USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 59
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The company, on its organization, elected him Captain, and proceeded to Camp Allen, near Fort Wayne, where it was assigned as Compauy I of the Thirtieth Indiana Volunteers, which was then organizing. Soon afterward, they were sent to Indianapolis and supplied with arms and equipments and forwarded to Louisville, Ky., and from there to Camp Nevin, where they remained some time under the command of Gen. Wood. From there they were ordered to Green River, and marched to Bowling Green, and from there to Nashville, Tenn., being among thie first troops to reach that point, after the battle of Fort Donelson. Their next marchi was to the Tenuessee River, which they reached April 6, 1862, striking the river at the little town of Savannah, where they were placed in trans- ports, and arrived at Pittsburg Landing the next morning, and were ordered to the command of Gen. Buell in thue to participate in that terrible struggle, the battle of Shilolı. In the evening of that engagement, and while our troops were on the eve of falling back to escape the murderous fire tbe cnemy was pouring into the Thirtieth Indiana, and in which the lamented Col. S. S. Bass was killed, Capt. White was wounded in the right side by a spent minie ball, but recovered in a short time, and participated in the memorable siege of Corinth, Miss., which lasted three months, and was the occasion of many an active skirmish between the troops of the opposing armies.
After the evacuation of Corinth, the Thirtiethi was ordered towards Chatta- nooga, and marched through Northern Alabama to Battle Creek, Tenn., when it was learned that Gen. Bragg had flanked our army and was marching toward Nashville and Louisville. Then commenced that precipitate retreat of Buell's army, which crossed the Cumberland Mountains, and hardly rested on its march till it reached Tannehill, a distance of 500 miles. IIere the Thirtieth rested for a time, and were then ordered to Frankfort, and took part in all the skirmishes with the retreating rebels, until Nashville was again reached.
Soon after the return of the regiment to Nashville, Capt. White resigned his commission in the army.
In the spring of 1863, he, with Joseph A. Stellwagon, became sutler to the Eighty-eighth Indiana Volunteers and remained at the front in that capacity during the rest of the war.
During this time, he was twicc captured by the rebels. Once he lost every- tbing he had, his wagous and merchandise being totally destroyed in the Wheeler raid in the Sequatchie Valley, near Chattanooga. The next time, he was paroled with little loss. Soon after the close of the war, he returned to Fort Wayne and established a large grocery and fruit house, and did a very prosperous business until his building and the contents were destroyed by fire in January, 1872. His insurance only covered about 40 per cent of his loss, but his resolute spirit did not for an instant fail him, and the next day he opened for business in a structure opposite his former store, and bad ordered a new stock to replace that destroyed ; and in less than two years had repaired his losses and established himself and his business on a sound and substantial basis. He has maintained his financial stand- ing throughout the panie, and is justly considered one of the most daring business men of the West. He has invested largely in real estate, and added much to the substantial improvement of Fort Wayne in the way of laying out new streets, and embellishing the four city additions which now bear his name. He has also, in partnership with C. Bosseker, Esq., established a large hub and spoke factory, which affords labor for 100 workmen, and is one of the growing institutions of Fort Wayne.
His greatest reputation, however, is based upon his wholesale and retail grocery house, which is known throughout Northern Indiana and Northwestern Ohio, as the " Fort Wayne Fruit House." In this immense establishment more than forty elerks are employed, and four delivery wagons are kept busy supplying his customers. The house does a business of more than half a million each year, and a stranger visiting Fort Wayne has lost one of its most interesting " sights " if he has failed to visit the " Fruit House." As if this immense business were not enough for one man to manage, lic has constantly other irons in the fire. He was at one time part proprietor of the Fort Wayne daily and weekly Gazette, is President of the Caledonian Society, and takes an active interest in public affairs, having been twice a member of the Common Council for the Second Ward, a Republican representing a Democratic stronghold. In 1874, he was nearly elected Clerk of the County, although the Democratic majority is about 3,000. In religion he is liberal, though a regular attendant at the First Presbyterian Churchi, and concedes to all the right to their own religious views.
He is emphatically a self-made man, and is justly looked upon ss one of the most energetic and successful business men of Fort Wayne, and one who deserves credit for public spirit and enterprise far above many who have had equal oppor- tunities to advance the interests of the city and community.
He acts upon the principle that " whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well."
JOHN ORFF, EsQ.
Jolin Orff, the subject of this sketch, was born in Bavaria, Germany, on the 26th day of January, 1821, where he received the benefit of a common-school education.
