USA > Indiana > Gibson County > History of Gibson County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 38
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After his marriage, William L. West left Owensville, going to Fort Branch, where he engaged in the drug business with his brother under the firm name of W. L. & J. A. West. This partnership continued for nearly three years. when he sold his interest to his brother, John, and went to Boonville, Indiana, where he was in the drug business for about two years. He then went to Oakland City in 1881, where he was engaged in the same line for about ten years. In 1891 he sold out and was one of the organizers of the People's State Bank of that place, this organization taking place in 1889. John J. Murphy was president and William L. West was cashier for fifteen years. At the time of Mr. Murphy's death, Mr. West was raised to the presidency and Alvin Wilson was made cashier. The directors are T. Wilson, W. H. Lowry, L. J. Deutsch and David Ingle.
Mr. West was one of the organizers of the Citizens Bank of Princeton in 1903 and served as president for four or five years. Also he and two of his brothers organized the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Fort Branch, which organization he served as president for sixteen years. In August. 1904, Mr. and Mrs. West moved their home to Princeton, locating at No. 213 East State street, where they have since resided, their home being a center of interest to their host of friends. Mr. and Mrs. West have an in-
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teresting family of children, the oldest of whom, a little daughter called Bertha, died at the age of three years. The next in order is Carl R., a travel- ing salesman for a jewelry firm in Indianapolis, whose wife was Miss Jessie Dill. Roland E. is attending school at Valparaiso, Indiana. The fourth child was a little son, Fred, who died when one year old. William L., Jr., has been a telegraph operator stationed at Ashland, Kentucky, but he is now attending Purdue University. The youngest daughter of the family is Cath- erine, who is in her first year at the State University at Bloomington.
Mr. West is a member of that time-honored body of Free and Accepted Masons, holding his membership in the Oakland City lodge. He has also attained the York Rite or Knights Templar degree of Masonry and is a mem- ber of the Eastern Star. The religious sympathies of the family are with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. West is a member of the Oakland City church. Mr. West comes of a family the different members of which have served their community to the best of their ability in their different days and he and his brothers have done much to advance business interests along safe and conservative lines. One of the brothers, John A., was treas- urer of Gibson county at one time. William L. West is a self-made man in the true sense of the term and his keen business judgment coupled with right principles have made him a man highly esteemed by all with whom he comes in contact. He stands as one of the best types of the modern man, clean and strong, and an incentive to young men on the threshold of life.
JOHN E. BUTLER.
In 1859 a charitable society in New York city, a part of whose mission was to find homes for homeless children, sent about two hundred of the home- less waifs under their charge to Indiana, a number of them coming to Prince- ton. Among this number was a mite of a boy of about nine years of age whose full name was John Edward Butler, but as that appeared to be too much of a name for so small a boy, they called him "Johnny Butler." Johnny found a home in Princeton, and, as the years passed, he increased somewhat in size and stature, but he never increased to such an extent as to outgrow his boyhood name. Even in the mature years of manhood his old Princeton friends, and his army associates, know him only as "Johnny Butler," and they prefer to call him by that name. So in this personal sketch, in conformity with the practice of his old-time friends, we will call him by the name by which he is best known.
jehn É. Butler
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Johnny Butler was born in Galway, Ireland, August 8, 1850, a son of Mark and Catherine Butler. There is no definite information as to the time his parents came to America, or as to their life history. It is only known that Johnny Butler was cast adrift in the city of New York and became a street waif, and that he was picked up and sent to a charitable institution on Ran- dall's Island, an institution under the management of the department of charity and correction. Here he remained for about two years, receiving such instruction and training as was given by that institution, then under the superintendency of Mr. Ripley. That there was some fond attachment formed for this institution, his only childhood home, is evidenced by a desire to revisit the place in after years. This visit was made a few years ago. But he found that time had made many changes and there was very little to remind him of the scenes of boyhood days. In the office Johnny Butler found in the record kept there one item of interest. It was a record of his name with the memorandum : "Was found on the streets of New York city in the year 1857, about seven years of age. In 1859 was sent to Princeton, Indiana, where he found a home with Mr. M. J. Brady. The last heard of him he was going to school."
