USA > Indiana > Warren County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 32
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 32
USA > Indiana > White County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 32
USA > Indiana > Newton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 32
USA > Indiana > Pulaski County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 32
USA > Indiana > Benton County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 32
USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Biographical history of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton, Warren and Pulaski counties, Indiana, Volume II > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
Mr. Wolcott has given considerable attention to real-estate investments, one of which was the purchase of fifteen thousand acres of land in New York. He ditched the same to the extent of forty-four miles and disposed of it at a gratifying profit. During the war of the Rebellion he contracted
818
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
for the government for one million bushels each of corn and oats, and engaged largely in the cotton trade at that time. Upon the close of hostil- ities he came to Indiana, located at what is now Wolcott, which he founded and gave his name, and having bought ten thousand acres of land here, in 1858, he built his present residence in 1864 and in 1878 erected an elevator having a capacity of one hundred thousand bushels, together with corn bins capable of holding one hundred and thirty thousand bushels. He also owns, besides his six hundred acres of land, lead, copper and silver mines in Colo- rado, which are operated under the name of the Wolcott Mining Company.
The marriage of Mr. Wolcott was solemnized in Philadelphia, Febru- ary II, 1863, when he was united to Miss Georgiana Sayen, a daughter of George Sayen. She was born in the City of Brotherly Love in 1825 and died in 1867, aged forty-two years. One child is the issue of this mar- riage, Ebenezer, born May 5, 1866, who is now in partnership with his father. He is a graduate of Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Indiana. Mr. Wolcott is a thirty-third-degree Scottish-rite Mason. In politics he is independent, and served as state senator from 1866 to 1871, during the entire time of which he was chairman of the finance committee.
DAVID H. YEOMAN.
Lieutenant David H. Yeoman, of Rensselaer, may well be classed among the leading agriculturists of the state, for he has devoted much time and thought to the advancement of agricultural interests. He was born September 26, 1841, and is a son of Joseph D. and Sarah (Nowels) Yeoman. His father was born in Ohio November 17, 1803, and was there married, after which he moved to this state in company with John Nowels, the grand- father of our subject. They were the first white settlers in Jasper county, having located on the present site of Rensselaer. Mrs. Yeoman was the first white woman who came to the county, which was a wild, uncultivated waste, inhabited by Indians, and it may readily be imagined with what pleasure she greeted the next comer. A brief sketch of the grandfather appears on another page, in the biography of David Nowels. Joseph Yeo- man was a man of industrious habits. He moved to Newton township, and later to what is now Union township, where he entered land and made a home for himself and family. He resided here until his death, which occurred March 12, 1846, and although more than half a century has elapsed since his death, he is still remembered by the older residents as a man of sterling worth and an honorable, upright citizen. His widow passed away a few years later, and two children have since joined them in their heavenly abode. The record reads: Helen, born January 4, 1833, married a Mr.
S19
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
Warne and died October 13, 1860; Thomas J., born September 26, 1837, the first white child born within the borders of Jasper county, died February 17, 1867; David H., born September 26, 1841; and Sarah, wife of Mr. Lang, of Surrey, this county.
Lieutenant Yeoman was raised on his father's farm and in winter walked a mile or more to attend school, during three months of the year. The school-house was a log structure, with puncheon floors and rude seats of the most primitive sort, and the school itself was conducted along lines that would call a smile to the face of the modern pedagogue. However, some of our most renowned statesmen and brilliant lawyers, and even some of our presidents, received their fundamental knowledge from just such a source. It is not so much a man's environment as his will that makes or mars his future. Deer and all kinds of game were there in abundance, and nothing was more to the liking of our subject than to shoulder his rifle and start off on a hunting expedition. He can recall having sixteen deer-skins at one time, not as a result of hunting, but from animals killed while he was hunt- ing for the cows. He and his brother Thomas were of different tempera- ments, the latter being of a more studious nature and a great book-worm, while our subject loved all outdoor sport and the free life of the farmer. He enlisted in the Forty-eighth Indiana Regiment and served about a year, when he was discharged at Corinth, Mississippi, for disability, after taking part in the battles of Shiloh and Iuka. After his return home he assisted in organizing a company of home guards, of which he was made first lieu- tenant and drill-master. About this time Lieutenant Colonel Edwin P. Hammond, of the Eighty-seventh Regiment, later Colonel and the present Judge Hammond, came home to recruit for his regiment. Captain Yeoman assisted him in recruiting, returned with him to the front of battle, and was made first lieutenant of Company A, Eighty-seventh Regiment. He par- ticipated in some of the most decisive engagements of the war, was in the Atlanta campaign, was present at the surrender of Atlanta, and marched with Sherman to the sea, being in the Fourteenth Army Corps. He was brevetted captain about the close of the war, took part in the grand review in Washington, and was mustered out in June, 1865.
