USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume I > Part 22
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By Courtesy of Frank F. Heighway, County Superintendent of Schools.
LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE
dren within its jurisdiction. All the boys and girls, including those attending high school, return home daily, and, doing their allotted work or chores mornings and evenings, keep in touch with the home, the farm, and all its affairs, and remain within the shelter of home during the most impressionable periods of their lives. There is no longer so much occa- sion for part of the children to attend distant boarding schools or to pay. board in the nearby towns to attend high school. Class distinctions, which the old district school unconsciously fostered, are broken down and removed.
"The consolidated schools are shaping their courses of study more and more to meet the needs of the boy and girl whose school days end at the expiration of the eight elementary years or in the early years of
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high school. Those who are desirous of taking up the study of agricul- ture as a profession can easily go from the consolidated school into the state agricultural college. Where the local school affords only a part of a high school course, the student can complete high school work in an agri- cultural high school or other school of secondary grade. The broader training provided by the consolidated school is much superior to that pro- vided in the average district school.
"The introduction of agriculture and home economics into the upper grades of the elementary and high-school courses of the existing con- solidated schools is progressing as rapidly as competent teachers of these studies can be obtained. These schools lead into the agricultural high school, state college, or state normal school, and educational forces are becoming closely linked with the farm home and farm affairs. That a large proportion of the well-prepared consolidated school pupils would enter agricultural high schools or colleges can scarcely be more a matter of doubt than that in consolidated schools more elementary graduates pass into the high school. The evolution of the rural school into the con- solidated school in part bridges the gap between the rural school and the college of agriculture. The rapidly multiplying large secondary agricultural high schools and agricultural courses in local high schools are completing that bridge. The large separate agricultural high schools, with courses of study suitable for pupils who have had the advantage of one, two or three high-school years in the consolidated school, seem especially adapted to supplement the abbreviated high-school course of the consolidated school."
IMPROVING THE TEACHING FORCE
In line with the "improvement of teaching force through closer super- vision" was the creation, in 1911, of the county supervisor of instruction. On this point the county superintendent says :
"Owing to the fact that about 20 per cent. of our teachers from year to year are inexperienced, that the interests of the teachers, the pupils and the several communities demanded it, our eleven township trustees and the five town trustees last year wisely voted to give the Lake County schools a supervisor of instruction. One good way to get efficient teach- ers is to properly train the teachers in the service-especially the be- ginners. This the supervisor does by going into the schools daily, con- ducting model recitations, interpreting the course of study, and present- ing suggestions for correct methods and material.
"We have found that the employment of Miss Elizabeth Whitney as supervisor means an economy of time to the teachers and pupils, espe-
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cially in the primary grades. It is our purpose to secure for the first years of school life the best that the kindergarten and primary schools have developed. We are trying to work out an orderly line of progress through the primary years.
"Further our supervisor knows the needs of the schools and plans suitable material for industrial and educative work. She understands educational values and realizes how meagre and valueless is the reading again and again the prescribed text books. Her duty is to give the chil- dren good books, place in their hands right books at the right time; in other words, plan supplementary reading courses, reference and story books in related subjects.
"This added supervision to the superintendent's office gives a chance for the better adaptation of the schools to meet the demands for a prac- tical education. It is the aim of the Lake County management 'to dignify rural life and save to it and its interests the best blood of the country.' "
STATISTICS, 1912-14
From the county superintendent's report for 1913-14, not yet pub- lished, it is learned that the number of scholars enrolled in all the town- ship schools, with the towns of Griffith, Miller, Highland, East Gary and Munster, number 18,081; number of teachers employed, 558, and number of schoolhouses 121. In the previous year the enrollment was 14,497, and 472 teachers were employed.
The total amount paid all the teachers for the school year 1913-14 was $480,535.51 ; value of schoolhouses erected, $129,938. The estimated value of all school property in the county is $2,979,185, the assessed value of all taxables in the county for 1913 being $70,859,895.
The superintendents of schools now serving are as follows: Charles M. McDaniel, Hammond; William A. Wirt, Gary; Edwin N. Canine, East Chicago; W. W. Holliday, Whiting; W. S. Painter, Crown Point; G. H. Thompson, Hobart ; A. T. Elliott, Lowell.
