USA > Indiana > Wabash County > History of Wabash County, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
JAMES D. CONNER, JR. The name Conner has been continuous on the roll of membership in the Wabash county bar since 1840, and for a number of years the late Judge J. D. Conner and his son were both practicing in Wabash and in partnership. Mr. Conner, Jr., who began practice here in 1876, has made a noteworthy reputation not only in the law, but in the more general sphere of affairs. To hundreds of stockmen throughout the country his name is more familiar as an official of the American Association of Importers and Breeders of Belgian Draft Horses than as a lawyer.
James D. Conner, Jr., was born in the city of Wabash October 8, 1853. He was a member of the second class and was the first boy to graduate from the Wabash high school after the schools of the city were graded in 1873. From high school he entered that old center of culture for young men of Indiana, Wabash College at Crawfordsville, where he was graduated in 1876. For a number of years he had pursued his read- ings in the law under the direction of his father, and in 1876 not only obtained a scholastic degree from old Wabash College, but passed the examinations and was admitted to the bar. That year has a prominent place in Mr. Conner's biography, since on December 19, he was united
Digitized by Google
496
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
in marriage with Miss Clara Prudence Thurston. Mrs. Conner was born in Wabash county, a daughter of William K. Thurston.
Mr. Conner after having been admitted to the bar began to practice in partnership with his father, and that relationship continued until the latter's election to the bench of the circuit court. Since then for nearly thirty years he has practiced alone, and has enjoyed many of the better distinctions and rewards of the successful lawyer.
Since early manhood Mr. Conner, as was his father before him, has been interested in farm life and its kindred interests. His excursions into agriculture have been not particularly for profit, but as a result of an inherent love for man's first and greatest industry. While Mr. Con- ner might disclaim any achievement as a practical farmer, his interest in the subject has always been keen, and for the past quarter of a cen- tury his name has been familiar to stockmen, especially among the breeders and owners of cattle and Belgian horses. In 1886 Mr. Conner had among his clients the Wabash Importing Company, a firm which imported pure bred Belgian draft horses to Wabash county. Mr. Con- ner was the first man to realize the need of and to take steps to protect an organization for the protection of the American public in buying and handling horses of the Belgian breed. In accordance with a well con- sidered plan in 1887 he organized and incorporated The American Association of Importers and Breeders of Belgian Draft Horses. The object and the work of this association need not be set forth in detail, except to say that it is the only association in the United States that registers Belgian draft horses and is so recognized by both the govern- ments of Belgian and of the United States, and no registry association in the world stands higher. Mr. Conner was elected secretary and treas- urer of the association and has filled that office ever since its organiza- tion. The association has done a very valuable work, and probably every owner of a Belgian horse in America is familiar with the name of Mr. Conner.
In connection with his work as an attorney and as a stockman he has been interested in various local and benevolent institutions. He was the prime mover in the Wabash County Old Settlers Association, of which he was president for a number of years, and assisted in organiz- ing the Wabash County Historical Society, of which he is the president. Mr. Conner is a director in the Citizens Savings & Trust Company. Fraternally his relations are with the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a re- publican and has always been active in politics and is at this time presi- dent of the Lincoln League of Indiana. His church is the Presbyterian. Mrs. Conner, who died March 1, 1910, left two daughters: Annie, Mrs. Howard C. Jones; and Julia.
GILBERT M. LASALLE, M. D. For the past nineteen years Dr. La- Salle has been successfully engaged in practice of medicine at Wabash, and has represented the thorough ability and best personal quality of his profession. Both as a physician and surgeon, he has enjoyed a
Digitized by Google
497
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
practice that has absorbed all his time and energy, and through his work has contributed his most important services to the civic welfare and advancement of his home city.
.
The LaSalle family is of French ancestry, established in America, during the colonial era. When the westward movement had carried civilization well into the Mississippi valley, Grandfather Elizur La- Salle moved his family and possessions to Wabash county, Indiana, when all this section was still in the wilderness, and he was one of those hardy pioneers who effected a reclamation of the land from the domain of savage and wild beasts. The parents of Dr. LaSalle were Elizur and America (Corey) LaSalle.
