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 18
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Mr. Senger married on September 9, 1902, Miss Margaret McCarthy of Peru, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John S. McCarthy, who live on West Eighth street. Their four children are Frederick Jr., aged nine; Rosanna, seven years old; John Mack, aged four and Mary, a year and a half old.
FRANK D. BUTLER. It has been given Mr. Butler to attain to marked prestige as one of the representative members of the bar of his native county and state and to wield definite and salutary influence in con- nection with public affairs, especially those of a local order. He is engaged in the active general practice of law in the city of Peru, the attractive capital of Miami county, where he has followed the work of his profession for nearly a quarter of a century and where he has main- tained his offices in the First National Bank building from the time of his novitiate in the law to the present day, which finds him arrayed as one of the strong and resourceful lawyers and leading practitioners of this section of the state. His career has been marked by earnest and consecutive endeavor and his course has been guided and governed by integrity and honor as well as by high appreciation of the dignity and responsibility of his chosen vocation, in which his effort has at all times been to conserve justice and equity. He has served as county and city attorney and is at the present time the valued incumbent of the former office, besides which he gave a most effective administration as prose- cuting attorney of the Fifty-first judicial circuit. He is a liberal and progressive citizen, has honored his native county by his character and achievements and is most consistently accorded specific recognition in this publication.
Frank D. Butler was born on the old homestead farm of his father, in Richland township, Miami county, Indiana, on the 30th of Sep- tember, 1858, and is a scion of a family whose name became identified
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with the civic and industrial development of the county more than three-fourths of a century ago, when this section of the state was little more than a frontier wilderness, with the pioneer settlers bravely labor- ing to forward the march of civilization by causing the forest wilds to give place to the cultivated and productive fields. Jesse B. Butler, father of him whose name initiates this review, was a native of Wayne county, this state, and this fact indicates that the family was numbered among the very early settlers of that staunch old county. Jesse B. Butler was reared and educated in Wayne county, a center of the fine colonization on the part of the representatives of the Society of Friends, and a section in which educational advantages in the pioneer days were of higher order than those of the average pioneer community. During the years of a long and useful career as one of the world's productive workers Jesse B. Butler never severed his allegiance to the great basic industry of agriculture, in connection with which he endured the sturdy labors of the pioneer and eventually gained independence and definite prosperity. About the year 1835 he came to Miami county, where he secured a tract of government land, the major part of which was heavily timbered, and thus became one of the pioneer settlers of Perry town- ship. He erected a primitive log house of the type common to the pioneer days and then set himself vigorously to the task of reclaiming his land from the virgin forest. In thus taking up the battle of life the young pioneer realized the consistency of having a companion and helpmeet, and, knowing well that the gracious young woman of his choice would prove his ideal mate, he soon left his embryonic farm and returned to his native county, where, at the home of the bride's parents, near Hagerstown, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Hannah Weeks, who likewise was born and rearcd in Wayne county. The young couple came to the little log cabin home and, sustained by mutual devotion and purpose, they worked together to develop their farm in Perry township, where each year gave tangible evidence of their faithful labors. In 1857 they sold the original farm and removed to south- western Missouri, but one winter passed in that locality vitalized anew their appreciation of the old home in Miami county, with the result that the spring of 1858 found them returned to this county, where Mr. Butler purchased the Lawrence farm, of one hundred and sixty acres, eligibly located on Eel river, in Richland township. On this fine old homestead in the autumn of the same year in their log cabin, home was born the son Frank D., to whom this sketch is dedicated. Jesse B. Butler continued to devote his attention to the improving and cultivation of this homestead place and made the same one of the model farms of the county. Here came to him the great loss and bereavement of his life, for in 1863 his loved and devoted wife passed to eternal rest, a woman whosc life had been a vitalized beatitude and whose memory is revered by those who knew her. He survived her by somewhat more than a decade and continued to reside on his farm until his death, which occurred in 1874. He was a man of indefatigable industry, of strong character and of broad views, was a citizen who did well his part in the development and upbuilding of Miami county, on the roster of whose honored pioneers his name merits enduring inscription. Of the nine children only two are now living. Jesse B. Butler was a staunch Democrat in his polit- ical adherency and both he and his wife were zealous members of the Quaker church.
Well may Frank D. Butler view with pleasing and grateful retro- spect the scenes and incidents of his youthful experience in connection with the old homestead farm on which he was born and in the work of which he early began to contribute his quota. He availed himself of
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the advantages of the district schools and was about fifteen years of age when he was doubly orphaned by the death of his honored father. He continued thereafter to assist in the work and management of the home farm, and was not denied further educational advantages, as he attended a school at North Manchester, was for a time a student in the Northern Indiana Normal School, now known as Valparaiso Uni- versity, at Valparaiso, and thereafter completed a somewhat intervalic course of two years in Purdue University, at Lafayette, this state. When 20 years of age he obtained a position as "cub" reporter and general factotum on the staff of the Lafayette Courier, and he was thus identified with practical newspaper work about two years, within which he gained experience which he insists has proved of greater value to him than any specific academic instruction he received in his youth.
