USA > Indiana > White County > A standard history of White County Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. I > Part 38
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PRESENT-DAY INDUSTRIES
All these improvements, with the continuous upkeep of the enter- prise, have constituted an unfailing assurance of electrical power and light for not only the present, but the future of many years. Among the chief manufactories which have taken advantage of such extended facilities for supplying industrial power are the Tippecanoe Thread
Courtesy of Monticello Herald
CITY HALL, MONTICELLO
Mills, owned by the Marshall Field estate, of Chicago, and managed by George T. Stevenson. T. H. Reynolds is president, and H. D. James, vice president of the Thread Mills Company, which owns the plant. The industry, which was established in February, 1910, consists of the manu- facture of sewing and embroidery threads. An addition to the original plant was made in 1911, and the mills now employ 125 hands and put out $200,000 worth of threads annually.
Courtesy of C. L. Foster
VIEW UP THE RIVER FROM THE MONON BRIDGE, TIOGA
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
Besides the Thread Works and the Loughry Mills, the other indus- tries of most importance at Monticello are, perhaps, the Cement Tile Works, the ice cream manufactory, and the Farmers' Elevator, the lat- ter being operated by a co-operative company. The largest and oldest lumber and coal yard is owned and operated by George Biederwolf.
FOUR BANKS
The finances of the business and industrial establishments of the city are maintained through four strong institutions, given in the order of their establishment, viz .: The State Bank of Monticello, the Monticello National Bank, the White County Loan, Trust and Savings Company, and the Farmers' State Bank.
STATE BANK OF MONTICELLO
In 1890 the Bank of Monticello was organized as a private institu- tion, with a capital of $5,000 paid in. Robert Parker was first presi- dent, Henry Van Voorst, vice president, and Bert Van Voorst, cashier. On October 30, 1895, was organized the State Bank of Monticello, which took over the business of the Bank of Monticello. The capital was increased to $25,000, and first officers were: Gustavus Lowe, president ; John F. Johnson, vice president; Henry Van Voorst, cashier, and Bert Van Voorst, assistant cashier. In November, 1896, Mr. Lowe disposed of his interest in the bank and was succeeded as president by John F. Johnson, and W. M. Elliott, vice president. In 1897 the State Bank purchased the Citizens' Bank, a private banking concern of Monticello, and at that time moved to their present quarters, which was the old Citi- zens' Bank home, and they have ever since continued there. In 1897 . John F. Johnson, the president, who was also at the head of a bank in Logansport, disposed of his holdings in the local bank to a number of citizens and he was succeeded as president by H. A. B. Moorhous. In 1904 Mr. Moorhous was succeeded by J. D. Timmons. In October, 1905, the capital was increased to $50,000, the officers remaining the same until January, 1910, when Samuel A. Carson succeeded Mr. Timmons as president and has continued as such ever since. In May, 1910, Bert Van Voorst became cashier, succeeding his father, Henry Van Voorst, who had died in the previous month. In January, 1911, the board of directors was increased to seven, and with one exception (in 1912, when Mr. Timmons was succeeded by Mr. Jones Brearley) the directorate has remained unchanged. The financial statement of the bank on March 4, 1915, shows resources of $399,965.23. Its liabili- ties include : Capital stock, $50,000; surplus, $25,000; discount and exchange, $11,993.52; deposits, $312,971.71.
MONTICELLO NATIONAL BANK
The Monticello National Bank (the only institution of the kind in White County) was organized April 2, 1902, with Thomas W. O'Connor
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(afterward the city's first mayor) as president and William K. O'Con- nell as vice president and cashier. With the exception that H. D. Shenk has been succeeded by D. D. McCuaig as assistant cashier, there has been no change in management or executive offices. The capital is still $50,000, and the surplus and profits have increased from $20,000 to $30,000; the deposits have reached $200,000.
WHITE COUNTY LOAN, TRUST AND SAVINGS COMPANY
The White County Loan, Trust and Savings Company was organized August 26, 1905. It lost its first home by fire in February, 1908, and in the following year completed the stone building now occupied opposite the Courthouse Square on Main Street. The company has increased its capital from $25,000 to $50,000, and its deposits now average $200,- 000; surplus, $15,000. Present officers: President, George W. Van Alstine ; vice president, George M. Biederwolf; secretary-treasurer, John M. Turner. The original officers were as follows: Capt. B. F. Price, president; John M. Turner, secretary-treasurer; A. K. Sills, first vice president, and J. L. Ackerman, second vice president.