Dr. Gilbert M. LaSalle was born on his father's farm in Noble town- ship, of Wabash county, on August 29, 1870. While growing to man- hood he had the experiences of the average country lad, assisting in the farm labor, and attending district school. Subsequently he was a student in the Wabash City schools, and in the old Wabash Normal located on the south side. His most pronounced talent during his youth was an inherent fondness for music, and his proficiency in this line led to work which might well have developed into a permanent career. For one year, from the time he was nineteen years old he was instructor and the leader of the band at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. In the mean- time he had definitely determined on the medical profession for his career, and returning to Wabash he read under the direction of Dr. R. E. Blount, and Dr. James Wilson in that city. The winter of 1892-93, was spent as a student in the Chicago Medical College. In 1893-94, he attended the Indiana Medical College at Indianapolis, and it being his desire to accumulate every thing in the way of medical instruction and knowledge, irrespective of systems, he next entered the Hahne- mann Medical College of Chicago, where he was a student during 1894-95, and graduated there M. D. in the spring of 1895. With this equipment for his work, Dr. LaSalle located at Wabash, and has since enjoyed generous professional success. While a general practitioner, of late years, he has drifted largely into surgical work, and in this field has achieved distinction. He is a member of the Wabash County Med- ical Society, and the Indiana State and the American Medical Asso- ciation. His political support is given to the republican party, and fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order and the Knights of Pythias. To Dr. LaSalle's marriage with Miss Daisy Summerland, on July 30, 1895, two children have been born, namely: Eleanor and Robert. Both the doctor and Mrs. LaSalle are members of the Christian church.
JOHN NICCUM. For more than six decades the Niccum family have been useful and influential citizens of Wabash county. Their chief centers of activity has been in Waltz township, though the name is not without popular significance all over the county. The best known mem- ber of the family is Mr. John Niccum, who recently retired from the office of sheriff of Wabash county and who for two years served the
Digitized by Google
498
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
people with an efficiency and fidelity to duty which set a high standard in the administration of that important office.
The founder of the family in this section was Charles Niccum who died in 1884, and was one of the early settlers. He located on section thirty-six in township twenty-six north, range five east (Waltz township) in March, 1852. He was born in Darke county, Ohio, in 1825, was reared on a farm, and in 1844, before reaching his majority, married . Sarah Coble. Sarah Coble's father and other relatives settled in Wa- bash county about 1850, and the young man and his wife followed them and began housekeeping in Waltz township. The late Charles Niccum was rather under the average size physically, but what he lacked in physical stature was more than offset by his intense activity. He worked hard, and while he had but limited education, he had a large fund of practical sense, was quiet and unobstrusive and was reckoned as a first- class neighbor. Possessed of considerable determination, he took to studying long after he had become a man in order that he might the better measure up to the responsibilities and privileges of American citizenship. In politics he was a republican up to the time Horace Greeley became a candidate for the presidency, and after that was a democrat. He and his wife had ten children, six of whom are still living.
John Niccum, the oldest of these children, was born December 18, 1845, in Darke county, Ohio, and was therefore seven years old when he became a resident of Wabash county. With the exception of three years' residence in Jasper county, Indiana, he has always made his home in Wabash county, and up to 1910, in Waltz township. He was reared to hard work on the old farm, and such limited education as he obtained was acquired by a few months attendance during the winter term at the neighboring district school. Mr. Niccum is one of the young- est men in Wabash county who had a military record as a Union soldier during the Civil war. In February, 1865, a few months before the sur- render of the southern army, he enlisted in Company F of the One Hundred and Fifty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and from that time until the close of the war was employed on garrison and guard duty, for the most part in Kentucky. After his honorable discharge at the close of the war he resumed farming, and in time found himself possessed of a good property, and has always managed in such a way as to return a surplus. His home place in Waltz township comprises ninety acres of the fine farming land in that section.
