USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 10
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David C. Spraker, sixth in age among the children, was a boy when he lost his parents, and in 1860 he came to Howard County and lived with his uncle, John Miller, a few miles west of Kokomo. He attended public school and also had the advantages of the Academy at Thorntown. He remained with his uncle eight years, and in 1868 began clerking in a store at New London. After a year he bought out the proprietor of a drug and grocery busi- ness, and continued merchandising there until 1878, when he was elected to the office of county treasurer of Howard County. He served two terms of two years each, and on leaving office he engaged in the manufacture of drain tile, and since then has been busied with many other inter- ests. He was a tile manufacturer two years, and in the meantime had become in- terested in the natural gas industry.
Mr. Spraker was identified with the or- ganization of the Kokomo Natural Gas Company, which put down the first pro- ductive well in this part of the state on October 6, 1886. Mr. Spraker was vice president of the Gas Company until 1895. In that year he organized the Kokomo Rubber Company for the manufacture of rubber specialties and, mechanical appli- ances, including bicycle tires, and Mr. Spraker was its first president and man- ager, and held these offices until 1917. He then sold out the most of his interests in the company and is now practically retired, though he continued as a director in two of the leading banks of Kokomo.
He is a member of the Masonic Order, the Elks and the Knights of Pythias, is a Methodist and a republican. From 1869 to 1877 Mr. Spraker served as postmaster at New London, having first been com-
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missioned to that office during the adminis- tration of President Johnson. Mr. Spraker owns a large amount of real estate in How- ard County, and its management now re- quires the most of his time.
FRED G. WEBB. A business of great im- portance in every community in the United States is that carried on by the manufac- turers and dealers in shoes, footwear of some kind being indispensable to health, appearance and comfort. The leading shoe merehant at Anderson, Indiana, is Fred G. Webb, who is sole proprietor of a business that was the pioneer in this line here when started by its first owners many years ago. Mr. Webb is a shoe man of long practical experience, and is considered one of An- derson's representative business men.
Fred G. Webb was born on his father's farm in Madison County, Indiana, 21/2 miles west of Anderson. His parents were James L. and Sarah E. (Cather) Webb, the ancestral lines, many generations baek, reaching to England, Scotland and Ireland. The early Webbs settled in Virginia, and branches of the family may be found in many other states of the Union at the pres- ent time. The father of Mr. Webb served as a soldier through the Civil war and afterward passed his life in or near Ander- son, Indiana, as a farmer and dealer in real estate.
In the country schools of Madison County Fred G. Webb passed through the different grades and then entered the high sehool at Anderson, and for two years he pursued his studies there and kept well to the front in his classes while all the time he was working in the mornings and on Saturdays for the shoe merchant, E. R. Prather, whose father was the pioneer in the business at Anderson.
With the exception of about a year and a half, when he was employed as window trimmer for the firm of H. S. Hysinger & Son, Mr. Webb has been identified through- out his business career with the shoe in- dustry and probably is as well acquainted with the business from every point of view as any man in the country. For two years he was connected with the firm of Prather & Berlsable as a shoe salesman, and after the junior partner sold out was engaged as manager and continued as such until January 12, 1914, when he purchased the Prather store and has continued the busi- ness very successfully ever since. He is
well acquainted with the demands of his trade, his selling territory taking in the eity and even extending beyond and into Madison County's limits, his reputation for business integrity being as well recognized as his enterprise.
Mr. Webb was married in 1913 to Miss Hazel Marsh, who is a daughter of W. R. and Araminta (Seybert) Marsh. The father of Mrs. Webb was a merchant and contractor at Anderson for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Webb have no children.
Since early manhood Mr. Webb has taken a deep interest in publie questions just as an earnest citizen should to ensure good government and equal opportunities for all. He has always been identified with the republican party and in 1912 was his party's candidate for county surveyor. Al- though not elected he was defeated by so small a majority that his popularity was confirmed. He belongs to the order of Elks at Anderson.
BENJAMIN F. SHARTS has long enjoyed an enviable position in Logansport banking and business eireles, and for the past five years has been president of the Fenton In- vestment Company. This is an extensive mortgage, loan and investment business which was founded and built up by the late C. O. Fenton, and after his death Mr. Sharts accepted the responsibility of ear- rying it forward and has done much to in- erease its prestige.
