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 27

Author: Powell, Jehu Z., 1848-1918, ed; Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago (Ill.), pub
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 662


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 27


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James D. McNitt was the youngest of his parents' children, and his boyhood was divided between attendance at the district school and work on the farm. Later he took a course of one term in the Old Seminary, at Logansport, and thus equipped, taught district school. After three terms, however, he decided his abilities could be directed to better advantage in a different field of endeavor, and accordingly he turned his attention to farming and stock raising. About the year 1873, Mr. McNitt ceased active agricultural pursuits and came to Logansport, where he embarked in the wholesale and retail grocery business with a partner, under the firm style of Uhl & McNitt, a connec- tion that continued profitably for eleven years, the buying of wool being an important factor in the conduct of the business. However, the constant confinement and excessive labor connected with his duties, told heavily upon Mr. McNitt's strength, his health began to fail, and he was finally compelled to sell his mercantile interests. He again took up stock buying, feeding and shipping, and to this he has given the greater part of his attention ever since, with marked success. In 1902, Mr. MeNitt assisted in the founding of the Logansport Loan and Trust Company, and on the completion of the organization, he was elected its president, a position in which he has served to the present time. Honorable and honest in his affairs, courteous and easily approached, considerate and broad in his judgment of general busi- ness conditions and tendencies, and a most certain and intuitive judge of the character of men, Mr. McNitt deserves and receives the full esteem and regard of his associates, and is justly judged one of the community's foremost men of business.


In December, 1872, Mr. McNitt was married to Miss Mary Ellen Uhl, daughter of Joseph Uhl, and seven children were born to this union : Caroline N., Mary Ethel, deceased, S. Miriam, Robert J., Willard C., Helen U. and Esther U. Mr. and Mrs. McNitt have given their children excellent educational advantages, sending them to the


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best colleges and universities in the country and fitting them for what- ever positions in life they may be called upon to fill. He was president of the city schools of Logansport nine years. The family are consistent members of the Broadway Presbyterian church, Logansport. Mr. Mc- Nitt is a Democrat in politics, but has never aspired to public office, preferring to give his entire time and attention to his business affairs. He is always ready, however, to support movements for the welfare of Logansport or its people, and to co-operate in advancing education, morality and good citizenship.


GEORGE WASHINGTON BISHOP. A career of more than half a century of time, during which he has risen from obscurity and a humble position in life, to an acknowledged position among the foremost business citi- zens of his community, proves the right of George Washington Bishop to the title of representative man of Walton. In this long period he has been identified with various interests, commercial, industrial, agri- cultural and financial, in all of which he has left the impress of his remarkable business capacity, his great quickness of perception and his wonderfully systematic mind. Although now retired from business activities, having reached an age when he feels himself entitled to a rest from the worries and struggles of former years, he still exerts a distinct influence in the life of the city, with whose history his own has been almost commensurate. Mr. Bishop was born September 18, 1836, at Tiffin, Ohio, and is a son of David and Eliza (Douden) Bishop. His father, a native of Pennsylvania, went to Kentucky in young man- hood, and later made his home for some time at Cincinnati, with Gov. R. M. Bishop's father who is a second cousin of George W. Bishop, succeeding which he moved to Tiffin, Ohio, and there passed away at a ripe old age. He and his wife were the parents of twelve children, all of whom reached years of maturity : Mrs. Ellen Huffman, John T., Mrs. Mary Lightner-Darling, Mrs. Julia Betts, Eliza, W. H., Alvira Booker, Mrs. Lovina Flynn, Catherine Shafer and Ida Baumgardner, all of whom are deceased; George Washington and Laura Penrose.