FARMERS STATE BANK
Farmers State Bank, No. 360, of Monticello, was organized February 2, 1911, and began business April 1, 1911, with $25,000 capital, on West Broadway. The management bought the present location of Senator Turpie's heir, built thereon a two-story stone building which has been occupied since September 1, 1914. The first and present officers are : President, Jacob D. Timmons; vice president, F. J. White; cashier, B. B. Baker, and assistant cashier, J. A. Anheier.
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A GROUP OF WHITE COUNTY CHURCHES
CHAPTER XXV
RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND LITERARY
JOHN ROTHROCK, PIONEER DUNKARD-THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-THE OLD AND THE NEW SCHOOLS-SECOND, OR NEW SCHOOL CHURCH- PUBLIC HALL AS WELL AS CHURCH-UNION OF CHURCHES-BUILDING OF THE PRESENT CHURCH-THE METHODIST CHURCH FOUNDED- HOUSES OF WORSHIP-METHODIST PASTORS-THE DUNKARDS-HOW THEY SUPPORTED THE UNION-THE NEW DUNKARDS-THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH-FOUNDED IN MONTICELLO-CHURCH REORGANIZED-PASTORS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH-DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AND THE NEW CHURCH-THE ORPHANS' HOME-SOCIETIES-THE ODD FELLOWS- THE MASONS-KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS-GRAND ARMY POST-OTHER SOCIETIES-WOMEN'S CLUBS.
If he has followed the course of this history, the reader has noted that the pioneer settlers on the site of the present City of Monticello com- menced to arrange for their religious needs before all their physical necessities had been met. It speaks well for the human nature of those times, also, that such longings were relieved by unselfish souls as soon as manifested ; two or three had only to gather in His name and some faith- ful circuit rider, or local elder, would be promptly on hand to expound the gospel to the best of his ability. The field was small, it is true, but the workers were full of zeal, and Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Dunkards, Christians, New Lights and other denominations sought earnestly and patiently for their little bands of worshipers. First they met in private houses, then in schoolhouses-often occupying the same building at different Sundays, or week days, or different hours of the same day-and, as their enterprises prospered or dragged, they would erect separate church buildings, or withdraw from the field awaiting more propitious seasons of harvest.
JOHN ROTHROCK, PIONEER DUNKARD
John Rothrock, one of the donors of the land on which the city stands, was a leader and a minister in the Dutch Reform, or Dunkard Church, and was very active in its affairs until his death in 1860. Although his followers made no special effort to increase the formal membership of the society, its annual meetings, or out-of-door revivals, were largely attended, even by many Dunkards from a distance. As Mr. Rothrock was comparatively wealthy and the local members of the church were
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industrious and fore-handed, the society maintained for some years a strong and good influence on the community.
The Baptists and Presbyterians organized classes not long after the Dunkards took the field under Elder Rothrock, and in 1836, as has already been noted, the Methodists founded a society. The Presbyterians and the Methodists have maintained their organizations to the present time.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The Presbyterian Church was the first of the religious bodies to obtain such a firm standing as warranted the calling of a resident pastor, Rev. Alexander Williamson, but an even more important event in the history of local Presbyterianism was the coming to town of the eloquent evangelist, Rev. Samuel N. Steele. As an advocate of New School Pres- byterianism he inaugurated a series of revivals in January, 1843, and within two months had gathered a society of nearly a hundred members from all the other societies which had formed classes-Baptists, Old School Presbyterians and Dunkards.
THE OLD AND THE NEW SCHOOLS
The Old and the New School Presbyterians commenced building churches about the same time in 1843; but the history of the periods of disunion and subsequent union has been so well written by A. R. Orton that the writer is pleased to condense from one of his articles.
In the spring of 1836 the Presbytery of Logansport was petitioned by a number of members of the Presbyterian Church residing in White County that a church be organized in Monticello. The names of the petitioners were Zebulon Sheetz, Margaret Sheetz, Ann B. Sheetz, Austin C. Sheetz, Margaret Rees, Elizabeth Rees, Beersheba Cowan, Rhoda Cowan, Beersheba E. Cowan, Okey S. Johnson, Rebecca Johnson, Harriet Cowan, John Rees, Maria Wilson, Catherine Johnson, Martha Rees, Mary Ann Parker, Mary Ann Allen, Asa Allen and Lewis Dawson.
On May 7, 1836, at the house of John Wilson, who lived about a mile west of Monticello in a log cabin on the farm now known as the Moore Farm, the Presbyterian Church of Monticello was organized by the Rev. John Stocker, then of Delphi, Indiana, assisted by Rev. Michael Hummer, of Lafayette; Zebulon Sheetz, a ruling elder in Bloomery Church, Winchester Presbytery, Virginia, was chosen elder. On the day of the organization, John Wilson and Jonathan Harbolt were received as members upon profession of faith, and were elected and ordained ruling elders, and on the same day Isaac Reynolds and Joseph Scott, who had been elders in their eastern churches, were chosen to serve in the same capacity in the Monticello organization.
