USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement to the present time; with Biographical Sketches and Reference to Biographies, Volume I > Part 87
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Early burials: Samuel Puterbaugh, died 1858; John P. Tucker, 1862. Members of the Louthain, Jack, Schaff, Ulery and other families repose here. John Tucker, who hung himself in 1862 is buried here.
PIPE CREEK CHRISTIAN CEMETERY
August 7, 1872, Dr. J. A. Adrian deeds one acre of ground in Rich- ardville Reserve, Tipton township, to the trustees of the Christian church. John Williams, Michael Snidermain and Leroy Lowman for church and burial purposes. A church was erected and still stands.
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First burial was a child of Milton Osborn in 1872; Emma B. Loser, 1879; Lulu B. Bowyer, 1879.
Soldiers: John Martin, Mexican and Civil war; J. Henry Loser, Com- pany F, One Hundred and Fifty-first Indiana, died 1889; Mr.
McCloud, killed by a stone thrown by a boy, 1879; Charles Helvie, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Indiana, died 1905.
LEFFEL PRIVATE BURIAL GROUND
John C. Leffel, on September 19, 1857, sold his farm in the northeast quarter of section 12 to Geo. W. Grimes, but reserves a burial ground and each time the farm was sold a reservation was made and in 1870 John Cotterman sold to Wm. M. Helvie and reserved the burial ground and described it by meets and bounds containing one hundred and ninety- five one thousandths of an acre. (See Rec. 64, page 108.)
This little burial ground is beautifully located on the edge of timber land and has recently been enclosed by a woven wire fence about twenty feet square (1907). A large beech tree stands in the center of the enclosure. There are a number of marble slabs, most of them fallen or lying against the beech tree, from which we copy some inscriptions: Frances, wife of J. S. Louthain, died 1853; Samuel G. McGrue, died 1853; Mary, wife of Henry Book, died 1848; Mary Anderson, 1853. There are many unmarked graves of the Ulery and other families.
Samuel G. McGrew, who was laid to rest here under a forest tree in 1853 is the grandfather of B. F. Louthain, the present editor of the Pharos Reporter. He was a pioneer in this forest region. This little burial ground is but a repetition of the history of many another burial place in Cass county.
When in the midst of the forest, with no roads, no church yards, no undertakers or ministers to conduct funerals, when death entered the pioneer cabin, his only alternative was to act as undertaker and preacher and tenderly lay his loved ones in a rude box of his own making and bury them in the virgin soil under a tree in the woodland where they peacefully sleep, undisturbed by the howling of wolves and other wild animals roaming over them in those early days.
LITTLE DEER CREEK, THOMAS OR ONWARD CEMETERY
This is an old burial ground, often designated by the different names above and situated on the south bank of Little Deer creek, about a mile west of Onward.
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The ground was donated by William P. Thomas in the early forties but deeds were not executed until April 12, 1861, when Josiah M. Thomas deeds one acre of land in the southeast quarter of section 17 to Julian Madden, John Fry and Joseph Heward, trustees of Public graveyard on Little Deer creek. (Rec. T, page 700.)
On February 25, 1890, the trustees deed the above to the Deer Creek Cemetery Association of Cass county, and on October 13, 1906, Samuel G. Thomas deeds one acre adjoining above described tract to the same association. The new addition is platted but not recorded (1907). This is a large and fairly well kept cemetery on a bluff overlooking the creek with a few evergreen trees and some good monuments.
The first burial was that of Winfield Scott, April 16, 1843; William Scott, 1773-1845. Hugh Morgan, who cut his throat in 1853, rests in this cemetery as does also Joseph Coblents, who accidentally shot himself while out hunting in 1897; George Walton who was shot and killed by Mrs. Schmitt about 1897 and Joshua Sensenbaugh who shot himself some years ago.
Soldiers: Levi Snyder, Mexican war, died 1900; Robert McBean, Mexican war; Irvin Masters, Mexican war; Joseph Helvie, United States Infantry ; John Revis, Company D, Thirty-fourth Indiana, died 1906; Moses A. Miller, Company F, One Hundred and Forty-seven Ohio; Eli Zelner, Pennsylvania Regiment; Martin Zerfis, Company I, Forty-sixth Indiana; C. L. Buffington, Company I, Twenty-fourth Ohio, died 1867; J. M. Scott; David Miller, Company K, Ninth Indiana.
