USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of the Maumee River basin, Allen County, Indiana > Part 19
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JEREMIAH B. DOWNING.
This well known citizen of Allen county, where he has resided for two score of years, initiated his independent career when a mere boy, and his position today indicates what is possible of accomplish- ment upon the part of the man who will apply his energies and abili- ties in a legitimate avenue of enterprise, for he has attained to a success of no indefinite order and has accumulated a competency. He has a pleasant home at 525 Wildwood avenue, in the city of Fort Wayne, and was formerly engaged in farming in Wayne town- ship, where he improved and owned a valuable place, while he now devotes considerable attention to contracting as a mason and builder, utilizing the practical knowledge gained during his earlier years of work at the trade implied.
Mr. Downing was born in Batavia, New York, on the 3Ist of May, 1837, and is a son of David and Emily (Hotchkiss) Downing, both of whom were natives of the state of Connecticut and repre- sentative of stanch old families of New England. They resided in the state of New York until 1845, when they removed to Ohio and located in Oxford township, Erie county, where the father con- tinued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1857. His widow long survived him, her death occur- ring in 1882, at a venerable age. The subject of this sketch se- cured his rudimentary educational training in the common schools of his native state, and was about eighty years of age at the time of the family removal to Ohio. At the age of ten years he ran away from home and returned to the state of New York, taking up his residence in the city of Rochester, where he apprenticed himself to learn the trade of brick and stone mason, his apprenticeship covering a period of six years, during which period he remained continuously in the employ of one man, Samuel Bullard, a general contractor.
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For his first year of service he received one hundred dollars and his board; the second year his stipend was seventy-five cents a day, and the third year one dollar, while he paid his own board. Within the time of his apprenticeship Mr. Downing was employed on con- tracts in Rochester, Buffalo, and other points in the state, and he became a thoroughly skilled artisan in his line. Within the six years he had saved from his earnings the sum of five hundred dollars, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship he returned to Erie county, Ohio, and engaged in contracting on his own responsibility, thus continuing to be engaged until he had attained the age of twenty- two years, while he met with good success in his work. In 1865 Mr. Downing came to Fort Wayne, where he entered the employ of James Wilding, with whom he was engaged as a journeyman mason for five years, receiving a salary of twenty-one dollars a week. Within the first year of his residence here he purchased eighty acres of land, in Wayne township, two miles south of Fort Wayne, on the Piqua road, paying thirty-five dollars an acre for the property. He operated the farm by the employing of hired hands until about 1870, when he took up his residence on the place and turned his personal attention to its improvement and cultiva- tion, while he purchased an adjoining eighty acres, making a good farm of one hundred and sixty acres. While on the farm he did more or less contract work at his trade, principally for his neighbors. He cleared forty-five acres of his land from the native timber, and he made the place one of the best in the vicinity of the city of Fort Wayne. Prior to leaving the farm he sold forty acres, now the home of his brother-in-law, Benjamin F. Ogden, while in 1903 he disposed of the remainder of the place at a good figure, the land hav- ing greatly appreciated in value during the intervening years, as may readily be understood.
In 1893 Mr. Downing removed to the city of Fort Wayne, and here built up a profitable enterprise as a dealer in horses, in which business he continued about three years. In 1899 he purchased ten acres of land on Fairfield avenue, platting the same into city lots and laying out the property as an addition to Fort Wayne. Later on he disposed of the property at a good profit, while it is now being made into one of the attractive residence sections of the city. He
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has made other judicious investments in local real estate, and his own residence property is a most attractive and desirable one, the house being modern in design and appointments and most eligibly located. He now gives considerable attention to mason contracting, in which he is meeting with the success which is the natural concomitant of ability and honorable methods. In politics Mr. Downing is a stanch adherent to the Republican party, and both he and his wife are valued members of the Congregational church.