In the autumn of 1880 Mr. Butler returned to his home in Miami county, to cast his first presidential vote, in support of the Democratic candidates, Hancock and English, and during the intervening years he has not wavered in his allegiance to the fine old party of Jefferson and Jackson, the party whosc star is once more in ascendancy, since the national election of 1912. Soon after exercising his franchise with more of dignity and imperturbability than have characterized similar indul- gences in later years, Mr. Butler accepted the appointment to the posi- tion of deputy sheriff of his native county, under Andrew J. Parks, who had just been clected to the shrievalty. He served as deputy during the two successive terms of Sheriff Parks, a period of four years, and was reappointed under the regime of Mr. Parks' successor, Edward T. Gray, who held office four years, so that Mr. Butler's service as deputy covered a total of eight consecutive years. In 1884 and again in 1888 he himself sought nomination for the office of sheriff, but his desires fell short of realization.
In the autumn of 1888 Mr. Butler became private secretary to Hon. David Turpie, United States senator from Indiana, and he served in this capacity, in the city of Washington, for two years. In the mean- while he had decided that clerical and political positions offered no prof- itable future for him, and accordingly, during the intervals between the sessions of congress, he took up the study of law, with characteristic determination and assiduousness, his able and valued preceptor having been Ethan T. Reasoner, who was one of the leading members of the bar of Miami county, with residence and professional headquarters in Peru. He was admitted to the bar of his native state in 1889, while still with Senator Turpie in Washington, and he was thus absent in the national capital when he received in his home state the Democratic nomination for the office of prosecuting attorney of the Fifty-first judicial circuit, to which position he was elected in the autumn of 1890, whereupon he resigned his position as private secretary to Senator Turpie, to initiate his active professional career as the incumbent of an important and exacting office. The young lawyer eminently justified the faith and confidence of those who had given him their support at the polls, and under somewhat unusual circumstances he thus gained his professional spurs and made such an admirable record that at the expiration of his first term, of two years, he was re-elected, by an appre- ciably larger majority, with the result that he continued in service as public prosecutor for this circuit for four consecutive years, when he retired with a high reputation as an able and resourceful trial lawyer. Since that time he has been successfully engaged in the active practice of his profession in Peru and he has appeared in connection with many important causes presented in the various courts of the state, including the federal courts. His clientele is of representative order and during
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the many years of his practice he has had no professional partner at any time. He has twice been elected city attorney and in all has held this office for six years. In 1910 he was again chosen for this posi- tion, of which he has continued the able and valued incumbent. During his former term of service as county attorney were made the preliminary arrangements for the erection of the new court house, and all legal affairs pertaining thereto were entrusted to him. He has shown the deepest interest in all that touches the welfare of his home city and native county, and is one of the liberal and progressive citizens of the same, with im- pregnable vantage-ground in popular confidence and esteem.
Mr. Butler has given yeoman service in behalf of the Democratic party and has been an influential factor in its councils in Indiana. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1912, when Woodrow Wilson was made the nominee for president, and thus he views with unqualified satisfaction the results of the national election of that year. In his home city he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Royal Arcanum, of which latter fra- ternity he was grand regent for Indiana from 1907 to 1909.
