History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 54

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Kingman Brothers
Number of Pages: 366

USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 54

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).

"Order No. 9, as interpreted by you, will not be respected uor obeyed by the people of Indiana, for the plain, substantial reason that, however patriotic may have been your motive in issuing it, it is not entitled to respeet and obedience. It is not the law of the people of Indiana ; they have not made it, nor assented to it, and you are not their rightful Governor, nor Legislator. Indiana is not a Prov- ince, nor a Territory, but a State, a free sovereign State of the Federal Union- one of the United States of America. It is not in rebellion, nor in a state of war, nor "disloyal." It bas a Constitution and laws of its own, all aceordaut with the Constitution of the United States. It has a Constitutional Governor and Legisla- ture and Judiciary, to whom helong of right, tbe control and conduet of the civil affairs of the State-the making, administering and execution of its laws, and the conservation of the politieal rights of its citizens. The wbole machinery of civil government in Indiana is ready to work, and will work in harmony with the con- stitutional Government of the United States if you will let the machinery alone, and recognize the fact that the military should be subordinate to the eivil power. Among the civil rights of the people of Indiana, are the rights of free speech, a free press, and free courts. These rights are dear and estimable to freemen -- for- midable to tyrants only. The people of Indiana have done nothing to forfeit these riglits. They cannot forfeit tbem, for they are inherent and inalienable. They cannot with safety permit them to be violated in the person of one of the humblest of the citizens of the State. Your Order No. 9, therefore, which palpa- bly assumes an authority in yourself, as Military Governor of Indiana, to ahro- gate or snspend the constitutional rights of free speech and free press in Indiana, cannot stand the ordeal of diseussion, judicial investigation or attempted execu- tion. The merest tyro in knowledge of constitutional law, knows this. The people of Indiana are not slaves-they are freemen. They will read and think -- they will assemble and make and hear speeches ; they will freely diseuss public affairs, and freely resolve and vote upon them-and they will organize politieal parties, some opposed to, some favoring the Administration, and you eannot prevent it."

In the XXXVIIIth Congress, Mr. Edgerton was a member of the Commit- tee on Naval Affairs, but for over two months of the first session was kept from his seat by sickness from small-pox. During his term in Congress, he spoke in opposition to the Republican measures of confiscation, the Constitutional amend- ment as to slavery, and on reconstruction, taking conservative Democratie ground. He was re- nominated for Congress in 1864, against Joseph H. Defrees, of Goshen, hut was defeated hy 580 majority. His term in Congress ended March 4, 1865.

At this point, it may not be out of place to notice Mr. Edgerton's connection with a faet in Indiana's political history, in regard to which great misapprehension has existed.

Pending the canvass of 1864, and the enforcement of the draft of that year, the State was greatly excited, as well by the draft as on account of the supposed treasonable schemes of the Order of Sons of Liberty, or Knights of the Golden Cirele, so called, whose purposes and doings, real or imaginary, were much commented on by Republican apcakers and the presa.

Mr. Edgerton had never heen a member of any such Order, nor in sympathy with it, for be believed that the Democratic party had no principles or purposes but that it eould avow and carry out by open peaceful organization and effort. In the midst of this excitement, he was invited to attend a meeting at Indian. apolis, on the 12th of August, of the Demoeratie State Central Committee.

There were rumors in the air of an intended outbreak of the Sons of Liberty, and the meeting was understood to have reference to those rumors and to the impending draft. The State Central Committee and other prominent Demoerats attended the meeting-among them, some men supposed to belong to the Sons of Liberty. A free conference was had, hut the entire spirit of the meeting was patriotie, conservative and law-abiding. Mr. Edgerton was requested to prepare a brief address, in the name of the Committee. There were confliet- ing views to be reconciled, and his draft, with some modifieations, was adopted, and the address published. It was made an immediate occasion hy Gov. Mor- ton for a leugthy proclamation "To the People of Indiana," in which he said : " As this document is of an extraordinary character, I deem it my duty to warn the people agaiust the consequences it seems intended to produce ; " and this declaration was followed by severe denuneiation of the address, as if it were designed to counsel the Democracy of Indiana to disloyalty and armed resistance to Federal authority.