Captain Yeoman now turned his attention once more to agricultural life, and resumed the cultivation of the old homestead, which he eventually pur- chased, and still owns. He is a very prosperous farmer, his landed posses- sions covering some five hundred and seventy acres. He was married Octo- ber 5, 1865, to Miss Mary E. Morris, a daughter of James T. and Elizabeth (Hershman) Morris. They came to Jasper county in 1851, and here resided until the death of the father, in April, 1895. The mother is now in her eighty-second year, and makes her home with her children. Captain Yeo-
-
820
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
man and wife became the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters, as follows: Elpha L., Dallas M., Victor P., Daisy, James, Har- riet M., David V., and Etta, who was born in 1873 and died February 26, 1895. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, while the Captain is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, and commander of Rensselaer Post, No. 84, G. A. R. He has for years been one of the best known and respected citizens of the county, and is frequently called on to preside at meetings held in the interest of agriculture. He has at different times been a member of the state executive of the Grange; president of the State Alliance; member of the State Board of Agriculture; and president of the Jasper County Agricultural Society. In his early days he was a Repub- lican, but as new issues came up in that organization he found that his views no longer coincided with those of that party, and he casts his vote with the party that nearest represents his idea of right. In 1884, he was candidate for the state legislature on the Greenback ticket, and made a strong race. In 1892 he was the Populists' candidate for congress, and in his own county ran ahead of his ticket over one hundred votes. He was the Democratic nominee in 1898 for joint representative of Jasper and Lake counties and cut down his opponent's majority in Jasper county from over three hundred and fifty to fifty-four and in Lake county from about nine hundred to five hun- dred. This shows the extreme popularity of the Captain.
E. BURRITT DIBELL.
A well-known and highly esteemed resident of Wolcott, where he con- ducts a banking business, Mr. Dibell was born in Grant county, Wisconsin, May 2, 1856. He is a son of Elihu L. and Elizabeth A. (Bliss) Dibell, the former of whom was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, October 16, 1825, the son of Obed and Patine (Baldwin) Dibell. Our subject's father attended the common schools, and later the academy, of Kingsville, Ohio, and remained on his father's farm in Ashtabula until 1854, when he removed to Will county, Illinois, remaining there a year, then moving to Grant county, Wisconsin, where he stayed three years. He next took up his residence in Fillmore county, Minnesota, and entered land, farming the same for six years, and going thence to Winneshiek county, Iowa, where he remained for one year, and then again lived in Will county, Illinois, for three years. We next find him cultivating land in Kendall county, Illinois, and after seven years' resi- dence there he, in 1875, came to a one-hundred-and-seventy-five-acre farm, two miles southwest of Wolcott. Here he farmed for a number of years, and then entered the lumber business at Remington, Indiana, in which he continued for five years, when he disposed of his interest in that business and
821
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
retired from active life, taking up his residence in Wolcott, where he lives in ease and comfort, after many years of toil. Mrs. Dibell was, before her marriage, Miss Elizabeth A. Bliss, daughter of Beriah and Polly Lucella Bliss, natives of Greene county, New York. Of this marriage, our subject was the first-born, the others being: Arthur, who died in youth; Edwin J., who is in the hardware business at Wolcott; and Homer B., who is an at- torney at Duluth, Minnesota. Homer B. is a graduate of the State Univer- sity at Bloomington, Illinois, and of the Chicago Law College. He has a large practice, and represents the Rockefeller interests at Duluth, Minnesota, in which city he was elected circuit judge, in 1898, for a term of six years.
