USA > Indiana > Lake County > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a compendium of history 1834-1904 > Part 35
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WESLEY PATTEE.
Wesley Pattee, of West Creek township, belongs to that better class of citizens whose lives form the truest history of any portion of country, national or local, and his genealogical and personal record has many points of interest and worth to add to the value of this history of Lake county.
He is a native of northwestern Indiana, having been born in the county of LaPorte, May 22, 1836. He was the fifth of a family of eight children, six sons and two daughters, whose parents were Lewis and Susan ( Mun- ger) Pattee, and he is the youngest of the three yet living. the other two being : Cyrus, married and a retired farmer of Lowell : and Sophronia, wife of Volney Dickey. of Grant Park, Illinois. Two of the sons were in the Civil war as members of Company B, Twentieth Indiana Infantry, and were taken prisoners at the battle of Gettysburg and starved in the prison pens of Libby and Belle Isle. Mr. Pattee's father was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1803, and died aged seventy-three in 1876, He lived in Canada until he was of age, then came to Huron county. Ohio, where he remained till after his marriage, and took up his abode in LaPorte county, Indiana. at the first years of that county's history. From there, after a few years' residence. he moved over to West Creek township in this county, and twenty years later became a resident of Kankakee county, Illinois, where he passed the rest of his life. He purchased four hundred acres of land in this latter county. and in his later years enjoyed very comfortable circumstances. He was a successful man in business affairs, was known for his decided and strong
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character, and made his influence felt wherever he lived. His ancestry was traced back to France, while his wife was of Scotch lineage. His wife, Susan Munger by maiden name, was born in Seneca county, New York, in 1803. and she attained the great age of ninety-two years. She was a Pres- byterian in faith.
Mr. Pattee was reared in LaPorte county during the first twelve years of his life, and then in Lake and Kankakee counties. He is one of the men of the present who can look back to a log cabin school as the scene of their first educational experiences. The building which he recalls having attended in West Creek township was constructed of hewn logs and was about twelve by twenty feet in dimensions. He did his writing on a long board placed aslant on pins driven into the wall, and he sat on a rough bench with no back. The teacher's place of honor was a mere stool. Light and ventilation came through the apertures left by the removal of two logs, filled in with panes of glass. He studied the elementary spelling book and Smith's arith- metic, while seated around the big box stove that occupied the center of the room. Subscription schools were the only kind known at that time, and twenty dollars was looked upon as a munificent salary to pay a teacher each month. During his own lifetime and in this very township of West Creek Mr. Pattee has witnessed a progression and even revolution of educational methods and equipment such as were not brought about in all the centuries before the time of his youth. And not alone in education has Mr. Pattee seen and been a part of progress. He and his wife well remember when not a railroad crossed the bounds of Lake county, while now fifteen lines network the county in every direction. He has been in Chicago when the teams would mire down on the State street thoroughfare: Lowell was not thought of in his youth, and while he was growing up the now rich agri- cultural region of West Creek township was mainly a marsh.
When Mr. Pattee was twenty-six years old, on December 13. 1862, he married Miss Elizabeth Pattee, and they have lived and plied their daily tasks side by side now for over forty years. During this time six children, three sons and three daughters, were born to them, and three are living. Hattie is the wife of Richard Sailor, a prosperous farmer of Eagle Creek township, this county, and they have seven children, all living, Walter, Mun- ger, Elmer, Chester, Mabel, Cirilla and Mildred, of whom Walter and Mun-
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ger have reached the eighth grade in school ; Mrs. Sailor was a teacher for two years in her home county. Miss Cora, who was educated in the Lowell high school, is noted for her special proficiency as an artist in crayon and oil. and some of her finely wrought crayon pieces hang on the walls of the Lowell National Bank and attract attention from all visitors, while her exhibits at the county fair have always won the ribbons. Cyrus, the only son living of Mr. and Mrs. Pattee, took two years' work in the Lowell high school and completed the course in the Vories Business College at Indian- apolis in 1902. He is a member of the Lowell band, affiliates with the Knights of Pythias. lodge No. 300, at Lowell, and with the Knights of Columbia Council No. 37, and is a stanch Republican and an ardent supporter of "Teddy" and his party.
