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 39
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 39
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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
Harvey J. Kannal, the only son of Emmet Kannal, and the only male representative of his grandfather, George Kannal, in Jasper County, was born in Rensselaer, June 15, 1874. He was here reared and primarily educated, and for a number of years was a student of veterinary science. In 1890 he matriculated at the Chi- cago Veterinary College, was graduated therefrom four years later, and during this time was a student of special subjects in the North- western Medical College. He began the practice of his profession at Delphi, Indiana, in 1894, but, beginning in 1895, he has been established in Rensselaer, his native city. Doctor Kannal has been particularly honored in his profession. He is the present secretary of the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, having been chosen to this position without his knowledge or solicitation over scores of applicants for the place. He is also consulting veterinary of the United States Department of Agriculture and is assistant state veterinarian. In politics he is a Republican and has served in various local official positions Socially he is a member of Iro- quois Lodge, No. 143, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of
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with much of the important litigation in the county. He is the present attorney for the Marble-Powers Ditch, (Cause No. 89), which has in hand the straightening of the Kankakee River for twenty-eight miles. This involves the construction of what will be the largest ditch in the State of Indiana. Some years ago Mr. Halleck established a telephone line connecting DeMotte, Kinman and Wheatfield, which was the first telephone line constructed in Jasper County. Though at first but a small private affair, it eventually developed into the Halleck Telephone Company, operat- ing 150 miles of wire. In politics Mr. Halleck is a republican and in 1896 was elected county commissioner, during the nine years he served as such acting as president of the board. It was during this time that the new court house was erected. In 1908 he was elected state senator for White, Jasper, Newton and Starke Counties. While in the Senate he was chairman of the drainage committee. He also introduced the bill making it possible for each county to establish a tuberculosis hospital, and it passed both House and Senate, but did not become a law, as the governor failed to give it his signature.
Mr. Halleck was married June 1, 1888, to Lura I. Luce, and they have had born to them five children : Mildred E. ( Mrs. William G. Richardson), Hester (Mrs. Harry Milner), Lura, Charles and Harold. An active and public spirited citizen, ever ready to lend his aid to any project for advancing the general good of the community, Mr. Halleck has won and enjoys in a high degree the respect and confidence of the people of his own and the neighboring counties, which he represented in the Senate. As he is still in the prime of life, no doubt many opportunities for usefulness are still before him.
MICAH B. HALSTEAD. There were probably few persons in Jasper County who did not know the late Micah B. Halstead, who died at his home in Newton Township on April 27, 1902. He was one of the earliest and one of the best and most known citizens. Those who knew him admired and loved him, and there was a great deal in his rugged character to command esteem and respect. It is sufficient to invest his memory with some of the qualities of romantic adventure when it is recalled that he spent several years in the Far West and Northwest during the exciting period of the early '50s.
A native of Ohio, he was born in Crawford County May 3, 1832, a son of Samuel and Susanna (Webster) Halstead. His parents were farmers, and lived in several different states and localities. Micah B. Halstead spent his youthful days in helping with the work of the home farm and in attending the neighboring schools. When he was a very small child his people removed to Illinois, and his mother died there in 1838. In the fall of that year he and the
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other children went to LaPorte County, Indiana, where Micah B. was reared by an uncle Asaph Webster.
There were exceedingly few people living in Jasper County when Micah B. Halstead first identified himself with that locality in 1851. He was accompanied by his brother David T. Halstead, of whom as another pioneer settler appropriate mention is made elsewhere. During the winter of 1852 Micah B. Halstead taught a district school in Jasper County, and the following year went to Illinois. From there as an assistant to John C. Davenport he helped to drive a herd of stock to Oregon. This was a most eventful trip, filled with dangers and adventures, and took him into the midst of condi- tions which will always be considered among the most romantic in the pioneer era of the Far West. For three years Micah B. Halstead lived in Oregon and in California, finally returning to the States in 1856 by way of the Nicaragua route. He had a varied experience on the Pacific Coast, and part of the time was engaged in mining.
On his return east Mr. Halstead settled permanently in Jasper County, and from that time forward was one of the most vigorous citizens in the clearing and developing of agricultural lands in this county, and in carrying on an extensive business as a stock raiser. His work and influence left an indelible impress upon the com- munity.