E. Burritt Dibell followed his father in his various changes of residence, and was educated in the public schools of Wolcott and in the Jennings Semi- nary, at Aurora, Illinois. For several years he farmed eighty acres of land one mile southwest of Wolcott, and later dealt in real estate. He clerked in the general store of Adams & Company, of Remington, for a short time, and then came to Wolcott, where, in partnership with his brother, Edwin J., he conducted a general store for three years, when the business was sold. In 1886 Mr. Dibell organized the Bank of Wolcott. He was elected cashier, Robert Parker, of Remington, being the president, and these officers have acted in the same capacity since the founding of the institution. W. F. Brooker, agent of the Panhandle Railroad, was elected vice-president in 1898. This bank is the oldest in White county, and conducts a general banking business.
Mr. Dibell was united in marriage, in 1881, to Miss Almira J. Gearhart, daughter of George W. Gearhart, a native of Illinois. Of this union three children were born, all of whom are at home, attending the schools at Wol- cott. Their names are Earl, Mabel and Harry. Mrs. Dibell died in 1892, at the age of thirty-four. The second wife of our subject was Miss Veta J. Lisk, daughter of William and Sarah Lisk, of Wolcott, Indiana. Mr. Dibell is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having become affiliated with that order seventeen years ago, and is also identified with the Knights Templar and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a Republican.
NOBLE J. YORK.
The character or standing of a town depends largely upon its class of business men, whether they are enterprising and aggressive or the reverse, and whether they are reliable and upright or not in their financial methods. Monon is specially fortunate in this respect, for no place of its size can boast of more progressive, substantial and square-dealing merchants. Of its repre- sentative citizens is the gentleman whose name forms the heading of this
822
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
article. For several years he has been engaged in the practice of law and in the real-estate, insurance, loan and collection business in this place, and has won an enviable position in the regard of his fellow citizens and in the respect of all with whom he has had business transactions. He is also local collec- tion agent for a number of leading commercial houses of Chicago and else- where, and owns considerable fine business and residence property in this city and vicinity.
Mr. York is the fifth in order of birth of seven children born to John G. and Susan N. (Howard) York, natives of Ohio and New York, respectively. The father, who was of English descent, was a carpenter by trade, and pur- sued that calling in his native state and in Franklin county, Indiana, whither he removed in his early manhood. Mrs. York, who was of German extrac- tion, became the mother of two sons and five daughters, namely: Francis O., Asbury C., Victoria M., Cinderella S., Noble J., Florence L. and Flo- rella, twins.
The birth of Noble J. York occurred in Laurel, Franklin county, Indiana, and in his boyhood he attended the district schools of the neighborhood of his home. When sixteen years of age he embarked in the business of mak- ing his own livelihood and for some time was employed as a clerk in the store of a Mr. Wymond in Connersville, Indiana. Next he was a clerk in a book store of James Broadbelt in the same town, and later he accepted a position in the store of his brother-in-law, William H. Rhoades, in Rensselaer, Indiana. About this time he concluded to try his fortunes in the west, and, going to Omaha he found employment in the service of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, then in its infancy, as it owned but twenty-five miles of track and but five engines. Mr. York became manager of the stores and master mechanic's department, and continued with the company until the road was completed. He then worked for the Denver Pacific until its lines were finished, and had the honor of decorating the first engine which went into Denver, Colorado. He remained at his post of duty with the corpora- tion up to the time of its transfer to the Kansas Pacific Railroad in 1872, when he returned to Indiana. Settling in Indianapolis he bought out the store of Mr. Hanson, dealer in gentlemen's furnishing goods, and went into partnership with Mr. Morrow, under the firm name of York & Morrow. Their location was an excellent one, at the corner of Illinois and Washington streets, in the Claypool building, and the rentals paid by them amounted to twenty- five hundred dollars per annum. At the end of two years Mr. York disposed of his interest in the business and went to Rensselaer, where he became a clerk in the general merchandising establishment of A. Leopold. In 1883 he came to Monon, and for two years was general manager of a branch store . of the one at Rensselaer, owned by A. Leopold. He next embarked in busi-
823
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
ness on his own account as a general merchant, and sold out at the expira- tion of two years, to good advantage. Since that time he has been inter- ested in the lines of business previously mentioned, -law, real estate, insur- ance, loans and collections, -and has met with success in this departure.