In 1840, he emigrated to America, landing at Baltimore in June of that year, and at once started for the great West. At Defiance, Ohio, he procured work on the extension of the Wabash & Erie Canal to Toledo, but in 1841, left that for the occupation of clerk in a country store at Defiance, in which position he continued until 1843.
In June of that year, he came to the town of Fort Wayne, where be accepted a position with L. S. Chittenden, Esq., with whom he formed a partner- ship a few years later, and continued in business with him until his death, after which he continued the business with the widow until she sold her interest in 1855.
He then purchased a third interest in the property then known as the Empire Mills, but the two partners soon after this died, and he purchased their interests and became the sole owner of the quills, which are situated on the St. Mary's, near the Aqueduct, and are now known as Orff's Mills.
He has been the proprietor of these well known mills ever since, and is well known as an active promoter of the milling interests of the country, as a member of the National Millers' Association, and as a friend to the introduction of all the new improvements which can benefit the trade and improve the grades of flour.
As a citizen, he is well known and highly respected, and his fine suburban residence, near Lindenwood, is the scene of many a social gathering of his friends, whom he delights to entertain with a kind and generous hospitality.
Mr. Orff was married, November 17, 1874, to Miss Hanna Soxsovskey, a native of Prussia, who had emigrated to America about two years previous to their marriage.
Their union has been blessed by nine children, eight of whom-four girls and four boys-are still living.
Lester Games
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HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
HON. ALLEN ZOLLARS, ATTORNEY AT LAW.
Allen Zollars, the subject of this sketch, was born September 3, 1839, in Lieking County, in the State of Ohio,
His ancestors were originally from Prussia, hut came to this country at an early day. His maternal great-grandfather was an officer in the war of the Revo- lution ; and soon after the close of the war, both paternal and maternal grand- parents became residents of Pennsylvania.
His father was born in Washington County, Penn., but removed, at the age of twelve years, with his parents, to Jefferson County, Ohio, where he resided until his manhood and marriage, when he removed to Licking County.
During bis youth, the subject of this sketeh attended the public sehools and a private academy of the neighborhood. He afterward entered Dennison Univer- sity at Greenville, Ohio, pursued a classical course, and graduated in 1863, receiv- ing the degree of A. B. Three years later, the same institution conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M.
After studying law for a time in the office of Judge Buekingliam, of Newark. Ohio, be entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, in 1864, and after pursuing the two years' course of study preserihed, graduated in Mareh, 1866, receiving from the University the degree of LL.B. He then located in Fort Wayne, and commenced the active practice of the law.
BAKFR. CO - CHI
Allen Collars
In November, 1867, he was married at Lancaster, Ohio, to Miss Minnie Ewing, of that place, a lady of considerahle literary attainments, an ornament to the society in which she moves, and universally esteemed for her amiability and high eharacter.
In politics, he has always been a Democrat; and in 1868, was nominated on the Democratic ticket and elected to the office of Representative in the Indiana State Legislature for Allen County, and served in the regular and special sessions of 1868-69.
In May, 1859, he was elected City Attorney for the city of Fort Wayne, and served in that capacity six years.
Upon the establishment by law of the Superior Court of Allen County, in 1877, Gov. Williams appointed him Judge of that court, hut he resigned the office in September of that year, in order to resume his practice and to accept the appointment of attorney for the Indiana Division of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, which position he still oceupies.
By a strict attention to business, and untiring energy in behalf of his clients, he has won an enviable reputation at the bar; and throughout Northern and Eastern Indiana he is well and favorably known as a successful, laborious and painstaking lawyer, and his reputation for integrity and upright dealing is equally well established.
COL. R. S. ROBERTSON.
Robert Stoddart Robertson was born April 16, 1839, at North Argyle, Wash- ington Co., N. Y. His grandfather, Robert Robertson, was born in Seotland, in October, 1756, and emigrated from Kinross-shire to Washington County in the latter part of the last century, locating on a farm on which three of his deseend- ants yet live. He died November 6, 1840.
His father, Nicholas Robertson, was born at North Argyle May 12, 1803; was for many years Justice of the Peace and Postmaster, and still resides there
The family name is an old one, dating from about the twelfth century. His mother was Martha Hume Stoddart, of New York City, who was descended from two old Scotch families, the Stoddarts and Humes. The former name is derived from Standard, and the first of the name came to England with William the Con- queror, as standard-bearer for the Vicompte de Pulesdeu. She was born March 20, 1812, and died January 20, 1867.