George W. Bishop remained under the parental roof until he was fourteen years of age, working with his father, who was a carpenter, and learning the trades of carpenter and bricklayer. In 1852 he first came to Walton, Indiana, walking about two hundred miles to Lewis- burg, as the railroads had not reached this point and the canal was frozen over. He then returned to Tiffin, but in October, 1854, again came to Walton and for a time worked at his trades. Soon, however, he recognized the opportunity for entering the mercantile field, and, returning to Tiffin, Ohio, invested his modest capital in a little stock of general merchandise, which he brought back to Walton. The business thus started became one of the large enterprises of the town, Mr. Bishop's intelligent management, tireless industry and sound business sense serv- ing to constantly widen its scope and extend the range of its operations. For twenty years he was also engaged in the manufacture of excelsior, and then turned the store over to his sons. His next venture was the buying of the Bank of Walton, which he sold four years later and retired from active life. Mr. Bishop is the owner of three handsome farms, one being the Bishop home place, on the Walton and Bunker Hill road,


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a tract of sixty-five acres north of Walton. a part of which is in the city limits; another is the old Harrison McVeedy farm on the township line road, a tract of 160 acres about two and one-half miles northwest of Walton; and the third tract, of 117 acres is located in Jackson town- ship, about two miles southeast of Walton.


Mr. Bishop was married April 25, 1860, to Miss Sarah Corbley, and they became the parents of five children: Ida and Alonzo, who are deceased ; Myrtle, the wife of Aaron McKee, who has two chil- dren,-Harold and Keith ; Claude, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; and George Walter. Mr. Bishop was married again, April 2, 1891, to Mrs. Vora (Watson) Sumption, widow of David Ward Sumption, a full review of whose career will be found on another page of this work, and to this union there has been born one son: Richard Edgar, a graduate of Walton High school, who spent two years in Wabash University and is now at Purdue University. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop attend the Lutheran church, and have interested themselves in its work. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and she was a Rebekah. The high rewards that are attainable in fortune, character and influence through a life of industry and probity, guided and regu- lated by a sense of Christian obligation, are illustrated in Mr. Bishop's career. With no extraordinary endowment of faculty, unaided by inheritance or friendly support, he was content to enter into the life which a rising community offered in a humble station, and to follow up the opportunities that opened before him with steadiness and indus- try, gaining, step by step, the rare fruits of well directed enterprise. Today he finds himself in the possession of a handsome competency and the friendship of his fellow men, and the head of a family which reflects credit upon the wise and guiding hand that has trained its harmonious members to lives of usefulness and honor.


DAVID WARD SUMPTION. Although a resident of Walton for only a comparatively short period, the late David Ward Sumption will be remembered by many of the older citizens here because of his con- nection with the manufacturing interests of the city, as well as one of the pioneer "Knights of the Key" whose occupation called them to various parts of the state. Mr. Sumption was born in 1857, at St. Joe, Indiana, and was a son of Robert and Barilla (Ward) Sumption, the former of whom was for a number of years an inn-keeper and hard- ware merchant at Ridgeville, Randolph county, Indiana. There were four children in the family: Mrs. Josephine Tyrrel, who now resides at Santiago, California ; Albert, who is traveling auditor for the Union Pacific railroad, with headquarters at Carney, Nebraska ; David Ward; and William, who is deceased.


David Ward Sumption was educated in the common schools of Jay county, Indiana, and learned the trade of telegrapher at Union City, subsequently becoming railroad agent at Ridgeville. Later he spent a short time at Elwood, after which he returned to Ridgeville, where for a few years he was engaged in the hardware business, but again took up his vocation as a telegraph operator, and as such came to Walton in 1873, here continuing as agent for five years. He then turned his attention to the manufacturing business, which he followed until his


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removal to Madison, Nebraska, and his death occurred in Madison county, Nebraska, April 15, 1881. After his death, his widow took up his work, but gave up that occupation to engage in school teaching, an occupation which she followed until her second marriage, to George W. Bishop, of Walton.


Mr. Sumption was married to Miss Vora Watson, October 27, 1870, and they became the parents of three children, as follows: Gertrude, a graduate of the State Normal school, at Terre Haute, and for some time a school teacher, married Sanford Bell, and had three children,- Portia, Geneva and Josephine, and the family home is now located at Denver, Colorado; Homer, now residing in San Diego, California, who married Amelia Walters, of Sheridan, Wyoming, and has one child,- Vora; and Josephine, director of music in the Denver (Colo.) College, and organist in Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, who married F. M. White, of Noblesville, Indiana. Mr. Sumption was a member of the Universalist church, and was a man of integrity and probity of char- acter. He was always interested in fraternal work, and was popular with the members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Honor. Those who knew him will remember him as a man who was always ready to assist others, who never knowingly made an enemy, and who never lost a friend except through deatlı.


