USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Indiana > Part 48
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" After the Judge had got fairly on his feet, and feeling confident of his strength, he began to launch ont in trade and speculation. In July, 1834, he laid ont the town of Portage, on the river about two miles below South Bend. It was just below a very sharp bend in the river, now cut off as an island. But this bend suggested another name for the town, by which it has always been known- . Pin Hook.' Under the Judge's fostering care, Portage began to thrive and grow. It soon had two taverns, two dry-goods stores, two physicians and a public ferry across the river, and quite a col- lection of new houses. In a year or so it became quite a snug, thriving little village. While the Judge's town was growing and everything looked prosperous, he branched out in a variety of enter- prises. such as merchandising, milling and land speculations. When
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the hard times of 1837-'8 struck the country, he found himself, like all the enterprising men, carrying a heavier load than he was able to bear, and finally did come out about where he started in, and his town of Portage did about the same thing. In 1852 Judge Egbert was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court, and held the office nearly 20 years, up to the time of his death, discharging all its duties as an impartial and upright judge."
DWIGHT DEMING.
Dwight Deming was one of the best known business men in Northern Indiana. He came to this county at an early day in its history from Castleton, Vermont, where he was born on the 16th of February, 1824. He settled with his parents, the late Judge John J. Deming and wife, at Mishawaka in 1834. His father was one of the leading spirits of Mishawaka at that time. With Col. John H. Orr, J. E. Hollister and Philo Hurd he organized the same year he settled there the St. Joseph Iron Company, for the manu- facture of iron from bog ore, which existed in large quantities in the vicinity of Mishawaka. Later in life Judge Deming was elected probate judge, and continued to reside in Mishawaka until 1856, when he removed to California, where his son, Theodore, and his daughter, Mrs. Chas. Crocker, had preceded him, and he lived there until his death.
When 22 years old Dwight Deming was married to Miss Cor- nelia L. Nicar, daughter of the late Robert B. Nicar, who was treasurer of this county from 1851 to 1856. The ceremony took place June 10, 1846, and was one of the great social events of Mishawaka, where the young couple were well known and very popular. Mr. Deming taught school for awhile, and then removed to this place, and went into the drug business. He bought A. B. Merritt's drug store on Michigan street, about where the horse-shoe store now is. He added books to the stock and did a very success- ful business. Elated by his success he purchased a building lot on Lafayette street in rear of the old jail and there erected, in 1851-'2, the largest, as well as the mnost costly, house there was in the city at that time. It was built of brick and was elegantly furnished throughout. The house stands to-day almost as he built it. He failed in business partly on account of this expenditure, and A. G. Cushing became the owner of the drug and book store, while the residence became the property of Hon. William Miller, whose widow still occupies it.
After his failure, Mr. Deming went to Minnesota and staid nearly a year, but he had great faith in the future of South Bend, and in 1857 he returned here and engaged in the hardware business with his father-in-law, R. B. Nicar, the firm being R. B. Nicar & Co. The business was carried on in the corner now occupied by Peck's clothing store, and prospered finely. At the close of the war, on the return of Capt. Ed. Nicar, his father-in-law retired, disposing
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of his interest to Capt. Nicar and his brother Virginius, and the business continued under the name of Nicar, Deming & Co. After a few years Virginius retired to go into the stove and tinware business, and the firm was changed to Deming & Nicar. In 1874 Mr. Deming retired from the firm, which then became E. Nicar & Co. When Capt. Nicar was elected County Clerk, he disposed of his interest to A. B. France.
While in the hardware business, Mr. Deming, who had by his untiring devotion to business acquired a competence, bought the " old Exchange" property, on the corner of Michigan and Water streets, and refitted it for a hotel. He expended large sums of money in adding to it, bought the property directly opposite and erected an immense stable, and opened the hotel as the Dwight House. He made these improvements in 1865-'6 and ran the hotel himself. Under his management it became the leading hotel in the city.
In 1871 he became owner, with David Warner, of the M. Stover lot on Michigan street, and in connection with.Mr. Warner erected the most imposing business block on that street. It was 165 feet deep, about 60 feet wide and three stories high. It was christened " Lincoln Block." Mr. Deming owned the north half of it and built its lower story for the model hardware store of the State. The block cost an immense amount of money, and together with his Dwight House and other improvements and speculations involved him badly in debt; and when the panic of 1873 struck the country it found him in bad shape for such a blow, and with thousands of other good men he was obliged to succumb.
