USA > Indiana > Memorial and genealogical record of Representative Citizens of Indiana > Part 36
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Politically, Jacob Traugott was a Republican and while he took the interest of a good citizen in public affairs, he was not a biased partisan, neither did he seek to be a public man, preferring to devote his attention to his business affairs and to his home, being happiest when he was around his own fireside with his congenial family and his favorite books, for he remained a great student and reader and was known as a well-read, scholarly gen- tleman and an entertaining and instructive conversationalist. He was, however, active in local politics and a liberal contributor to political and public affairs, if he deemed the public was to be benefited. He was also active and liberal in church work, and was a member of the Indianapolis Hebrew congregation. He was charitably inclined and was always ready to assist a good cause, but did his charitable work as secretly as possibly, wishing to avoid public display, giving merely through the fullness of a large heart. He was an honored member of various German societies.
WILLIAM FRANK SIBERT.
Indiana has many sons who have won fame and fortune in various ways, but of none has she more reason to be proud than those who have brought order out of chaos, and, unheeding hard- ships and danger, hewed farms from the forests and changed them to productive fields wlience comes the sustenance of the peo- ple. The farmer of the long ago opened the way to our present prosperity when he settled in the little hut in the wilderness. The labor and thought involved in obtaining a living from the land stimulated both mental and physical nature until he became self- reliant and strong, willing to undergo privation and hardship that good might result; and the many blessings which have come to us through modern investigation and foresight are but the out- growth of the self-reliant and independent spirit of the pioneer. From such people came the late William Frank Sibert, one of the best known and one of the worthiest of the native sons of Frank- lin, Indiana, whose influence during an eminently industrious and useful life made for the progress of the town and community whose interests he ever had at heart, endeavoring to carry for- ward to glorious completion the laudable work begun by his fore- bears, and when he was called by the grim reaper from his labors when in the very prime of active manhood, his loss was deeply and widely deplored, for all realized that his place could not be filled and that one of Franklin's best and most valued citizens had gone. But his influence will long continue to be of benefit to his county and town, the forces for good which he set in motion con- tinuing to bless mankind, although the fine brain that conceived them be stilled forever.
Mr. Sibert was born in Franklin, Indiana, May 5, 1857, and was the son of Henry and Minerva C. (Shaffer) Sibert. The father, who was a native of this state, was one of the carly resi- dents of Johnson county, and he went from here to the ranks of the Union army at the outbreak of the Civil war, serving very faithfully in the Third Indiana Cavalry, participating in many important engagements and seeing hard service. He was hon- orably discharged at the close of the war, after which he returned home and died soon afterwards. His widow has survived for
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nearly a half century and is still living at the ripe old age of eighty-two years.
William F. Sibert grew to manhood in his native community and here he received his education in the common schools, from which he was graduated, after which he began working in the flour mill of Payne & Baldwin, learning thoroughly the flour- ing business, and in spare moments devoted himself to the study of bookkeeping, in which he became quite an expert. He was given employment in this work in the mills and was soon hold- ing the position of head bookkeeper for the firm of Payne, Jolm- son & Company, and he remained with them until 1894, giving the utmost satisfaction. In that year he was elected by the Re- publieans as city treasurer. He gave entire satisfaction in this capacity, and in 1898 he was the choice of both the Republicans and Democrats for re-election, and served another term with his usual efficiency, and four years later he could have had a third term, but refused it. This is the only instance of its kind on record in Johnson county. He was regarded as one of the best officials the county ever had. He was at the office early and late, devoting the best years of his life conscientiously to the work. He was a man of economie habits and he saved his earnings and acenmulated considerable valuable property, retiring from office in 1902 in order to give his attention exclusively to his various property interests.
Mr. Sibert was prominent in church work, being on the offi- cial board of the Methodist church and a steward in the same. He gave liberally of his substance to the furtherance of the Christian work regardless of denomination. He was also a prominent mem- ber of the Masonie order, having attained the thirty-second de- gree in the same, holding for years the secretaryship of the blue lodge, couneil and commandery. He was also quite active in the Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias.
On October 2, 1901, Mr. Sibert was united in marriage to Sarah C. Deitch, of Franklin, Johnson county, Indiana, and this union was a most happy and congenial one. Their charities and good works have been many. This union was without issue.
Mr. Sibert was a quiet, unassuming, straightforward business man, and a good citizen. His place in the community for civic righteousness and material progress was never uncertain.