Principals of the schools: Otto C. Stiefel, Miller; William F. Wall, Dyer; Guy Dickey, Shelby ; Russell Allen, Schneider ; Fred Ewing, Mer- rillville; Frank W. Love, Griffith; I. A. Witham, Ross; C. W. Seitz, Ainsworth; Mary Herlitz, Munster; Michael O'Connell, Highlands; H. C. Mitchell, Hessville ; Marie Johnson, East Gary ; Harriet Hathaway, LeRoy ; Wilma Nichols, Palmer.
Vol. 1-15
CHAPTER XVIII
PROFESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
THE PIONEER LEGAL FIELD-JUDGE WILLIAM CLARK-JUDGE HERVEY BALL-DOCTOR AND JUDGE H. D. PALMER-FIRST PRACTICING LAWYER -OTHER PIONEER "JUDGES"-WELCOME TO THE MARRIAGE FEAST- MARTIN WOOD AND HIS GOOD WORKS-TIMOTHY CLEVELAND HON. THADDEUS S. FANCHER-A FOUNDER OF THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM- ELIHU GRIFFIN-CHARLES S. GRIFFIN, SECRETARY OF STATE-HON. J. W. YOUCHE-THE LATE J. FRANK MEEKER-HON. JOHANNES KOPELKE-PRESENT-DAY JUDICIARY-HON. J. II. GILLETT-HON. WIL- LIS C. MCMAHAN-HON. VIRGIL S. REITER-HON. LAWRENCE BECKER -HON. CHARLES E. GREENWALD-JAMES A. PATTERSON-FATHER OF THE SUPERIOR COURTHOUSE-UNITED STATES COURTS AT HAMMOND -PRESENT BAR OF HIGH GRADE-HON. E. C. FIELD PETER CRUM- PACKER-A. F. KNOTTS-FRANK N. GAVIT-LAKE COUNTY BAR ASSO- CIATION-CONGRESSIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS-HON. THOMAS J. WOOD-REPRESENTED THE OLD COLFAX DISTRICT-HON. JOHN B. PETERSON-THE FIRST TWO PHYSICIANS-NOT OUTDONE BY ANY INDIAN-DRS. YEOMAN AND FARRINGTON-DR. A. J. PRATT-DR. HARVEY PETTIBONE-DR. HENRY PETTIBONE-DR. JOHN HIGGINS- OTHER EARLY PHYSICIANS OF CROWN POINT-DRS. P. P.
AND
EDWARD R. GORDON-OTHER HOBART PHYSICIANS-CORO-
NER FRANK W. SMITH-DR. H. L. IDDINGS, MERRILLVILLE -LAKE COUNTY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION-DR. W. F. HOWAT-CROWN POINT, EARLIEST NEWSPAPER CENTER-FATHERS OF LAKE COUNTY JOURNALISM-CROWN POINT REGISTER APPEARS-COLONEL JOHN WHEELER-ZERAH F. SUMMERS-JOHN MILLIKAN, VETERAN-LAKE COUNTY STAR AND JOHN J. WHEELER-THE PRESS OF HAMMOND -- EAST CHICAGO-THE CALL, OF WHITING-LOWELL NEWSPAPERS-THE PRESS OF HOBART-GARY FERTILE IN NEWSPAPERS.
The professional history of any locality or county is predominated by individuality ; this statement especially applies to the Bench and Bar and any attempt to picture the medical status of communities and sec- tions. So that in the treatment of the topic covered by this chapter the
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personal feature will be uppermost, and as so many personalities will necessarily be woven into the composition the editor can attempt little more than etchings.
THE PIONEER LEGAL FIELD
In the early days a legal training was not a requisite for the minor judicial positions, the associates of the circuit judge being often farmers, teachers and physicians-but always men of good standing and pro- nounced prominence. On the other hand, several of the pioneers of Lake County, who had enjoyed a legal education and training in the East, did not practice their profession in the new country, but attained standing in their communities as farmers, merchants and utility citizens. The legal field was at first too limited; an able, practical man found too many things which had to be done at once for him to be content to "wait for cases," or even to work for the small amount of legitimate legal business which would have fallen to him.
JUDGE WILLIAM CLARK
In October, 1837, was held at Lake Court IIouse, in the Robinson log building, the first term of the Circuit Court for Lake County, Judge Samuel C. Sample presiding and Judge William Clark acting as his associate. Judge Clark had no legal training, but was one of the pro- prietors of Crown Point, and a stout, active, enterprising and worthy frontiersman.