It has come about almost as a matter of course that Mr. Niccum should be a republican in politics. He has voted and worked with that party since the first Grant campaign, but never held any office of consequence until 1910, when he was the successful candidate for sheriff of Wabash county. In 1912 his party again nominated him for the office, but owing to the general ascendancy of the democracy during that year he met defeat. But he was again nominated by the republicans as sheriff on April 15, 1914.
Mr. Niccum was married September 21, 1866, to Miss Maria Malott.
Digitized by Google
Digitized by
Morrow " Family
Digitized by
499
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
To their union, which has endured for upwards of half a century, has been born a large family of twelve children, whose names and brief mention of whose positions in life are as follows: Sarah, who died at the age of six months; Lovena, who died aged nineteen years; Cora, who died at the age of seventeen; Dillard, who married Nellie Bowman, had one son, Lewis Earl, Dillard died when only twenty-one years old; Ovid, who married Nora Long, has eight children, and is a prosperous farmer in Noble township of this county; Sarah, who died in infancy ; Charles Samuel, who married Lodi Forrest, has five children, and is a farmer in Liberty township; Abbie, wife of Arthur Brewer, of Otsego, Michigan has one daughter; John Earl, who married Edith Clark, has two children and lives in Goshen, Indiana; Edith, unmarried; Lewis, who married Marie Garst, and lives in Wabash, is a member of the firm of Niccum & Dumbaugh, automobile dealers of Wabash; Guy, who died when about six months old. Mr. Niccum is affiliated with the Masonic fraternities, and he and his wife worship with the Missionary Baptist church.
JOHN H. MORROW. The business career of John H. Morrow has been one of a constantly upward character, and he has advanced steadily and consistently in the various enterprises with which he has identified himself until today, as a principal member of The Morrow Grain Company, he is one of the foremost business men of the county.
Mr. Morrow is a native son of this county and state, born in Waltz township on the 11th of December, 1868, a son of C. H. and Joanna Mor- row. When he was about two years old the family of John H. Morrow moved from Waltz township to Liberty township, and there he was reared to manhood and received his education in the district schools. While yet in his 'teens he began teaching, and he taught his first coun- try school in the southeast corner of Wabash county. Up to the year 1898 he continued with his teaching activities, spending the winters in that work and his summers at other labors. He moved to La Fontaine in September, 1895, and there spent three more years in teaching, devoting a part of that time to the intermediate grades of the LaFontaine schools, teaching ten years all told. He passed his summers clerking in the local stores and in buying wool, and in this way he continued until 1900, when he was elected the trustee of Liberty township. He held that office for four years, and during that period also managed the retail store of Martin & Company. In 1904 Mr. Morrow was elected treasurer of Wabash county, and he discharged the duties of that office in a most creditable manner through four years of continuous service, having been twice elected. During this time he was also engaged as a wool buyer in the county, which line of work he still follows, and on the 1st of January, 1910, in association with Frank Paul, he also embarked in the agricul- tural and implement business, under the name of Paul & Morrow. They established themselves at Wabash, where they continued the business successfully until January 1, 1912, when the enterprise passed into the hands of J. H. Morrow & Son, but in October, 1913, they sold their inter-
Digitized by Google
500
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
ests in the firm. On the 15th of May, 1912, Mr. Morrow, with his brother, Garl Morrow, engaged in business under the name of The Morrow Grain Company, and they bought three grain elevators, located respectively at Rich Valley, Lagro and Wabash. The three had been owned by W. A. Elward up to that .time. The new relationship has continued in a prosperous and profitable business since its establishment.
Mr. Morrow is a staunch republican and an able advocate of party principles in the county. He is a member of the Christian church, as is also his wife. On the 1st of September, 1889, he was married to Mary E. Sparks, a native of Wabash county and a daughter of William T. and Missouri Sparks. The seven children born to this union are Floy, Howard and Hazel (twins), Fannie, Harry, Frederick and Mary Alice.