In politics Mr. York has taken much interest, and, as a Republican, has been instrumental in the success of his party. He was president of the town board here for two years, but, aside from this, has never occupied public office. Fraternally, he belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and for two years was grand master of the state association. Religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In August, 1886, he mar- ried Miss Emma M. Harding, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Samuel F. and Hannah (Redex) Harding. To this union four children have been born,-Myrtle A., Noble H., Howard R. and Delos F.
HON. A. W. REYNOLDS.
Judge Reynolds, a leading lawyer of White county, Indiana, and a resi- dent of Monticello, is a man remarkable for the range of his learning and his exceptional capacity displayed in the legal field. He is an Ohioan by birth and an Indianian from long residence. He is the son of Ebenezer and Eliza- beth (Yost) Reynolds. His mother, a native of Ohio, died when he was but two weeks old; and his father, a farmer by occupation, died in 1861. Five sons and two daughters composed the family of children.
Mr. Reynolds was born near Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, September 16, 1839, and was reared on a farm, as have been most of America's illus- trious men. He attended the country schools and the high school at Somer- set, and came to this village in 1856, entering the high school here, then under the supervision of Professor Bowman, one of the best instructors in the state. He was an apt pupil, and his assiduous application to his books encouraged Professor Bowman to give him private instructions, under which he advanced so rapidly that he was soon ready to enter Wabash College, where he remained one year. He then entered Monmouth College, in Illi- nois, and remained one year. He left home to make his own way in the world when about seventeen years of age, and his progress has been con- stantly upward ever since. At first he was undecided between the professions of medicine and law, having a natural ability in both directions; and had the first been his choice he would undoubtedly have become a physician of note, as he is now able to diagnose a case with ease. However, he chose law as the more certain road to prosperity, and entered the office of Senator Turpie to study under his direction. He was so assiduous in his studies that his advancement was rapid, and in two years he was admitted to the bar and
1
824
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
began practicing at Winamac. He remained there one year, and in 1865 located in Monticello, where he has built up a practice at once lucrative and extended, his clientele covering a large territory and embracing many cases of intricacy which require both tact and skill to successfully manage.
He was married to Miss L. G. McGee, of this state, who bore him one child, George, who has been admitted to the bar, and is now practicing with his father. Politically Mr. Reynolds is a Democrat and has the attributes of a successful politician, but has refrained from taking an active part in poli- tics, as he is wedded to his profession and allows nothing to interfere with it, although his counsel and advice are frequently sought and freely given. In 1868 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Carroll, Benton and White counties, serving two terms, and was then prevailed upon to enter the race for state senator. The district was made up of the counties of White, Pu- laski, Jasper, Newton and Benton, all strong Republican precincts, and it was expected that any Democrat who might be nominated would be defeated by several hundred votes. When the returns were all in, it was found that he was defeated by only twenty-two votes, -showing his great popularity and the confidence reposed in him. In 1888 he was elected to the office of circuit judge for the thirty-ninth judicial district, comprising White and Carroll coun- ties. He was on the bench six years, showing a rare analytical mind, a dis- criminating and sound judgment as a lawyer, and a learning and impartiality which commanded respect, while his own dignified deportment inspired de- corum in others. Since that time he has returned to private practice. His library is most complete, containing not only text-books of the best authority, but reports of the various states, and United States decisions. He is a man of pleasing address, and is an orator who adorns his calling, his eloquence appealing to the common sense of his hearers, and his logic being strong and convincing.
HON. GEORGE BURSON.
For more than two-score years the Hon. George Burson has been a prominent figure in the public affairs of Pulaski county and northern Indiana. Coming here, as he did, in his early manhood, he concluded to make his permanent home in Winamac, and from that time until the present he has been very actively interested in the prosperity of this locality, advancing its welfare in many ways.