The early life of the subject of this sketch was spent under home influences, among the strict Scotcb Presbyterian element planted in that scetion about the year 1764, by Capt. Dunean Campbell, under the patronage of the Duke of Argyle, who obtained a patent from the Crown for the town of Argyle. His early educa- tion was in the common schools, and at Argyle Academy, a seminary of consider- able repute and long standing. While not at school, his early life was spent in labor in the saw and grist mills owned hy his father, and upon a small farm, and he grew up accustomed to hard labor, and was taught to consider it honor- able.
Early in 1859, he entered the office of Hon. James Gibson, at Salem, N. Y., and commenced the study of the law, and in the latter part of that year went to New York City, and continued his studies until December, 1860, under Hon. Cbarles Crary, the author of a work on Special Proceedings. He was admitted to the bar in November, 1860, his examination being conducted by Hons. J. W. Edmunds, E. S. Benediet and M. S. Bidwell; Judges Josiah Suth- erland, Henry Hageboom and B. W. Bonney, presiding in general term. He then located at Whitehall, New York, but in the summer of 1861, feeling it his duty to assist the Government in putting down the rebellion, he commenced rais- ing a company for the war. The recruits, as fast as enlisted, were placed in barracks at Albany, where in the winter of 1861-62 an order was received to consolidate all parts of companies and regiments and forward them at once to Washington. Under this order, his men were assigned to Company I, Ninety-third Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry, but refused to go unless Robertson would go with them. Rather than desert the men he had enlisted, he at once mustered into the service as a private, but was soon made Orderly Sergeant of his company, and donning knapsack and shouldering his musket, went to the front with his regiment. In April, 1862, he was commissioned Second Lieuten- ant, and in February 1863, was promoted to First Lieutenant, Company K, and was iu all the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac until discharged from the serv - ice, his first experience under fire heing a skirmish near Yorktown, Va., and the next being the battle of Williamshurg. For a time, and during the Gettysburg campaign, he was acting Adjutant of his regiment. Soon afterward, in 1863, wbile his regiment was guard at army headquarters, a safe, but laborious posi- tion, he was tendered, and accepted the position of Aid-de-Camp on the staff uf Gen. Nelson A. Miles, then commanding the fighting First Brigade, First Divi- sion, Second Army Corps. While on this duty he was twice wounded in hattle, once in the charge at Spottsylvania, May 12, 1864, when a musket-ball was flat- tened on his knee, and again on the 30th of May, at Tolopotomoy Creek, when he was shot from his horse in a eharge, a minie ball passing through his abdo- men from the front of the right hip to the hack of the left, at which time he was reported among the mortally wounded. With a strong constitution and temper- ate habits, he recovered sufficiently to go to the front before Petersburg, but his wound broke out afresh, and he was discharged September 3, 1864, " for dis- ability from wounds received in action." For these services he was the recipient of two hrevet commissions, one from the President, conferring the rank of Cap- tain by brevet, and another from the Governor of New York, conferring the rank of Colonel, both of which read, "for gallant and meritorious services in the bat- tles of Spottsylvania and Tolopotomoy Creek. He was in eleven general engage- ments and numerous skirmishes, and was never off duty until he received his second wound.
For two years after retiring from the army, he located at Washington, D. C., in tbe practice of the law, and was married July 19, 1865, at Whitehall, N. Y., to Elizabeth H. Miller. She belonged to the Robertson family, her maternal grandfather, Alexander Robertson, having emigrated from Blair Athol to America in 1804.
In 1866, they removed to Fort Wayne, where they have ever since resided. Their family consists of five children-Nieholas, Louise, Robert, Mahel and Annie.
In the spring of 1867, he was elected City Attorney of Fort Wayne for two years. In 1868, he was nominated by the Republicans for the position of State Senator for the counties of Allen and Adams. It was a hopeless race ; but he canvassed the district as thoroughly as if he expected an election.
In 1871, he was appointed Register in Bankruptcy and United States Com- missioner, resigning the former in 1875 and the latter in 1876.
When the Republican State Convention met in 1876, he was nominated, hy acclamation, for the office of Lieutenant Governor, and entered into that memorable canvass with all his heart. Between July 20 and August 26, he had spoken in thirty-one different counties, but was stricken with a mala- rial fever, and for the rest of the campaign was confined to a sick-hed, danger- ously ill.
This uomination was entirely unsought, and he had no intimation, even, that his name would be presented until three days before the convention met.
