USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume II > Part 11
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Mr. George R. Chamberlain who was the eldest of the children has always made Peru his home. As a boy he attended the public schools, and was graduated from the high school with the class of June, 1870. The old alumni records of the Peru high school show that this was the first class and Mr. Chamberlain shares with a few other local residents the distinction of heading the alumni list of the old Peru high school. He began his career soon after graduating on August 1, 1870 when he entered the mercantile house of John S. Hale & Company as a clerk. Less than two years later he entered the First National Bank, with what progress, has already been noted. Mr. Chamberlain is a Repub- lican in politics, and fraternally is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Order of Elks. He was married February 11, 1892 to Miss Alice Harris, a daughter of Andrew J. and Sarah Ann (Day) Harris. To their marriage have been born two children: Alice, now deceased ; and Richard Harris. Mrs. Chamberlain and son are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Chamberlain in 1892 assisted in the organization of the Peru Basket Company. This has since been one of the important manufacturing concerns of Peru. It was for a num- ber of years a co-partnership, but Mr. Chamberlain finally bought the interests of the other two partners, and was sole owner from July, 1909 to October, 1911. In the latter year the business was incorporated, and on January 9, 1912, the plant was burned to the ground. The stock holders at once rebuilt, and they have now a most modern and up-to- date and fire proof establishment. The company manufacture a high grade of wares, and give employment to an average of sixty persons. Mr. Chamberlain is also owner of a fine farm of two hundred acres in Peru township.
JOHN C. DAVIS. For a full half century has this well known and honored citizen been a resident of Miami county and he is a representa- tive of one of the sterling pioneer families of this favored section of the Hoosier state, where his parents took up their abode when he was a lad
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of thirteen years. His entire active career was one of close and effective identification with the great basic industries of agriculture and stock- growing, and he has long been one of the prominent representatives of the same in Miami county, where he still owns his extensive and valua- ble landed estate, though he is now living virtually retired in a pleasant home in the city of Peru, the judicial center of the county. A man of broad views, great civic liberality and steadfast character, Mr. Davis has ever held the unqualified confidence and esteem of the people of Miami county, and this has been shown emphatically in his being called to the important office of county commissioner, in which he has served three terms, having first been elected in the Centennial year, 1876, and his third term having been through his election in 1902. He has at all times given zealous co-operation in the furtherance of measures and projects advanced for the general good of the community, along both civic and material lines, and has a deep and abiding interest in and appreciation of the county that has been his home since the pioneer days.
Mr. Davis claims the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity and is a scion of honored pioneer families of that commonwealth. He was born in Madison county, Ohio, on the 8th of September, 1838, and is the only child of Samuel and Zuba (Patterson) Davis, the latter of whom passed to the life eternal about two months after his birth, she likewise having been a native of Ohio. Samuel Davis was born in Ross county, Ohio, where his parents had established their home under the conditions and environment of the early pioneer epoch, and this sturdy citizen lived an unpretentious and worthy life of industry and definite achievement. He never wavered in his allegiance to farming and stock- raising and for many years was an extensive grower of and dealer in live stock. For his second wife he wedded Miss Martha Smith, and of their five children only one is now living, Mary C., who is the wife of Columbus Baltimore, and who resides in Peru, Ind.
