USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County Indiana : From its earliest settlement to the present time with biographical sketches and reference to biographies previously compiled, Volume II > Part 26
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 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
909
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
teer Infantry, and was discharged on September 19, 1865. His military activity consisted largely of doing guard and picket duty at Nashville and Tullahoma, Tennessee. He had the rank of corporal at the time of being mustered out of the service. For two years after the close of the war Mr. Crain was occupied in farming, and in the fall of 1867 he moved to Logansport, where for seventeen years he was employed in carpentering. Since then he has devoted himself exclusively to archi- tecture, the last ten years of his life as a carpenter being devoted to the especial study of that subject. He is regarded as one of the most capable architects in Logansport today, and among the build- ings which he has erected and designed are the Masonic Temple, the Market Street Methodist Episcopal church, the Elliott building, the Crawford building, the McCaffrey building, the Windfall M. E. church, the Frankfort Protestant Methodist church, the Kimmel M. E. church, and scores of other churches, private residences and commercial build- ings in and about Logansport. Two residence buildings designed by Mr. Crain are especially deserving of mention: these are the Himmel- burger residence and the residence of J. W. Rogers.
Mr. Crain is a Progressive Republican in his politics, and he has taken an active part in the political life of the country and his city. In 1894 he was elected county commissioner, serving one term of three years, and in 1904 he was elected a member of the county council, serving three years in that body. He is a man who has ever performed his full share in the good works that have been carried on in his com- munity, both in a civic way and in his private capacity. He has long been a member of the Market Street Methodist Episcopal church,- forty-three years having passed since he first became thus identified, and for thirty-five years he has been a member of the board of trustees of that church. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is Past Worshipful Master of Tipton Lodge, No. 33, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. He is also a member of, and past commander of Logansport Post, No. 14, G. A. R., and he is a member of the famous Logansport Grand Army Quartet, organized in 1878. In further reference to his musical prowess, it may be mentioned here that for thirty-two con- secutive years Mr. Crain was the leader of his church choir.
On October 19, 1865, Mr. Crain was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Elnor Updegraff, of Washington township, Cass county, and seven children were born to them, of whom brief mention is here made as follows : Edna M., who married Edwin F. Martin, is a resident of this county ; Schuyler Colfax married Hattie Weymer, who is now deceased, and he is engaged in contracting in Portland, Oregon; Barton Keep married Elizabeth Pherson, and is now engaged in the Round Oak stove business, and lives at Dowagiac, Michigan; Rodney James, who married Eva Cline, is a railroad engineer, and makes his home in Logansport; Harriet Ann is the wife of George Shank of Grand Rapids, Michigan; Charlotte Belle is in Portland, Oregon, and is engaged in keeping house for her brother, Schuyler Colfax; Horace Ensminger, who married Elsie Landerholm, is engaged in commercial pursuits in Portland, Oregon.
Vol. II-13
910
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
GEORGE A. CUSTER. Among the men whose high attainments have brought prestige to the Cass county bar, none are more deserving of mention in a work of this kind than George A. Custer, of Logansport, whose well-disciplined intellect, admirable self-control, great ability and many years of industrious application to all branches of professional practice have rendered him a bright ornament to a bar which boasts of many men of great intellect and wide range of knowledge in the field of jurisprudence. Having taken a prominent part in a number of noted trials during the past fifteen years, both in private practice and as a city official, he has been always cautious, always honorable, always fair, and the influence of his example has had much to do with giving the Cass county bar its enviable reputation of being one of the most honorable in the state. Mr. Custer has the added distinction of being a native of Cass county, as his birth occurred in Clay township, August 11, 1873, one of the two living children of a family of three born to George D. and Katherine (Morehart) Custer. His father, a native of Fairfield, Ohio, came to Cass county, Indiana, about 1870, and began farming in Clay township. Here he was married and continued to reside until the opening of the Rosebud Reservation, in Gregory county, South Dakota, when he journeyed to that section and purchased a relin- quishment of a claim. Subsequently, he was followed by his daughter, who also bought a relinquishment, and they are now residing in Tripp county. Mr. Custer has always been prominent in Democratic politics wherever he has resided, but has not aspired to public office. His wife passed away in 1879. Her father, Adam Morehart, with his wife and family, came to Cass county from Pennsylvania by ox-team at a very early period in the history of the county, and here spent the rest of his life in agricultural pursuits in Clay township.