JOSEPH T. MONARY has been actively identified with the growth and development of Cass county for more than a quarter of a century. Born in Harrison county, Ohio, September 26, 1850, he is a son of James and Harriett (Thompson) MeNary, both of whom were natives of Washington county, Pennsylvania. His scholastic training was ob- tained in the schools of Bloomfield, Ohio, and Union College, from which latter institution he received his diploma in 1864. He first came to Cass county, Indiana, in 1865, but the ensuing two years he passed in Tipton county, teaching school and studying law, upon which he had settled for his professional career.


In 1868 Mr. MeNary continued his legal studies under O. P. Blake of Peru, Indiana, and in connection with legal pursuits, was engaged in handling real estate at Peru until 1870. Since the latter date he has resided in Logansport. It would seem that real estate dealings are especially to his liking, for he has never ceased to be more or less engaged in transactions along that line, and for the past ten years prac- tically his entire attention has been devoted to the real estate and loan business. For a number of years John R. McNary, his brother. was associated with him.


Actively identified with the Republican party since early manhood, Mr. McNary was first elected to the city council of Logansport in 1881, and by continued reelection, served some sixteen years in that office, during which time some of the most important laws on the city govern- ment were enacted. It was also during this time, and largely through the instrumentality of Mr. McNary that the first traction line of the city was built and since that time, he has been closely identified with the construction of all the other lines. The purchase of Spencer Park by the Street Railway was another important measure in which Mr. McNary bore a conspicuous and worthy part. The deal was engin-


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eered entirely by Mr. McNary, and the gift to the city by the Street Railway Company of eighteen acres was through his influence. It was dedicated and named McNary Park and afterwards called Spencer Park. He was closely identified also with the locating of Riverside Park. He assisted in the reorganization of the State National Bank after its failure and for many years has been a part of almost all impor- tant public events in Logansport. The Northern Indiana Hospital for the Insane became a Logansport institution largely by reason of his personal efforts, and many another movement has felt his influence in a direction that would be of the greatest possible benefit to his home city.


Mr. McNary has achieved success in life wholly through his own efforts. He came to Logansport with scarcely a dollar to his name, but success in his case came only after years of tireless energy and industry. Of late years he has devoted a considerable time to travel, and there is not a state, territory or important or interesting city in the Union that he has not visited. He has made one trip abroad, and is planning to continue his travels as opportunity affords.


Mr. McNary was united in marriage on October 7, 1875, to Miss Belle Thompson, of Wabash county, Indiana, and their beautiful home in Logansport is a most ideally happy one.


OTTO FIKE. The citizens of Walton, Indiana, need no introduction to Otto Fike, the popular general blacksmith, who has built up a thriv- ing business through excellent workmanship, general reliability and courteous treatment of customers. His career from boyhood has been one of steady industry and persistent endeavor, and is worthy of emula- tion by the aspiring youths of today, teaching an example of upright living and well-directed effort. Mr. Fike is worthy in every way of the respect in which he is held, and among his many acquaintances he can count many friends.


