimely age of forty-two years. His adult life was passed in this county and it was here that his life's interest was centered. He was a graduate from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and his thesis at the time of his graduation received the highest and most honorable mention, being one of three especially mentioned by the state board. He embarked in the drug business in Rensselaer, in which he afterward continued until his death, and was undoubtedly the best analytical chemist in this section of the country. A man of advanced and original ideas, he was particularly strong in his advocacy of public improvements, streets, parks, fire protection and schools, at a time when the public generally was not in sympathy with such measures. At the time of his death he was serving as a member of the town board. In September, 1872, he married Mary E. Duck, who died in 1912, leav- ing three children: Harvey J., Romaine Irma (Mrs. Harry F. Parker) and Juno Ida (Mrs. C. W. Eger). Mrs. Kannal was a daughter of Jesse Duck, who was sheriff of Columbiana County, Ohio, at the time William McKinley, then a struggling young lawyer, was prosecuting attorney for that judicial district. Mr. Duck later became internal revenue collector and was otherwise prominent.
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