George A. Custer lived on the home farm until eight years of age, at which time he removed with his father to Marion, Indiana. There he continued a public school education that was begun in Clay town- ship, and this was concluded in Logansport. Subsequently, after read- ing law for one year in the office of Judge John C. Nelson, of this city, he became a student in the State University at Bloomington, and was graduated therefrom June 16, 1897. He at once came to Logansport and began practice with Charles E. Yarlott, under the firm style of Custer & Yarlott, and was later associated with W. C. Dunn, of Chicago, Illinois, under the firm style of Custer & Dunn, succeeding which he was in individual practice for a short time. In 1906 he was the Democratic nominee for the office of prosecuting attorney and in the election that followed was easily elected, leading his ticket with a majority of 536 votes. In 1908 he again became his party's candidate, and this time was elected by the still further increased majority of 970 votes, the largest majority ever given a candidate in Cass county. During this latter term, Mr. Custer was appointed by Governor Marshall to prose- cute in the case of "State of Indiana ex. rel George A. Custer, prosecut- ing attorney, within and for the Twenty-ninth Judicial Circuit of the State of Indiana, vs. the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company of Indiana, et al." This was a case where it was charged the defendants were making an attempt to unload about $40.000,000 watered stock upon the public, attracted widespread attention, was considered to be
44
911
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
of great importance as setting precedents, and ended in a victory for the state as represented by Mr. Custer. At the time of his first election, Mr. Custer had formed a partnership with Michael L. Fansler, who became his deputy, and this continued four years, but since the expira- tion of Mr. Custer's second term of office, he has been engaged in individ- ual practice. As a lawyer, conducting cases from the original con- sultation, through their preparations in his office and conflicts at the bar, to the final engrossment after the last decree of the last tribunal, Mr. Custer is systematic, patient, vigorous and powerful. He is an associate most valuable, an antagonist most worthy. On February 10, 1911, while in Washington, D. C., on business, he took the examina- tion and was admitted to practice before the Department of the Inte- rior, of which the patent office is a branch. His registered number is 9934, and he is the only lawyer in Cass county to be so registered. Mr. Custer has also contributed special articles on legal subjects, which have been widely quoted, to legal journals all over the country, includ- ing such a well-known authority as Hawkins' Legal Counsellor and Form Book. Fraternally, he is connected with the Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On November 12, 1903, Mr. Custer was married to Miss Julia Mc- Reynolds, of Kokomo, Indiana.
BENJAMIN F. LONG. To properly interpret the law in all its com- plexities and unerringly apply its provisions to establish human rights and defeat injustice, demands such a comprehensive knowledge not only of books but of life itself that he who reaches a high plane in this pro- fession must command more than negative consideration in the minds of his fellow men. It is told in both history and romance that a kind of law is upheld among savages, but when explained it resolves itself into the old axiom that "might makes right," and in modern, civilized life it becomes the task of the exponent of the law to overcome this only too prevalent idea. Hence, on a solid educational foundation, must be built up a thorough knowledge of what law means to the present day man and how it can be applied to circumvent evil, protect the helpless and bring happiness and safety to the deserving. Among the legal practitioners of the Cass county bar whose activities have brought them prominently before the public, none stands in higher esteem than Benjamin F. Long, of the firm of Long, Yarlott & Souder, of Logans- port. A native of Cass county, he has spent his entire life within its limits, and belongs to a family that has been well known here for more than three-quarters of a century. Mr. Long was born in Washington township, Cass county, Indiana, January 31, 1872, a son of William and Joanna (Penny) Long. His grandfather, William Long, Sr., was a native of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, from whence he moved to Indiana with his family in 1843 and located on the old home place in Washington township, where he spent the rest of his life in agricultural pursuits. He was widely known as Major Long, that title having been acquired while he was a member of the Pennsylvania State Militia. William Long was the eldest child of Major Long, and, like his father, spent his life in farming. He died October 5, 1893, in the faith of the
912
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
English Lutheran church, while his widow followed him to the grave December 12, 1902.