Mrs. Pattee was born on Door prairie, Scipio township, LaPorte county. February 13. 1837, and was the second in a family of twelve children, six sons and six daughters. she being the oldest of the five survivors; Melvina is the wife of C. C. Pattee, a retired farmer of Lowell: Emily is the widow of Israel Koplin, of Kansas; George is married and farming in LaPorte county : and James is married and residing on the old homestead in LaPorte county. Mrs. Pattee's father was born in Canada and came to Huron county. Ohio, at the age of twelve, growing to manhood there. He was a carpen- ter and joiner by trade, and was also a sailor on the great lakes, having put into the port of Chicago when there were but two houses there. He came to LaPorte county and purchased land of the government, being among the very early settlers of that county, and his son James has in his possession the parchment deed to the land. He was an old-line Whig and later a Republican. He and his wife were members of the Baptist church at Door Village, and he helped erect the edifice there. His wife was born in Huron county. Ohio, and was seventy years old at the time of her death.
Mr. and Mrs. Pattee began their domestic life in Yellowhead township in Kankakee county, Illinois, and lived for a time in a little log cabin home, butt prosperity soon came to them and gave them a good home and com- fortable circumstances. They resided in Kankakee county until 1882, when they took up their home a half a mile from the postoffice of Lowell in West Creek township. They remodeled the house into a pretty country residence. put up various good buildings on the farm, and their estate is now known
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as one of the valuable and model farm properties of the township. They have one hundred and six acres lying in West Creek and Cedar Creek town- ships, and of this twenty-six acres lie within the corporation of Lowell. One of their valued possessions is a parchment deed executed April 1, 1848. under the signature of President Polk, and this is one of the few docu- ments of the kind in west Lake county.
Mr. Pattee is a Republican, having cast his first presidential vote for the first Republican nominee, General Fremont, and he has never deviated in his support of the Grand Old Party. Mrs. Pattee is a member of the Chris- tian church.
DANIEL BEAUMAN STURTEVANT.
Daniel Beauman Sturtevant, of section 28. Ross township, has lived in this vicinity all his life, and from his boyhood days of sixty years ago to the present almost the entire development of Lake county has taken place, so that few men are better informed by actual personal experience of the ma- terial history of this portion of the county. He has lived continuously on one farm for over fifty-five years, and all the associations and interests of his life are bound up with it, and there it is his good pleasure to pass the re- maining days of his busy and prosperous career and await the summons from an activity that has borne much fruit and been worthy and beneficial to the community in general.
Mr. Sturtevant was born in Porter county, Indiana, just three miles east of the farm where he has lived so long, on April 27, 1840. His father. John Sturtevant, was born in the town of Barton, Vermont, in 1806, and was reared, educated and married there. He came to LaPorte county, In- diana, in 1833. being one of the first carpenters to follow his craft in that now populous county. In 1836 he moved to Porter county, locating on the farm where he remained until 1848, when he settled on the old farm in Lake county now owned by his son, and where he died on January I, 1858. He belongs to the list of early settlers of the county, and was also successful in his general career. He married Miss Louise Cass, who was a native of New Hampshire and a cousin of Dr. Lewis Cass, who was one of the pioneers and foremost men of Lake county. She died at the age of thirty-eight years, having been the mother of three sons and three daughters.
Mr. D. B. Sturtevant, who was the second child and eldest son, was
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eight years old when he went with his parents to Lake county, so that most of his boyhood was spent on the farm which as a man he has tilled and made the source of his livelihood. He is now the owner of about five hundred acres, some of it in Porter county, and on this he is still actively engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He has about a hundred and fifty head of cattle and a good lot of hogs. His farm is one of the model places of the township, and he has made it so mainly by his own labors and most efficient management. Mr. Sturtevant was a raiser of the registered Herefords for a number of years, but has now retired from that business. He has given his best years and efforts to this life work, but has also taken an intelligent interest in the world about him, co-operating in community affairs and regu- larly casting his ballot at national elections for Democratic principles.