The death of Mr. Sibert occurred on Wednesday morning, April 10, 1912, at his attractive residence on East Jefferson
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street, Franklin, Indiana, death coming suddenly and unexpected- ly. Hle and his wife had spent the winter at Deland, Florida, having just returned from the South, it having been their custom for several winters to remain in a more genial climate. Ilis funeral, held the following Friday, was conducted by Rev. W. E. Edgin, of the Methodist church, who paid a high tribute to the life of Mr. Sibert as a citizen, church worker, husband and son. The Knights Templar, of which the deceased was a member, at- tended in a body, and had charge of the services at the grave. The remains were interred in the family lot in Greenlawn ceme- tery, the pall-bearers being Ed. Hougham and A. A. Blizzard, from the Knights Templar; John Wooley and A. J. Engler, from the official board of the Methodist church, and Mr. Webb and Daniel Walden, life-long friends of the family.
The Daily Star, of Franklin, in its eulogistic articles on Mr. Sibert's life, death and funeral, closed with this paragraph, in its issue of April 12, 1912: "The community suffers an irrep- arable loss in the death of Mr. Sibert, who, by his public-spirit- ed, Christian character proved himself one of the foremost and most popular of Franklin's citizens."
JOSHUA L. FATOUT
JOSHUA L. FATOUT.
From the pioneer period through many decades the late Joshua L. Fatout was conspicuously identified with the business and material interests of Indianapolis and Marion county, and he won for himself an honorable position in the cireles in which he moved and was a distinct type of the successful, self-made man. Not a pretentious or exalted life was his, but one that was true to itself and to which the biographer may revert with feelings of respect and satisfaction. His earlier life was identified in a prominent way with the agricultural activities of the county and, having attained prestige by successive steps from a modest begin- ning, it is eminently fitting that a sketch of his life work, together with an enumeration of his leading characteristics, be given in this connection. He became one of the leading contractors of Indianapolis, widely and favorably known, many of the residences and other buildings of this locality standing today as fitting monu- ments to his skill as a builder. He was recognized as a man of strong and alert mentality, deeply interested in everything per- taining to the advancement of the community along material, civic and moral lines, and for years he was recognized as one of the pro- gressive and representative men of his city and county. Having started in a lowly capacity he gradually forged to the front and, hy faithful service and prompt discharge of every duty devolving upon him, finally acquired a comfortable competency and at the same time won and retained the good will and high regard of all who knew him.
Mr. Fatout was born in Madison county, Ohio, September 1, 1830, and his death occurred in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Septem- ber 9, 1901, at the age of seventy-one years. He was the son of Moses and Irene (Bates) Fatout. The subject spent his boyhood on the home farm in Ohio and there received his early education. Leaving the old home there, he accompanied his parents to Mar- ion county, Indiana, and settled on a farm on White river, north of Indianapolis, where they became well established. Later in life
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the subject left the farm and came to Indianapolis, where he took up general contracting, which he followed the rest of his life. He was one of the courageous band of famous "forty-niners" who crossed the great plains of the West in 1849, to the gold fields of California, where he remained three years, then returned to Indi- anapolis, and during the last twenty-two years of his life he main- tained his residence at No. 622 North Illinois street. The Halle of the firm of general contractors of which he was a member was J. L. and M. K. Fatont, having been in business with his brother, and for many years they were very successful in a financial way and favorably and well known to the business world. They did their work with promptness and honesty, believing in doing well whatever was worth doing at all, hence their jobs were always satisfactorily done. Joshua L. Fatout was the fourth of a family of six children. A brother, Perey Fatout, who lives at Fortville, Indiana, is now eighty-five years old; another brother died at Cumberland, Indiana, early in the year 1912, at the age of eighty- three years.
Joshua L. Fatout was a member of the Meridian Street Meth- odist Episcopal church and was faithful in his support of the same, and there his family also hold membership. He was a Democrat, and was a quiet gentleman, who was happiest when at home with his family. He married Hannah H. Daniels, daugh- ter of Samuel P. and Barbara (Hinkle) Daniels, both natives of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Daniels came to Indianapolis in the year 1820 and was thus one of the very first settlers in this part of the state. He was a tailor by trade and he took a lively interest in political matters and held a number of offices, among which was that of state librarian. IIe was for several years con- nected with the Indianapolis Sentinel, and he was mail agent on the first railroad out of this city, on the old Madison road. He was born on October 16, 1813. The mother of Mrs. Fatout died when the latter was small; she was born in 1810, and when a child she came to Indianapolis with her parents. Mrs. Fatout was the second of a family of three children. She has one sister living, Mrs. Lizzie Howland, whose home is on Bright street, this city. Mrs. Fatout was born on October 1, 1842, on Virginia avenue, Indianapolis.