But that was not the last that has been heard from Johnny Butler. When the war of the Rebellion came, and President Lincoln called for volunteers, Johnny Butler was among the first to offer his services. He enlisted April 19. 1861, as drummer boy, in the first company that was made up in Princeton, although at that time he was less than eleven years of age. This company was enlisted for three months' service, but was not accepted because the quota for this state was full. A few months later Johnny Butler found service with the Seventeenth Indiana Company, that was enlisted in Princeton for the three-year service. He served as drummer boy in this regiment for several months and was honorably discharged by reason of a general order of the war department, mustering out all regimental bands. In 1864 he re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Twentieth Indiana Regiment and served until January 8, 1866, when he was honorably discharged.
After his army service he attended the public schools in Princeton and Owensville, and took a course in a business college at Vincennes. His ambi- tion was to acquire an education sufficient to fit him for business, and his suc- cess in business in after life is evidence that he wisely improved every educa- tonal opportunity afforded him.
After employment in various business enterprises he was attracted to (26)
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prospects in the Pennsylvania oil fields and he determined to try his fortune there. Here he found favorable opportunity for the employment of his capital, which consisted largely of industry and push. He became identified with the oil industry of Pennsylvania and made investments in that line which proved to be highly remunerative. That there are ups and downs in the oil industry is the experience of every one who has engaged in it, and Johnny Butler's experience is not an exception. But his careful and conservative business judgment has enabled him to make a good showing on the profit side of the ledger in the several years he has been engaged in the business. At present he is president of the Butler Oil Company, and also president of The Marvin Manufacturing Company, producing and manufacturing lubricating oils and greases, at Franklin, Pennsylvania, where his home has been for several years. In that community, and wherever known, he is regarded as a man reliable and trustworthy, and it is to these traits of character that his success in life is due.
This sketch of Johnny Butler is not given for his personal gratification and aggrandizement. It is rather under protest and against his wish that any publicity regarding his life is given. But there is a lesson in such a life that is worth reading. For one to begin life as a street waif, in New York city, without home, kindred or friends, and to work his way to a place among successful and respected business men, is a life worthy of emulation. It happily illustrates the possibilities of a successful life, open to every boy, under the benign influences and advantages of our American institutions, even though the early environments are most unfavorable.
HON. SIMON L. VANDEVEER.
Simon L. Vandeveer, who is filling with ability and satisfaction the position of judge of the sixty-sixth judicial circuit, is a native son of In- diana, having been born on a farm near English, Crawford county, on October 26. 1868. His parents, Joel and Jemima A. (Monk) Vandeveer, who are both now deceased, were both also natives of this state, the father having been for many years a successful practicing physician in Crawford county, where he was widely known and highly respected, not only because of his professional success, but also for his high personal character.
Simon L. Vandeveer received his elementary education in the common
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schools of Crawford county, supplementing this by attendance at Marengo Academy, Marengo, Indiana, and Borden Institute, in Clark county, both being excellent educational institutions. During this educational period he taught in the public schools of his native county for several terms. Having entertained an ambition to take up the practice of law as his life work, Simon L. Vandeveer entered the law office of Jerry L. Suddarth, at Leavenworth, which was at that time the county seat of Crawford county, being thus em- ployed for four years. During this same period his brother, John M. Vande- veer, was studying law at New Albany in the office of Charles L. Jewett, and after completing their studies and being admitted to the bar, the brothers came to Oakland City, Gibson county, opening a law office here on December 24, 1891. There, under the firm name of J. M. & S. L. Vandeveer, they con- tinued in the practice for four years, proving themselves able and trustworthy attorneys and attaining a high standing at the Gibson county bar. On Jan- uary 1, 1895, Simon L. Vandeveer came to Princeton and the law firm of J. N. & S. L. Vandeveer from that time forward was one of the best known and most successful in this section of the state. The subject was, in Febri- ary of 1913, appointed judge of the sixty-sixth judicial circuit and is the present incumbent of that position. In the active practice of law Judge Van- deveer stood admittedly in the front rank of his profession in this county, being one of the most successful lawyers before the local bar. In his present position his career has been all that his previous record promised. His qualifications for the office of judge are unquestionable. First of all, he has the integrity of character, and then he possesses the natural ability and essential requirements, the acumen of the judicial temperament. He is able to divest himself of prejudice or favoritism and consider only the legal as- pects of a question submitted. These are, indeed, words of praise, but the encomium is justified, for the Judge has proved himself a man in all the term implies, and its implication is wide. His career on the bench and at the bar offers a noble example and an inspiration, while he has never been known to fail in that strict courtesy and regard for professional ethics which should ever characterize the members of the bar, his career reflecting credit upon the judiciary and dignifying the profession to which he belongs. Judge Vandeveer is an active member of the State Bar Association and in that society is a member of the committee on legal education and admission to the bar of the State Bar Association.