Mr. Sturtevant was married in 1866 to Miss Eugenie Wood, who was born in Iowa, but came to Lake county in girlhood. They are the parents of four children, John, Judson, Flora and Carrie. John was a student of Valparaiso College. Mrs. Sturtevant was born in Keosauqua, Iowa, Octo- ber 31, 1844, a daughter of John and Caroline (Brown) Wood. Her father was a native of Vermont and her mother of Virginia. Her great-grand- father, David Wood, was a hero in the Revolutionary war, and the gun he carried in the war is yet in the family as a souvenir.
Mrs. Sturtevant was reared and educated in Ohio. She came from a family of teachers. Mrs. Sturtevant is a member of the Christian church of Deep River, Indiana.
EDWIN MICHAEL.
Edwin Michael is one of the native born citizens of Lake county and one who has an honored place in the county as an upright man and citizen. He is one of the oldest of those still living who were born in this county of Lake. He was born September 17, 1840, being the older of the only two living children of John J. and Wealthy Ann (Green) Michael, his brother being William H. Michael, who is a prosperous farmer in this county and a raiser of blooded Durham cattle, and whose personal history will be found on other pages of this work.
His father was a native of New York state, was born March 22, 1811, and died about 1898. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and in the after years of his career followed farming. He was reared to the age of
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twenty-eight in New York state, receiving his education in the old-fashioned public schools of that early epoch. About 1839 he came to Lake county, Indiana, having been married to Miss Green in the state of Michigan. He was a poor man when he came to this county, and his first purchase of real estate was one hundred and sixty acres of state land. at a cost of about a dollar and a half an acre. His first habitation was a litle log cabin, in which his son Edwin and the other children were born. He added to his land until his estate at one time comprised three hundred acres of choice land. He was in politics an old-line Whig, merging later into a Republican, the cardinal tenets of which party he advocated all his life. He and his wife were Bap- tists. His wife, who was a native of Michigan, died at the age of about twenty-six years, when her son Edwin was about six years old.
Mr. Edwin Michael was reared in Lake county, with the exception of four years spent in Westville, LaPorte county. He received a good con- mon school education and had the benefit of attendance at the well-known Westville high school. He also took the literary course at the old University of Chicago, when that institution was located on Cottage Grove avenue. He taught school for two years in Haskell station in LaPorte county, and for two years in Lake county. He is a man of more than ordinary intellectual attainments, and as a farmer and as a business man has been noted for his progressive ideas and energetic activity.
When this country was in the throes of war and civil strife he bravely offered his services. and his life if need be. to the Union and the honor of the old flag. He enlisted at Lowell, August 12, 1862, in Company A, Ninety-ninth Indiana Infantry, and his regiment rendezvoused at South Bend. The first captain was Daniel F. Sawyer, but before the company re- turned from the front there were three other captains. namely. K. M. Burn- ham, R. H. Wells and Alfred H. Heath. His regiment was assigned to the western department under General Sherman, and he was with this intrepid commander on his most memorable campaign. He participated at the siege and capture of Vicksburg, was at the battles of Lookout Mountain, Chatta- nooga and Missionary Ridge, being in the charge up the east end of Mission- ary Ridge. Then he was under fire for one hundred continuous days during the Atlanta campaign. At the battle of Resaca he was in the hottest fight of his career, one of his comrades being shot down at his side and he himself
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narrowly escaping the storm of death. He was on the skirmish line at the fierce engagement at Dallas. He made the famous march to the sea across the state of Georgia, in which Sherman's men cut a swath sixty miles wide. From the sea he was on the long march up through the Carolinas on to Washington city. Two dates in his soldier's life he will never forget-the surrender of Lee and the assassination of Lincoln. He was at Raleigh, North Carolina, when the glad intelligence of the former reached the tired army, bringing joy and hope of home and friends to the poor soldiers. And five days later the death of the martyr president cast a gloom over the entire army previously so happy. On reaching Washington he participated in the grand review of Sherman's battle-scarred and tattered veterans, and on June 5. 1865. he received his honorable discharge, after having served his country faithfully for three years. He then went home and donned the peaceful garb of a civilian, to participate for the rest of his life in the work and public activity of his home community.