Such a blow would have crushed most men, yet while it touched Mr. Deming's pride it could not shake his energy. He went to California at the special request of his brother-in-law, Charles Crocker, the famous Pacific railroad millionaire, who made him the most inviting proposals to come to the Pacific slope and engage in business. But Mr. Deming liked no place so well as South Bend. He returned here and opened a coal and wood yard, a business which he had been engaged in along with his other ventures. He showed his great energy and business capacity by building up a large and profitable trade in coal, wood, lime, etc., with no capital but his energy and pluck to start on. At the time of his death his business was in a prosperous condition, and he was looking forward to buying and building a home for his family in which to spend the remainder of his days.
Mr. Deming was one of the most active politicians in the county. Originally a Whig, as his father was before him, he identified himself with the Republican party when it was organized, and was an active member of that party up to 1874, when he joined the Liberals and finally became a Democrat and was a member of that party when he died. He was first elected to office by the Republicans in 1872 as County Commissioner, and lield the office continually up to the time of his death. His present term to which he was
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elected by Democrats would not have expired until 1882. He also held the office of councilman from the fourth ward in our city gov- ernment, and was once candidate for Mayor, but was defeated by Prof. Tong. On Sunday evening, Sept. 26, 1880, between six and seven o'clock, Mr. Deming brought his wife from their residence in the fourth ward to the home of her mother, Mrs. Nicar, on the corner of Lafayette and Market streets, promising to call for her with the carriage at nine o'clock, and then went to the office con- nected with his coal and wood yard, on Michigan street, near the iron bridge. As he did not return at nine o'clock, Mrs. Deming became uneasy, and her brother, Capt. E. Nicar, went to the office, where he found him lying on the floor in front of his desk. Dr. McGill was called in but life was extinct, he having died of valvular disease of the heart, or apoplexy. That his death was very sudden was indicated by the surroundings. He had fallen prone upon the floor from his chair, which stood in front ofhis desk. On the desk were his eye-glasses and a pamphlet he had been reading.
JOHN A. HENRICKS.
The subject of this sketch was born in Pendleton county, Ken- tucky, Aug. 10, 1811. While quite young his parents moved to Champaign county, Ohio, where he lived with them on a farm until he was sixteen, attending at intervals the common schools of that day. At the age of sixteen he left the farm and studied medicine, in Urbana, with Dr. Carter, and afterward graduated at the Cincin- nati Medical College, and in 1832 removed to South Bend and en- tered npon the practice of medieine with Dr. Hardman. He was the second physician who settled in the place, Dr. Hardman being the first.
In 1836 Dr. Henricks was married to Miss Comparet, a half sister of Mrs. Alexis Coquillard, and abandoned the practice of medicine to accept the proposition of Mr. Coquillard to engage in the dry- goods trade. The store was opened in the old red brick on the corner of Michigan and Market streets, and conducted for three years, when failure followed. Afterward Dr. Henricks and John Rush formed a partnership and purchased a stock of goods of Mr. Coquillard and for a time did a very heavy business, when financial reverses again came and they went under. His wife and two children were taken from him by death, which, with his business reverses, was enough to have discouraged a less indomitable person.
A few years after he married Miss Sanger, and a third time entered the dry-goods business with one of the Sanger boys, and again in the old red brick. In connection with other business enterprises he built a mill, using it for a time for a warehouse from which to ship wheat. In 1849 he, in company with William Miller and others, went to California. After their return they engaged in the milling business together, and also in the contract for building the State Prison at Joliet, Illinois. In 1863 Dr.
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Henricks disposed of his share in the mill to Mr. Miller, and gave his whole attention to the prison contract, from which he realized a handsome competence. When the First National Bank, of South Bend, was organized, he became the president, a position he held for many years.
In 1854 Dr. Henricks was married for the third time to Miss Julia Appleby (his second wife having died), who survives him.