PIPE CREEK OR DE LAWTER CEMETERY
On March 17, 1860, Robert Wait conveys to the trustees of "Pipe Creek Union Burial Ground" one-fourth of an acre of land in the north- west corner of lot 2 of grant No. 1 of J. B. Richardsville's reserve in Tipton township and on the same day Alpheus De Lawter deeds to Sam- uel Surface, Ezra De Lawter and John Costenberder, trustees of this burial ground and their assigns forever, twenty square rods adjoining the above mentioned tract and on April 10, 1870, Henry Stewart deeds twenty square rods on the east and adjoining the Pipe Creek burial ground to the trustees.
This is a beautifully located cemetery on a hillside overlooking Pipe Creek and contains some handsome monuments but is sadly neglected (1907).
Earliest burials as taken from the markers: Rosanna, wife of Jacob J. Ringer, died February 13, 1854; Rebecca M. Bowyer, died 1855; Ellen, wife of Robert Wait, died 1854.
Soldiers: Edward Lucas, Company G, Seventy-third Indiana, died 1863; John B. Rector, Company H, Fifty-second Indiana, killed by cars, December 16, 1886.
CUPPY BURIAL GROUND
This private burial ground is located in the center of section 35, in the northwest corner of Tipton township on land belonging to Abe Cuppy, the father of David Cuppy now living on Knowlton street in Logansport (1907). The first burials were the six-year-old daughter of a Mr. Scott in 1845; Susan Cuppy, 1849, and her child in 1852; Alex Liggett, 1860; a child by the name of Philips and possibly several others. About 1864 David Cuppy removed the remains of his father to the Schaff cemetery, a mile to the south and the gravel road now runs over this once sacred spot. There was a log school house beside this burial ground in 1848, but it was rebuilt to the south about 1864.
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MINNICK PRIVATE BURIAL GROUND
This little grave lot is situated on the Minnick farm in the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 26, Tipton township, about a mile northwest of Walton. Here in the center of a field about twenty rods west of the Ramer pike road may be seen (in 1907) three small scrubby elm bushes grown up between them with briers about fifteen feet square, once fenced but now fallen into decay. Here lies a marble slab under the moulding grass with the following inscription: Justice Minnick died September 21, 1847, age 41 years, 6 months, and his niece, Martha Stemler. The farm on which this burial lot is located was entered in 1844 by Mr. Minnick and is now the property of his son, Henry Min- nick, of Walton. The latter relates many interesting circumstances and conditions at that early day in the midst of the forest. When his brother died in 1846, his father made the coffin out of rough boards. When his father died in 1847, he with a neighbor drove with a lumber wagon through the woods to Logansport to get a coffin, waited until it was made, then hauled it out in the farm wagon. At that time there were but two houses between Walton and Logansport and the road wound around through the forest trees. In 1846 there was no burial ground in Tipton township and Mr. Minnick, like many other pioneers of Cass county, buried his beloved dead beneath the giant trees on his own lands and he selected a beautiful, elevated spot for his last resting place and where he has peacefully slept for over sixty years.
When returning from this little burial ground we could but meditate upon the past and contrast it with the present. In 1846 there were no gravel roads, railroads, interurbans, automobiles, or telephones. It re- quired one long day to make the trip to Logansport. Today we were called to Walton by telephone, and at 5 A. M. took the interurban which dropped us a half mile this side of Walton, made three calls, inspected the three cemeteries nearby, including the one under consideration, walked to each of these and on to Walton where we made a call and got back to Logansport before 9 o'clock A. M. consuming less than four hours. What a change since sixty years ago.
When Mr. Minnick came to town, And his horses struggled so, In mud and rain, uphill and down, Over sixty years ago. When he laid his dead in a forest cave, And made but little show, With no monument to mark the grave, Over sixty years ago.
PHYSICIANS
Doctors appear to be a necessary evil and the world it is said is inclined to evil and that continually, and the physician plays so important a part in every community that its history would not be complete with- out mention of the doctors and a brief notice of the twenty or more physicians who have resided for a longer or shorter time in Tipton township will be made.
Dr. Henry Alford came from Ohio in the fifties and located in Walton where he continued in practice until about 1890 when he moved to Peru, then to Kokomo and about 1905 retired and died at the home of his son in Chicago in 1907-08 and reposes in the Walton cemetery. He was married to Miss Sarah Hathaway and had two sons. His wife and one son are dead.
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Dr. Mac Burns located and practiced at Walton about 1883, later at Pipe Creek, then at Young America and Hooversville. He is now dead.
Dr. Matthew H. Bonner, born in Whitley county, Indiana, 1868; licensed in 1899 as a physio-medical doctor; came from Starke county, Indiana, and located at Onward but about a year later moved to Knox, Indiana. He had a family.