On the 4th of March, 1858, Mr. Downing was united in mar- riage to Miss Cynthia L. Sexton, of Erie county, Ohio, and she died in 1873, leaving one son, Myron Sexton Downing, who is now man- ager of the Fort Wayne branch of the National Biscuit Company. On the 25th of October, 1891, the subject consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Annie Martin, who was born and reared in Portland, Maine, and who was formerly a successful teacher of music, being a woman of marked talent and gracious re- finement. They have one daughter, Rose, who is a pupil in the city schools at the time of this writing.
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GEORGE W. WILBUR.
A progressive and influential farmer of Milan township is George W. Wilbur, while further interest attaches to the consideration of his career as a loyal citizen by reason of the fact that he served right valiantly as a Union soldier during the Civil war. Mr. Wilbur is a native of the Hoosier state, having been born in Dekalb county, Indiana, on the 23d of August, 1840, and being a son of Charles and Catherine (Waters) Wilbur. The genealogy in the paternal line traces back to stanch old New England stock of the colonial era, and the father of our subject was born in the state of Vermont, while his marriage was solemnized in the state of New York, where he and his wife continued to reside until 1835, when they came as pioneers to Indiana and settled in Concord township, on the St. Joseph river. They were among the first to locate in that section and the father took up a tract of wild land, whose reclamation from the forest he forthwith instituted. The family continued to reside on this pioneer farm until 1851, when they came to Allen county and located on the farm now owned and occupied by George W. Here Charles Wilbur secured one hundred and seventy acres of land, the major portion of which he reclaimed to cultivation. The original residence was a small frame structure, on what is known as the Ridge road, now known as the Fort Wayne & Hicksville pike, and traversing the ridge between the St. Joseph and Maumee rivers. This was the first state road to be surveyed through this section. Charles Wilbur developed a good farm, placing the major portion of his land under effective cultivation and making substantial im- provements, and here he continued to reside until he was summoned to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler re- turns," his death occurring in the year 1878, at which-time he was eighty-six years of age. He was a Democrat in his political ad-
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herency up to the time of the war of the Rebellion, when he espoused the cause of the Republican party, of whose principles he ever after- ward remained a stanch advocate. His first wife, the mother of our subject, died in 1858, and he later married Miss Arvilla Har- wood, who survived him by a number of years. Of the children of the first union five attained to maturity, namely: Elizabeth, who became the wife of Henry Saylor, son of one of the pioneers of Allen county, died at the age of seventy-six years; Mary became the wife of John Reaser, and died in California at the age of seventy- three years; Aaron, who served as a member of the Twenty-third Indiana Battery of Light Artillery during the Civil war, located thereafter in Iowa and later in Kansas, in which latter state he died, at the age of sixty-three years; Charles, Jr., was a member of the Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry and sacrificed his life in the memorable battle of Chickamauga, being twenty-five years of age at the time of his death, and George W. is the immediate subject of this review.
George W. Wilbur was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm and was about eleven years of age at the time of the family removal to Allen county, while his educational advantages were such as were afforded in the common and subscription schools of the locality and period. He continued to be associated in the work and management of the homestead farm until the time of the war of the Rebellion, when he signalized his patriotism by tendering his service in defense of the Union. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in Company D, Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, his brother Charles enlisting at the same time. The regiment was originally commanded by Colonel S. S. Bass and later by Colonel J. B. Dodge. Mr. Wilbur continued in active service for somewhat more than three years, during which the history of his regiment stands as the record of his military career, for he took part in prac- tically all of the engagements in which his regiment participated, and these included some of the most notable battles of the war. He was never captured or wounded, and was ever found at the post of duty. He continued in the service until October, 1864, when he received his honorable discharge, having been mustered out at Indianapolis, Indiana.
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After the close of his faithful service as a loyal son of the Re- public Mr. Wilbur returned home and soon afterward assumed charge of the old homestead farm, where he has ever since main- tained his residence, while he has been the owner of the property for the past forty years, the area of the farm being practically the same as the original claim secured by his father. He has also pur- chased and sold other farm properties in the county. He devotes his attention to general farming and stock growing and has one of the valuable and attractive places of the county. The buildings are of substantial order and were all erected by him, while the other permanent improvements are of the best type.