The Sharts family has been in Cass County for seventy years. Benjamin F. Sharts was born on a farm in Tipton Town- ship December 12, 1871, son of Abiah J. Sharts and grandson of George P. and Frances (Bear) Sharts. George P. Sharts moved from Hagerstown, Maryland, to Preble County, Ohio, as a pioneer, and conducted a grist mill near Germantown for several years. In 1848 he settled on the Richeson farm in Cass County, and with his family lived in a log cabin until he could replace it with a more comfortable structure. George P. Sharts died in 1853, at the age of fifty-two, and his wife passed away in 1875, at the age of seventy-two. Their children were named Mary M., Rose Ann, Elizabeth, Catherine, Abraham, John, Eliza J., George P .. William O., Abiah J. and Caroline.
Abiah J. Sharts, who was born in Preble County October 24, 1844, was four years old when brought to Cass County and grew
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up there, receiving his first educational advantages in a log cabin school. He be- came self-supporting by his work at the age of fifteen. In June, 1863, at the age of nineteen, he entered Company F of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Indiana In- fantry, was mustered in at Indianapolis, and saw some of the hardest fighting in the Kentucky and Tennessee campaigns dur- ing the next year. He was at Knoxville, did guard duty at Cumberland Gap, Green- ville and Tazewell, Tennessee, and was granted his honorable discharge at Lafay- ette, Indiana, in March, 1864. On return- ing home he resumed the responsibilities of managing the home farm, and conducted it until 1879, when he moved to a farm ad- joining the old homestead on the south. In the course of time he developed one of the best farms in Tipton Township, having over 150 acres, and an attractive and comfortable home. He has always been a republican, is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and worships in . the Seven-Mile United Brethren Church. In 1867 he married Ellen Alice Wilson. Her father, Andrew Wilson, was a pioneer settler in Cass County. To their marriage were born six children: Harry, deceased ; Benjamin F .; Elmer; Walter, deceased ; Blanche ; and Charles.
As this record shows, Benjamin F. Sharts had behind him a sturdy agricul- tural ancestry, and he has always been grateful that his own boyhood was spent in the environment of the country. He did farm work at the same time that he at- tended district school. In the fall of 1888, at the age of seventeen, he went to live with a relative at Topeka, Kansas, and at- tended the high school of that city three years. Each year he carried off the honors of his class. Returning to Indiana, he taught his old home school in Tipton Town- ship a year, also the Boyer School a mile east of Walton, and was in the Woodling School in Washington Township two years. On coming to Logansport in the summer of 1895 Mr. Sharts was employed in the connty treasurer's office for a year, and in May, 1896, entered the Logansport State Bank. He was messenger and bookkeeper, later teller, and in May, 1906, after ten years with the bank he was promoted to cashier. Mr. Sharts was with this old and well known financial institution of the Wa- bash Valley for a total of seventeen years.
He resigned to take the management of the Fenton Investment Company in the spring of 1913. Mr. Sharts is a republican, has been an active member of the Cass County Historical Society, is identified with many civic and patriotic movements, and is affil- iated with Tipton Lodge No. 33, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Logan Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Logan Council No. 11, Royal and Select Masons, and St. John Commandery No. 24, Knight Templars, at Logansport. He was eminent comman- der of St. John Commandery in 1907. October 3, 1900, he married Miss Pearl McManus. This loving wife and devoted mother passed away November 25, 1918, leaving the husband and three children, Victor Benjamin, aged sixteen; Robert Wilson, aged twelve; and Eleanor Jane, aged three.
RUFUS MAGEE for many years was re- garded as one of Indiana's foremost demo- crats both at home and abroad. He served as United States Minister to Sweden and Norway during President Cleveland's ad- ministration.
He is a native of Logansport, where he was born October 17, 1845, and is now spending the quiet years of his age in the same city which saw his birth. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, but of an old Ameri- can family. His grandfather, Daniel Ma- gee, served as a soldier in the Revolution. His father, Empire A. Magee, was a mill- wright by trade and was one of the pio- neers in the Wabash Valley to follow that occupation. He located at Logansport as early as 1836. He built the forge at what was known as the "Four Mile Locks" in Miami Township. The forge was con- structed for the smelting of "Kidney Iron." Later he built the Aubeenaubee forge in Fulton County on the Tippecanoe River, also operated a grist mill at Lock- port in Carroll County, and at Monticello built the mills of the Monticello Hydraulic Company. He died at Monticello in 1873. He was a Covenanter in religion.