About 1880 Dr. C. C. Champion practiced in Onward for a year or two when he moved to Logansport, relinquished practice and followed the trade of a carpenter and took an active 'part in labor unions. His wife died before coming to Cass county. He had two sons, one of whom mar- ried the daughter of A. J. Robinson, of Logansport. Dr. Champion left Cass county many years ago.
Dr. Charles D. Carpenter, born in Ohio, 1849, graduated from the Medical College of Ohio, 1872, came to Cass county 1899 and located at Walton, where he is still in active practice.
Dr. Clayton C. Campbell, born in Ohio, 1879, graduated from the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons of Indianapolis, 1904, and located in Walton in 1907 and is still actively engaged in the practice of his chosen profession. His wife was Miss Mary I. Garvis, of Columbus, Ohio, and they are blessed with several children.
Dr. C. P. Dutchess, born in New Jersey in 1849, graduated from the Indiana Medical College, 1876, came to Cass county in 1868 and in 1873 opened an office in Walton and is now the oldest practitioner in Tipton township, although in recent years he pays more attention to his drug store, which he has kept for many years, than to medical prac- tice. He has been a member of the United States pension board since 1897. He was a drummer boy in Company H, Twenty-fifth New Jersey Infantry. His wife was Laura A. Hurd of Cass county, to whom he was married in 1874. They have two sons and one daughter.
Dr. Owen Engler, born in Indiana, 1851; came to Cass county, 1856; taught school and studied medicine and graduated from the Indiana Medical College, 1880, and practiced in Walton and engaged in mercan- tile pursuits and in recent years has given up the practice but is one of Tipton township's honored citizens. He was married in 1879 to Mary Scott of Pulaski county, Indiana, and they are blessed with several children.
Dr. Oscar A. Flanagan is a native of Walton, Indiana, where he was born, 1880; received his degree of M. D. from the Kentucky Medical College in 1904, and at once began practice in Walton, but two or three years later moved to Creaton, Washington, where he is practising his chosen profession. His wife was a daughter of Dr. C. P. Dutchess, of Walton.
Dr. Estle Perry Flanagan, brother of the above mentioned doctor is also a Cass county boy, graduated from the Louisville Medical College, 1909, practiced in Walton for a year or more and moved to Herdsville, North Dakota. He is not married but prospects are good.
Dr. J. H. Goodale, lived and practiced medicine in Walton in 1873 and 1874. He was a charter member of the Cass County Medical Society and its first secretary. In 1874 he moved to Decatur, Illinois. He was married and had several children.
Dr. James F. Hatfield, born at Delphi, Indiana, 1872, graduated from Cincinnati University, 1897, practiced in Clinton county until 1910 when he located in Walton, where he has been in active practice since that date. He was united in marriage in 1895 to Miss Grace Lister and they have three children (1912).
Dr. J. L. Neff, a Cass county production, being born in Deer Creek township in 1856, graduated from the Louisville Medical College in 1891
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and has been in active practice in Walton until the spring of 1913, when he opened an office in Logansport. He was elected coroner of Cass county in 1904. He was never married but is eligible and susceptible.
Dr. J. J. Pickett was a registered physician at Dow in Tipton town- ship in 1882 where he practiced for about two years, then moved to Nebraska. He was married and had several children; one little girl was killed by the railroad when he lived at Onward and lies at rest in Thomas cemetery west of that town.
Dr. L. Prater lived and practiced in Walton for some time about 1870. He had a family. He moved to Ohio where he died some years ago.
Dr. Samuel Surface lived on a farm near Pipe Creek falls in the sixties and seventies and had a large country practice. For some time Dr. B. S. Clevinger was associated with him. He sold his farm to Mr. Young many years ago and moved to Lafayette, where he died in 1884. He was also a minister of the United Brethren church and healed both soul and body. He had a family.
Dr. Edward A. Spohn, born at Peru, Indiana, in 1880; graduated from the Louisville University in 1910, and on September 10, 1910, was licensed to practice at Walton but evidently did not remain long.
Robert F. Vernon born in Cass county in 1874, graduated from the Louisville Medical College, 1901-2, and engaged in practice in Walton for two years or more when he moved to Kokomo. He was married.
Dr. F. M. Wall came to Cass county in 1881 and located in Walton. He practiced there for a year or two then moved to the eastern part of the state. He was married and had several children.
Dr. Wood lived and practiced medicine in Walton for a time in the early seventies, then moved to Streator, Illinois.