Mr. Michael married, January 1, 1866, Miss Thirza H. Dyer, and five children, a son and four daughters, have graced this union: Margaret A. is the wife of H. D. Gerrish, who is engaged in mining in Bay Horse, Idaho, and they have one child. Karlton. Earl J., who is a general merchant and dealer in mining supplies in the same locality of Idaho, married Miss Roles and has one daughter. Miss Ida L., who was educated in the common schools and at the Valparaiso Normal, has been a successful teacher in the city schools of Hammond for the past three years, and also taught four years in her home township. Miss Julia M., who was educated in the Hammond high school and at Valparaiso, is at home with her father ; is a teacher in her home township, and taught for two years in Idaho. Miss Edna R. was educated in the Hammond high school and is a teacher in Bay Horse, Idaho. Mr. Michael may well feel a large degree of pride in his children's enviable record in the field of active life.
Mrs. Michael was born in Wheaton, Illinois, February 4, 1844, and for some time was a successful teacher in that state. She is now an invalid.
Mr. Michael was old enough to cast a vote for Lincoln's second election, but was not permitted to vote because of being in the ranks. However, he has actively supported every candidate of the Grand Old Party ever since. He was elected in 1888 to the office of trustee of his township. this being
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the most onerous public office in the county. During his incumbency he supervised the erection of three schoolhouses and had to look after the wel- fare of twelve schools. He is a man well fitted by intelligence, experience and personal integrity to fill any office his fellow-citizens may give him, and he is public-spirited and thoroughly interested in everything pertaining to the growth and advancement of the county. His farm comprises one hundred and seventy-four acres of fine land all in West Creek township, and in the summer of 1903 he erected one of the most beautiful and modern residences in the township. Fraternally Mr. Michael is a member of Burnham Post No. 276. G. A. R., he being past commander. There are about sixty-five active members of the post at this writing, which is a large body considering the fact that the Grand Army is the only organization which never increases in number.
FRANK P. SHERART.
When the tocsin of war sounded in 1861 and men from all stations and walks of life flocked to the standard of the country to uphold the Union cause, Frank P. Sherart was among the number who donned the blue uni- form and went to the south in defense of the nation's starry banner, and in all matters of citizenship he has been equally loyal even though he has not worn the dress of the soldier. A native of Erie county, Ohio, he was born on the 28th of December, 1836, and is a representative of an old Pennsyl- vania family of German lineage. His father, George Sherart, was born in Pennsylvania in 1800 and in 1809 accompanied his parents on their removal to Erie county, Ohio, where he was reared, educated and married. He then located on a farm, removing afterward to Allegan county, Michigan, where he lived until 1853, when he came to Lake county, Indiana. He located in the southern part of this county and spent his remaining days upon his farm in West Creek township, where he died at the age of sixty-three years. He was a Whig in his political affiliation in early manhood. and upon the dis- solution of that party he joined the ranks of the new Republican party. His religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Cuddeback, was born in New York in 1799 and died in 1892 at the very advanced age of ninety-three ycars. She was of Holland descent. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. George
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Sherart were seven children, three sons and four daughters. all of whom reached adult age.
Frank P. Sherart, now well known in Lowell and Lake county, was the fifth child and third son of that family. He came to Lake county in 1854. when but seventeen or eighteen years of age. His education was acquired in the public schools of Michigan. Ohio and Indiana, and about 1858 he went from the last named state to Caldwell county, Missouri, where he was engaged in teaching in the district schools for four terms. About 1861 he returned to Lake county and began farming in West Creek town- ship, but the same year he responded to his country's call for aid to preserve the Union, enlisting as a member of Company B. Twentieth Indiana Volun- teer Infantry. He served as a private of that company for two years and was then honorably discharged on account of physical disability. He re- turned to his home, but as soon as he had sufficiently recovered his health he re-enlisted. this time becoming a member of Company C. One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He joined the regiment as a private and was afterward commissioned second lieutenant of Company C. with which he served for three months, after which he returned to Indian- apolis, Indiana. His next enlistment made him a member of Company K, One Hundred and Forty-second Indiana Infantry, but though he joined this command as a private he was soon made second lieutenant and was afterward promoted to the rank of adjutant of the regiment. He served until after the close of the war when, in July, 1865, he was honorably discharged. He was a brave and loyal soldier and gallant officer and he never faltered in the performance of any duty throughout his military experience.