Politically, Judge Vandeveer gives his support to the Democratic party, to the success of which he has contributed by his personal efforts and being
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prominent in its councils. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, being a charter member of the last-named lodge at Princeton. Religiously, he is a member of the Presbyterian church and gives his earnest support to every movement looking to the advancement of the highest and best interests of his fellows.
On March 18, 1895, Simon L. Vandeveer was married to Mary Cas- tetter, a daughter of Ira and Florence (Jackson) Castetter, former residents of Gibson county, but now residing in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Personally, Judge Vandeveer is genial and easily approached, pos- sessing to a marked degree those qualities which win and retain friendships. He has been successful in his life work, respected in social life and as a neighbor he has discharged his duties in a manner becoming a liberal-minded, intelligent citizen of the community honored by his citizenship.
WILLIAM W. BLAIR, M. D.
It is with pleasure that the biographer has an opportunity to place before the readers of this work the life record of the honorable man and physician whose name initiates this paragraph. A history of Gibson county would be wholly incomplete should there be failure to include one who has passed so many years of usefulness in the community, the influence of whose upright life cannot be estimated. There is no outsider so closely admitted to the love and confidence of a family as the trusted and faithful physician. There is no form of service higher than a heartfelt desire to relieve suffering humanity, and when a physician goes deeper in his diagnoses than mere bodily ills, and treats also moral and spiritual weaknesses, the result is a most beautiful life, the whole effect of which cannot be adjudged from any earthly viewpoint.
Dr. William W. Blair was born at Bloomington, Monroe county, In- diana, on August 6, 1827, the son of James and Jane ( Neil) Blair, both of whom were natives of South Carolina. The father was born in 1789 and died March 26, 1849, and the mother's death occurred April 5. 1854, in the seventy-fourth year of her age.
Doctor Blair's father followed the vocation of farming all his life. In the year 1816 he left South Carolina with his little family and settled in
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Tennessee, where they remained until 1825, at which time he brought them on to Bloomington, Indiana, where he lived until his death. Doctor Blair is the last remaining member of a family of six children, being the youngest of the family. His elementary education was received in Bloomington, where he later attended the State University in 1844-48. He received special train- ing in his chosen profession at the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated March 7, 1850. He had previously decided upon Princeton as the field for his future labors, and arrived here May 15th after his graduation. He immediately took up his practice and has been here ever since, excepting the time later spent at the front during the Civil war. On October 19, 1861, he was commissioned surgeon of the Fifty-eighth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry and on August 8, 1862, was made medical director of Gen. T. J. Wood's division. Returning home in the summer of 1864, he resumed his practice here, which has since been uninterrupted.
On October 7, 1851, Doctor Blair was united in marriage to Margaret Warnock, who was born in Ireland. Mrs. Blair's death occurred January 20, 1887. To their union were born seven children: Hetty, wife of Dr. S. F. Gilmore, of Indianapolis; Isabelle, of Princeton ; Marie, also at home; Dr. Frank Blair, who died May 11, 1907; Nellie, who died October 7. 1886; Archibald W., who died July 17, 1909, and William, resident in Princeton.