JUDGE HERVEY BALL
At that time there was only one lawyer by profession in the county, but after coming West he does not appear at first to have made any effort to secure a practice. Reference is, of course, made to Hervey Ball, who, with his family, established himself on the northwestern shore of Red Cedar Lake a few weeks after the opening of this first term of the Cir- cuit Court.
At that time Judge Ball was forty-three years of age, had practiced his profession for fourteen years in Georgia, and also came to Lake County with the prestige of the military rank of colonel. "Through the remainder of his life," says his son, "he gave much attention to farm- ing, to keeping honey bees and raising some choice domestic animals. As a result of his cavalry service in Georgia he always had some fine horses in his possession. For some time he held the offices of county sur-
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veyor and probate judge, and in his later years was justice of the peace. He was clerk of the Cedar Lake Baptist Church, superintendent of the Sabbath School at the lake for many years, clerk and moderator of the Northern Indiana Baptist Association and a trustee of Franklin College. In his college and his professional life he had mingled to quite a large extent with the gay, the busy and the cultivated, was familiar with lead- ing men of Georgia, and knew what life was among the wealthy planters of that day. The result of his New England training and of his South- ern professional life was of large benefit to his children and the young people connected with them; and his home became and continued to be for several years a religious, an educational, a literary and a social center. Ministers of different denominations found there a welcome, and the home was always full of healthful life. The Puritanic and the true Western spirit blended well. The family library was quite large for pioneer days, and periodicals, agricultural and political, literary and religious, found their way to the home in abundance, so that the seven children and their classmates and visitors all were readers. Judge Her- vey Ball lived thirty years in Lake County, building up good institutions, and died on his farm, October 13, 1868."
DOCTOR AND JUDGE H. D. PALMER
In 1838 Dr. H. D. Palmer, who resided on his farm two miles west of the present Town of Merrillville, was elected associate judge to serve with Judge Clark. The new occupant of the bench has a double distinc- tion, since he was the first graduate or regular physician to reside in Lake County. In 1834 he had completed a full course at a medical col- lege in Fairfield, New York, and in 1836 located on his claim near what was then Wiggins Point. With his farming, and practice, and the judge- ship, which he held for about seventeen years, he was always busy and became one of the most prominent men in the county. His services on the bench were more than ordinarily able. As stated, generally the asso- ciate judges of those days transacted very little court business, their judgment usually being consulted by the presiding judge on such local and personal matters as the standing of litigants, their characteristics and peculiarities, and they were sometimes delegated to settle disputes between citizens out of court. But Doctor Palmer was a man of breadth and such good judgment, coupled with quick comprehension of legal mat- ters, that it is said that twice in his term of service, in the absence of the presiding judge, he conducted the entire business of the Circuit Court.
As a country physician, Doctor Palmer's practice became quite exten- sive, his rides extending from Dyer to Hobart and Lake Station, espe-
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cially during the height of his professional activity, from 1850 to 1860. He also conducted his farm with success, and in connection with Solon Robinson brought the first Berkshire pigs to Crown Point. In 1841 the Doctor erected the first frame house in the central part of the county. His second wife was Miss Catherine Underwood, a sister of John Under- wood, who possessed such decided poetic talents.
FIRST PRACTICING LAWYER
The first lawyer to practice his profession in Lake county was Alex- ander McDonald, who appears first to have settled near the mill-site of what afterward became Lowell, but very soon, in 1839, opened an office at Lake Court House: his judgment undoubtedly was that the place backed by Solon Robinson and Judge Clark was destined to be the county seat and the best location for the practice of the law. Mr. McDonald first appears as an acknowledged leader in county affairs in March, 1839, when the Squatters' Union named him as one of the three official bidders who were appointed to guard the interests of the bona fide set- tlers at the land sale on the 19th of that month at Laporte. As every- thing passed off quietly and to their satisfaction, it is evident that the lawyer's services were as they should be. Until his death at Crown Point in 1866, Mr. MeDonald was an earnest and honorable lawyer. For nearly twelve years he served the county as a representative in the State Assembly-in 1844-48, 1850-55 and 1857-59.
OTHER PIONEER "JUDGES"
Soon after he settled on his Eagle Creek claim, in 1838, Samuel Turner was elected justice of the peace, and in 1842 associate judge of the Circuit Court.
As early as the summer of 1834, William B. Crooks, with Samuel Miller, made a timber and mill claim on Deep River, in what would now be the southern part of Hobart Township, and probably came to live in that locality not long afterward. At all events he was elected an associate judge in 1837, although he is not recorded as being present at the first term of court in October.