Otto Fike is a native son of Indiana, having been born in Miami county, August 26, 1883, and is a son of David and Lavina (Dickson) Fike. His father was born near Mexico, Indiana, from whence he went to Bunker Hill, Indiana, and there carried on his business of black- smith and general mechanic. He and his wife were the parents of two children : Edward, who is an automobile trimmer ; and Otto. The early education of Otto Fike was secured in the district schools of Miami county, but later, when his parents moved to Logansport, he went to the public schools, there finishing his training. He was a resident of Logansport for eighteen years, and there, in Joseph Erny's shop he began to learn the trade of blacksmith. When he had thoroughly mas- tered all the details of this vocation, he came to Walton, where he has since continued to carry on a profitable business. Mr. Fike is alert and shrewd in business dealings, but his career has been free from trans- actions otherwise than those of a legitimate character. He is an excel- lent mechanic, and his trade is attracted from a wide contiguous terri- tory. Public life has held out no inducements to him. He has been too busy making a place for himself among the business men of Walton to think of political preferment. His home and his business have always been of the greatest value to him. However, he has not been unmindful


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of the duties of citizenship, as is demonstrated on every occasion when movements for the welfare of the community are promoted, for in him they find an intelligent, energetic and reliable supporter.


In March 7, 1906, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Fike with Mrs. Sarah (Brooher) Laird, who had two children by a former mar- riage: Juanita and Violet. Mr. and Mrs. Fike have had one son : David Edward. The family belongs to the Lutheran church, and is liberal in its support of religion and charity. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fike have a wide acquaintance and their friends are legion.


EDWARD F. SMALL. A complete account of the little business and agricultural community at Walton and vicinity could not be comprised, with reference to the affairs and activities of the last half century, without mention of the firm known as Small Brothers, comprising W. L., Ed. F., and Otho A. Small, three brothers who for many years have been influential factors in the business enterprise of this part of Cass county.


Mr. Edward F. Small, the second of these enterprising brothers, was born on the old Small homestead in Washington township, Cass county, on the twenty-third of March, 1867, his parents, Andrew Jackson and Mary (Ijams) Small. One in a family of seven children Edward F. Small obtained his education in the common schools, and a principal part of his early training consisted in the work and experiences of the home farm. It was after attaining to manhood and some independent venturing of his own that he founded the association with his two broth- ers for engaging in the grain business. The firm of Small Brothers, starting from this point in business affairs, enlarged the scope of their operations, and through their individual application to business, they extended and built up a business which is one of the largest and most successful of the kind in Cass county. It has had a substantial and steady growth, always being expanded on the solid basis of capital and prospect of assured returns.


Mr. Edward F. Small was married November 18, 1903 to Miss Flora E. Flanagan, a daughter of Charles and Jennie (Waite) Flana- gan. Mr. and Mrs. Small are the parents of two children, named Inez and Herbert. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 314 at Walton, and also the Masons Lodge, No. 423 and he and his family are members of the Christian church.


WASHINGTON L. SMALL. Among the really useful men of a commun- ity are found those in whom their fellow citizens can rely in affairs of public importance; to whom they can come for assistance in seasons of financial distress; men who have won this confidence by the wisdom of their own investments and by the honorable lives they have led on every field of effort and as neighbors and friends. Very often, in prosperous towns, these men are retired farmers, frequently they are bankers. Such a man is W. L. Small, president of the Cass County State Bank, of Wal- ton, an energetic business man, well qualified to conduct the affairs of of a financial institution, whose material success has been alike benefi- cial to himself and to the place in which he has labored. Mr. Small was born on a farm in Washington township, about nine miles from


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Logansport, Indiana, September 20, 1847, and is a son of Andrew Jack- son and Mary (Ijams) Small. The eldest of his parents' seven children, his education was secured in common schools, which he attended when he could spare the time from the duties of the home farm. He was thrifty and industrious as a youth, carefully saving his earnings with the idea ever in view of embarking upon a career of his own, and eventually, with his two brothers, Ed. F. and Otho A. Small, entered the grain business. Instead of hiring their work done by others, the three brothers performed their own labor, each striving earnestly for the success of their enterprise. This method soon began to show results, and as time went on and their capital permitted they added to their holdings and equipment, and were successful in building up one of the important industries of this section. During this time W. L. Small had continued to be engaged in farming, and at this writing is the owner of an excellent tract of 170 acres, with modern buildings and valuable improvements. In 1911, Mr. Small became a stockholder in the Cass County State Bank, and soon thereafter he was elected to the presidency of this institution.