SECOND, OR NEW SCHOOL CHURCH
On January 21, 1843, thirteen members from the First, or Old School Presbyterian Church, organized the Second, or New School Church under
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
Rev. Samuel N. Steele, as noted. These original members were Thomas Downey, Catherine Downey, John Wilson, Maria Wilson, Okey S. John- son, Rebecca Johnson, Ellis H. Johnson, Catherine Rothrock, Mrs. Mary Reynolds, Mary Jane Reynolds, Miss Catherine Johnson, Mrs. Elizabeth Burns and Sarah Kepperling. From January until October Mr. Steele so added to the membership of the church that he had about a hundred, and although the Old School Church started a house of worship about the same time that the Second Church got one underway, the latter was the first to be completed-the pioneer structure of the kind in White County.
PUBLIC HALL AS WELL AS CHURCH
The old house of worship stood on the site of the church now occupied, and served its special, as well as not a few general purposes, until January 18, 1874. At the time it was built, and for some time after, it was con- sidered not only a great convenience for worshipers, but for public meetings of many kinds; it was sometimes used as a court room, and in that day was considered a valuable public improvement.
The First Church did not complete its building until 1846. It stood upon the site of what was afterward occupied by McCuiag's livery stable. After the union of the First and Second churches in 1867, it was sold to the Baptists, who moved the building to the east side of Bluff street south of Jefferson Street, but some years ago it was torn down.
Following Rev. John Stocker, who organized the original church, came Rev. A. T. Rankin and Rev. Alexander Williamson-the latter, in 1839, as the first resident pastor. Mr. Williamson occupied the pulpit when the division occurred, and was succeeded in the Old School Church by such pastors as Rev. Jesse Edwards, son-in-law of Zebulon Sheetz, Rev. J. M. Wampler, Rev. Robert Irwin, Rev. W. P. Kouts and Rev. S. R. Seawright.
Rev. William M. Cheever came to the Second Church as its first regular pastor in the fall of 1843, following the Steele revivals, and his successor, Rev. G. D. Miller, held the pastorate for nine years. Rev. B. F. Neal served about a year, and Rev. H. C. McBride a full decade. Rev. Edwin Black, Rev. William Wilmer, Rev. Amos Jones were in charge before the union.
UNION OF CHURCHES
Rev. S. R. Seawright took charge of the Old School Church in May, 1867, and a few months afterward the pulpit of the New School, or Second Church, having become vacant, it was proposed that the two bodies become one in fact as they had in spirit. Although they began to worship together in the New School church building, no organic union was effected until April, 1870; at that time the Second Church received permission from the New School Presbytery to be transferred to the Old School. The transfer was made a few months in advance of the completed union of the two General Assemblies at Pittsburgh, and in
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HISTORY OF WHITE COUNTY
May, 1870, Mr. Seawright was installed as pastor of the united local church, since which time six pastors have had charge of the work, and in the following order, Revs. John B. Smith, Sol C. Dickey, George L. Knox, H. G. Rice, Charles J. Armentrout and Fred W. Backemeyer.
BUILDING OF THE PRESENT CHURCH
In the meantime another church building had been commenced. Its construction was begun at the northwest corner of West Broadway and Illinois, in the spring of 1873, under the supervision of the building committee, Rev. S. R. Seawright, J. C. Reynolds and George Uhl. It was occupied for regular services in January, 1874, but the tower and entire exterior was not completed until 1878, and the auditorium was not considered fully prepared for dedication until December, 1886. The church, a large and handsome brick edifice of Gothic design, cost about $17,000, and its dedication also marked the semi-centennial of the found- ing of the original society.
Since then, or for nearly thirty years, the Presbyterian Church of Monticello has steadily progressed. It has a membership of 300 and is now under the pastorate of Rev. Fred W. Backemeyer, who succeeded Rev. C. J. Armentrout in December, 1913.