WELCOME TO THE MARRIAGE FEAST
Robert Wilkinson, who was elected first judge of the Probate Court, at about that time, was one of the pioneer citizens to take up claims in Lake County. The Claim Register records his former residence as Attiea
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Spring, and notes two of his claims-the first made in November, 1834, on Deep River, and the second, in March, 1835, on West Creek. He divided with the justices of the peace the pleasures and the profits ( ?) of tying the knots which seemed to bind the young men and women of those days more securely than the couples of today. A camp meeting was held on the east side of Cedar Lake, on Cedar Point bluff, in the summer of 1843. Then and there, Wellington A. Clark met Mary Hackley; he met her several times thereafter, and their wedding was fixed for December 7, 1843. Judge Wilkinson came up from his West Creek farm, along the woodland belt, to conduct the ceremony. He took his rifle with him, and shot a fine red deer before he reached the Hackley home. Besides the family of five, and the bridegroom and the judge, there were present three guests within the cabin walls to partake of the roast deer and other good things provided. In those times of big hearts, the judge would have been ashamed to weigh his marriage fee against the big fat deer which he provided for the feast.
MARTIN WOOD AND HIS GOOD WORKS
Martin Wood was one of the early lawyers to settle at Crown Point, as an aspirant for the business which always concentrates with more or less volume at the county seat. For many years before the develop- ment of the northern part of the county, in fact, the cream of the legal business came to those who had their offices at Crown Point. Mr. Wood located there in 1848, being then thirty-three years of age. First he taught school. then practiced law and then married Susan G. Taylor, daughter of the Pleasant Grove minister.
Martin Wood was a compact man, in both body and mind; earnest, forceful and brusque, but so genuinely kind that he was very popular. He acquired a large law practice, served in the Indiana Assembly in 1871-73, and made himself felt for the general good in many ways out- side the law and public life.
Few have lived in the county who have done so much for horticulture and forestry as Mr. Wood. He secured a farm of fifty-five aeres near Crown Point, ten aeres of which he enclosed with such varieties of trees as arbor vitæ, red cedar, Norway spruce, Scotch pine, silver spruce, Ans- trian pine, balsam fir and juniper. He also set out orchards of apple, pear. quince and peach trees, and did much to encourage the raising of small fruits and the ornamentation of country homes. He was a useful, able, good man and citizen, and was sincerely mourned by many at his death on the 5th of September, 1892.
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TIMOTHY CLEVELAND
Timothy Cleveland, son of Ephraim, the Pleasant Grove pioneer of 1837, was eight years old when the family settled in the county. He settled at the county seat as a lawyer in 1863, dabbled in journalism, and also cultivated land. Mr. Cleveland was also honored for his Chris- tion work, and all the members of his family have honored his good name. Miss Helen Cleveland was for several years a prominent teacher, and several of his sons have become well known in the newspaper field of the county.
HON. THADDEUS S. FANCHER
Hon. Thaddeus S. Fancher is a name which the members of the bar recognize with pride. In 1868, after being partially educated in Ohio, he came to Crown Point, read law with Major Griffin and taught school. He commenced practice after graduating from the law department of the Michigan State University, in 1871. Although elected county superintendent of schools in 1873, he served in that office but a short time, resigning to resume his practice. He was then prosecuting attor- ney of the county for four years, and the republicans kept him in the State Legislature from 1879 to 1883. During that period he served on the Committee of Revision of the State Statutes. Since 1881 he has been engaged in practice and in the draining and dealing of marsh lands.
A FOUNDER OF THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM
Mr. Fancher was instrumental in the passage of the law of 1881, which authorized the construction of drainage ditches in the Calumet and Kankakee regions. In 1885 he constructed what is known as the Singleton ditch in the Kankakeee marsh, which runs for seventeen miles through the southern part of the county. The drainage of the Calumet marshes, which are still devoted to truck gardening and grain raising. is also largely due to his efforts, and has been of much general benefit and much personal gain. In a word, Mr. Fancher is a force in several large fields outside the law and legislation.
ELIHU GRIFFIN
The Griffins, father and son, are worthy of more than passing notice ; for they were both lawyers and leaders in public affairs. Elihu Griffin
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came to Crown Point as a lawyer, probably in the early '50s. In 1859-61 he served as a representative in the Indiana Assembly and when the Civil war commenced was one of the leading members of his profession in the county. He at once entered the Union army and was appointed paymaster with the rank of major. After the war he returned to Crown Point and became identified with railroad work, holding a responsible position connected with the location of the Vincennes, Danville & Chi- cago line.