VALENTINE A. MATTERN. One of the prominent business men of Wabash is Valentine A. Mattern, whose interests have kept him in that city regularly since 1882, and who is a lifelong resident of Wabash county. He has been identified with various enterprises in the county seat, both as an employee and owner, and for the past fourteen years his name has been associated with one of the largest dry goods estab- lishments of the city. Mr. Mattern is a clear-headed business man and has won his success through his own efforts. With small capital to begin with, hard work and application to business has given him an enviable position, and in spite of the many calls that are made upon his time in business matters, he is deeply concerned for the public welfare and gives much attention to matters of public interest.
Valentine A. Mattern was born on his father's farm in Paw Paw township of Wabash county, August 23, 1858. His father was Valen- tine Mattern, who was born in Schmidtweiler in the Province Bayern, Canton Rockenhausen, Germany. His own career as an early Wabash county citizen had many notable points of interest and achievements, . and deserves more than passing mention. His people were farmers and in his native land he was reared to young manhood, receiving such advantages in an educational way as are accorded to the youth of Ger- many. When he was twenty years old he left home and took passage aboard a sailing vessel, in company with the family of John Schwartz, emigrating with them to America. On their arrival at New York, the little party made its way to Toledo, Ohio, thence by way of the Wabash & Erie Canal to Wabash, Indiana. Mr. Mattern was unattached and without other friends, and found a home with the Schwartz family who had settled on a farm near Urbana. Here he married Katherine Schwartz, the daughter of the house.
For perhaps eleven years after his location in Wabash county, Mr. Mattern farmed continuously and contentedly after which he moved to Wabash and for two years worked at the carpenter's trade. Then, for a similar period, he gave his attention to the butcher business, and after that experience bought a farm some two and a half miles north of Wabash. It was a place of one hundred and sixty acres, all wood- land with the exception of a half acre where a log cabin stood. Into
Digitized by Google
-
.
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
501
the cabin were moved family, household gods and all their various and sundry possessions, settling down to the steady pull that any attempt to wrest a living from such untaught soil must of necessity mean. With the passing years Mr. Mattern cleared the land and converted what had been a barren wilderness into a valuable and productive farm. He added to his original possessions until in time he held three hundred and twenty acres in that vicinity, and he came to be one of the most prosperous men of the township. Though Mr. Mattern came to this country a poor boy, unfamiliar with the spoken tongue of the people or with their customs and manners, he eventually reached a position of prominence in his community and gained the sincere esteem and regard of his neighbors. He had been reared to a life of industry and frugality, and these qualities, combined with his native honesty, pro- duced a steadiness of character that brought him success where others, better established financially, but less fortunate in their early training, could only have experienced failure. He worked hard that he might provide a suitable home for his family, and give to his children educa- tional advantages and such other opportunities as seemed best for them, and which he had not been able to have in his own youth. He was a man of excellent habits, steady and methodical, and of a religious turn of mind. He was a member of the Evangelical church. Both he and his wife died in Wabash. To them were born twelve children, nine of whom grew to years of maturity, and eight of the number are living at this writing. The living members of the family are here named: Peter A., a resident of Wabash; Valentine A. of Wabash; Adam E., living near Andrews in Huntington county; Anna, the wife of John Mattern of Wabash county; Elizabeth, who married F. C. Zimmer, of Wabash; Helena, the wife of Wm. Yentes, living near Urbana, in Wabash county; Caroline married Lewis Yentes and lives near Andrews; John H. lives in Lincolnville, Wabash county; Mary, the third eldest of the children who reached mature years, married Christian Wendel, and both are now deceased. The three other children of Mr. and Mrs. Mat- tern died in infancy.
.
.
When Valentine A. Mattern was five years old the family moved to Wabash, but most of his early training was on the farm and his edu- cation from the district schools of the community. When he reached his majority he began farming on his own responsibility, but after two years came to Wabash. For four years he was employed as a clerk in the general store of J. W. Busic, perhaps the ablest merchant Wabash ever had. He then bought a half interest in a grocery store, in asso- ciation with George Young, and a year later sold out to Mr. Young and entered the employ of Whiteside & Goodlander in the dry goods busi- ness. That was his work seven years, and then, with F. V. and C. N. Conner as partners, he bought a book store and jewelry shop in 1894, under the firm name of Conner, Mattern & Conner. This establish- ment they conducted under the name mentioned until early in 1900, when John H. Mattern, brother of Mr. Mattern, was admitted to part- nership. At this time the business was very materially enlarged by Vol. II-8
Digitized by Google
.