Benjamin F. Long was reared on the home farm, and during his boyhood attended the district schools. In 1891 he graduated from the Logansport high school, and during the succeeding two winters taught the district school which he had attended as a lad, in the meantime assisting his father in the work of the farm during the summer months. In 1893 he entered the state university at Bloomington, but after two years was compelled to leave the university on account of lack of funds, as he had been paying his own way through college. With a commendable spirit of determination, he returned to Logansport and secured a position as teacher of history in the high school, there continu- ing from 1895 to 1899, and in the latter year reentered the state uni- versity, where he completed the prescribed course in literature and received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. Return- ing again to Logansport, he entered upon the practice of his profession, and shortly thereafter was selected associate professor in the law depart- ment of the state university, a position which he continued to hold for one year. He then resigned his chair and came again to Logansport, where he has since continued in a lucrative practice. From 1903 to 1906, Mr. Long served as deputy prosecutor, being a partner of the prosecuting attorney, George W. Walters, under the firm style of Walters & Long, from January 1, 1903, to January 1, 1908. Since the latter date' he has been a member of the firm of Long, Yarlott & Souder, and has been very successful in obtaining a representative clientele. He is recognized as one of the learned, thorough and reliable attorneys, and among his confreres is respected as a legist who respects and recognizes the unwritten ethics of the profession. In politics he is a Republican, but has taken no very active part in public matters. With his wife, he attends the English Lutheran church.
Mr. Long was married September 10, 1902, to Miss Lucy Nichols, of Marshalltown, Iowa, and they have one son : Benjamin.
CHARLES H. STUART. Among the families of Cass county which can claim residence here of three-quarters of a century or more, that bear- ing the name of Stuart holds prominent place. In its ranks have been found eminent professional men, soldiers, merchants and financiers, lead- ers in public and civic life and prominent figures in social activities. One of the representatives of this name, who is well known to the legal profession of Cass county, is Charles H. Stuart, United States com- missioner at Logansport, and an attorney of deserved reputation.
Hon. William Z. Stuart, the Cass county progenitor of the branch of the family to which Charles H. Stuart belongs, was an early attorney of Cass county, whither he came early in 1836. He was admitted to practice at Logansport, February 20, 1837, and soon attained rank among the legists of the state, many of whose names subsequently became widely renowned. Of necessity, his practice covered all branches in the early days, but during his later years he gained reputation as a railroad lawyer and for a long period was chief attorney for the Wabash Railway Company. Beginning in 1843, he served one year as state's attorney, and from 1853 to 1857 he was judge of the state supreme
1
913
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
court. He married (first) Minerva Potter, who died, leaving three children : Venitia, Selden P. and Francis H. Later, Judge Stuart contracted a second marriage.
Selden P. Stuart, son of Hon. William Z. Stuart, and father of Charles H. Stuart, was born September 16, 1842, at Logansport, Indiana, and at the outbreak of the great Civil war was a student in the prepara- tory school. On December 26, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, Ninety- ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, subsequently being promoted to first sergeant, and to second lieutenant of his company, May 1, 1865, and received his honorable discharge June 5, 1865. For the most part he was actively connected with all the movements of his company until the close of the war, the one exception being when he was detailed as acting aide-de-camp to General Oliver, brigade commander. He married Eloise Landes, and they became the parents of two children, one who died in infancy and Charles H. Mr. Stuart died in November, 1881, while his widow still survives him and is now the wife of Stewart T. McConnell, an attorney of Logansport.