In his political allegiance Mr. Wilbur is a stalwart Republican, taking a deep interest in the cause of the party and being prominent in its local ranks. He has frequently served as delegate to the county, congressional and state conventions of his party, and while he has shown a lively interest in local affairs of a public nature he has never been ambitious for office. He is a notary public, having served in this capacity for a number of years past and having been called upon to serve as guardian and administrator of a number of estates-facts which indicate the high confidence and esteem in which he is held in the community which has figured as his home since his boyhood days. His religious faith is that of the English Evangel- ical Lutheran church, and he has been a member of the board of trustees of the Barnett chapel, located near his home, practically ever since its establishment, while he is also an elder in the church. Mr. Wilbur is a member of Harlan Lodge, No. 296, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, at Harlan, Indiana, and of the Grand Army of the Republic. At the present time he is serving as jury commissioner of Allen county. For a number of years he has served as a director and the treasurer of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Associa- tion of Allen county and for some time has been the heaviest indi- vidual tax-payer in the township.
On March 25, 1869, Mr. Wilbur wedded Miss Mary, the daughter of James and Rebecca Vandolah, who was born in Perry township, Allen county, Indiana, in 1840. To this union was born one child, Catharine R., who died in infancy. Mrs. Mary Wilbur died in 1880, and in 1882 Mr. Wilbur married Miss Ella Richards,
I7
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who was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1852, the daughter of Solomon and Matilda Richards, of Milan township, this county, whither they came from Wayne county, Ohio, in 1863. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur have been born three children, Mary M. and Goldie M., both deceased, and Georgia Winnie, who was born October 15, 1890.
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HON. HENRY COOPER.
But few men in the United States had less claim to recent Euro- pean blood than Mr. Cooper. His maternal ancestors were Irish Protestants, and were among the first followers of Lord Baltimore to Maryland, where they settled near Cambry. His paternal pro- genitors, who were English Protestants, arrived in Maryland at a later period. He had a maternal uncle who served under the un- fortunate Admiral Byng at Minorca, and in the English West India fleet during the French war. His maternal grandfather was an en- sign in the Maryland Volunteers during the Revolutionary war. One of his paternal uncles was taken prisoner by the Hessians in New Jersey, and was detained a long time on board of one of the prison ships at New York.
Henry Cooper, son of James and Leah Cooper, was born at Havre de Grace, Maryland, June 8, 1793, and was left fatherless in his tenth year; but at that early age he had learned from his father the rules of morals and mathematics, both of which were of great service to him in his subsequent journey through life. Influenced by the slender state of his resources, he commenced a seafaring life in 1810, but finding there was no chance of preferment without a knowledge of navigation, he entered himself as a student of that science under the tuition of Mr. Ackworth in Baltimore. While attending this course, mathematics, in theory and practice, engrossed his entire attention, and while engaged in taking the altitude of church steeples and other elevated objects within the city, the bear- ings and distance of Fort McHenry and places of similar notoriety without, he became such an enthusiastic disciple of Euclid that he has been heard to say that he thought that was the most interesting portion of his education.