Few men, now that the excitement and passion of those perilous days have happily subsided, and since Gov. Morton has passed from earth, will question his patriotism ; but he was a party leader, and too often saw inen and actions through the medium of party, and he was never more mistaken than when he attached a disloyal purpose to the brief address referred to. With a full sense of moral responsibility, the writer of the address asserts the entire fidelity of its purpose to the publie peace and welfare. It was intended to avoid, and not produce, the consequences which Gov. Morton wrongly assumed it was " intended to pro- duee." It was intended to quiet, rather than excite, disturbance; and it is believed that that was its effeet ; and Gov. Morton did not write the truth of history when, by a public proclamation, he charged the Democratic party of the State with disloyalty to the Union and Constitution of their country. If the Democratic party of the Northern States had. in truth, been what its politieal opponents asserted it to be, a disloyal party, and in sympathy with secession, secession would have heen a success and not a failure.

AGAIN IN RAILROADS.

In July, 1866, upon the solicitation of the Michigan Directors of the Com- pany, Mr. Edgerton became President of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company, on the lamented death of Samuel Hanna, who had held the position less than three months, but long enough to initiate movements at Fort Wayne and elsewhere in Indiana for important municipal and private aid to the road. This Company was then a deeply embarrassed and diseredited corporation, of over twelve years' existence, without credit or money. For more than ten years, it had held a land grant of about two-thirds of a million of acres of Michigan lands, to build a road from Grand Rapids to Traverse Bay, and, in 1864, Congress had enlarged the grant over 200,000 acres, and extended it to a line from Fort Wayne to Traverse Bay, but in July, 1866, not a mile of the road was built, nor a bar of iron laid or bought, and the land grant had been subjeet to immediate forfeit- ure from the 1st day of January, 1866. In December, 1866, iron was obtained to cominence traek-laying on the section of twenty miles between Grand Rapids and Cedar Springs, the first section required to be built under the land grant, ' and at the following session of the Michigan Legislature, in 1867, Mr. Edgerton submitted to it a printed memorial and argument for an extension of time to complete the road and the protection of the grant in the Company.

The prayer of the memorial was granted, though not without serious oppo- sition, and the land grant was protected by an extension act. The struggle to restore the Company's vitality and credit, and build the road, was a long and ardu- ous one. It was assailed by bitter and unserupulous enemies, but it survived their machinations and attacks, though not without great sacrifices and concessions to secure capital for the construction of the road. In August, 1871, after five years' service as President, Mr. Edgerton left the Company on the removal of its offiees to Grand Rapids, heing succeeded by William A. Howard, of Michigan.

In the mean time, the land grant had been fully protected, by the construe- tion and putting iu operation, under a contract with the Continental Improvement Company, of 200 miles of the road, from Fort Wayne to Paris, Mich. His counection with the Grand Rapids & Indiana road was the last of Mr. Edger- tou's railroad service of over ten years, of which five have been given to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago road, and five to the Grand Rapids & Iudi- ana road. In the leisure following the eessation of his railroad duties, Mr. Edgerton, in the fall of 1871, crossed the continent to San Francisco, visiting Denver, Salt Lake City, the Yosemite Valley, and other points of interest.

Since engaging in railroad service in 1855, Mr. Edgerton has never fully resumed the practice of his profession, although he has continued to be an active business man. He early became an investor in Allen County land, and is now among the largest owners of lands in that county, but they have proved more of a burden than a profit. With a view to the improvement and settlement of his unoccupied lands, in 1866, be established the Woodburn Lumber and Stave Mills, on his property in the eastern part of Allen County, but the wills were burned in 1867, involving a large loss, and not rebuilt. In 1871, he aided in establishing the Fort Wayne Steel Plow Works, and, in 1875, became their sole owner, and so continues.