To Joshua L. Fatout and wife the following children were born: Nellie B. has a splendid position in the public library of
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Brooklyn, New York, being in charge of one of the branches of that institution, which she has been connected with for eight years; she was graduated from Depauw University at Green- castle, Indiana, later attended the Library School at Albany, New York; Walter, the second of the subject's children, who lives at home, was graduated in law, but, failing health compelled him to give up this line of endeavor and he is now engaged in the building and contracting business; Arthur also lives at home, and he is a druggist, owning a store at Twentieth and Bellefontaine streets; Louis is in the drug store with his brother.
GEN. CHARLES HENRY NOBLE.
It will always be a mark of distinction to have served in the Federal army during the great Civil war between the states. The old soldier will receive attention no matter where he goes if he will but make himself known. And when he passes away, and it will not be long until they will all be called upon to "face the only foe that they could not meet," as Daniel Webster said of the veterans of the Revolutionary war, friends will pay him suitable eulogy for the sacrifices he made a half century ago on the sangui- nary fields of the South or in the no less dreaded hospitals; and ever afterwards his descendants will revere his memory and take pride in recounting his services for his country in the hour of peril. Gen. Charles Henry Noble, of Indianapolis, is one of the honored soldiers who went forth to defend the Stars and Stripes and preserve the union of states; in fact, he has devoted his life to military affairs and, through merit, close application and com- mendable conduct, he rose steadily from the rank of private to that of general, and his career most happily illustrates what may be attained by faithful and continued effort in carrying out noble purposes. It is a story of a life whose success is measured by its usefulness-a life that has made for good in all its relations with the world. His career has been dignified and manly and one of which his relatives and friends may well be proud.
General Noble is the scion of an excellent old Buckeye fam- ily, his birth having occurred in Dayton, Ohio, May 10, 1843, and he is the son of Daniel W. and Harriet M. (Blood) Noble. The father of the subject was a native of Massachusetts and when a young man he came west, locating on a farm in Michigan and after the death of his wife he moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he conducted a book store and where he married his second wife, Harriet M. Blood, who was then a teacher in the public schools of that city. She was born in New Hampshire. In 1849 Daniel W. Noble moved his family to Indianapolis, and here he conducted a book store at the present site of the News building and he was later succeeded by the Merrills. After retiring from the book business Mr. Noble conducted a planing mill on Massachusetts
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avenue, where the fire department has since been located. Upon coming to this city the Noble family made their first residence in a cottage at the corner of Ohio and Illinois streets and later on Pennsylvania street, where John C. New later resided. The elder Noble had as a partner in the milling business a Mr. Pratt, and was later succeeded in business by his partner, whereupon he re- tired to a fine farm in Perry township, Marion county, Indiana, where he spent the rest of his life, passing away at the age of eighty-four years, his widow surviving until 1910, attaining the advanced age of ninety-six years. They were a grand old pioneer couple, admired for their hospitality and charitable impulses by all who knew them. They were the parents of the following chil- dren: Edwin, now deceased, was a soldier in the Twenty-sixth In- diana Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war and he was wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, and would prob- ably have been killed outright had it not been for an old-fashioned daguerreotype which he carried in his pocket and which General Noble, the subject, still has in his possession; Edwin Noble's death occurred in 1871 at New Orleans; he was brought home for burial and his remains now rest in the family vault at Hill cemetery. Gen. Charles H., of this sketch, was the second in order of birth; Cyrus B., of Indianapolis, was also a soldier in the Union army; Frank W. lives in Los Angeles; Daniel W. makes his home in Jackson county, Indiana.