Rufus Magee had few opportunities dur- ing his youth which he did not create him- self. He lived with his parents to the age of nine. Thereafter self sustaining occu- pation went hand in hand with his educa- tion. He gained most of his education working as a devil and practical printer. His first experience was with the White County Jeffersonian, and for many years
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afterward he was connected with various publications both as a printer and writer. He was in Indianapolis and Logansport, and in December, 1868, bought the Logans- port Pharos. In August, 1874, he began issuing a daily paper. He finally sold his newspaper interests and for many years has been largely occupied with his private business affairs.
From 1872 to 1878 Mr. Magee was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee and its secretary two years. In 1882 he was elected to the State Senate, and in 1900 was again elected to that office. In 1896 he was again a member of the State Central Committee, but resigned when the silver plank was introduced into the demo- cratic platform. Mr. Magee was appointed Minister to Sweden and Norway by Presi- dent Cleveland in March, 1885, and was abroad representing this government in the Scandinavian Peninsula four years and three months. On his return he took up the practice of law, for which he had qualified himself during his newspaper ex- perience, but since 1902 has lived retired.
Mr. Magee married in 1868 Miss Jennie Musselman. They became the parents of two daughters.
JOHN C. F. BRATTAIN, former postmaster of Alexandria, has for many years been a successful business man of that city and is sole proprietor of the Brattain Plumbing and Heating Company.
He was born at Middletown in Henry County, Indiana, July 15, 1862, and when he was eleven years of age in 1873 his par- ents moved to Alexandria. His great- grandfather came to this country from Ire- land and lived in South Carolina. Mr. Brattain's father was born in Indiana and was a merchant and died in 1910. John Brattain acquired most of his education in the Alexandria public schools, attending high school for three years. He learned his trade under A. E. Brattain, and was his employe for ten years. In 1891 he bought the business at the corner of Canal and Church streets, but subsequently located and crected the building at 115 North Canal Street where his business now has its headquarters. He does general plumb- ing, heating and general repairs, and has. handled some of the most important con- tracts over a territory around Alexandria for ten miles.
In 1916 Mr. Brattain married Miss Wini-
fred G. Carr, daughter of John Carr of Menasha, Wisconsin. Mr. Brattain has al- ways been an active republican, and his service as postmaster of Alexandria was under appointment from President Taft. He served from 1910 to 1914. He is affil- iated with the Masonic Lodge and Council at Alexandria and also with the local lodges of Elks, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Improved Order of Red Men, Pythian Sisters and Eastern Star. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. What Mr. Brattain has acquired in a business way is due to his efforts and long continued work, and he stands high among local citizens. He is chairman of the Factory Committee of the Alexandria Business Men's Associa- tion.
EDWIN WALKER, M. D., PH. D. The Walker Hospital in Evansville is an institu- tion of the finest modern equipment and service, and for a long period of years under the management and proprietorship of Dr. Edwin Walker has served the needs of a large section in Southern Indiana. Its founder and proprietor is a man of more than ordinary eminence in his profes- sion, and has been doing the work of a well qualified physician and surgeon for over forty-five years.
He was a pioneer in giving Evansville modern hospital service. He comes of a family of pioneers. His people settled in Evansville more than eighty years ago. His ancestry goes back to George Walker, who with his two brothers, named Robert and Michael, sailed from the port of Dublin, Ireland, early in the eighteenth century and settled at Newton Creek in New Jersey. This settlement became allied with the Salem, New Jersey, settlement, and marriages between them were frequent. George Walker married Miss Brinton. Their son, George Brinton Walker, great- grandfather of Doctor Walker, married about 1760 Mary Hall. She was the danghter of William Hall, Jr., and Eliza- beth (Smith) Hall. Her grandfather, Wil- liam Hall, Sr., emigrated from Dublin, Ire- land, in 1677 with John and Andrew Thompson and settled in Pyles Grove Township, Salem County, New Jersey. He became prominent in business affairs, his prosperity being measured by the owner- ship of extensive lands. In 1709 he was appointed judge of the County Court. His
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second wife was named Sarah Clement, of H., Mary, John T. and Oscar. George B. Gloucester County. Her oldest son, Wil- liam Hall, Jr., was born August 22, 1701, and inherited a part of his father's estate in Upper Mannington and the greater part of the Salem property.