Determining to follow the sea, he did so until 1818, and by per-
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severance and good conduct rose to the command of a vessel. About this time his natural sagacity led him to perceive that the treaty made in that year with the European powers would have a tendency to materially lessen the American carrying trade and give a consid- erable portion of it to foreign vessels. Under this conviction, he abandoned the sea and came to the west. When he visited Balti- more in 1822, 1835 and 1836, the number of foreign flags floating to the breeze in the harbor where formerly the stars and stripes alone were seen convinced him that his previous opinion on the subject was correct. After coming to the west, the small amount he had saved of his hard earnings on the ocean was sunk in the Mississippi river during a storm. Finding his designs again thwarted, he made a fresh effort in a new profession, and in 1822 commenced the study of law under the late Mr. Wing, of Cincinnati, Ohio. The commen- taries of Chancellor Kent and many other eminent writers on Amer- ican law had not been published when Mr. Cooper commenced the study of law; but, knowing that he would have to compete with learning and talent, backed with wealth and influence, he deter- mined to read diligently and methodically the most useful books on legal science procurable. After a diligent study of Blackstone's Commentaries, he devoted much attention to the feudal law. For this purpose he read Sullivan's "Lectures on Feudal Law," Hume's "History of England," Robertson's "Charles V,"and Montesquieu's "Spirit of the Law," rightly judging that the fullest understanding of modern authors was based on the intimate acquaintance of those authors who had preceded them. Blackstone's Commentaries was his chief favorite and so often and so thoroughly had he analyzed them that it might be said he had their contents indelibly impressed on his memory.
After three years of unremitting study Mr. Cooper removed to Fort Wayne and in June, 1825, at the second term of the circuit court, held at the residence of Alexander Ewing, he was admitted to the practice of law, he being the second lawyer of Fort Wayne to receive that distinction, William G. Ewing having been admitted at the first term. In May, 1829, he was admitted to practice at the supreme court of the state, and in January, 1833, was licensed in the supreme court of the United States.
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In his time no lawyer in the state had a more extensive practice in the circuit and supreme courts of Indiana and Ohio and the su- preme court of the United States. He strenuously opposed all tink- ering with the constitution and fundamental laws of the land, and zealously advocated the independence of juries. A few of the many interesting cases in which he was engaged have been reported by Judges McLean, Blackford and Smith. In one of his cases before the supreme court of the United States, the Lessees of Grantly et al vs. Ewing, certified from the circuit court for this district, a case in which the judges of the United States court were divided in opin- ion on a motion for a new trial, several points were made in argu- ments, both in the circuit and supreme courts, on one of which the supreme court of the United States decided in favor of Mr. Cooper, but gave no opinion on the other. This case is reported in Howard's S. C. Reports, Vol. III, page 707.
In the important case of Harris vs. Doe (4th Blackford, page 396), Mr. Cooper prosecuted and obtained a verdict and judgment in the Allen circuit court. On an appeal the supreme court con- curred with him, "that an Indian treaty is a contract to be con- strued like other contracts and that the admission of possession in the consent rule stopped the defendant from denying possession in him at the time of the commencement of the suit." In the case of Rubottom vs. McClure, the question for the first time came before the supreme court: "Does the law as then constituted authorize the taking of private property for public benefit, and leave the as- sessment of damages to commissioners without a jury having first valued the same?" Mr. Cooper appeared for the plaintiff in error and the supreme court sustained his construction of the law.
As a speaker Mr. Cooper made no effort at flowery declamation, but in a methodical and logical argument brought his case before the court, and in his address to the jury analyzed the testimony and concentrated it on the point at issue. He was an untiring student and never came into court without the most careful preparation. His memory was wonderful, a decision once read became indelibly impressed on his mind, and he could repeat not only the substance, but give page and volume with astonishing accuracy. He was inter- ested in the young lawyer, and always took the greatest pains to ex-
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plain or apply a point of law for their assistance. He was literary in his tastes and a great lover of the classics, and was gentle, digni- fied and courtly in his manners, a fine example of the "gentleman of the old school," and was noted for his brilliancy in repartee and profound learning.
Mr. Cooper was never a candidate for any political office. In 1824 and 1828 he supported Mr. Adams for the Presidency; in 1832 and 1844 Henry Clay and in 1836 and 1840 his old personal friend, General Harrison. During the latter campaign he was chairman of the committee which organized such a successful campaign in Allen county.