During his long residence in Indiana, Mr. Edgerton has made not a few public addresses on literary and political topies, and has written much for the public press on subjects of general as well aa local interest. He has received his share of animadversion and eriticism, from those who were personally unfriendly

( DECEASED )

JOHN JACOB KAMM.

J. J. Kamm, late Postmaster of Fort Wayne, was born at Marburg, Germany, April 11, 1835; when quite young he came to this country and resided, for a time, in Stark County, Ohio. In 1854, he removed to Fort Wayne, where he resided until his death. Here he was married, Decem- ber 16, 1855, to Miss Hannah Barcus, his estimable wife, who survives him. He was a painter, and soon after com- ing to Fort Wayne entered largely into the business of painting and wall papering, being for some time a member of the firm of Baldwin & Kamm. He built one of the stores in Keystone Block, and was always an energetic and enterprising business man. During and after the war, he was an indefatigable worker in the interest of the Republi- can party, with which party he has always been identified. At the commencement of President Grant's administration, there . being a number of candidates for the Fort Wayne Post Office, it was determined to submit the question as to who should receive the appointment, to a popular election. Mr. Kamm received a large majority, and was appointed and commissioned accordingly, filling the office for a little more than eight years to the entire satisfaction of the com- munity. He stood high in the Masonic Fraternity, being a member of Summit City Lodge, No. 170, A., F. & A. M .; Fort Wayne Chapter, No. 19, R. A. M .; Fort Wayne Coun-

cil, No: 4, R. & S. M., and Fort Wayne Commandery, No. 4, K. T. He was also a member of Harmony Lodge, No. 19, I. O. O. F. He was an old member and one of the Trustees of Trinity English Lutheran Church, He was a good citizen, a kind and indulgent husband and parent, and a consistent Christian gentleman in all the relations of life. His health had been failing for nearly two years prior to his death, but neither he nor his many friends believed his end to be so near, and the whole commmunity felt shocked by the announcement of his decease. Only the week pre- vious, he attended the Grand Conclave of Knights Templar, at Cleveland, Ohio, at which place he was taken very ill, and returned home, and to the bed from which he never rose, and died on the 5th of September, 1877. He was buried at Lindenwood Cemetery the Sunday following ; the ceremonies being conducted under the auspices of the Knights Templar. Besides his wife, six children were left to mourn his untimely decease-

ANDREW J., born July 31, 1857;

GEORGE L., " August 25, 1859;

CHARLES H., “ November 17, 1863;

HARRY J., = October 3, 1866;

ANNA E., July 8, 1870 ;

MARY ELLEN, " November 14, 1873.

Chai, F. Taylor

Im D. Page.

a. v. D. Conover

THE FORT WAYNE DAILY NEWS.

In the spring of 1874, Mr. William D. Page (at that time con- nected with the Fort Wayne Gazette), recognizing the impossibility of successful competition, on the part of papers in cities of the second class, with Chicago and Cincinnati dailies, in amount of general news pnh- lished, conceived the idea of printing in Fort Wayne a daily that should be devoted almost exclusively to local intelligence, and that should he furnished at the homes of suhscrihers at the very low rate of 25 cents per month. He made known his plans to Mr. Charles F. Taylor, who approve .! of them, and the two gentlemen at once associated themselves for that purpose, under the firm name of Page, Taylor & Co., Mr. Page having the editorial management, and Mr. Taylor taking business con- trol. On Monday, June 1, 1874, the first copy of the Fort Wayne Daily News was offered to the public. It was printed at the office on the corner of Calhoun and Main streets, on a half medium "Universal" press, and was only 14x20 inches in size, having four pages of four columns each. From its first issue, the News sprang into popular favor, and within thirty days had a hona fide circulation of more than sixteen hundred copies. The demands for advertising space increased so rapidly that an enlargement to nearly douhle the original size was soon made necessary, and this change was made hy the publishers without advancing the price. Ahout the time of this change, Mr. A. V. D. Conover was called to the city editorship, a position for which his