Dr. Henricks always took a prominent part in politics, and his popularity always made him a desirable candidate for his party, he being almost invariably successful. During his first term in the Legislature, in which he served several terms, he was the means of having a branch of the State Bank located in South Bend. He was a fluent, pleasing, and argumentative speaker, quick at repartee, slow to anger, and with a personal magnetism that easily swayed his audience and made him a powerful opponent. His last appear- ance in political life was as the Liberal candidate for Congress.
Dr. Henricks was called to his reward Saturday, Feb. 19, 1876.
MRS. FRANCES C. COQUILLARD.
Mrs. Coquillard was the most remarkable person in the history of St. Joseph county, sharing as she did the duties, the privations and honors of her remarkable husband. Her maiden name was Frances C. Comparet, and she was born in Detroit, April 9, 1805. In 1824, at the age of nineteen, she was married in Fort Wayne to Alexis Coquillard and soon afterward came with him to the site of the present city of South Bend, where he had established a trad- ing post. Being a woman of strong mind, active temperament, indomitable conrage and shrewdness remarkable in a woman, she proved a strong aid to her husband in his dealings with the Indians. She accompanied him on his long, fatiguing journeys or remained to take charge of the post and cope single-handed with the Indian traders. The aid she was enabled to render her husband in his business was largely due to the strong influence she was not long in obtaining over the Indians, which was frequently manifested in councils. when a few words from her would restore good feeling and avert a threatened danger. She was to the poor, untutored Indians of that day a veritable Good Samaritan. She nursed them in their sickness, sympathized with them in their sorrows and troubles, and in every way made them feel that she was their true friend. That they learned to love her it is needless to state, and to the few Indians who remain, the announcement of her death will be sor- rowful news. They frequently made visits to her during her life, and always looked up to her as a guiding genins.
The Indians were not alone, however, in being the recipients of her kind attentions and bounty. Like her noble husband she was of an open, frank, charitable and generous nature, and the suffer- ings and sorrows of others never appealed in vain to her sensitive heart. To the women who came after her and settled with their
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husbands and families around her cabin she was frequently a friend in need, teaching low best to provide against the hardships of pioneer lite and rendering them every assistance that could be suggested to a kind and charitable nature. Mrs. Coquillard was the first woman who dared the dangers and endured the privations of pioneer life when the spot on which the city is located was a howling wilderness, inhabited only by Indians and wild beasts; the first woman to bring among the savages of this section the refining influences of civilized and Christian life, and through whose exertions and services the germ of civilization was deposited here. Death called her away Monday, Oct. 11, 1880.
JOHN M. STOVER.
John M. Stover was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, in the year 1833, but while yet a boy his parents moved with him to this county. He received a fair education, and having a desire for the medical profession, shortly after attaining his majority he com- menced the study of medicine with Dr. Van Tuyl, then a leading physician of South Bend. He afterward entered the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, and graduated in 1858 in the regular course. He then opened an office in South Bend, and built up a large practice, which he retained until failing health admonished him his time had come. Dr. Stover was possessed of a clear, vigorous mind, great energy of character, and entered upon the duties of his profession with a zeal that proved too much for his bodily strength. As a physician he stood high in the com- munity, and by his geniality and pleasant manners, attached to himself many and warm friends. In politics he was steadfast in the teachings of his youth, upholding with firmness and pertinacity the doctrines of the Democratic party. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and died in the full assurance of hope, Nov. 15, 1869.
JOHN T. LINDSEY.
John T. Lindsey came to this county when a mere lad, and was partially raised in the family of T. W. Bray. In 1837 Mr. Bray was elected Connty Clerk, and young Lindsey showing great apti- tnde for business, was made his deputy. In 1844, Mr. Lindsey was a candidate for the same office, was elected, and served nntil 1851. In 1856 he was appointed teller in the Sonth Bend branch of the State Bank of Indiana, and held the position until the organization of the First National Bank of South Bend, when he was tendered the position of cashier, which he accepted. Throngh the course of a long and useful life, it was the good fortune of Mr. Lindsey to secure the confidence of every one with whom he had relations. It is not too much to say of him that he never knew how to follow a devious or dishonest course, and his name became
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to those having dealings with him the synonym of integrity. Mr. Lindsey was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He died, loved and respected by all, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 1869.