In the year 1852 Samuel Davis removed with his family from Ohio to Miami county, Indiana, where he numbered himself among the pioneer settlers of Richland township. Here he secured a tract of land that was virtually a forest wilderness, and his first house was of hewed logs and of somewhat better order than the average pioneer domicile of the locality and period. This continued to be the family home until about 1858, when he gave evidence of his increasing prosperity by the erection of a new house, of frame construction, and in this home he continued to reside until his death, in 1866, his wife surviving him by a number of years. Samuel Davis was a man of unassuming ways, was never radical in thought or action, as his views were broad and liberal and caused him to be tolerant and kindly in his judgment. He lived an industrious, righteous life and accounted well to himself and the world, with an ambition that found its exemplification in worthy accomplishment and civic loyalty. His name merits enduring place on the roster of the sterling citizens who have contributed much to the social and industrial development and upbuilding of Miami county. Samuel Davis was originally an old-line Whig in his political proclivities, but he espoused the cause of the Republican party at the time of its organization. In 1864, however, his conscientious convictions lead him to support Mc- Clellan and Pendleton, the Democratic candidates for president and vice- president of the United States, and his vote on this occasion was the last cast by him in connection with a national election, as his death occurred about two years later. He was an earnest member of the Baptist church, and his faith was shown forth in his daily life, with characteristic avoidance of ostentation and intolerance.
John C. Davis, whose name initiates this review, gained his rudi- mentary education in the primitive schools of the pioneer days and was
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a lad of thirteen years at the time of the family removal to Miami county, Indiana. Here he gained full fellowship with the arduous work involved in the reclaiming and cultivation of the pioneer farm, and in this connection his services were in requisition to such an extent that his further educational discipline of specific order was limited to attending the district school at irregular intervals and during the winter terms only. Like many another who has made individual life justify itself, he has effectually overcome the handicap of early years and through self- discipline and active association with men and affairs has rounded out a liberal education of practical order, as indicated in well fortified views and mature judgment.
From a modest initiation of his career as an independent farmer Mr. Davis worked his way forward toward the goal of worthy success, and the concrete results of his long years of earnest and productive endeavor are shown in his fine landed estate of five hundred and thirty acres, in Richland township, this old homestead including the farm which his honored father secured upon coming to the county more than half a century ago. As an agriculturist and stock-grower Mr. Davis was energetic, progressive and far-sighted, and he has been a leader in the instituting of improved methods and policies in connection with the great industries to which he devoted his entire active career and with which he is still identified, as he maintains a general supervision of his splendid homestead farm, upon which he continued to reside until November, 1902, when he removed to Peru. In the attractive capital city of his home county he purchased his present modern residence, and the same is a favored rendezvous for his host of valued friends, the while Mrs. Davis proved a most gracious and popular chatelaine of the home, which is known for its generous and unostentatious hospitality.
In 1860 Mr. Davis was first enabled to exercise his right of franchise, and on that occasion he cast his ballot in support of the national and local tickets of the Democratic party and in furtherance of its basic principles of equal rights to all and special privileges to none. During the long intervening years he has found no reason to abate his allegiance to the fine old party of Jefferson and Jackson and thus he views with marked complacency the results of the national election of 1912. Show- ing a vital interest in all that pertained to the general welfare of the community, Mr. Davis was not yet forty years of age when, in 1876. he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, and his service in this capacity proved faithful and effective, marked, as it was, with utmost loyalty and public spirit. In 1882 he was again called to this office, and a score of years later, in 1902, he again became a member of the board, as representative of his home township of Richland. During his last term he zealously supported the movement for the erection of a new court house, and the county council later made the required appro- priation for the new building, after the majority of the commissioners had voted in the affirmative on the proposition. In his religious views Mr. Davis is broad and liberal, having tolerance for the opinions of others, and seeing the good in all denominations the while. He is an active member of the Universalist church. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian church. In his home city he is affiliated with Chili Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons.
On the 20th of September, 1868, Mr. Davis espoused as the wife of his youth Miss Julia Harrison, who was born in Ohio and who remained his loved and devoted helpmeet for more than a quarter of a century, the gracious ties having been severed by her death, on the 16th of Decem- ber, 1895. No children were born of this union, nor have there been of the second marriage of Mr. Davis, but in his home he has reared three girls, to whom he gave the best of advantages and who have repaid
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his generous care with deep filial affection and solicitude. On the 27th of December, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Davis to Mrs. Ada Miller, who was born in Miami county, Indiana.