ready wit, quick pencil and universal popularity peculiarly fitted him. The success of "The People's Paper," as the News has always heen called, was phenomenal from its inception, and entirely without parallel in the history of journalism in Northern Indiana. It hecame, in an increditahly short space of time, the recognized organ of the masses. Its husiness grew so rapidly that very largely increased facilities were required to supply the demand. The third year of its existence, nearly 3,500 copies daily were printed. Owing allegiance to no political party, ring or clique, the News has ever heen the fearless, outspoken champion of law and order, and the uncompromising foe of wrong. It has been emphatically a molder-not follower-of public sentiment. It has heen wonderfully successful in defeating corrupt johs, on the part of public and private men. It has steadfastly fought for retrench- ment in municipal affairs, and has seen the rate of taxation decreased nearly 50 per cent from that of 1874. It has exposed, without fear or favor, rascality in high places, and has frequently heen the direct means of accomplishing important municipal reforms, and has again and again prevented gross outrages against the city's welfare. To-day the News is an institution of the city.' It is regarded hy all classes as the champion of honest government, and as the hest local paper Fort Wayne has ever had.

Mayor.

City of Fort Wayne.

CHARLES A. ZOLLINGER.

Like Christian Zollinger (his father), Charles A. Zollinger is a native of Wiesbaden, Dukedom ^^ Nassau, Germany. He was there boru December 9, 1838. Prior to h' _ather's emigrating to the United States, in 1848, the boy Charles had been kept quite steadily at echool. But, being of a stout, robust nature, subsequent to their settlement here, up to the age of seventeen, his services, in most part, were required in aid to his father. Arriving at that age, he arranged to leave home, and went to the State of Minnesota, returning to Allen County after a residence there of about four years. After returning, he located at New Haven, and, resolving to learn the trade of a blacksmith, he associated bimself with Col. J. W. Whitaker then and there, successfully operating that vocation. Thus pursuing abont two years, the war of the rebellion broke out, when our intrepid young blacksmith at once quit his anvil, laid aside nis implements of labor and became one of the first to enroll ae a volunteer to battle for the Union. He enlisted in Co. E, 9th I. V. I., the same mustering-in to serve for a term of three months. Their term of enlistment expiring, and having received an honorable discharge, he almost immediately commenced helping to recruit a company for the 30th I. V. I., then being filled and organized at Fort Wayne, to serve "three years or during the war." At the election of company officers, deolining the position of Captain in favor of J. W. Whitaker, the subject of our sketch accepted the position of First Lieutenant. His company was designated by the letter D. Up to February 1, 1863, Lieut. Z. served bravely and faithfully with his com- pany. Impaired health, from nndue exertion and eevere exposure in the field, required his resignation at this time. Fully regaining his health, he again set about recruiting a company, which, in due time, was assigned to the 129th I. V. I. Tbis regiment was filled in a brief time, and, organizing in March, 1864, Charlee A. Zollinger was commissioned its Lieutenant Colonel. Three monthe later, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel-vice Charles Case, resigned. This position he retained until the final discharge of his regiment, in September, 1865. For a time during this period, to command the brigade

wherein his regiment belonged fell to his lot; and yet, whether commanding regiment or brigade, he was ever attentive to the neede and comfort of his inen. Especially was he mindful of the welfare of the 129th. Patient and kind, his fatherly care won for him the universal love and high regard of his soldiers. And, combining with these beneficent virtues, dignity and the qual- ities of a disciplinarian in an eminent degree gave him marked efficiency in his command. Cool in the midet of danger, prudent where cantion was required, himself one of the bravest of the brave, never asking his men to go where he would not, while hie advance they were ever eager to follow.