On August 30, 1857, not long after returning from the West he married Virginia U. Harris, daughter of Benjamin and Betsy . (Faulk) Harris, who were also old settlers of Jasper County. To this marriage were born eight sons : Orpheus C., David L., Edwin M., William, Sanford S., Everett R., M. Rankin and Chester H. Of these, Orpheus C., Everett R. and Chester H. have homes of their own and all reside in Newton Township; David L. and William live with their aged mother on the old homestead; Sanford S. is in the State of Wyoming and M. Rankin is in Mississippi. Edwin M. was killed while engaged in teaching school in Dakota Territory.
The late Micah B. Halstead was a man of unusual strength of character. Possessed of an alert, retentive mind, he was excep- tionally well informed and was an entertaining companion. Moral, upright, honest to the penny, he commanded respect wherever he went. No one stood higher in Jasper County in the estimation of his fellow men.
ORPHEUS C. HALSTEAD. A representative citizen and substan- tial farmer of Jasper County, Indiana, is found in Orpheus C. Halstead, who owns a large amount of valuable farm land in Newton Township. He belongs to an old family of this section, was born in Newton County, November 6, 1858, and is a son of Micah B. and Virginia U. (Harris) Halstead.
Orpheus C. Halstead was reared in Jasper County and for some years attended the public schools, but the larger part of his educa- tion has been secured through personal study, reading and observa-
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Great-grandmother, Mary Ann Livingstone, has ten children, twenty-one grandchildren and eighteen great- grandchildren, all living at present. This represents four generations.
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EVERETT R. HALSTEAD AND FAMILY
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tion. Farming has been his life occupation and the principles of this great industry he understands well. During the father's life- time all the sons farmed together, but after the father's death the estate was divided. Since February, 1901, Mr. Halstead has resided on his home place in Newton Township, where he has 240 acres, and he owns also 100 acres of the old homestead.
On January 28, 1891, Mr. Halstead was united in marriage with Miss Laura C. Yeoman, who is a daughter of John and Abigail (Sayler) Yeoman. . They have one son, Roscoe Vernon, who was born December 1, 1891. He grew up on the home farm and married May Kelley and they have one son, Ralph Kelley Halstead. Mr. Halstead and his son are republicans in politics.
EVERETT REEVE HALSTEAD. While his interests are mainly iden- tified with the management and cultivation of a fine farm in Section 18 of Newton Township, Everett R. Halstead has for a number of years made himself a factor in affairs of Jasper County, and belongs to that fine old family which has helped make history in . this locality of Indiana since the early pioneer times. He is the sixth in the family of children of Micah B. and Virginia U. (Harris) Halstead, whose careers are sketched on other pages.
As a boy Everett Reeve Halstead had the usual experiences and routine of discipline and work common to all Indiana youth. After completing the course of the district schools, he entered the Val- paraiso Normal and was graduated in June, 1889, and subsequently spent two years in the Normal College at Columbus, Indiana. Mr. Halstead began his career as a teacher, taught two years very suc- cessfully in Jasper County, and is still remembered gratefully by many of his old pupils. He was also for two years in educational work in Eastern Oregon. Since returning home he has applied himself with systematic enterprise and much success to his profession as a farmer. From the fall of 1911 for two years his services were almost entirely engaged in government work.
On September 6, 1911, Mr. Halstead married Loe Cornelia Pan- coast, daughter of Abner Cicero and Elizabeth (Livingstone) Pancoast. She traces her lineage to the great African explorer, Doctor Livingstone, and she also is a descendant of Chancellor Liv- ingstone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and who also administered the presidential oath to Gen. George Washington when the latter became the President of the United States. On the pater- nal side she is of English descent, and the proper orthography of the name is Pankhurst, and the same lineage includes the well known suffragist leader, Mrs. Pankhurst. Mrs. Halstead was born in New- ton Township, Jasper County, March 29, 1883, and has been liberally educated, supplementing her common school training by a course in the Rensselaer High School and at De Pauw University. She after- ward became a successful teacher in both Jasper and Newton coun- ties, and in the schools of Columbia City, where she taught history.