His studies, outside of his profession, have brought him in contact with scientific men and societies, and his collection of minerals, fossils and pre-historie relics, form quite a museum of natural history. He is a member of the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Seience, of the Congres International des Americanistes of Europe, and of the State Historical Society. His papers on arehæological subjeets have been printed in the Smithsonian Reports and other publications, and one has been translated into the French language and published in the proceedings of the Americanistes.
P.d. Podesten.
21
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137
WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
WARREN HASTINGS WITHERS. BY COL. R. S. ROBERTSON.
W. H. Withers, the subject of this sketch, was born at Vincennes, Knox Co., Ind., July 16, 1824, and has been for many years closely identified with the history of the State, which came into existence as a State only eight years prior to his birth.
His parents were William L. Withers, a member of the Virginia family of that name, whieli is prominent in the civil and military history of that State, and to which Senator Withers of Virginia belongs ; and Christiana Snapp, daughter of Abraham Snapp, one of the pioneers of the Northwest Territory.
His parents dying while he was a mere boy, his early educational advantages were limited to the common schools of Knox County for a few years, but upon the death of his parents, was thrown upon his own resources, and without wealth or influential friends, alone and unaided, commenced the battle of life, and a career of self-education, determined to climh high on the ladder of respectability and intelligence. His inclination was to the law, and he directed his studies to accom- plish his admission to the ranks of that professiou.
Unable to enter college, he spent three years in the printing office of the Vincennes Gazette, under the instruetion and fatherly guidance of his life-time friend, the vencrable R. Z. Carrington, now a resident of La Porte, in this State.
After leaving the printing office, he spent some time in St. Louis, New Orleans, and other parts of the South, and, finally, in October, 1842, located at Anderson, Ind., where he purchased a small printing office with a view to publish- ing a newspaper. About the time he was to issue his paper, the printing office at Muncie was burned, and its editor, Joseph G. James, was thrown out of employ- ment, with a family to support. He came to Anderson, and young Withers, thinking that he, without family, could succeed easier than James with one, relinquished his paper to James, and applied himself diligently to the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar at Anderson in the spring of 1843.
After his admission, he entered into partnership with the venerable John Marshall at Muncie, Delaware County, and was afterward asociated with John M. Wallace, late Judge of the Logansport Circuit. Not satisfied, however, with the remuneration afforded by the law practice of that day, and having in early hoyhood imbibed a taste for politics, he purchased a printing office, and, in 1846, commenced the publication of the Muncie Journal, in which he continued until the spring of 1848, when he came to Fort Wayne and succeeded the late George W. Wood as editor of the Fort Wayne Times. He edited this paper during the Taylor campaign, and afterward sold the establishment to Mr. Wood.
In September, 1859, he married Martha, eldest daughter of Capt. Henry Rudisill, one of the earlier settlers and pioneers of Allen County, and for many years a very prominent and leading citizen of Fort Wayne. Mr. Withers has always been an Episcopalian, and has taken a great interest in the welfare of his Church, being one of the active officers of Trinity Episcopal Church. He was an ardent Whig until the dissolution of that party; and on the hirth of the Republi- ean party, gave it a devotion born of principle, and increased by years of reflec- tion and active labor for the interests of the party measures which he believed were for the best interests of the country. But while a devoted Republican and earnest worker, he has not been an office-seeker, having, in all his active life, held but two offices. The first was that of Collector of Internal Revenue, by appoint- ment of President Lincoln in 1861, at the time the office was created ; he was thus obliged to organize and arrange a department of public business of whose workings no one knew anything until then. He held the office until July, 1869, discharging the duties in an able and conscientious manner. His books and accounts were models of correctness and precision, and no fault was found with his administration of the office.
In 1874, he was the Republican candidate for Judge of the Criminal Court, and was only defeated by a majority of 100, in a county where the usual Demo- cratic majority is about 3,000. The other office held by him was that of Coun- cilman for the Fifth Ward of the city of Fort Wayne, to which he was elected in the spring of 1876. The ward was Democratic by a majority of over 200, yet he was elected by a large majority over his competitors. In every political cam- paign for the last thirty years, he has been an earnest, active worker, oceupying the stuiup in national, State and county canvasses, but not as a candidate.