ELIJAH WEST has been a resident of this place since he was sixteen years of age, having come here in 1858 with his parents, who settled on a farm in the vicinity of Peru and there spent their remaining days. He was born at Washington Court House, Ohio, on October 9, 1842, and is a son of Amos and Sarah (Christy) West, and a grandson of Eli West, who came to Miami county during the Indian period and was the first of the family to locate hereabouts. Butler township saw the first settlement of the family and there he spent his remaining days. He entered land from the government and built a log cabin into which he moved his family and began to clear and improve the land, ultimately coming into independence and a fair degree of prosperity.
Amos West and his family did not come to Indiana when the father, Eli West, located here, but delayed his coming until about 1858, when he settled some two miles from Santa Fe, in Butler township, where he turned his attention to the farming industry. He was a native of Kentucky, but in the pioneer days had moved to Washington Court House, Ohio, and thence to Indiana. He and his wife became the parents of twelve children, all of whom grew to years of maturity, and all of them married, five of the number being alive today. Elijah West, one of these children, was reared on his fathers farm homes in Ohio and Indiana, respectively. He received but a limited education in books, but he was well versed in farm lore, and early gained an inti- mate acquaintance with hard work peculiar to the farming methods in vogue in his boyhood. On August 14, 1864, he married Susan Saum, the daughter of Madison and Susan (Morse) Saum, who came to Miami county from Dayton, Ohio, making the trip via canal route and landing here in 1847. Madison Saum settled at Peru and worked at his trade of a brick mason, and it is a noteworthy fact that practically all the houses in Peru built of brick up to 1885 were built by him. He died in 1894, after a residence of forty-seven years in this vicinity, where he was esteemed and honored of all who knew him.
For more than forty years after Elijah West discontinued his farm- ing operations he worked in what is now the Lake Erie Railroad shop in the capacity of a machinist, a trade he had learned in early life. A man of unusual industry and ambition, he was able to save something from his earnings, and early began to accumulate something, so that he has long had the reputation of being a man of means. To him and his wife five children were born, one of the number dying in infancy. The others are James M., Harry E., William F. and Guy E. Concern- ing Harry E. West, brief mention is made in the following article.
HARRY E. WEST, son of Elijah and Susan (Saumn) West concern- ing whom appropriate mention is made in the preceding item, was born in Peru, on September 8, 1869, and received his education in the public schools of the district. When he was sixteen years old he began clerking in the store of Henry Meinhart, when that establishment, was first opened, and he continued with Mr. Meinhart from 1885 until 1906. Since that time he has been a member of the firm of West & Stevens, proprietors of a general book and stationery store. He is recognized as one of the prosperous business men of the place, and has an excellent reputation for business integrity and general good citizen- ship in and about Peru of which he is well worthy.
Mr. West was married on April 27, 1893, to Miss Georgia Kartholl,
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of Peru, her father, Joseph Kartholl, being a pioneer in the drug line in this place. Mr. and Mrs. West have one son, Joseph Kartholl West, born March 17, 1913. Mr. West is a member of the Masonic fraternity, as well as of the Knights of Pythias, Castle Hall Lodge, and with his wife, has membership in the Baptist church.
DR. WILLIAM H. WAGONER has been engaged in practice in Peru since he came out of college, newly fledged in the profession, in 1903, and his success here has been all that one could hope for. He was born at Flora, in Carrol county, Indiana, on December 26, 1875, and is one of the four surviving children in a family of five born to his parents, Henry and Rebecca (Kirkpatrick) Wagoner.
Henry Wagoner is a farmer and both he and his wife are still residents of Flora, where they have long been established. Their son, William H., was reared on the home farm and after attending the public schools in his vicinity, entered the Flora high school, from which he was graduated in 1897. For two years following his graduation he devoted himself to the work of the farm, and from his work thus was enabled to commence his attendance at a medical school. In Septem- ber, 1899, he entered the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, and he there continued until April, in 1903. During his vacation period in 1902 he had applied himself to the reading of medicine under the direc- tion of Dr. J. P. Hetherington and Dr. J. B. Schultz, of Logansport, and in June, 1903, he received his degree and opened an office for medical practice in Peru, where he has since been located,
Dr. Wagoner is a member of the Indiana and National Eclectic Medical Associations, is a Knight of Pythias, and also has membership in the Loyal Order of Moose. His churchly affiliations are with the Presbyterian denomination, and he has membership in the Peru church.