502
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
the addition of a dry goods store which was operated under the name of V. A. Mattern & Company, F. V. Conner and John H. Mattern taking charge of the book and jewelry store and C. N. Conner and V. A. Mat- tern looking after the dry goods establishment.
In 1905 the firm dissolved partnership, the Mattern Brothers taking as their equity in the business the dry goods end, while the Conner Brothers took the book and jewelry store. V. A. Mattern & Brother operated their dry goods store for one year, and then John H. Mattern sold his interest to his brother and turned his attention to farming, in which he has since been successfully occupied. V. A. Mattern has con- tinued the store name, The New Golden Rule, up to the present time, but with January, 1913, came the change in the name of the firm, when the admission of his son, Karl, to the business, made the name V. A. Mattern & Son the more appropriate title.
It is not only as a merchant that Mr. Mattern is known in Wabash county, but also as a successful farmer and stock raiser. His enter- prise in this direction is conducted on one hundred and twenty acres of land, owned by his mother-in-law, Mrs. Henry Lanzer, and located two miles north of Wabash on the Mount road. With Arthur Tomson as partner, Mr. Mattern rents that place, and together they have made more than a local reputation in the raising of Chester white hogs, besides the general operations of such a farm. Mr. Mattern also owns a farm of two hundred and fourteen acres located in Green township of Mar- shall county, Indiana.
A prominent citizen of Wabash in business, social and fraternal circles, Mr. Mattern affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Independent Order of Foresters, while he and his wife are active members of the German Evangelical church. On October 18, 1880, Mr. Mattern married Miss Caroline Lanzer. They are the parents of two children : Karl H. and Ruth. Politically Mr. Mattern is a democrat, and is now serving as a member of the Wabash school board. He is one of the progressive and up-to-date men of the city. and a citizen of the finest type.
CLARENCE H. LASELLE. Now secretary of the Citizens Savings and Trust Company of Wabash, Clarence H. LaSelle, while one of the younger men in business affairs at the county seat, has shown excep- tional ability in business affairs, and since he left school twenty-five years ago has been a constant and hard worker and always alive to the best interests of his community.
Clarence H. LaSelle is a son of Harvey B. LaSalle, one of Wabash county's best known citizens, whose career is briefly sketched on other pages. The son was born on his father's farm in Wabash county, Sep- tember 10, 1872. Reared in the country, with an education afforded by the public schools, while still in his teens he started to earn his own living as clerk in a shoe store conducted by Charles E. Hutton. Two years later he found similar employment in a grocery store for a time,
Digitized by Google
Digitized by
Digitized by
503
HISTORY OF WABASH COUNTY
and then became associated with his father in the general fire and life insurance business. Mr. LaSelle has been identified with insurance for a number of years, has built up a large clientele, and has written the original policies and kept up the renewals for a great many patrons year after year in Wabash and Wabash county.
Mr. LaSelle is one of the veterans of the Spanish-American war. In April, 1898, the month war was declared against Spain, he volunteered in Company D of the One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Volunteers, and took charge of a squad of thirty recruits whom he escorted to Indianapolis to join the regiment. He was then given the non-com- missioned office of corporal, and for some months during the Cuban campaign in the summer of 1898 was stationed on that island. How- ever, neither he nor his comrades saw any active campaigning, but had to content themselves with garrison and occupation duties. When the Citizens Savings and Trust Company of Wabash was organized Mr. LaSelle's insurance business was merged into the larger organization, and Mr. LaSelle became secretary of the company.
In politics he was actively identified with the local republican party until the campaign of 1912, and for a number of years served as secre- tary of the republican county central committee. However, in that year he followed his convictions and went over to the new progressive party, an alliance which he has since maintained and is now classified in the progressive ranks. Fraternally his associations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.