On retiring from the editorial chair, he re-entered the active practice of his profession, the law, at Fort Wayne; first, as a partner of E. F. Colerick, after- wards with Col. Charles Chase, which continued until the latter was elceted to Congress. He then formed a partnership with Judge John Morris, which firm continued for some sixteen years, when Hon. J. L. Worden became a partner in the firm and remained in it until he was elected to the bench of the Supreme Court of Indiana, after which the firm of Morris & Withers continued until 1874, since which time Mr. Withers has continued the practice alone. His profes- sional standing has always been high, and by a life of probity, conscientious and painstaking labor in the interests of his clients, and earnest sincerity in presenting his causes, he has won and retains the confidence of the courts and of the public. In social, professional and political life, he deservedly commands the respect of friends and enemies alike.
COL. GEORGE HUMPHREY.
George Humphrey was born February 2, 1825, at Irvine, Ayrshire, Scot- land, whenee he emigrated to America, landing in New York July 5, 1837, and came to Fort Wayne with his brother, James Humphrey, September 30, 1837. coming up the Maumee in a pirogue, that being the only way of reaching here in that day except by wagon. Soon after his arrival here, he entered the service
of Charles G. French as an apprentice, to learn the carpenter and joiner trade, and served in this capacity four years, after which he worked at his trade as a master carpenter.
On the breaking-out of the war with Mexico, in 1846, he was a member of the " Mad Anthony Guards," a military company commanded by Capt. J. MeLane, who tendered the services of the company to Gov. Whitcomb, to serve as volunteers during the war. The company left Fort Wayne June 1, 1846, and on the 20th of June was mustered into the United States Service by Col. Churchill, U. S. A., as Company E, First Indiana Mexican Volunteers, to serve one year. The regiment was commanded by Col. J. P. Drake, and Mr. Humphrey was mustered in as First Sergeant, but was soou afterward promoted to a second lieutenancy. At New Orleans, they etubarked for Santiago or Point Isabel, thence to the Rio Grande, whicre they encamped for some time, and from there were ordered to Matamoras, then to Monterey, and from there marched to Saltillo. At this place, the regimeet was ordered back to Matamoras to relieve an Ohio regiment, and Col. Drake was placed in command of the post at Mata- moras, where the regiment remained guarding that important point until its term had expired, and was ordered back to New Orleans to bo mustered ont. Thus the regiment was not engaged in any of the battles of the Mexican War, but was much reduced hy sickness consequent upon elimate and malarious locations. On the muster-out of the regiment, Lieut. Humphrey returned to Fort Wayne in 1847, and resumed work at his trade. He was married at Fort Wayne, Septem- ber 30, 1847, to Marie Louise Bingham, a sister of Gen. Judson Bingham, U. S. A., and daughter of Rev. A. S. Bingham, of Eel River Township.
In 1852, he established himself in business, and in 1853 commeneed the manufacture of doors, blinds and sash, and contracting for building, continuing in this business until the breaking-out of the rebellion in 1861.
Then the old war spirit broke out, and his expericnee in the Mexican war rendered him a valuable assistant in raising and organizing troops for the three months' serviee, and on the second call for troops hy the Governor, in May, 1861, he tendered a company he had raised, and started with them for Indianapolis, arriving at Camp Sullivan May 14, only to find that the State quota was already filled, with ten companies over. These ten companies were organized by the Governor, as the Twelfth Indiana Volunteers, and retained for State service for a terui of twelve months The companies elected John M. Wallace Colonel, Will- iam H. Link Lieutenant Colonel, and George Humphrey Major, which elections were confirmed by the Governor, and commissions issued. The regiment was ordered to Evausville, on the Ohio, was there divided into three battalions-the first, under Col. Wallace, being stationed at Evansville ; the second, under Lieut. Col. Link, at Mount Vernon, and the third, under Maj. Humphrey, at Newburg. They remained there one month, when they were suddenly ordered baek to Indianapolis, and on the 22d of July were mustered into the United States Service, and left immediately for Sandy Hook, on the Potomae, near Harper's Ferry, Va., and encauiped there until August 20, when they were removed to Darnestown, Md. Col. Wallace resigned August 6, 1861, and Maj. Humphrey was promoted to the lieutenant coloneley, viee Link, promoted to Colonel. On the 10th of October, the regiment was ordered to Williamsport to guard the Ches- apeake & Ohio Canal, between that point and Harper's Ferry, with headquarters at Sharpsburg. About February 20, 1862, the regiment reecived orders to cross the Potomac at Williamsport, and, on the 1st of March, marched to Mar- tinsburg, Va., where Col. Humphrey was appointed Provost Marshal. From here they were ordered to Winehester, and from there marched to Bull Run, and then to Warrenton Junction, where they remained until the expiration of their term of service, and were mustered out at Washington, D. C., in May, 1862.
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