THE METHODIST CHURCH FOUNDED
The origin of Methodism in Monticello dates back to the year 1836, when a class of seven was formed at the store and tavern of a Mr. Orwig, on the site now occupied by Thomas W. O'Connor's residence, opposite the Public Library on Bluff Street. The members of this first Methodist society were Richard Worthington and wife Mary, Silas Cowger and wife Ruth, Rebecca and Sarah A. Cowger, and Rev. Hachaliah Vreeden- burg held services for them. Mr. Worthington was the class leader. At that time Monticello was a Methodist mission and was thus supplied until 1850; then as a circuit appointment until about 1860, when it became a station of the Northwest Indiana Conference. As a mission it was in the Crawfordsville, Logansport and Lafayette districts; as a circuit in the Lafayette and Delphi districts, and as a station has been at different times in the Lafayette, Battle Ground, Monticello, Valparaiso and South Bend districts. It is at present in the Lafayette District of the Northwest Indiana Conference.
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
Religious services were at first held at private houses in Monticello, but after several years the attendance and membership became too large to be thus accommodated, and the schoolhouse was then made the place of assembling, in common with other religious denominations of the village. In 1850 the society secured a church home by the erection of a frame building on the northwest corner of Main and Marion streets,
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just north of the Reynolds Block. It was sold to the Christian Church in 1887, and the edifice now occupied at the southwest corner of Main and Harrison streets was dedicated on August 26th of that year.
METHODIST PASTORS
From 1836 until 1850, inclusive, or while the Monticello society was a mission, it was served by Hachaliah Vreedenburg, John H. Bruce, Enoch Wood, J. J. Cooper, Jacob Colclazer, Benjamin T. Griffith, John. Edwards, Allen D. Beasley, Nathan S. Worden, J. W. Burns, S. N. Campbell, Matthew Fennimore and John Leach; while as a circuit, 1851- 59, by R. H. Calvert, Lucas Nebeker, Jacob Cozad, N. L. Green, Harvey S. Shaw, Thomas E. Webb and Andrew J. Sheridan ; and since it became a station, in 1860, by B. Wilson Smith, Charles B. Mock, Ferris Pierce, Samuel M. Hayes, John H. Cissel, John L. Boyd, Enoch Holdstock, John B. DeMotte, John E. Newhouse, David Holmes (D. D.), J. A. Clearwaters, Henry C. Neal, Oliver C. Haskell, W. G. Vessels, Conrad S. Burgner, Thomas Mason, James Johnson, W. P. Mckinsey, W. B. Slutz, Charles A. Brooke (D. D.), Isaac Dale, A. T. Briggs, A. H. DeLong, S. P. Colvin (D. D.), J. M. Brown, J. B. Rutter and H. L. Kindig (D. D.). Doctor Kindig has been pastor of the church since 1911. It has a membership of about 400 and is a strong and broad influence for good.
THE DUNKARDS
The Dunkards have now no regular church organization in Monticello. At the death of Elder Rothrock, in 1860, Rev. David Fisher and Rev. John Snowberger assumed charge of the congregation. Mr. Fisher pur- chased a farm on Pike Creek, erected a large building near his residence as a meeting place for members of the church and founded quite a strong society.
HOW THEY SUPPORTED THE UNION
The Civil war had an especially retarding influence on the progress of the Dunkards as religionists, for, although they were very patriotic and abhorred slavery, like the Quakers, the tenets of their religion for- bade them to resort to force of arms. "The only way they could help the Union cause," says a local historian, "was by the contribution of money, of which nearly all of them were well supplied, and thus it came about that an assessment was made upon them and the amount fixed at three hundred dollars per man for each and every man selected from the congregation, liable for military duty, to be determined by lot. A great many persons now living will remember the Dunkard draft which occurred in 1862. The mode of procedure may not be remembered so well except by those immediately interested, if any of them are yet living, and is worthy of record here.
"The enrolling officer of each county in the State was directed to enroll all the men in his county between eighteen and forty-five years of age, and note opposite the name of all those who were opposed to military
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service, on account of religious belief, that fact. After completing the enrollment a list of those who were conscientiously opposed to military . service was made out and apportionment made of the enrollment of able- bodied militia enrolled, and it was found that nine men would be required to pay commutation money, three hundred dollars each, to exempt them from service in the army. These were selected by lot under the super- vision of a commissioner appointed by the Governor. On a day appointed by the Commissioner the names of all those of proper age and not exempt by reason of bodily disabilities, were written on slips of paper and placed in a box and the first nine names drawn therefrom by the Commissioner were to be subjected to the payment of three hundred dollars each in lieu of military service. The draft took place in public at the Court House in Monticello, and the men drafted were all members of Elder Fisher's congregation. Mr. Fisher attended the draft meeting in person and paid the whole amount, twenty-seven hundred dollars, to the party authorized to receive it, and thus relieved his congregation from military service."