Charles H. Stuart was born in Logansport, Indiana, May 7, 1878, and here prosecuted his preliminary studies in public and private schools. Subsequently he became a student in the Culver Military Acad- emy, Culver, Indiana, and then entered Lawrenceville Academy, New Jersey, after graduation from which, in September, 1896, he started upon his collegiate course in Princeton University. He was graduated therefrom in 1900, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and returned to Logansport, where he was admitted to the bar in September of the same year. Shortly thereafter, however, he went to Chicago, Illinois, where he acted in the capacity of clerk in the First National Bank for two years, being connected with the legal department. During this time he also attended the legal department of Lake Forest University, and in 1902 he returned to Logansport and entered upon the active practice of his profession. Mr. Stuart has succeeded in building up an excellent professional business of a representative character, and is recognized by his confreres as a legist who respects the unwritten ethics of the profession. Well versed in the principles of law and jurisprudence, he has been a constant and assiduous student, and the success that has come to him in his chosen field of endeavor has been an appreciation of his high abilities. During the past eight years, Mr. Stuart has served as United States commissioner at Logansport. In 1912 he cast his fortunes with the new Progressive party, and at that time became its candidate for the office of judge of the circuit court of Cass county. As a citizen he stands high in the esteem of his fellows, being known as a man of progressive spirit and one who is at all times ready to contribute of his time or means to any worthy cause promising the welfare of Logansport or its people. He has been interested in historical work, and at this time is secretary of the Cass County Historical Society.
On June 17, 1903, Mr. Stuart was married to Miss Marie Watson Rogers, of Cass county.
DAVID C. ARTHUR was admitted to the bar in 1899 and he has been engaged in practice continuously since that time, his activities being conducted in Logansport, both as an independent practitioner and as a
914
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
partner in the firm of Fickle & Arthur. Mr. Arthur was born in Darke county, Ohio, on February 25, 1862, and is one of the family of ten children born to his parents, Abner and Mary (Bowman) Arthur, of which number eight are yet living.
Abner Arthur was a farmer by occupation, and in 1867 he removed to Randolph county, Indiana, where he and his good wife yet live. David C. Arthur was reared in Randolph county, and received his . elementary education in the district schools of the home community. For a time he attended the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, also attending the state university at Bloomington, Indiana, for two terms. This schooling was secured through the strictest economy and the most strenuous effort, for the young man found it necessary to earn his own way. He worked on the farm, taught school, made brick and tile, did janitor work, in fact, did anything he might find at which he found it possible to turn an honest penny in his efforts to secure an education. After he left Bloomington, he engaged in teach- ing, and it was while thus engaged that he came to Logansport in 1894 as principal of the high school. He was thus employed for five years in this city, and while here he took up the study of the law in the offices of Kistler & Kistler. In 1899 he was admitted to the bar and at once began the practice of his profession in Logansport. He continued in independent practice for a time, then entered into a partnership with John M. Ashby, which association endured for two years. Since 1909 he has been the partner of Hon. D. D. Fickle, doing business under the firm name of Fickle & Arthur.
Mr. Arthur is a Democrat in his politics. In 1910 he was elected a member of the city school board, of which he is secretary, and his early educational work has especially qualified him for the duties of that position. Mr. Arthur has been identified with many of the secret, benevolent and fraternal organizations of the city, and is popular and prominent in whatever circles he is found. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he has for many years been an elder, and his wife also holds membership in that church.
On Christmas day, in 1894, Mr. Arthur was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Jameson, of Lebanon, Ohio, and they are the parents of two children, Mary and Robert.
SYLVESTER S. CRAGUN. Of the many valuable farms found in Cass county, one of the most valuable is that known as Hill Top farm, which is devoted to stock raising and is located on the Hill Top road. Here its owner, Sylvester S. Cragun, is breeding a superior line of Percheron horses and other valuable stock, and his activities have made him well known among the successful men of his community. Mr. Cragun belongs to an old and honorable family, and was born in Clinton township, Cass county, May 20, 1852, a son of Zachariah and Elizabeth N. (Shideler) Cragun. The family was founded in America by Patrick Cragun, who came from Dublin, Ireland, prior to the Revolutionary war, and took part in the struggles of the American colonists that resulted in the winning of independence. Patrick Cragun was the father of several children, among them Joshua Cragun, the grandfather of Sylvester S.