On returning to private life Mr. Sherart engaged in farming in West Creek township. Lake county, but in 1865 removed to Lowell, where he began merchandizing, carrying on that pursuit for a number of years. He was also for several years engaged in contracting and bridge building, but is now living retired, having acquired a competence which enables him to put aside his business cares and spend his remaining days in the enjoyment of the fruits of his former toil.
On the 23d of September. 1868. Mr. Sherart was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Craft. a daughter of H. W. and Mary R. (Beach) Craft, who came from Fredericktown. Knox county. Ohio, to Lake county, Indiana,
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in March. 1857. They settled at Crown Point. The Craft family traces its ancestry back to 1050. About that time the spelling of the name was changed from Croft to its present form. H. W. Craft. the father of Mrs. Sherart. was a miller and millwright by trade and built a mill at Crown Point and also one at Lowell. He also became a large landowner and was prominent and influential in industrial circles in this part of the state. To him and his wife were born seven children, two sons and five daughters, of whom Mrs. Sherart is the third child and third daughter. By her marriage she has become the mother of two children: Maude, the elder. is the wife of Theodore Henry, who is assistant manager of the Denver Republic, pub- lished at Denver, Colorado, and they have one son, Sherart, who is now four months old. Charles, the younger child, is an electrician located at Hammond, Indiana.
Mr. Sherart has voted for each presidential candidate of the Repub- lican party since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He has been a trustee of the town of Lowell, but has never been very active in seeking public office, preferring to do his duty as a private citizen. His business interests have largely claimed his time and attention, and through their careful conduct he has eventually won a very gratifying measure of prosperity.
FRED L. SUNDERMAN.
Fred L. Sunderman is one of the representative citizens and agri- culturists of West Creek township, and a man who, by his industry, honesty and integrity, has proved himself worthy of the confidence of the public. He is a fine type of the young and progressive farmer, and has been very successful in this line of work, but he is also well remembered in the township for his excellent work as an educator, and his influence and efforts are still cast strenuously for higher ideals in all departments of civilization.
He is a native son of the township in which he has played so important a part since arriving at manhood. He was born April 9. 1866, and is the third of the eight children, three sons and five daughters, born to Simon and Lena (Moeller ) Sunderman. Seven of the children are yet living, three in West Creek township, and the others are as follows: Simon is a farmer of Vinemont, Alabama, and is married; August, who is a successful rancher at Pilot Rock, Oregon, having a wife and family, is also a minister of the
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Christian church, and after his education in the public schools he took a theological course at Berea College; Margaret, who is a resident of Chicago, is a successful teacher in the city schools; Lena is a resident of Lowell, and wife of Peter Danstrom.
The history of father Sunderman is most edifying to this generation, and shows what German pluck and perseverance can do in this country. He was born in Lippe-Detmold, Germany, in 1831. and is still living in West Creek township, being the owner of the estate of one hundred and thirty-four acres which his son Fred now conducts for him. He was reared and educated in his native land, and was there married to the good woman who so nobly assisted him through many subsequent years. While in young manhood he emigrated to America, embarking on a sailing vessel at Bremer- haven, and being on the ocean six weeks before he landed at New York. He came at once to Lake county, Indiana, and about forty dollars in cash was all the worldly possessions he had at the outset of his career. He began wage-earning at thirteen dollars a month, and after continuing this for a year came to West Creek township, where for three years he worked on the shares. He finally purchased eighty acres, going in debt for it, but by indus- try he cancelled the indebtedness and continued adding to his landed estate until he now has one hundred and thirty-four acres, with all its excellent improvements, forming a monument to his former diligence and prosperity from small beginnings. He has never aspired to office, but is a stanch Republican and supports the doctrines of his party. He is a member of the German Methodist denomination at Cedar Lake. His good wife. who was born in the same part of Germany as he, died in 1890, and she was an indus- trious and frugal woman. While in Germany she worked for a money con- sideration of four dollars per year, which in itself is a graphic illustration of the difference in economic conditions on the two sides of the Atlantic.
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