Captain William Walker, grandfather of Doctor Walker, was born at Pennsneck, New Jersey, in September, 1782. He saw active service in the War of 1812. From New Jersey he removed to Cincinnati and remained there until about 1835, when he came to Evansville, then a small and flour- ishing town. Joseph P. Elliott, who knew him well, wrote of him in his history of Vanderburg County : "He was never idle but was an active, useful man. At times he contracted for earth work and improve- ment of streets, and sometimes undertook to build houses. At the breaking out of the Mexican war he was an efficient court official." For this war he set about to raise a company, and hoisted his flag in front of the Market House at the junction of Main and Third streets. In two weeks the roll was filled and he was commis- sioned captain of Company K, which was attached to the Second Regiment of In- diana Volunteers. With this command he went to Mexico. He was killed February 23, 1847, at the battle of Buena Vista, while leading twenty-three of his men in the thickest of the fight. The survivors afterward said that he told his men "we must go through or die," and with drawn sword in hand he led his men through the fray and fell after being lanced through the body in seventeen places. His remains were brought to Evansville in the summer of 1847 and buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, with becoming military honors. He was then sixty-six years of age.
Captain Walker married Catherine Tyler. She was born September 28, 1785, daughter of James and Hannah (Acton) Tyler, and granddaughter of James and Martha (Simpson) Tyler. Her great- grandparents were William and Mary (Abbott) Tyler, William Tyler being a son of William and Johanna (Parsons) Tyler, who were natives of Walton in Som- ersetshire, England, and came to America about 1688, settling in Western New Jersey, where William Tyler bought large tracts of land on the north side of Monmouth River. Captain Walker was survived by his widow several years. They had seven children: James Tyler, George B., Hannah, William
was a physician and one of the founders of Evansville Medical College. He was for three years surgeon in the Union Army in war between the states and was promi- nent in business affairs. John T. was also a physician, and was assistant surgeon in the Mexican war and surgeon of the Twen- ty-fifth Regular Indiana Volunteer Infan- try, in the war between the states. William H. was prominent in public affairs and served as mayor of Evansville and as county auditor. Oscar was also a physi- cian. He removed to Missouri, and spent his last years there.
James Tyler Walker, father of Doctor Walker, was born at Salem, New Jersey, April 15, 1806, but spent most of his life in the Ohio Valley. He acquired a liberal education for his time, and after his admis- sion to the bar began practice at Evansville. He raised a company for the Union army in the Civil war, but being past military age his individual service were rejected. He was a democrat in politics, and was elected a member of the State Legislature in 1844. He was a member of Grace Mem- orial Presbyterian Church. The death of this honored member of the Evansville bar occurred in 1877. He married Charlotte Burtis, who was born in Center Township of Vanderburg County March 2, 1822, a daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth (Miller) Burtis and granddaughter of Jesse Burtis, Sr., and Elizabeth (Brewer) Burtis. Jesse Burtis, Sr., during his early life lived on Broome Street, New York City. In 1817 Jesse Burtis, Jr., removed to Cincinnati, and from there to Vanderburg County in 1820, and was one of the first permanent settlers in Center Township. He and his wife were Quakers. Mrs. James T. Walker died in 1901, the mother of two sons, James Tyler and Edwin. James Tyler Walker has long been identified with the Evans- ville bar. He married Lucy Alice Babcock, a daughter of Henry O. and Mary (How- ser) Babcock, and their two children are Henry Babcock and Mary.
Edwin Walker, who was born at Evans- ville May 6, 1853, graduated from the Evansville High School in 1869. attended Hanover College at Hanover, Indiana, and graduated in 1874 from the Evansville Medical College. Hanover College con- ferred upon him the degree of P. H. D. Beginning practice the same year, he was appointed professor of anatomy in the
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Evansville Medical College. Then, in 1877, he attended lectures at the University of New York in New York City and received his diploma from that institution in 1879. He has also taken post graduate work in New York, Baltimore, Boston and Chicago, and has twice visited Europe, studying in London, Edinburgh, Berlin and Vienna. In 1882 he and others established a city hos- pital, and operated it successfully for sev- eral years. In 1887 he established at Evansville a training school for nurses. This was the second school of the kind in Indiana and about the thirtieth in the United States.