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She has also studied both vocal and instrumental music. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, which she joined when she was but a small child. Mrs. Halstead is the elder of her parents' two children, and her sister, Oka May, who was educated in the common schools and the Rensselaer High School, is teaching school in Barkley Township. She is also a member of the Presbyterian Church. Abner C. Pancoast, the father, was born in Ohio, in 1855, attended the Valparaiso University, and is a farmer. He votes witlı the republican party and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Pancoast was born in Lake County, Indiana, in 1857, and after completing her educational training in the common and high schools she taught in the schools of her native state. She, too, is a member of the Presbyterian Church and with her husband she resides in Newton Township.
Mr. and Mrs. Halstead have a happy little family comprising three children, John Sheridan, born May 30, 1912; Oka Jane, born September 16, 1913; and Virginia Elizabeth, born August 29, 1915. These children have been rocked in a cradle which was also their grandfather's, and it was made about sixty-four years ago, from walnut grown on the farm of Shreve Pancoast, their great-great- grandfather.
In politics Mr. Halstead is a republican. He is a member of the Church of God, and his wife is a Presbyterian. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war Mr. Halstead took a prominent part in organizing and drilling a company of cavalry which was the third company in the First Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. After a brief service this company came home, and on July 4, 1898, it took the conspicuous part in a sham battle which was staged in the streets of Rensselaer and which drew one of the largest crowds ever assem- bled in that city.
CHESTER H. HALSTEAD. Another representative of the promi- nent and well known Halstead family of Jasper County is Chester H., who though still in his early thirties has much to show for his enterprise and labors in his fine farm in section 7 of Newton Town- ship, where he is proprietor and manager of 245 acres.
Born in Jasper County January 26, 1882, he is a son of Micah B. and Virginia U. (Harris) Halstead. He grew up in this section of Indiana, attended the district schools near the old home and fin- ished with two years in the Valparaiso Normal University. From college he returned home to take up farming and stock raising, and in that has found contentment and all the success which the average man expects from any line of business or profession. It was in March, 1909, that he moved to his present farm in section 7, and out of 245 acres he has it all under cultivation with the exception of eighty acres in timber and pasture. In six years' time he has done a great deal to improve the buildings, has subdrained much of his
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MRS. ELIZA ASKEW AND HER GRANDCHILDREN William H. Halstead, age four years ; Flora V., age fifteen months : Grandmother, age seventy-two years.
CHESTER H. HALSTEAD FAMILY GROUP
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cultivated area by the liberal use of tile, and now has a farm which is capable of producing good revenues every season.
On December 15, 1908, at Kiowa, Kansas, he married Miss Emily D. Askew, who was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, February II, 1886, a daughter of Abraham and Eliza (Lester) Askew, and on the paternal side is of French ancestry. She is a graduate of the Cedar Bluff High School, also attended the normal school at Tazewell, Vir- ginia, and was a successful teacher in her native state for two years. Abraham Askew, her father, was born in Russell County, Virginia, in 1833, and he died in that state October 9, 1908. He was an agri- culturist, and was a great reader, especially of the Bible. He accum- ulated 360 acres of land in Virginia, was well known for his honor and integrity, was a strong advocate of the cause of temperance, was a republican in his political affiliations, and his church was the Mis- sionary Baptist. Mrs. Askew was born in Tazewell County, Vir- ginia, July 12, 1841, a daughter of Isaac and Nancy (Williams) Lester, and she was reared and educated in the old Dominion State of Virginia. There were eleven children in the Askew family, seven sons and four daughters, and six are living, namely : William H., a business man of Wichita, Kansas, and he is married and has eight children ; Floyd H., a merchant at Cedar Bluff, Virginia, has two children; Thomas, a farmer in Tazewell County, Virginia, has two children ; Lawrence, a farmer at Liberty, Ohio, has two children; Rebecca Ann, who resides with her mother in Rensselaer; and Mrs. Chester Halstead, who is mentioned in the biography of her husband elsewhere in this work. Rebecca Ann Askew received a liberal education, supplementing her common school course by attendance at the Women's Female College at Marion, Virginia, and she has studied both instrumental and vocal music. She is a member of the Methodist Church, also of the Ladies Foreign Missionary Society and the Ladies Industrial Society of Rensselaer. Mrs. Askew, the mother, is a charming southern woman, and, as did her husband, she holds membership in the Missionary Baptist Church.
Mr. and Mrs. Halstead are the parents of two children : William Henry, born January 2, 1910; and Flora Virginia, born April 13, 1914. Mr. Halstead is a republican in politics, is interested in every- thing that will better his home community, but has no desire for the ordinary political office.