Dr. Wagoner was married on Thanksgiving day, November 30, 1905, to Miss Carolyn Kuch, of Peru.
DANIEL R. BEARSS. From 1834 to the present time the name Bearss has been as closely identified with the business and public affairs of Peru as probably any other single family name. The founder of this family in Miami county was the late Daniel R. Bearss, who was in all respects a pioneer, and one of the most influential men of his time in Indiana:
Daniel R. Bearss was born in Geneseo, Livingston county, New York, August 23, 1809, a son of Truman, and Sabina (Roberts) Bearss. The father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and the grandfather fought with the rank of Major in the Revolutionary war. The Bearss family moved out to the Ohio Western Reserve about 1811, and in 1815 went to Detroit, Michigan. The youth of Daniel R. Bearss was spent on a farm, and he was a graduate of a log school house. In 1828 he entered the firm of W. G. & G. W. Ewing at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and when his employer opened a branch store at Logansport, Mr. Bearss was selected as one of the responsible managers and remained there until 1832. The next few years were spent in merchandising on his own account in Goshen, Elkhart county, and in August, 1834, with his young wife, whom he had married in Goshen, he came to Peru, which was destined to be his permanent home for the rest of his career. He was for a number of years in partnership in the general merchandise with his father-in-law, Judge Albert Cole. This partnership was dis- solved and left Mr. Bearss alone in his merchandising until 1844, at which date was formed the firm of Bearss & Spencer. In 1849 Mr. Bearss sold his interests in the store and after a career of about twenty-
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one years in merchandising he finally retired. A number of years ago Daniel R. Bearss was known as the second largest tax payer in Peru. He owned large amounts of city property including the old Broadway Hotel and a number of business blocks. Several farms were included in his possession, and he made his regular home on one of these country places just north of Peru.
During the forties, the late Daniel R. Bearss was one of the loyal and enthusiastic Henry Clay Whigs, and with the organization of the Republican party entered its ranks as a loyal and devoted worker. It is said that his influence was the chief factor in getting the nomination of Schuyler Colfax to his first term in Congress. Mr. Bearss was a . member of the state legislature for twenty years, for eight years as representative and twelve as senator. He was too old for military ser- vice during the war, but as a member of the legislature he did much to hold up the hands of Governor Morton and by his efforts and vigor- ous support did much to check the hostile influences which tended to negative the entire loyal government of Indiana.
Mr. Bearss was also prominent in the larger constructive enterprises, and for some time was a director of the Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railway, and also of the Wabash Railroad when first built through the country. Those who remember him recall a man of large and com- manding stature, and he was noted for his physical strength and en- durance. Samuel R. Bearss died at Hot Springs, Arkansas on April 18, 1884, and his remains were laid to rest at Peru, in the family private cemetery at Ridgeview.
On January 14, 1834, at Goslien, Indiana, he married Emma A. Cole, daughter of Judge Albert Cole. Eight children were born to their marriage: George R. and William E., deceased; Albert C .; Oliver J .; Homer D .; Frank W .; Emma, deceased, who married Chas. J. S. Kumler ; and Ella, who died in infancy.
ALBERT C. BEARSS. One of the oldest families of Miami county, Indiana, has a worthy representative in the person of Albert C. Bearss, of Peru, who was born on the old Bearss Homestead farm near to Peru, on September 11, 1838, and who has spent the best part of his life in and about Peru. His career has been one devoted to various enterprises, and his service in the field of politics has been a long and useful one. He retired from active public life in 1905, since which time he has devoted himself to the various interests and is enjoying the quiet of his home in his declining years, after having seen much of the stren- uous activities that are ever the attributes of public service of every order.