Zachariah Cragun was born in 1824, in Clinton county, Indiana, on
-
VYY
"INGLESIDE, " RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. SYLVESTER S. CRAGUN
915
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
his father's farm, and was nineteen years of age when he came to Cass county. He had been reared to agricultural pursuits, working on the farm during all of his school period, and until he was married, was employed as a farm hand. Subsequently he became the owner of a tract of his own, and the remainder of his life was passed in tilling the soil. His wife was born near Eaton, Preble county, Ohio, and was a small girl when she came to Cass county with her parents, who became prominent farming people of Clinton township.
Sylvester S. Cragun was born in a little log cabin on the old Cragun homestead, as were his two sisters, Dora, who became the wife of Andrew Y. Shanklin, and Ellen, who is now deceased. He was educated in the common schools of his day, and was an able assistant to his father in the clearing of the home place, on which he remained until reaching his twenty-fourth year. At that time he left the parental roof and embarked upon enterprises of his own, eventually accumulating enough capital to purchase his present tract, Hill Top farm, a property of eighty acres, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation. He feeds his farm products to his stock, and has been unquestionably successful in his breeding operations. He is recognized as an excellent judge of livestock, and his advice is often sought by the stockmen of his community. In business affairs he has ever proved reliable and trustworthy, and his reputation is that of a man of integrity in busi- ness matters and public-spirit in affairs affecting his township. With the birth of the so-called Bull Moose party, in 1912, he was one of the first men in the United States to be nominated as a candidate on that ticket, making a very creditable campaign for the office of commissioner of Cass county. He is a member of the Anoka Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 630, and Logansport Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons Tipton Lodge at. Logansport.
On March 29, 1877, Mr. Cragun was married to Miss Candace S. Marshall, daughter of John and Margaret (Kendall) Marshall, the former of whom was born in Kentucky in 1804 and came to Carroll county, Indiana, in 1834. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall had eleven children, of whom five are still living: George K., Susana, Sarah, Candace S., and James J. Mr. and Mrs. Cragun have had four children : Harry M. and Ruth, who are both deceased; Homer J., who finished the public schools and spent two years in high school, married Angeline Long, and is engaged in farming; and Miss Margaret, a graduate of the Cass county schools, class of 1909, also spent two years in the Logansport high school and then attended commercial college.
Mrs. Cragun was born in Carroll county, Indiana, October 23, 1856, the youngest in her father's family. She received a good common school education and in her life's work she has ably performed her part as wife and mother in the building up of their beautiful home and rearing her children. She is an honored member of the Jewel Rebecca Lodge of the city of Logansport. Mr. and Mrs. Cragun and children are eligible to become members of the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution. Their homestead, "Ingleside," is a beautiful estate, located five miles from the city of Logansport, Indiana.
916
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
JAMES D. McNITT. - A name that has become widely known in business and financial circles of Logansport during the past decade is that of James D. McNitt, president of the Logansport Loan and Trust Company, and a citizen who has shown himself possessed of all the essential qualities of a uscful and successful business man. Quick to perceive, ready to act, he meets minor business questions with great ease, while, careful to act rightly, larger matters are the subject of full consideration. His operations in the feeding, buying and shipping of stock have been extensive, and in every line of business activity he is known as one whose commercial ideals are of the strictest nature. Mr. McNitt has been a resident of Indiana since he was six months of age, coming here from Juniata county, Pennsylvania, where he was born July 3, 1845. His parents, James G. and Jane (Naginey) McNitt, were also born in this country, but were of Scotch ancestry. James G. McNitt, his father, came to Cass county, Indiana, by wagon in 1845, the trip consuming six weeks, and located on Crooked creek, in Jeffer- son township, where he was engaged in farming until his death in 1847. His widow survived him nine years, her death being brought about by fighting a prairie fire. Thus the six children were left to shift for themselves, and all are now deceased with the exception of James D.
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.