Doctor Walker established the Walker Hospital on South Fourth Street in 1894. Up to that time he had carried on a gen- eral practice and his work has been chiefly surgery. He still gives his supervision to the affairs of the hospital, and that institu- tion with all its facilities is a splendid memorial to the painstaking work and the high ideals of Doctor Walker. He is a member of the County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Society, has served as president of the Mississippi Valley Medi- cal Society and as first vice president of the American Medical Association, is a member of the American Gynecological Society, and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Since 1899 his active associate has been Dr. James York Welborn.
In 1880 Doctor Walker married Capitola Hudspeth. She was born at Booneville, In- diana, a daughter of George P. and Mar- garet (Smith) Hudspeth. Her father was a native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and a relative to the Daniel Boone family. Her mother was born at Booneville, Indiana. where her parents were pioneers.
LOUIS PHILLIP SEEBURGER. A lifelong resident of Terre Haute, where he was a successful business man and farmer, Louis Phillip Seeburger was most widely known both in his native county and state for his prominence in democratic politics. The field of politics seemed to appeal to his tastes and inclinations early in life and for thirty-five years he almost continuously held some office or other. It is said that he was a candidate for twelve different offices and only two defeats were registered against his candidacy. His last office was that of county assessor of Vigo County. His death occurred on the 17th of January, 1919.
Mr. Seeburger was born on First Street in Terre Haute June 2, 1855, fourth among the seven children of Louis and Caroline (Frey) Seeburger. His father was a native of Baden and his mother of Wuertemberg, Germany. Louis Seeburger came to America in 1844, lived a time in New York, and from there removed to Philadelphia. His wife came to New York in 1845 with her two brothers, and in 1846 Louis Seeburger and Caroline Frey were married in Philadelphia. The fol- lowing year they came west and settled at Terre Haute, their first home being at the corner of Second and Poplar streets, but about 1848 was moved to lot seventy- two in the city. Louis Seeburger was for a number of years engaged in the retail meat and butcher business, and was a man of considerable prominence in local affairs. He died in 1876. and at that time was a candidate for the Legislature. He had been a member of the City Council four years and in 1872 was nominated for county commissioner and in 1874 for city treasurer. More than seventy years have passed since the parents were married in Philadelphia and the widowed mother is still living, at the venerable age of ninety- two. All her seven children grew to ma- turity, and the first to die was forty-seven years old. Three are still living and all residents of Terre Haute.
Practical experience in business came to Louis Seeburger early in life. As a boy in Terre Haute he received his first in- struction in some private schools, and afterwards attended the public schools. Still later he was a student in a commer- cial school. When only six years of age he began helping in his father's butcher shop, and at the age of ten he bought his first cattle, paying seven cents a pound on the hoof. He continued in the butcher business until 1882.
He was married that year and then re- moved to a farm of 160 acres in Honey Creek Township of Vigo County. Mar- riage and change of occupation were not the only two events of that year. In No- vember he was appointed deputy sheriff, and in January, 1883, returned to Terre Haute to take up his public duties. For eighteen years his home was at the corner of Fifteenth and Chestnut streets. After four years as deputy sheriff he became deputv under County Treasurer Cox. and in 1887 was appointed to the United States
Fruit Seburger
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revenue service. In 1889 he resigned his publie office and engaged in the meat busi- ness with John McFall. In 1894 Mr. See- burger was nominated on the democratic ticket for the office of sheriff, and although running seven hundred votes ahead of the ticket was defeated. After that campaign he engaged in the wholesale packing busi- ness under the name Seeburger & Patton.
In 1896 the democrats of Vigo County gave him an unanimous nomination for sheriff, and he was one of the two demo- crats elected on the county ticket that year. He received a plurality of 448, and the significance of this is heightened by the fact that McKinley had only thirteen more votes from the county as republican candidate for president. Mr. Seeburger was re-elected sheriff in 1898, by a greatly increased majority, and was in that office until November 1900. In the meantime in 1899 he bought a farm three miles north of the Court House, and when public du- ties did not interfere he gave his time and energy to its management.
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