On the 20th of September, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Butler to Miss Minnie Merrill, and she is a most popular factor in the leading social activities of her home city. Mr. and Mrs. Butler have two children, Frances Dorothy and Robert Merrill. Mrs. Butler is a member of the Presbyterian church
During the very early stages of the great flood disaster of 1913, Mr. Butler left his own home and family and in a volunteer way led the work of rescue and first relief succor to thousands of refugees quartered at the court house, the only dry spot in the city. He remained on duty night and day and on the third day of the flood tide, with the assistance of Hon. William P. O'Neil, Lieutenant Governor, brought organization out of chaos, resulting in a town meeting, at which Mr. Butler was called to preside. From this meeting a committee of four were chosen, denom- inated the Flood Executive Relief Committee, with Mr. Butler as chair- man, the other three members being Lieutenant Governor O'Neil and Ambrose A. Bailey of the Baptist church and Richard A. Edwards, president of the First National Bank. This committee immediately took charge and, clothed with authority invested in them also by the sheriff of the county and the mayor of the city, established permanent head- quarters in the court house, in what is known as the rest room. They summoned citizens, created sub-committees, called to their aid state, county and city health officials, and began the work in organized form of first aid, relief, and a general sanitary cleaning up. In the meantime a finance committee was started out to raise funds and provisions and supplies coming in from all quarters by generous donors was systemati- cally taken in hand and the distribution in all parts of the city accom- plished. This committee, without the expenditure of a dollar, for three weeks with the aid of an army of citizens and visiting workers as volun- teers, rescued refugees and restored them to their homes, cleared the de- bris, and disinfected against pestilence. Thousands were fed and clothed and confidence of safety and protection against pillage and rapine re- stored. During all this time Mr. Butler was indefatigable in the work, keeping in touch with every branch and form of the reconstruction and resurrection as it were of the stricken city. As time went, the work of his committee was restricted to himself, Bailey and Edwards, and for three months they continued at their headquarters, receiving, managing, and distributing assistance to flood sufferers, working far into each night. By their efforts thousands of dollars were especially secured from various sources, including the Red Cross, for expenditures in the work of rehabili-
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tation. More than thirty car loads of provisions and supplies were received and distributed and it has been conservatively estimated that in all, over $100,000 of provisions, clothing, bedding, furniture and money was dis- tributed before the work of this committee was ended, and about two thousand families and homes in some form materially aided. During all this period Mr. Butler, as chairman of his committee, absented himself from his office and business at a great sacrifice and devoted his time, efforts and organizing ability to the cause gratuitously and without re- ward other than the gratitude of an appreciative people. He says himself that the tears of unfortunates expressive of gratitude as they received their allowances and aid more than compensated him for all he did and the service rendered as chairman of this charitable movement.
DANIEL W. CONDO. The fiscal affairs of Miami county at the present time are consigned to the administration of one of the county's native sons and one who has ever maintained strong hold upon popular con- fidence and esteem. He is now serving his second term as county treasurer, and as one of the loyal and progressive citizens and valued officials of the county he is properly accorded specific recognition in this publication.
In Clay township, this county, Daniel W. Condo was born on the 24th of October, 1866, and he is a son of John and Cynthia (Phillips) Condo. John Condo was born in the state of Pennsylvania and was a child at the time of his parents' removal from that state to Indiana. His father became one of the pioneer farmers of Wayne county, this state, where he continued to reside, an honored and influential citizen, until his death, as did also his wife. John Condo was reared to man- hood in that fine old county, in which the staunch Society of Friends, or Quakers, early found many sterling representatives, and he never severed his allegiance to the great basic industry of agriculture, though for a number of years he was employed in the shops in which was manufactured the Condo plow. This implement was designed and patented by Adam Condo and it gained wide reputation and demand in the early days. A few years prior to the Civil war John Condo re- moved with his family to Miami county and established his residence on a farm in Clay township. Here he developed a valuable property and became one of the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of the county. He was a man of superior intellectuality, was an extensive and appreciative reader and student of good literature and was well informed concerning the questions and issues of the day, with well fortified opin- ions concerning governmental and economic policies, so that he wielded no uncertain influence in the directing of popular sentiment in his home community. He was an unswerving adherent of the Republican party and was a most zealous and devout member of the United Brethren church. He continued to reside on his farm until his death, which occurred in the year 1884. The maiden name of his first wife was Baker, and they became the parents of five sons and one daughter. His second wife, whose maiden name was Cynthia Phillips, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, and still survives him. She now maintains her home in Miami county, and of the five sons of this union, four are living. His mother, now venerable in years, is held in affectionate regard by all who know her and she is a devoted member of the United Brethren church.
Reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm, Daniel W. Condo gained his early educational training in the district schools of Clay township, and thereafter he completed effective normal and business courses in the fine institution now known as Valparaiso University,
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in the city of Valparaiso, Indiana. After the death of his honored father Mr. Condo went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he remained about four and one-half years as an employe in a wholesale hardware estab- lishment. He then returned to his native county, but a year later he went to Elwood, Madison county, where he assumed a clerical position in a department store and where he continued to reside about six years, within which he advanced to the position of exclusive manager of two departments in the large establishment in which he was em- ployed. Upon resigning his place at Elwood Mr. Condo returned to Miami county and again turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, with which he continued to be actively identified until 1902, when he accepted the position of deputy county treasurer, under the regime of Harry Masters. Three years later Frank Spaulding was elected county treasurer and by him Mr. Condo was retained in the position of deputy until the close of his term of four years. Mr. Condo himself was then chosen for the important post of county treasurer, in the election of November, 1908, and his zealous and able administration found emphatic popular approval in his re-election in the autumn of 1910 for a second term of four years, which will expire January 1, 1914.