THE NEW DUNKARDS
In 1857 George Patton organized a class of what have been popularly called New Dunkards; the original body in White County was placed in charge of Rev. Uriah Patton. Elder Patton, its founder, built a meeting- house for the fast-increasing congregation near his residence in Jackson Township, and another was erected at Sitka, Liberty Township. These two societies were the predecessors of the flourishing Church of God at Idaville, which was founded in the early '70s.
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Unlike the Dunkards, the members of the Christian Church first obtained a foothold outside of the county seat before founding an organi- zation at Monticello. In 1849-50 Rev. R. C. Johnson organized a Chris- tian Church at the Palestine Settlement, Princeton Township, which was the first religious body in that part of the county, and Rev. James Thomas founded a society in West Point Township, to the south. The ministers named were the owners of large farms, were not dependent upon their parishioners for their livelihood, and spent all their spare time, night and day, in the work of mustering converts to their faith. The first meetings of the new societies were well attended and several Christian ministers were present from abroad, a united and enthusiastic revival continuing for a month or more ; and Reverends Johnson and Thomas did not confine their efforts to their home congregations, but traveled into adjoining counties and preached to the end of their lives. Rev. I. Goodacre is the present minister of the Palestine Christian Church.
FOUNDED IN MONTICELLO
In the spring and summer of 1854 Rev. Dr. Roberts, one of these Christian missionaries, who had become so well known in the outlying
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.
districts, held a series of meetings at Monticello, and, although a large number joined the church, a house of worship was not then provided. A Christian Church had been organized near what afterward became Sitka and a building erected about a mile northwest of that locality, in the neighborhood of the old Cullen and Conwell Settlement. Not a few faithful members from Monticello and vicinity attended the services in that locality for years.
CHURCH REORGANIZED
In March, 1887, the trustees of the Methodist Church in Monticello offered for sale their property on the corner of North Main and Marion streets; this consisted of a lot, a frame church building and a parsonage, and the few members of the faith who were then living at and near the county seat gladly availed themselves of the opportunity of providing a home for the revived organization at a reasonable cost. Dr. M. T. Didlake thereupon went to Indianapolis and presented the facts to the state board of the Indiana Christian Missionary Association, at its meeting April 9, 1887. The board promised him that if the property were secured the state Christian missionary evangelist, J. H. O. Smith, should come to Monticello hold a meeting and organize a Christian church. A. M. Atkinson, of Wabash, Indiana, a member of the Indiana. Christian Mis- sionary Association, afterward examined the property and agreed to advance one-third of the purchase money for one year without interest. At the expiration of that time, if a Christian Church should be estab- lished and trustees elected, he should be reimbursed and the property transferred to the trustees. On April 19th the property was purchased and deeded to A. M. Atkinson, M. T. Didlake and W. B. Keefer. All the terms of payment having been complied with, formal possession was given to Doctor Didlake, in behalf of the church, October 1, 1887.
Rev. J. H. O. Smith then began a series of meetings which resulted, on November 2d, in a partial organization of twenty-six members, or disciples of Christ. These original members of the church were Dr. M. T. Didlake and wife, R. Land, Sarah A. Mowrer, S. K. McClintic and wife, P. M. Benjamin and wife, Cordelia A. Chandler, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Rothrock, Mrs. Kate V. Cowger, Mrs. Ella Armstrong, Mrs. Mary C. Gow, W. B. Keefer and wife, W. P. Van Winkle, G. G. Wood and wife, J. Y. Stephenson, Mrs. Mary A. Casad, Lula Wood, May Benjamin, Joseph Mowrer and wife, Rachael Mowrer, Mrs. S. R. Temple and Miss . Anna Johnston.
The initial meetings continued until December 18, 1887, and resulted in a total membership of 134. The day before they closed the membership assembled in the church and effected a permanent organization by elect- ing M. T. Didlake, R. Land, P. M. Benjamin and S. K. McClintic, elders ; J. Y. Stepenson, John Cowger, H. P. Rothrock and C. E. Bailey, deacons ; Mrs. M. T. Didlake, clerk; Mrs. S. R. Temple, organist, and J. Y. Stephen- son, treasurer. In the following month R. Land, W. B. Keefer, H. P.
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Rothrock, John R. Cowger and M. T. Didlake were elected trustees, and the organization was thus completed.
PASTORS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Rev. E. B. Cross, of Valparaiso, preached during January and Feb- ruary, but as he could not secure release from previous engagements Rev. A. F. Armstrong succeeded him, still temporarily. Rev. E. A. Pardee was chosen at the conclusion of a series of meetings which materially added to the membership of the church, and continued as pastor until January, 1890. In the meantime a Ladies' Aid Society and other church auxiliaries were organized, an organ purchased and other improvements made.
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