Dr. J. A. Adrain, noticed elsewhere, was one of the most prominent physicians ever located in Tipton township. He lived at Lewisburg or Circleville on the Wabash river from 1851 to 1873 and had an extensive practice. He moved to Logansport in 1873. He was born in New York in 1824 and died 1886.
Dr. Charles S. Albertson, now in active practice in Walton where he was born in 1881, graduated from Jefferson Medical College, 1905, prac- ticed in Ft. Wayne and in 1912 located at Onward but soon moved to Walton. His wife was Maud Robbins of South Whitley, Indiana.
ROADS-INTERURBANS-AUTOMOBILES-TELEPHONES
In pioneer days the roads angled through the township following Indian trails and during the rainy season the black fertile soil would work up into sticky mud so that the roads became almost impassable, but with the improvement of the lands, the roads were straightened and placed on section lines, graded, macadamized or graveled and today Tip- ton township has over twenty miles of stone road with all the principal thoroughfares graveled so that every section of the township can be reached over smooth solid roads all times in the year with automobiles in which latter, Tipton township, leads all others-she having over seventy machines now in use by her citizens. The township is traversed by two lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Indiana Union Trac- tion Company's line from Logansport to Indianapolis traverses the south- west corner of the township, they affording unequaled transportation facilities.
In 1903 the Home Telephone Company of Logansport established ' an exchange in Walton. Through this exchange or by direct line with the central office many of the farmers and all the business men in the
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towns are in telephone communication with each other and with Logans- port and the other cities of the state.
WALTON
This is the largest town in Tipton township with a population of about six hundred. It is situated in the southwest part of the town- ship, ten miles from Logansport on the Richmond division of the Pan- Handle Railroad and also on the Indiana Union Traction Company's interurban line. The town was laid out by Gilbert Wall in August, 1852, and named after the proprietor of the town, Mr. Wall. At this time the railroad had been surveyed and the town was laid out with a view of making it a station on the New Castle & Richmond Railroad, then in process of construction.
Numerous additions have since been made, to-wit: Wall and Booher's, Bumgarner's, Booher's, Bishop's, Dollarhide, Davis, Hathaway and Noel's and Oden's. Mr. Wall moved to Minnesota in 1856 and died there. His son, O. G. Wall, a cousin of B. F. Louthain, became a promi- nent newspaper man in the northwest and wrote a book entitled, "Rec- ollections of the Sioux Massacre."
The first merchant in the town was Oscar Herrell, who erected a double-hewed log house in 1853 on lot No. 25, Wall and Booher's addi- tion. In the front room of the cabin he kept a general store and the back room he occupied as a residence. His principal customers were the men engaged in building the railroad.
The second building was also a log house built on lot No. 26, by John Booher and occupied by him for some years. The first house on the original plat was a log structure built by Isaiah Noel in 1853, and in the same year Phineas Hathaway erected the first frame residence.
The first industry was a sawmill erected in the fall of 1852 by Isaiah Noel and James A. Lewis.
The second merchant was Abraham Kipp, who built a frame store- room on lot 31, Wall and Booher's addition, about 1854. Mr. Kipp was an energetic man and through his influence a postoffice was established here and he became the first postmaster. About 1860 he sold out to John D. Ferguson and Charles Flanagan. About 1855 Phineas Hathaway erected a frame storeroom and engaged in mercantile business for sev- eral years.
During the year 1856 George W. Bishop opened a general store and has continued in business of various kinds-mercantile, manufacturing and banking-until within the past year he has retired from the active duties of business in which he has been a prominent figure for more than half a century.
David Engler, Cornelius Hurley, Adam Surface and Perry Kessling were other early merchants.
The first drug store was opened by Charles Maris about 1865.
The first hotel was opened by David Engler about 1870.
The first blacksmith was Matthias Bechdol, and the first carpenters were John Bishop and Jesse Haas.
INDUSTRIES
During the clearing and development of the country the sawmilling business was extensively carried on : first, by Noel & Lewis, followed by George Bennett, John T. Bishop, Hurd Bros., Owen Hurd & Son, A. F. Curtis, Isaac Bumgarner, G. W. Campbell, Voucher & Phillips and others.
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But as the timber became exhausted the sawmilling business lan- guished. A flouring mill was erected about 1872 by Isaac Bumgarner and Dr. Alford, which was operated by D. P. Cramer, George W. Bishop and others, but was destroyed by fire.
A stave and heading factory was established about 1862 by Charles F. Thompson of Logansport.