That his choice displayed good judg- ment on the part of the directors is shown by the fact that since he has been shaping the policies of the institution the business has developed an increase of fifty per cent. His personality had much to do with instilling confidence in the depositors, while among his associates he is recognized as a shrewd, careful and farsighted citizen, and a man of the strictest integrity and probity of character.


Mr. Small was married to Mary E. Spohn, January 6, 1881, and to this union there has been born four children, namely: Frank, who is single and engaged in managing his father's farm; Emmet, who married Blanch Vernon, daughter of James Vernon, and has two children,-Zelma and John; Claude; and Nora, who married Peter Erny. The family is connected with the Christian church. Mr. Small is not a politician, nor has he sought political preferment, but he is at all times ready and anxious to do his full duty as a citizen, and no movement of importance is considered complete until his name is enlisted in the ranks. Like other successful business men here, he takes a pride in the accomplish- ments of his city, in that he has assisted in making these accomplishments possible.


OTHO A. SMALL. The average Cass county farmer, of an industrious and energetic nature, is generally loath to retire from the work in which he has spent the best years of his life and acquired a competence, but when he does turn over his interests to other hands and moves to the near-by town or village, he becomes one of his new community's good citizens, investing his capital in its industries and adding his support to its progressive movements, thus being a welcome addition to the section's population. Among the retired farmers now living in Walton, is Otho A. Small, who is probably better known as "Bert" Small, and who for years was engaged in carrying on agricultural operations in this vicinity. Mr. Small has resided in Cass county all of his life, having been born on the old Small homestead place in Washington township, June 5, 1869, and is a son of Andrew Jackson and Mary (Ijams) Small.


Mr. Small comes of an agricultural family, and in his youth he was


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MR. AND MRS. J. CHARLES THOMAS AND FAMILY


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trained to agricultural work and to habits of industry, sobriety and honorable living. As a yonth he secured such advantages as were to be obtained in the district schools of his community, and he continued to assist his father in conducting the home place until he was nineteen years of age. At the age of nineteen years he and his brother, Edward F. Small, rented small pieces of land, on which they managed to get a start in life, after they had refused to be disheartened by a number of hard knocks. Working industriously on their own property and in the meantime assisting their father in cultivating his land, the boys secured a little capital, and eventually realized their ambition of enter- ing the grain business, in connection with which they bought and sold stock. Later, the three brothers, Edward F., Otho A. and W. L., built an elevator at Walton, and this was developed into one of the leading business enterprises of the place. "Bert" Small is known as a business man who has ever borne a high reputation because of honorable trans- actions. He always devoted himself strictly to legitimate lines, and the business which he assisted in developing will stand as a monument to his ability. He is now living in quiet retirement, in the enjoyment of the fruits of his early labors. It is not to be supposed, however, that he has dropped entirely out of the life of the community, for he still interests himself in its movements, and, as spectator, takes a keen and intelligent interest in the battles of the political arena. He belongs to the Odd Fellows, in which he has a number of warm friends, and is a deacon and trustee of the Christian church.


On February 3, 1897, Mr. Small was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Jane Pierson, daughter of Matthew and Mary Jeanette Pierson, and they have had one son: Orel R., fourteen years of age, a bright, intelligent lad, who is attending the Walton public schools and will enter the Walton high school. In 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Small erected their pretty modern residence in Walton, Indiana.


J. CHARLES THOMAS. "When agriculture flourishes," observes Xenophon, the Greek historian and philosopher, "all other pursuits are in full vigor; but when the ground is forced to lie barren, other occupa- tions are almost stopped." This statement is as true in these modern times as when it was written many centuries ago. To the farm each country must look for its sustenance, and it is therefore of such vital importance that those in whose charge have been placed the agricultural interests of any community must be men of ability in their vocation, able to produce their full share of the necessities withont which other in- dustries are sorely handicapped. Among the agriculturists who have raised the agricultural importance of Cass county to such a high stand- ard as that it now enjoys, is found J. Charles Thomas, of Clay town- ship, who was born May 23, 1857, a son of William and Porter and Margaret (Stafford) Thomas.




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