ISAAC EATON.
Isaac Eaton was born in Loudon county, Va., in 1775, but was raised in Maryland, in the vicinity of Antietam and South Moun- tain, a locality made historic by the events of the late Rebellion. In the second war with Great Britain, Mr. Eaton enlisted and served to its close. In 1830 he moved to this county, then an almost unbroken wilderness. In his younger days he was a man of great strength, a lithe, wiry body, under medium size, and in the numerous personal encounters, quite common in that early day, became quite famous for never having "met his match." Many are the anecdotes related of him concerning these trials of strength. In the war of 1812, Eaton served with the Virginia Militia, under the command of Gen. Mason, a Virginian, born in the same county with Eaton, about twelve years his junior, and the most popular man in the army. It is more than probable that military discipline was very lax in those times, and one day at a general review, Mason rode up and down the lines proclaiming that he had a man in his command who could whip anything in the entire army. This challenge, several times repeated, was at last responded to by a perfect giant of a fellow from a Pennsylvania regiment, who came stalking down the lines and asked Gen. Mason to bring out his man. The General ordered Eaton out of the ranks. He was eyed by the Pennsylvanian with about as much scorn as Goliath was supposed to have looked upon David. Word was given to begin the battle, and there, before the whole American army, formed in a hollow square, the two men stripped to the waist and engaged in combat, but in less time than it takes to tell it, Eaton lifted his herculean opponent from the ground, and twirling him over with apparently as much ease as a dandy would a cane, held him up before the whole army in this inverted position, until the giant Pennsylvanian begged for quarter. At another time, in Kentucky, Eaton was forced to accept a challenge to fight, and on the first encounter threw his opponent to the ground with such force as to break nearly all his ribs. Mr. Eaton died, in Clay township, Dec. 25, 1869, aged 95 years.
JUDGE JOHNSON.
Peter Johnson was born in Pennsylvania in 1788. In early years he followed boating on the Monongahela, Ohio, Mississipi and Red rivers, making trips with keel boats from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and up the Red river, which frequently occupied an entire year. It was upon one of these trips that he saw the first steamer that ever
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ran upon the Mississippi river. In 1812 lie was married to Miss Chalfant. Two years after his marriage he moved to Ohio, and after living there four years, moved to Wayne county, in this State, where he resided nntil 1828, when he went to Logansport, and two years after he moved to South Bend.
Peter Johnson was just the man for a new place. Industrious, energetic, enterprising, he soon made his presence felt in that town, then struggling hard for an existence. In less than nine months after his arrival, with no saw-mills nearer than Elkhart, and labor- ing under the geatest disadvantages, he, with the assistance of his two sons, Evan and Lee, built " Michigan tavern," the first fraine house erected in South Bend. It stood on the site where Coonley & Co.'s drug store now stands, and was known in later days as the "Old American." Transportation was then so difficult, and sawed lumber so hard to get, that the studding, rafters and joists were split from oak trees and afterward hewed into shape. The same year he built the keel boat " Fair Play," which made trips several years between South Bend and the mouth of the river. The next year, 1832, he built the "Comet," the " Hoosier" in 1841, and a fourth in 1842. He also built a steam saw-mill, and was at one time engaged in the mercantile business. He was one of the first County Commissioners, was a Justice of the Peace, and was also appointed associate judge, and served in that capacity several years.
Judge Johnson lived 57 years of married life and raised nine children. He was a member of the Masonic order for 51 years, and all his son's, five in number, are now members of the same order. Death called him home Thursday, March 10, 1870, aged 82 years.
CHARLES M. TOTT
Was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, Feb. 7, 1808, and died in South Bend, Indiana, Nov. 6, 1870. Mr. Tutt moved to the latter place in 1832, and was elected Sheriff of the county in 1838, and re-elected in 1840. In 1849 he went to California where he remained six years, and returned to South Bend. At the time of his death Mr. Tutt was Justice of the Peace, which office he had held fo two years.