In politics Mr. Condo has been found aligned as a stalwart and effec- tive advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and recent events in the political history of the nation have not caused him to abate his faith in the basic tencts of the old party that has long held his allegiance. His wife holds a member- ship in the Presbyterian church in Peru. Hc is a member of the Odd Fellows, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
On the 6th of April, 1906, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Condo to Miss Clara Bash, of Peru, and they have two children, Helen Eliza- beth and John Bash. Mrs. Condo was born in Indiana, and is a daughter of John Bash, now deceased.
DANIEL KING. For more than half a century the King name and King enterprise have been important factors in the material development and the civic life of Miami county, particularly in Richland township, which was the original home of Daniel King, and in which township his activities have been chiefly centered. Mr. King is now a venerable man of cighty-three years and has seen much of life, has labored hard, and from a beginning when he was dependent upon his manual toil for his self-support he has long since passed that stage at which a competence is acquired, and when a man may properly enjoy the fruits of a well spent life.
Daniel King was born in Dersheim, Germany, on December 10, 1830, a son of Daniel and a grandson of Martin King. His mother's maiden name was Mary Shriner, a daughter of John Shriner. When twenty- three years of age, having been reared in his native land, and trained to habits of industry and thrift, Daniel King left Germany in 1853, and spent fifty-three days on the voyage across the sea. He was short of funds, and although his destination was Miami county, he had to stop at Cincinnati for some time in order to get sufficient money to carry him the rest of the way. He worked at whatever he could find in that Ohio River city, and was employed in a packing house at wages of one dollar and twenty cents a day for some time, from which he had to board himself, and was afterwards given a job at ten dollars a month including board. He also worked in a livery stable in Cincinnati. In 1854, the following year, he came on to Miami county, being two days en route from Cincinnati, a journey that may now be accomplished in
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MR. AND MRS. DANIEL KING'S FAMILY GROUP
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a few hours. After arriving in Miami county, he worked for wages as low as fifty cents per day, and subsequently considered it quite an advance when he was given sixty-two cents for a day's labor. Even at that he saved a little money, and gradually got ahead in the world.
In Miami county in 1861, seven years after his arrival, and after he was familiar with the people and the country, and was making a living, Mr. King married Mary King, a daughter of Walton and Saloma (Tier) King. To Mrs. King her husband assigns much credit for their subsequent prosperity, since she has been not only the companion of his home and the mother of his children, but has aided him in many ways, and has been a hard worker. Mrs. King's people were also from Germany, and liad settled first in Ohio, but after eighteen months came on to Miami county. They first located in Richland township, and her father, who was a miller, was employed for some time by Robert Love- land's father. Mrs. King's mother died at an early age and her father was three times married, after that. Daniel King on first arriving in Miami county did a varied assortment of labor. He handled an ax, and has cleared many acres of standing timber from off the fertile soil of this county. Afterwards he bought some land and put up a mill, in 1858. He sold that in 1861, and then bought eighty acres of land in Wabash county. Later selling that place he bought land in Perry township of Miami county, where he remained until 1865. He then began farming as his regular vocation and continued it as long as he was able to work. Most of his farming career has been passed in Richard township. His management and labors have been very pro- ductive, and at the present time he is listed among the land owners and taxpayers of Miami county as the owner of two hundred and one acres in Perry township, eighty acres in his home place in Richland, and also one hundred and nineteen acres in another part of Richland township. On his farm he has put up two barns and three dwellings and many other improvements. Both Mr. and Mrs. King were brought up in the faith of the Lutheran church.
Mr. King has witnessed the laying of two different corner stones . of the Miami county court house. He is one of the prospering men of his township, and has been honored with official responsibility by his fellow citizens. He served as county commissioner for six years, and it is note- worthy that during that period Miami county was in better shape finan- cially than it now is, since it was then out of debt. In politics Mr. King adheres to Democratic doctrine, although he has no narrow restric- tions binding him to any one political creed. In 1891, after an absence of nearly forty years, Mr. King went back to his old home in Germany, remaining nine weeks and in 1900 again crossed the ocean and spent four months in the Fatherland.
To Mr. and Mrs. King have been born nine children, two of whom are now deceased; namely : Frieda, who married Adam M. Nieswendel ; Minnie, married John Cotterman, now deceased; and for her second husband married A. Longnecker; Adlin married John Meyers. Lizzie. married Link Meyers; Stella is the wife of James Wilson; George, mar- ried Melissa Day, and he died at the age of thirty-seven. Charles married Clara Baltimore; Anna is the wife of James Ansley. Maggie, who is now deceased, was the wife of Joseph Keim.
CHARLES R. HUGHES. Closely identified with the civic and business interests of the thriving little city of Peru, where he has maintained his home since 1873, Mr. Hughes has gained impregnable place in the confidence and esteem of the people of Miami county and has been called upon to serve in various positions of public trust, including that of
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