George W. Bishop erected a factory for the manufacture of "ex- celsior," a material made of basswood for packing purposes, about 1874. A large tile mill was built by John Shafer in the eighties, and a canning factory was established here in the nineties, but all these industries have ceased operations and only one small sawmill now remains, operated by Elmer Oden.
INCORPORATION
The town was incorporated under the laws of the state in 1873. The first town board consisted of Isaiah Noel, Owen Hurd and John Shafer.
The present officers are: Edgar E. Phillips, president of the town council, which is composed of S. B. Yohn, William Staggs, John Plank and J. H. Rhodes, with James Kivett clerk and W. G. Umbarger treasurer.
The corporation erected a two-story brick high school building about ten years ago on grounds donated by Isaac Bumgarner, at a cost of $8,000. The high school was commissioned in 1907 and now about fifty high school students receive instruction equal to city high schools, and one hundred and forty pupils in the lower grades, requiring six teachers.
In 1878, when Harry G. Wilson was county superintendent, he established what was known as the Cass County Normal in Walton, under his superintendency, with other high-grade instructors, but only continued for a few years owing to want of patronage.
The principal streets of the town are improved with crushed stone, and the gutters and sidewalks with concrete.
During the past year the town has been wired and now is lighted by electricity, furnished by the interurban company.
POSTOFFICE
The Walton postoffice was established soon after the railroad was completed in 1855, and Abraham Kipp was the first postmaster.
Robert E. Huffman is the present postmaster, and two rural routes, Nos. 16 and 17, established in 1903 or 1904, carry daily mail to the farmers' door in the surrounding country.
PRESENT BUSINESSES
There are five general stores conducted by Scroggs & Co., Erny & Kapp, William Staggs, William Logan, and the Hessel Cash Store; two hardware stores by W. G. Umbarger and Charles Shirley; two restau- rants by Charles Britton and Otto Shirley; two bakeries by M. M. Routh and Mr. Timberman; tinshop by George Raikes; two butcher shops by M. Routh and Walter Irvington; one drug store by Dr. Charles P. Dutchess; one millinery store, two barber. shops by Rhodes & Bish and George Shedron; two livery stables by M. M. Coleman and Bechdol & Burkit; three blacksmith shops by John Shaver, Gunther & Bish and Otto Fiske; one harness shop by Mr. Kinzie; one hotel kept by Benjamin A. Deitrick; a large lumber yard operated by the Walton Lumber Com- pany, with B. E. Butte as manager; two automobile garages by Walter Ballard and Ross Umbarger.
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BANK OF WALTON
This financial institution was established in 1903 and George W. Bishop, Sr., was its president for many years, until it was reorganized October 1, 1911, and the name changed to Cass County State Bank. It is ably managed by the following officers :
President-W. L. Small.
Vice-President-H. N. Miller.
Cashier-Carl A. Mead.
The bank is capitalized at $30,000 and the deposits amount to $125,000.
The telephone exchange was established in Walton by the Home Telephone Company of Logansport in 1905, and through this exchange the residents of Walton and the farmers of the surrounding country have telephone communication with Logansport and contiguous ter- ritory.
Walton is in the center of a rich farming district and supports two large elevators-one by L. McFadden and the other by The Farmers' Elevator Company. These elevators handle over three hundred thou- sand bushels of grain annually and hundreds of carloads of live stock and other farm products.
The health of the town and surrounding country is conserved by five doctors (noticed elsewhere), who safely pilot the people over the dark river, and four churches look after their spiritual wants, and Un- dertakers Small & Evans tenderly lay them away in their last resting places.
LODGES
Masonic-Walton Lodge, No. 423, F. & A. M., was organized August 21, 1869. The first officers were: John Battenburg, W. M .; W. M. Booher, S. W .; A. C. Shope, J. W. The present officers are: O. A. Davis, W. M .; Ross Umbarger, S. W .; Bruce E. Bucks, J. W .; James E. Kivett, secretary; Charles P. Dutchess, treasurer. The membership now numbers eighty-six. Walton Chapter, Eastern Star, No. 184, was instituted in 1895, and now has a membership of thirty-one, officered as follows: Martha Revis, W. M .; S. P. Younglove, patron; Oscar Fer- guson, secretary.
Odd Fellows-Walton Lodge, No. 314, I. O. O. F., was instituted August 14, 1868. The first officers were: Daniel Kelly, N. G .; William Booher, V. G .; William Ashton, secretary. The present membership is one hundred and sixteen, and the present officers are: Charles Shuman, N. G .; John Small, V. G .; John Richeson, recording secretary ; W. H. Crim, financial secretary. The lodge occupies their own hall, which was erected in 1903 at a cost of $4,000.
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