ARCHIBALD DEFREES
Was born in Rockbridge connty, Virginia, October, 1792. He moved from Virginia to Shelby Co., Ohio, in 1810, and thence to this county in 1835. He purchased a farm about six miles west of South Bend and followed farming as an occupation until 1849, when he moved to the latter place, where he resided until his death, serving most of the time as Justice of the Peace. He also served as Connty Treasurer one year. Mr. Defrees was an upright, moral
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and exemplary citizen, deeply respected by a large circle of acquaint- ances. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for over 45 years. His death took place March 3, 1869.
J. G. BARTLETT
Was born in Newington, New Hampshire, July 2, 1815, and came to South Bend in 1837. Here he opened a bakery and grocery store in a building that stood on No. 68 Washington street. Sub- sequently he removed his business to Michigan street. Mr. Bartlett was twice married; was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and of the Odd Fellows. He was a most estimable citizen, sernpulonsly honest in all his dealings, and in matters involving principle was as unyielding as the granite hills of his native State.
JAMES A. IRELAND
Was born near New Paris, Preble county, Ohio, Jan. 1, 1812. He came to this county in 1829 and first settled in Pleasant Valley; then in 1830 went to South Bend, but afterward returned to Pleasant Valley, and lived there a few years, and again to South Bend, where he resided nntil his death, Ang. 21, 1873. His first business in South Bend was teaming, which he followed for ten years, when lie opened a livery stable, which business he carried on for 20 consecutive years, disposing of it in the spring of 1873. He was twice married. Mr. Ireland's business gave him an extensive acquaintance throughont this and adjoining States, and he was noted among all who had transactions with him, for his honesty and fair dealing. Generous to a fault, a warm sympathizer with those in distress, he chose the part of a Good Samaritan in this life.
HENRY STULL.
In 1829, when there were but two houses where is now the thriv- ing city of South Bend, Henry Stull came here and entered what has long been known as the Stull farm, about one mile south of the city limits. Returning to his old home in Jennings county, he gathered together his goods and chattels and moved here the follow- ing year, remaining upon the old farm until death called him away, which sad event occurred March 25, 1875. In his early days here, before his boys became old enough to help him, Mr. Stull worked hard clearing his farm, which was the first one opened south of the town. At that date the Michigan road had not been surveyed, er even thought of, and when it was located it ran directly thronglı his farm and greatly increased its valne. In early life Mr. Stull and his wife became earnest, faithful members of the Methodist Church, and remained so through life. Mr. Stull's religion was not of the Sunday kind, but carried itself into his every-day life.
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Indeed, there never was a more upright and conscientious man, and his example had its effect on the community. One of his rules was never to go in debt, and it is said he never in his life bought an article, large or small, but he paid for it at the time. If he was unable to buy an article he desired, he was content to wait until he was able, and to that rule can be attributed his success in obtaining a competency. Mr. and Mrs. Stull were married over 60 years, and had 11 children, 8 of whom survived him.
CHAPTER X. REMINISCENCES.
BY JUDGE STANFIELD.
My name is Thomas Stilwell Stanfield. I was born in Logan connty, Ohio, on the 17th day of October, 1816. My father's name was William; my mother's, Mary Stilwell. He was born in Greene county, Tennessee; she in Grayson county, Virginia. They emi- grated to Ohio in 1805, before they were married. At the time they settled in Logan county it was a wilderness; they were on the extreme frontier; it was almost an unbroken Indian country to Lake Erie. The Indians occupied it as their great hunting grounds.
Logan county settled up slowly; the emigration was almost entirely from the Southern and Southwestern States, many of them Quakers from Tennessee and North Carolina. All of the people were comparatively poor and uneducated; their highest hopes were to get a small piece of land and make a home for their families. The land in that country was generally heavily timbered, and the timber of no valne. It required years of close economy and hard labor of the whole family to make a living. No time or opportunity was allowed for social improvement. They raised their food and made all their clothing; every house had its loom and spinning wheel; every woman was a weaver, tailor and milliner. This industry and skill afforded them enough to eat and to wear, and that was about all. There was no time for the cultivation of their minds or the education of their children. They lived in log cabins, generally eating and sleeping in the same room. Under such cir- cumstances delicacy and refinement, so beautiful and lovely in the household, must be of slow growth. Good houses comfortably furnished are as necessary to the cultivation of gentlemanly manners and womanly graces amongst the children as a comfortable school- house for the cultivation of their intellects.
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