In February, 1833, Mr. Cooper married Miss Mary Silvers, of Cleves, Ohio, who bore him seven children, five of whom died in infancy, Edward B. and James Henry surviving him. In 1845 it was his misfortune to lose his wife, a charming woman of many so- cial graces. In July, 1850, he married Mrs. Eleanor Munson, of Fort Wayne, widow of James P. Munson, and a woman of keen intellect, who bore him one son, William P. Cooper, the well-known insurance man. Mr. Cooper died very suddenly, on Friday, March 25, 1853. He was seized with a congestive chill, and on the follow- ing morning passed quietly away. On Sunday, March 27th, the fu- neral services were held at the First Presbyterian church, where an eloquent and impressive sermon was preached by the Rev. Reihel- daffer. His remains were followed to the grave by a great num- ber of citizens, preceded by the members of the bar. Thus passed away a good citizen, a profound lawyer and an honest man.
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ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
CHARLES F. PFEIFFER.
The present age is essentially utilitarian and the energetic busi- ness man is everywhere in evidence. In placing the subject of this review before the reader as one standing in the front rank of Fort Wayne's enterprising men of affairs, whose influence has ever tended to the upbuilding of the city and the advancement of its various in- terests, simple justice is done a biographical fact recognized through- out the community by those at all familiar with his history and cognizant of the important part he has acted in the business circles with which he is identified.
Charles F. Pfeiffer, son of John C. and Margaret Pfeiffer, of Germany, was born in Allen county, Indiana, June 22, 1852. He first saw the light of day on his father's farm and spent his child- hood and youth pretty much after the manner of the majority of country lads, entering as soon as old enough the district schools, the training thus received being afterwards supplemented by a course of higher study in the Methodist College of Fort Wayne. Mean- time he became familiar with more practical affairs on the farm, where, amid the free outdoor exercise in close touch with nature, he acquired those habits of industry and concentration of purpose which had such a marked influence in forming his character and shaping his career. After remaining on the home place and assist- ing in its cultivation until his nineteenth year, he began life for himself as a partner in the Bloomingdale Flouring Mill of Fort Wayne, which line of business he continued for a period of ten years, the meanwhile acquiring not only efficiency as a manufacturer of flour but high standing in the industrial and commercial circles of the community.
After the destruction of the mill by fire at the expiration of the time noted Mr. Pfeiffer entered into partnership with Charles Pape
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and William Fleming in the Fleming Manufacturing Company, man- ufacturers of road-making machinery, and in due time rose to the position of manager of the concern, which relation he sustained for ten years. At the end of that time he severed his connection with the firm and turned his attention to the real-estate and loan business, which he has since conducted and in which his success has been signally encouraging, as is attested by the large and lucrative pat- ronage which he now commands, not only in the city but through- out Allen county. In addition to the handling of real estate, he subsequently added stocks and bonds, in which he also does an ex- tensive business, besides being identified with various public enter- prises which have exercised a potent influence on the financial ad- vancement and general prosperity of Fort Wayne. For several years past he has been a director of the Citizens' Trust Company, the inter- ests of which he has done much to promote, and also holds the posi- tion of vice-president and director of the German-American National Bank of Fort Wayne, the continued growth and popularity of which institution is largely attributable to his business tact and executive ability. Mr. Pfeiffer was one of the original promoters and leading spirits in the organization of the South Bend Home Telephone Com- pany, from the inception of which enterprise to the present time he has been a member of its board of directors, besides contributing to its success in other than official capacities.
In his political affiliation Mr. Pfeiffer is a firm and uncompro- mising Republican, and as such has done much to promote the strength and success of the party in Fort Wayne and Allen county in a number of local and general campaigns. While earnest and unyielding in defense of his principles, he is nevertheless popular with the people irrespective of party ties and numbers many of his warmest personal friends among those who hold opinions directly the opposite of his own. While not a partisan in the sense the terni is usually understood, he has ever been ready to work for the party and subordinate many of his interests to its welfare, being a judi- cious adviser in its councils and, when necessary, an active worker in the rank and file. In recognition of his services, as well as by reason of his peculiar fitness for the place, the people of his ward in
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