Doctor Blair has the distinction of being the oldest physician in Gibson county and one of the oldest in the state. Princeton was but a small village, with a population of seven hundred and fifty, when the Doctor first came here, and it is difficult for one of a younger generation to appreciate the changes and improvements which time has brought to pass. The physician of today, who makes his calls in his automobile, over excellent country roads, can have no conception of the hardships endured by a physician of the old school who went his way on horseback, along roads which were often scarcely more than a dim path through the woods, fording streams, wading swamps and suffering much personal discomfort in order to traverse the many miles which sometimes separated him from a suffering mortal. It was his untiring faithfulness through those earlier days, as well as his equal at- tention through the years when modern improvements made his task an easier one, that has made a place for Doctor Blair in the hearts of all those with whom he has come in contact during his long life. In the early days Doctor Blair prepared his own medicines from the crude drugs, an arduous task which is no longer necessary.
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Doctor Blair has been a life-long and consistent member of the United Presbyterian church and enjoys the unique distinction of having served as an elder since February 14, 1856. Politically, he is identified with the Re- publican party, and while he has always taken a keen interest in politics, he has never entertained any ambitions along that line. He is also a member of the honored Grand Army of the Republic. While he has always made his home in Princeton, he is the owner of a farm nearby and has other landed interests.
In this necessarily brief sketch, it is absolutely impossible to do justice to the life history of such a man. He holds the admiration of all, counts his friends in great numbers, and surely no higher tribute can be paid him. Right principles of heart and mind, untiring energy and indomitable will have made the life of Doctor Blair a worthy incentive to those who have chosen the practice of medicine as their life work.
JOSEPH P. YOCHUM.
The office of biography is not to give voice to a man's modest opinion of himself and his accomplishments, but rather to leave upon the record the verdict establishing his character by the consensus of opinion on the part of his neighbors and fellow citizens. In touching upon the life history of the subject of this sketch the writer aims to avoid fulsome encomium and ex- travagant praise; yet he desires to hold up for consideration those facts which have shown the distinction of a true, useful and honorable life-a life characterized by perseverance, energy, broad charity and well-defined pur- pose. To do this will be but to reiterate the dictum pronounced upon the man by the people who have known him long and well.
Joseph P. Yochum was born November 8, 1859. in Patoka township, Gibson county, Indiana, south of Princeton, the son of John and Barbara ( Huffmann) Yochum, natives of the fatherland. they having been born in the city of Munich.
The mother of the subject was the daughter of Frank and Mary (Beal) Huffmann, who came to America in 1852 and settled near King's Station, in Patoka township, where the father, in addition to farming, conducted a store and followed his trade of tailoring. These parents were of the Catholic faith, the father dying in Fort Branch in his sixty-sixth year and the mother reaching the extreme age of ninety.
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John Yochum, the subject's father, came alone to America in 1849 and first lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he learned the wagonmaker's trade, following this vocation in the Queen City for three years, when he removed to Gibson county and located three miles south of Princeton on the State road, where he erected a shop and followed his trade until his retirement; he also engaging to some extent in farming. He died in 1895 and his widow removed to Princeton, where she now resides, she being a woman of great intelligence and remarkable memory.
To the subject's parents were born nine children, namely : Frank, 110W deceased, lived in Patoka township and married Indiana Arbuthnot, now also deceased. He was a farmer nearly all his life, but for many years was bookkeeper for the R. P. Moore Milling Company, of Princeton. He was the father of five children, Carl, Edith, Florence, Floyd and Frank; Joseph P .; August, William, Henry and John are deceased; Charles is a buggy manufacturer in Cincinnati; John is cashier of the American National Bank at Princeton and married Jessie Witherspoon; Annie Mary is the wife of Elza Wilkinson, of Princeton.
The subject received a common school education and lived at home until 1882, when he was united in marriage to Maggie Nestler, of Gibson county, the daughter of Casper and Frances Nestler, of Germany, who were early settlers in this community, where they spent the rest of their lives.
To the parents of the subject's wife were born four children, namely : Nicholas, deceased, was a saddler and lived at Fort Branch; Frank, also deceased, was engaged in the hardware business at Fort Branch; Maggie; Peter, deceased, was a saddler at Fort Branch.