After his resignation as Lieutenant in the 30th Regiment, on February 26, 1863, he was united in marriage with Mise Harriet Filburg, of this county. But their union was of a few years' duration only ; from a fond husband, two tender little daughters and a large circle of friends, Mrs. Z. was called to depart this life on the 30th day of May, 1870. Again, on the 11th of October, 1871, he wedded Miss Mary Kellogg, of Plymouth, Mich. Two little danghters, also, have been the fruits of this, his second marriage.

In October, 1870, Col. Z. was elected Sheriff of Allen County. This office he held two years, with full satisfaction to his constituents and with much credit to himself. In May, 1873, he was elected Mayor of the city of Fort Wayne, and, by re-election every successive two years, has continuously held the office np to the present time. Since his election, Fort Wayne has been transformed from an overgrown village to a thriving, well-ordered city. A large amount of Nicholsor pavement has been put down, street railroads have been instituted, the fire department has been splendidly re-organized, $85,000 of the city debt has been refunded -- interest on the same being reduced from 10 to 6 per cent per annum, while a large amount of the debt itself has been canceled; and last, but not least, a comprehensive eystem of water-works has been determined upon, which is being puehed to rapid completion.

Mayor Zollinger-just in the prime of manhood-is a warm-hearted, true friend, a public-spirited, energetic citizen, an agreeable, honorable, intelligent public officer.

Jamison For den.

CRIMINAL JUDGE.

HON. JAMES W. BORDEN.

A few miles from Sittingbourne, and ahout forty-two miles from London, in the northern part of Kent County, England, was the ancient home of the Borden family. They were of the old English stock, and had resided there for centuries. Here Richard Borden -- usually called the "emigrant," and the progenitor of the Borden family in this country-was horn, about the year 1600. He emigrated to America ahout 1635, and settled at Portsmouth, R. I., in 1636-the same year that the illustrious founder of that State Isid ont the city of Providence. He died in 1670.

One of his descendants, a grandson, named William Borden, removed from Newport, R. I., in 1732, and settled on Newport River, in Carteret County, N. C., five miles from Beaufort, the county seat. Here, at the old Borden homestead, James W. Borden was horn February 5, 1813. His par- ents' names were Joseph and Esther Borden, nee Wallace. He was left fath- erless at a very early age.

Inheriting from his ancestors a strong constitution and a vigorous intel- lect, he was early placed at school in the vicinity of his mother's residence, hut received little henefit, owing to the imperfection of the system of educa- tion and the very limited qualifications of the teachers.

His mother, who was of Scotch extraction and a woman of rare merit, had received a superior education, and was well versed in English literature and ancient and modern history. She cultivated in her son a taste for his- torical studies, which has remained with him through life.

Desiring to give her sons a hetter education than the schools of the State afforded, she sent James and his brother, Joseph, to Fairfield Academy, Her- kimer Connty, N. Y., and, snhsequently, the former was placed st a sclect school in Windsor, Conn., then undler the charge of the Hon. Elishs N. Sill, late of Cuyahoga Falls, Summit Co., Ohio.

After spending several years at these schools, he entered the law office of the Hon. Ahijah Mann, Jr., then a member of Congress, from the Herkimer District. With this gentleman, he enjoyed rare opportunities, and, in after life, received from him much valuable assistance. He was admitted to the har of the Supreme Court of New York, at Utica, in 1834, when scarcely twenty-one years of age.

About this time, he was married to Mies Emeline Griswold, a daughter of William Griswold, at Middleville, Herkimer Co., N. Y.

In 1835, soon after marriage, he removed to Richmond, Wayne Co., Ind. During the latter part of his residence there, he was elected Mayor of that city. This position he resigned in 1839, and moved to Fort Wayne, Allen Co. (where he has since permanently resided), to take charge of the United States Land Office, located at thst place.

Mr. Borden had five children hy his first wife-Esther Anns (married to George Aylsworth ; died soon after, st Troy, Ohio), Rebecca Kenyon (married (Continued on next page.)