It is probable that the Bursons came to America with one of the colonies founded in Pennsylvania by William Penn, and certain it is that they were all identified with the Society of Friends down to and including the grand- father of our subject. George Burson, for such was his name, owned a mill,
Geo. Burson
825
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
distillery and plaster factory in Loudoun county, Virginia, at one time, but lost nearly all of his property during a disastrous flood, and was obliged to begin his financial life over again. With his family he removed to Colum- biana county, Ohio, where he died within a short time, aged seventy-five. years. His wife bore the maiden name of Susan Kent, and their children were named as follows : Benjamin, born in 1797 ; Hannah, born in 1799 ; Stephen, born in 1801 ; Silas, born in 1803; Elijah, in 1806 ; Elizabeth, born in 1808, became the wife of Stephen Cole; Thomas, born in 1810 ;. George in 1811 ; Aaron, in 1815 ; James, in 1817 ; and Nathan, in 1819.
James, father of our subject, was but six years old when he left his na- tive state, Virginia, and settled with his parents in Columbiana county, Ohio .. In the early part of the '30s he located in Hancock county, and engaged in the practice of medicine. In 1843 he removed to Van Wert county, Ohio, and was engaged in professional labors there until his death, in Sep- tember, 1846. At that time he was serving in the responsible office of county treasurer, having been elected on the Democratic ticket. He was a man of commanding presence, six feet and one inch in height, and well propor- tioned. He married Fiana Dickey, who had been born October 13, 1815, in Pennsylvania, and in girlhood accompanied her father, James Dickey, to Columbiana county, Ohio. The Dickeys were of Irish and German extrac- tion. Mrs. Burson was an only daughter, and her two brothers were James and Moses. After the death of her first husband she became the wife of his brother Silas. The children of the first marriage were George; Martin Luther, born January 5, 1846, and now a successful physician of Streator, Illinois ; Henry Gustavus, born in 1842, enlisted in the Ninety-ninth Illinois Infantry, was transferred to the artillery service, and was killed at the battle of Mission Ridge ; Commodore Perry, born in 1844, enlisted in 1861, served in Company H, Forty-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was killed at the battle of Champion Hills, Mississippi, May 16, 1863 ; and Wellington Bonapart, born July 10, 1846, married Lucy Uptegraf, and has three chil- dren, being now the city engineer of Streator, Illinois. By the second mar- riage of our subject's mother two daughters were born : Laura, who married Thomas McGowan, and resides at Rensselaer, Indiana ; and Ura L., who is the wife of Shubel Pearson, a merchant of Winamac.
George Burson was born February 24, 1837, in the village of Elkton, Ohio, and received his primary education in the public schools. When he was about fifteen he entered the Findlay Male and Female Seminary, at Find- lay, Ohio, and pursued a systematic course in civil engineering and survey- ing for two years. In November, 1853, he arrived in Winamac, where his mother and stepfather had settled the previous spring, and until 1859 he taught school in the winter and worked on the farm in the summer time. In
53
826
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
1858 he was appointed deputy sheriff, and served under Charles Cleland for two years, in the meantime studying law, under the guidance of A. I. Gould. In the spring of 1861 he embarked in the long and successful legal career which was crowned in 1884, by his election to the bench, as judge of the cir- cuit court, Starke county, as well as Pulaski county, being included in his juris- diction. Upon the expiration of his first term of six years, he was honored by re-election, and continued in the responsible position until 1896, winning the favorable opinion of the public and the profession. During his term of office the court-house was built; and, though it is considered one of the best in the state, it was erected at less expense than many in other counties, ow- ing to the watchfulness and integrity of Judge Burson, who took great inter- est in guarding the people's welfare in the matter. As early as 1868 he was elected district attorney of Lake, Porter, Starke, Pulaski and Jasper counties, and served two years, with great credit to himself and friends. His first part- mer in the practice of law was John W. Ryan, now of Muncie, Indiana, the firm being Ryan & Burson for about a year. Mr. Ryan then moved away from this place and the Judge continued alone until his election to the bench.
As might be expected of so patriotic a citizen, the Judge cast aside all of his ambitious plans at the beginning of the civil war, and on October 4, 1861, enlisted in Company H, Forty-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, being com- missioned as first lieutenant. On the 29th of the following March he was promoted to a captaincy, and April 17, 1863, he was commissioned major of the First Regiment of Arkansas Volunteers, later known as the Forty-sixth United Stated Colored Infantry. On account of a very severe illness he was forced to resign his position, and was honorably discharged in 1864 after long and distinguished service.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.