CHARLES F. GRIFFIN, SECRETARY OF STATE
Charles F. Griffin, the son, became even more prominent than the father. He was brought up in Crown Point, adopted the legal profes- sion and successfully practiced his profession there until he commenced his term as secretary of state in 1887. At its expiration in 1891 he located at Hammond, the metropolis of the Calumet region. There he entered a career of continuous advancement in professional and business life. He was also very prominent in church work and in connection with the Sons of Veterans. But his strong ambitions and the stress of his life overtaxed his physical strength and his death occurred at Hammond, December 20, 1902, at the age of forty-six.
HON. J. W. YOUCHE
Another talented lawyer, who died comparatively young, was Hon. J. W. Youche, who has already been mentioned in connection with the fine collection of antiquities now installed at the Public Library of Hammond. He was of Saxon birth and when an infant of two years was brought to Ohio by his parents, earnest and firm Lutherans. The young man was educated at the Indiana State University ; came to Crown Point as a teacher, and in 1870 served as principal of its public school. When twenty-two, he entered the university as a law student and in 1872 graduated from that institution. On January 1, 1873, soon after returning to Crown Point to practice, he married Miss Eunice Higgins, the only child of Dr. John Higgins; "and in that home, which became the Higgins-Youche mansion, one of the costly and spacious and beau- tiful residences of Crown Point, he resided for twenty-eight years. He was a model son-in-law; a good citizen ; an exemplary and devoted hus- band and father; a man of refined feelings and of cultivated tastes. He was scholarly in different lines. As a talented young lawyer he had risen rapidly in his profession. He was a state senator, was vice presi- dent of the Crown Point National Bank, was a trustee of the State Uni-
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versity and was for many years, as said one of the best and most culti- vated lawyers of the county, 'easily the leader at the bar of this county and a leader in Northwestern Indiana.' " IIe died January 2, 1901, nearly fifty-three years of age.
THE LATE J. FRANK MEEKER
J. Frank Meeker, who held the office of county attorney from Febru- ary, 1901, until his death in June, 1914, was one of the leading lawyers of the younger generation. He was born in Center Township, five miles east of Crown Point, in 1868, and was educated at the county seat. Mr. Meeker studied law with Congressman Peterson, and in 1892 graduated from the law school of the Michigan University. With the exception of a year spent in Hammond, his practice was at Crown Point, where for two years he was in partnership with Judge McMahan. Previous to his long and creditable service as county attorney, Mr. Meeker was, for four years, deputy prosecuting attorney. Besides ably conducting his prac- tice, he served as president of the board of education and at the time of his death was president of the People's State Bank.
HON. JOHANNES KOPELKE
Ex-Judge Johannes Kopelke, who was appointed a member of the Superior bench in March, 1911, and was succeeded by Hon. Charles E. Greenwald in 1914, has been a resident of Crown Point for thirty-eight years. As a youth he was thoroughly educated in the Royal Gymnasium of his native Germany before coming to America. Soon after graduating from the law department of the University of Michigan, in 1876, he located at Crown Point, and for a time was associated in practice with Hon. Thaddeus S. Fancher. From 1879 he was an independent practi- tioner. He took an active part in all the civic affars of the town and the county, and in 1884 was chosen a presidential elector on the Cleveland- Hendricks ticket. In the early '90s he served in the State Senate, making a fine record on the Judiciary Committee. Throughout his practice he showed such solid traits and good judgment that his elevation to the bench was taken almost as a matter of course.
PRESENT-DAY JUDICIARY
Hon. J. H. Gillett, judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Indiana, is the most prominent member of the profession who has been elevated to the bench.
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Judicially, Lake and Porter counties form the Thirty-first Circuit, the presiding judge for the former being Hon. Willis C. McMahan, of Crown Point. Since 1895 there have been two Superior courts at Hammond and one at Crown Point and Hammond. Hon. Virgil S. Reiter presides at Room 1, Hammond, and Hon. Lawrence C. Becker at Room 2, while Hon. Charles E. Greenwald is the presiding judge at Room 3, Crown Point. Judge Greenwald was elected to succeed Hon. Johannes Kopelke in November, 1914.
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