To Mr. Yochum and his wife have been born four children, namely: Amy M. lives at home; Ada is the wife of Carl Mangrum, of Princeton; Lora and Esther are living at home. Amy and Lora graduated from the Princeton high school and then took up a course of training for the teacher's profession; Amy is attending Valparaiso University and Lora is at the State Normal School at Terre Haute. Both are now teaching, Amy in the Prince- ton schools and Lora in the high school at Haubstadt.
After the subject's marriage he engaged in agricultural pursuits three and a half miles southeast of Princeton, where he continued until August, 1906, when he purchased his beautiful home in Princeton. Here he has a fine residence at No. 528 East Broadway, which he has remodeled and made modern in every respect.
Mr. Yochum has been a great lover of the best blooded stock and has
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devoted much of his attention to the breeding of fine registered horses, Poland China hogs, Barred Plymouth Rock chickens and Mammoth Bronze turkeys. His farm comprises one hundred and sixty acres in Patoka township.
The subject has taken an active interest in the success of the Democratic party and served for six years as county commissioner, in which office he acquitted himself to the eminent satisfaction of his fellow citizens. Under the recently enacted law he has been appointed county superintendent of highways. Fraternally, he is an appreciative member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 64, of Princeton, while his religious affil- iations are with the Cumberland Presbyterian church.
JAMES A. SPROWL.
An enumeration of those men of the present generation who have won honor and public recognition for themselves, and at the same time have hon- ored the locality to which they belong, would be incomplete were there fail- ure to make specific mention of him whose name forms the caption of this sketch. The qualities which have made him one of the prominent and suc- cessful men of Gibson county have also brought him the esteem of his fellow men, for his career has been one of well directed energy, strong determination and honorable methods.
James A. Sprowl is a native son of the Hoosier state, having been born about four and one-half miles east of Princeton, on July 28, 1840, and is the son of John O. and Margaret (McClellan) Sprowl, the former a native of Chester, South Carolina, and the latter of Greene county, Ohio. The subject's paternal grandfather. John Sprowl, was a native of Ireland who, after emigrating to the United States, located in South Carolina, where he remained until his marriage, when, about 1831, he came to Gibson county, settling in the Stormont neighborhood, about four miles east of Princeton, where he entered a tract of government land. He married Miss Orr, and to them were born nine children, six daughters and three sons, of whom the father of this subject was the oldest. Here John Sprowl remained until his death, which occurred in 1844. John O., father of the subject of this sketch. died August 6, 1841, when his son, James A., was about a year old. His widow afterwards became the wife of James Wilson and reared another family of children.
JAMES A. SPROWL.
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The subject had two sisters, Rose Ann, who became the wife of A. J. Gillespie, of Monroe county, Indiana, and they moved to Kansas, where she reared a family of children. Joan became the wife of Thompson Spencer, and at her death left one child, Ann, who became the wife of Harry Mc- Clellan, of Dayton, Ohio. The subject also has a half-brother, Joseph S. Wilson, of Santa Rosa, California.
James A. Sprowl received his education in the country schools of his home community and was reared on the paternal farmstead under the direc- tion of his money, until in 1861, when about twenty-one years of age, fired by his country's call for defenders, he enlisted in Company B, Fifty-eighth Regi- ment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in which he served valiantly and faithfully, re-enlisting in 1865 in the One Hundred Forty-third Regiment and serving until the close of the war. His record was a good one and one of which he is deservedly proud. Upon his return to the pursuits of peace Mr. Sprowl devoted himself to agricultural labor until 1873, when he removed to Prince- ton in order to give his children better educational advantages. In 1875 he was elected constable, serving at that six years, and at the end of that time he was appointed deputy sheriff, in which position he rendered efficient and satis- factory service for two terms, or eight years. In 1890 Mr. Sprowl was elected justice of the peace, in which office he has been continued by re-election until the present time. His record has been an enviable one, his decisions being marked by a sense of fairness and justice which has commended him to the higher courts of the county. A wide reader and keen observer of men and events, Mr. Sprowl is a well-informed man, keeping in close touch with cur- rent events and is well founded in the fundamental principles of juris- prudence. Congenial and unassuming, he has won a host of warm and loyal personal friends who esteem him highly because of his high character and genuine worth.
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