DAVID THORPE HALSTEAD. It is as one of the vigorous and splendid pioneers of Jasper County that the late David Thorpe Hal- stead should be remembered. There are some men who not only perform their individual share of life's duty, but also carry with them the destinies of many others and leave their impress upon an entire community. That was true of the late David T. Halstead.
Born in Ohio May 23. 1826, he was one of the six children of Samuel and Susanna (Webster) Halstead, and was a brother of
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the late Micah B. Halstead, with whom he came as a pioneer to Jasper County.
David T. Halstead's life is closely interwoven with the religious development of this section of Indiana. Though for two terms he served as auditor of Jasper County, his real work was in connection with the Church of God, of which he was an elder for sixty years. David Halstead came to Jasper County in 1851. He married Teressa Reeve, and of their five children Joanna, Eva and Charles reached maturity. His second wife was Patience Reed Sharp.
David T. Halstead was a man of pronounced views, generous to a fault, giving much to charity, and not only possessed but exer- cised a deep and abiding love for all mankind. Patriarchal in ap- pearance during his latter days, he was indeed a father to the youth needing wise counsel. His piety was of the highest order of Christianity. His death occurred June 22, 1914, and he went to his final rest followed by the benedictions of a host of friends and admirers.
GEORGE A. WILLIAMS. During his career on nearly fifteen years as a member of the Jasper County bar, Mr. Williams has exempli- fied all the success of the able lawyer and the general public service which is usually associated with that profession. He has been honored on a number of occasions with positions of responsibility and trust and in many ways has impressed his life on the modern prosperity of Rensselaer. He is the type of lawyer who began life without special advantages and has risen from comparative poverty to a high rank in his profession.
He was born on a farm in Allen County, Ohio, July 24, 1873, the oldest of nine living children in a family of eleven, whose parents were James M. and Hannah H. (Custer) Williams. Both his parents were of Ohio birth and were respectively of Welsh and English ancestry, and they are still living in Ohio.
George A. Williams spent his early years at work on the home farm and in attending district schools. His education came not from consecutive attendance at school, but was interrupted by many demands upon his time and energy from the necessity of self- support. He spent two years in the Northwestern Normal School, now the Northern Ohio University at Ada, and one year at Mount Morris College in Mount Morris, Illinois. For ten years he was a successful educator in his native state, and a part of that time was principal of the schools at Big Springs. In the meantime he had begun the study of law with the serious purpose which has characterized his every undertaking, and in 1899 he entered the law department of what was then the Northern Indiana Normal College at Valparaiso. In June, 1901, he received his diploma from the institution, and in August of the same year located for practice at Rensselaer. That has been his home now for nearly fifteen years and in that time he has been identified with much of the important
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litigation in Jasper County. Perhaps his most notable work as a lawyer was his retention as the sole attorney for the petitioners in the improvement of the Bonitrager Ditch and the improvement of the lower Iroquois River.
Mr. Williams has been much in public affairs of an official nature. He served a number of years as city attorney of Rensselaer and is now Jasper County attorney. He is also a member and secretary of the present school board of Rensselaer, and during his membership on the school board the present modern high school building was erected. He is a republican in politics, and fraternally is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall No. 82, of Rensselaer.
On July 20, 1905, Mr. Williams married Miss Margaret David- son, a daughter of James M. and Susan C. (Springer) Davidson of Carthage, Illinois.
JOHN A. DUNLAP. Among the men who are now maintaining the dignity and reputation of the Rensselaer bar, John A. Dunlap is easily one of the first both in sound knowledge of the law, in breadth of experience and in his high standing as a man and citizen. Mr. Dunlap started out in life with a determined purpose to make him- self useful in a profession, and though his means were severely limited he accepted every opportunity for advancement and by teaching, by working on farms, and at other occupations paid his way while digging through the wall of learning that encloses this field of human knowledge.
He has the distinction of being a native of one of the counties included in this historical survey. John A. Dunlap was born in Newton County August 1, 1878, a son of John and Henrietta (Cris- ler) Dunlap. Of the six children of these parents four are still living. The parents were also natives of Indiana, and John Dunlap was a farmer and to some extent was identified with merchandising during his brief career. When a young man he located in Newton County, and died at Julian at the early age of thirty-five in 1885. His widow survived until 1899.