& Rourke

CIRCUIT JUDGE

EDWARD O'ROURKE, Judge of the Thirty-Eighth Judicial Circuit.

BY COL. R. S. ROBERTSON.

Edward O'Rourke was born October 13, 1841, at Newark, N. J., the seventh of eight children. His parents, Christopher O'Rourke and Ellen Flannagan, wera natives of County Kildare, Ireland, their parents being small land tenante in that section. Patrick O'Rourke, the grandfather of the eubjeot of this sketch, had a lease of. hie farm for a term of three lives, or ninety-nine years. The oldeet son, John, eucceeded bim, as ie the oustom and law of Great Britain, and hie son, Jamee, now occupiee the same farm. Tbe ancestore of both Christopber and Ellen, had lived in the same county for many generatione, and were noted as honest, good farmers, as far as their hietory can be traced. Christopher O' Rourke and Ellen Flannagan were married about the year 1823, and left Ireland, for America, in 1825. They firet went to Dublin, thence to Liverpool, and thence, in sailing veeeel, to New York, and eettled in New Jersey, where Edward was born. They remained here eeveral years, but his father, on account of ill health, removed, with hie family, to Carroll County, Ohio, some monthe after the birth of Edward, and purchased a farm there, eo that the subject of thie eketoh has no recollection of the place of hie nativity. After eeveral years' life upon the farm, the father became a contractor for building the Pittsburgh, Welleville & Cleveland Railroad, and afterward built eeveral miles of what ie now the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago road. He then returned to Ohio and reeumed farming oper- atione near Manefield, Obio, but finally removed to Fort Wayne, where he died in 1875, hie widow eurviving him about eix monthe.

Both were reepected by a large circle of acquaintances, and their loes was ein- cerely mourned by friende and deecendants. Edward O'Rourke obtained a primary education in the public schools of Ohio, and, being fond of books, eoon acquired a good knowledge of grammar, arithmetic and algebra; and, while attending literary and debating eocietiee in the common echoolhoueea, acquired a taste for declamation and debate, which firet gave him the idea of entering the legal profeeeion, and, from that time, the energiee of his mind were bent in that direction. He first came to Fort Wayne in the fall of 1859 and entered the Fort Wayne Methodiet College, remaining there about a year. In the epring of 1863, he entered Notre Dame Aoad- emy and remained there one term, going, in the summer of that year, to the French College, in Montreal, remaining there, as a student, until 1865, engaged in a claseical and mathematical course, and acquiring the French language so as to read and oon- verse in it with fluency. Hie literary taste led him into mental philosophy, poetry and hietory, and hie ecientifio taste, to excel in mathematics, having a retentive mem- ory for dates and numbers. In the fall of 1865, he entered the law office of Worden & Morris as a student, and remained with them until he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the Criminal Court in 1867. He was a successful prosecutor for five years, after which he was in the general practice of the law until 1876, having, in 1875, entered into partnership with Hon. Robert Lowry, and Col. R. S. Robertson, the partnership continuing until he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court in 1876, which position he now holds, earning the reputation of an upright, conecientioue and painstaking Judge. He was married, in November, 1871, to Mise Ada L. Abrame, of Wells, Ohio. Hie mental and moral characteristice he inherits, to a considerable extent, from his father, who wae a man of extraordinary memory, and had a great taste for hietory and poetry. Becoming a citizen of the United States as eoon ne he could after his arrival here, he became much attached to the principlee which underlie our eyetem of government and taught hie con to revere them. With few advantagee for education, he was a great reader, and eeemed never to forget an important faot he had read. His mother also was of energetic, aotive mind, and was vory vivaoioue and fluent in speech, and to enoh parents our subjeot no doubt owes much of his own suo- oess in life.

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.

History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 54

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Kingman Brothers Number of Pages: 366

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Kingman Brothers
Number of Pages: 366