The son of Daniel R. Bearss, one of the pioneers of this county, whose life is fully sketched in the preceding article, Mr. Bearss comes of a family that was prominent in the state for many years. It is un- necessary to make further mention of his parentage and ancestry here, in view of the preceding article, which goes fully into details concerning the family, attention here being confined to the actual life and work of the subject.
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As a boy Albert C. Bearss attended the small brick school on Fifth street in Peru, and when he had finished with the public school train- ing possible at that time, he followed a preparatory course at Kenyon College, which he attended up to his sophomore year. He then spent a year in Kansas, having started west with the intention of making his way to California, but in Kansas his means failed him and he applied himself to whatever work he could find. Here he witnessed some of the border struggles growing out of the celebrated Kansas-Nebraska bill,
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which ordained that these states, once set apart as free soil, should be- come free or slave states, according as they were settled while in the territorial stage by antislavery or proslavery men. At the end of a year Mr. Bearss returned to Indiana, but in 1860, in company with his uncle, J. O. Cole, he made the long planned trip to California, going via the Isthmus of Panama, and remaining there some seven years. He was employed there as clerk in a store owned by a mining company, but after a short time in that work he bought out a private express route whose business it was to supply express and mail to mining camps, convey gold to the places of shipment designated, etc. After three years he went to Nevada and spent a period of four years in that state in various enterprises. He was a prominent factor in the organ- ization of Nye county, and there with others, located a number of min- ing claims, upon which he did a considerable of prospect work, with more or less success. It was while in Nevada that Mr. Bearss first be- came interested in politics, and he was elected a member of the terri- torial legislature. This legislature, however, never convened, owing to the adoption of the state constitution at that election. However, he was immediately elected to the state legislature, and after a service of one term was elected to the state senate. During this time he continued to keep an eye to his mining interests, which developed very materially, and in 1867 he returned to Indiana. In March of that year he wedded Madeline Lamb, of Coshocton, Ohio, and soon thereafter turned his mind to mercantile pursuits at Rochester, Indiana. After some few years he sold out the business, returning to Peru in 1876 and became a mail clerk on the road now known as the Lake Erie & Western, between Peru and Michigan City. He continued in the work for about two years, resign- ing his position in 1878. It was about then that, through the request of Benjamin Harrison, then a candidate for the United States senate, that Mr. Bearss became a candidate for election to the state legislature, his election duly following. Soon after the expiration of that term he was appointed special agent of the Postal Department, a position now known as Postoffice Inspector, his headquarters being in Chicago. Mr. Bearss proved himself a most capable official and held the office until the election of Grover Cleveland in 1884. When Mr. Cleveland was inaugurated Mr. Bearss was in Austin, Texas, engaged in the discharge of his duties, and he wired his resignation from that point, returning soon after to Indiana and to Peru. For four years he devoted himself to the care of his farm in the vicinity of Peru, and in 1888 he was one of the two delegates from his Congressional District, that nominated General Harrison for President, and in the year following he was appointed inspector in charge of the Cincinnati Division of Postoffice Inspectors, comprising the states of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. He held this responsible position until the second election of President Cleve- land, when Mr. Bearss again resigned his commission. Once more he returned to his farming interests, and in 1897 became postmaster at Peru, a position that he held for eight years, giving a careful and efficient administration of the duties of the office. Since he retired from that berth, Mr. Bearss has confined himself and has shown himself as capable in his farming operations as he did in his public service.
Of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bearss, two died in in- fancy, the others being Frances B., the wife of Emmett A. Gould, and Helen B., who married Theodore Ensel and has one child, Madeline Bearss Ensel. Mrs. Bearss died in March, 1907, and her passing was mourned by a wide circle of friends in the community where she had long been known and loved.
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