Seven years of age when his father died John A. Dunlap owes much to the love and diligence of his good mother, who kept her little family together until she married James Dunlap, a brother of her first husband. By her second marriage she became the mother of two children, one of them still living. These facts suggest that John A. Dunlap did not grow up in a home of luxury, and he early realized that he must make his own opportunities in life. At the age of sixteen he may he said to have started his practical career, working as a farm hand during the summer months and attending school in winter. In this way he was able to complete what is now considered the equivalent of a high school course, attending the schools at Morocco, and later took a course in the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. Securing a teacher's license, he
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taught intermittently and also pursued his studies of law in the office of Davis & Graves at Morocco, and was later a student in the office of Graves & Sutcliff at Warsaw.
In 1900 Mr. Dunlap was admitted to the bar and at once started private practice at Syracuse, Indiana. He later went West, was located at Independence, Kansas, for a time, and for two and a half years had considerable experience as a lawyer in Los Angeles, California. Returning to his native state in 1910, he located at Rensselaer, and in the past five years has built up an excellent practice in the law.
Mr. Dunlap is a republican, and has affiliations with the Masonic Order, Lodge No. 125, and the Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall No. 82. On September 20, 1905, he married Miss Helen Johnson of Chicago. To their marriage has been born one daughter, Dorothy Anna.
JAMES H. LOUGHRIDGE, M. D. Well may this publication pay a special tribute of honor to that noble man and pioneer physician whose name initiates this paragraph and whose life was one of lofty ideals and aspirations and of able, zealous and unselfish service to his fellow men. The name of no pioneer of Jasper County is held in more reverent memory than that of Dr. Loughridge, who in the early days of his practice endured the most arduous of labors, encountered the most trying conditions and subordinated personal comfort in his earnest ministration to those in suffering and dis- tress, his practice having extended over a wide area of country. He continued in the active work of his profession until virtually the time of his death, which occurred at Rensselaer, the judicial center of Jasper County, on the 16th of August, 1895, his age at that time having been sixty-seven years and four months.
Dr. James Hervey Loughridge was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and the date of his nativity was December 27, 1828. He was a son of William and Mary (Ket- tler) Loughridge, both of whom passed their entire lives in the old Keystone State, where his father was a farmer by occupation. Dr. Loughridge was reared to the invigorating discipline of the home farm and as a lad his alert and receptive mentality caused him to profit fully by the advantages offered in the common schools of the locality and period. Thus early was quickened his ambition for higher education, and his ambition was ever one of action. He finally entered Washington & Jefferson College-now known as Washington College, at Washington, Pennsylvania, and in this institution he was graduated when about eighteen years of age. Under excellent preceptorship he thereafter pursued the study of medicine, and as a young physician and surgeon he came to Indiana. He resided at Terre Haute for a short period, then removed to Battle Ground, Tippecanoe County, and in 1852 he established his permanent home at Rensselaer, the county seat of Jasper County.
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He was one of the early physicians of this now thriving and attrac- tive little city, and his practice extended over a wide scope of country, and that at a period when there but few roads and when these highways were of primitive order. He pursued his humane mission under many material difficulties, often making his way on horseback along mere cow-paths, many times at night and always without regard to the inclemency of weather. . Through winter snows and icy blasts he plowed his way, and in the spring of the year the roads were practically bottoniless oozes of mud. The zeal and devotion of this pioneer physician knew no bounds, and he lived to view and aid in the march of development and progress and to see the development of this section of Indiana into a well improved country of splendid attractions and unequivocal prosperity. He never wavered in his allegiance to his exacting and responsible profession and continued one of its leading repre- sentatives in Jasper County until the hour of his death, which was looked upon by the entire community with a feeling of personal loss and bereavement. Doctor Loughridge never permitted himself to fall below the highest standard of efficiency both as a physician and surgeon, and his constant study and research kept him abreast of the advances made in both departments of his profession. He gained specially high reputation as a surgeon, and was a leader in the ranks of his profession in this part of the state. He was a charter member of the Jasper County Medical Society, was actively identi- fied with the Indiana State Medical Society and held membership also in the American Medical Association. Buoyant and optimistic, genial, generous and kindly, his very presence was like a ray of sunshine and a harbinger of good cheer, and he took deep interest in his fellow men, with an abiding desire to aid and uplift all who came withtin the sphere of his benign influence. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the teachings and fraternal activities of which he took much pleasure.
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