General Noble came to Indianapolis as a child and here he grew to manhood and received his education in the public schools, and at the commencement of the Civil war he was a student in a private high school. He unhesitatingly laid down his books and offered his services and his life, if need be, to save the government from treason, and he accordingly became a member of the "Bracken Rangers," the first troop of cavalry to be organized in Indiana, enlisting on June 20, 1861. The "Bracken Rangers," Troop K, with Troop I, of Terre Haute, Shearer's, were all as- signed to the First Indiana Cavalry, in Virginia, and young Noble remained with the same for a period of three years, engaging in all the battles in which this regiment took part, seeing some hard service on a number of important campaigns and in many hotly contested engagements, in all of which, according to his comrades, he performed his every duty most faithfully. Mr. Noble was dis- charged in front of Petersburg in 1864, having been promoted to
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corporal. Although experiencing all the hardships common to the life of a soldier, the subject always looks upon this period of service as the most pleasant three years of his life, and it was dur- ing that time that he decided, if possible, to become a soldier in the regular army of the United States. He desired an appointment to West Point, making an effort in this direction through his congressman, Hon Ebenezer Dumont, the assignment, however, having previously been promised to another. So, after his dis- charge the young soldier returned home and resumed his studies. Having saved some money during his time in the army he matricu- lated in the Quaker school at Westfield, Hamilton county, Indi- ana, where he remained for a short time, after which he became a teacher in his home district, the Perry township school, his par- ents having moved to the farm some time previously. All this time, however, the old desire to become a regular soldier kept burning in his breast and it was a very proud day for him when he received a commission as second lieutenant of Company B, Sixteenth Infantry, United States regular army. This oppor- tunity came as a result of the efforts of his old friend, Congress- man Dumont, who had not forgotten the young man's one am- bition.
Lieutenant Noble was first stationed at Nashville, Tennessee, and, for meritorious conduct, he was promoted, step by step, to the captainey of Company A, of that regiment, and he was cap- tain of this company during the Spanish-American war, taking part and in command of his regiment at San Juan, Cuba. After this war he was made major of the Twenty-fifth Infantry and went to the Philippine Islands in that capacity. Later he was detailed to recruiting service, spending one year at Detroit, Michigan, and one year at Indianapolis. During that time he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Sixteenth Infantry, and after two years of recruiting service he returned to the Philip- pines where he rejoined his regiment. Not long afterwards he was promoted to colonel of the Tenth Infantry, returning to the United States with the regiment in that capacity, and was sta- tioned at San Francisco at the Presidio for one year, then took his regiment to Fort Lawton, near Seattle, Washington, remaining there for two years, going from there to Alaska, with headquar- ters at Fort Seward, near Skagway, where he remained for about a year. On October 6, 1906, he was retired by order of the war
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department, as brigadier-general, retired, and he returned to his home in Indianapolis. Upon his retirement from active service he was presented a beautiful silver loving eup by the officers of the Tenth Infantry, which he prizes among his most valuable possessions.
During his forty-four years in the regular service, General Noble has traveled extensively and has been stationed at prac- tically all the United States possessions, and, being a keen ob- . server, has laid by a store of interesting and valuable reminis- cences, so that he is an interesting conversationalist. He was in the South during the reconstruction days following the Civil war. He experienced all the hardships of the frontier posts and en- joyed the luxuries of the more modern posts. He has always been a great collector of curios, and now can show an extensive, valu- able and interesting collection, gleaned from all over the world, among which are sabers and fire-arms used in different countries in ancient and modern times. He has always been a deep student, especially of military affairs, and has kept fully abreast of the times. He enjoyed at all times the confidence of his superior officers and the esteem of his men, and his long, useful and hon- orable career has been one of which his family may well be proud.
General Noble was married on August 21, 1890, to Mary Palmer, daughter of Maj. George II. and Estelle Palmer. Major Palmer, who was the subject's old comrade, was a native of New York and his death occurred in 1900. He entered the service from Illinois, the birthplace of the wife of General Noble. Mrs. Noble has spent most of her life at the army posts. She has traveled extensively with her father and husband, and with her son she visited Japan and a number of other places on her own accord. She is a lady of broad and intellectual views, cultured and a favorite in social circles. She was educated in private schools and at Wellesley.
Three children have been born to General Noble and wife, namely: Mariam, who died when eight months old; Palmer, who died on board ship at Honolulu, en route to the Philippine Islands, when eight years old; Charles H., Jr., who is at this writing a student in the public schools at Indianapolis.
General Noble is a member of the Grand Army of the Re- public, Spanish-American War Veterans, Foreign Wars Veter- ans, Santiago Society, Caraboo Society, Indian Wars and the
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Army of the Potomac, in all of which he takes a great deal of interest. Politically, he is a Republican, and he had the honor of casting his first vote for Lincoln. As a boy he attended Henry Ward Beecher's church.
Personally, the General is a man whom it is a pleasure to meet, a genial, sociable and genteel gentleman, plain and unas- suming, yet with a certain degree of soldierly dignity; a man of strength and unswerving in his course of duty, as he sees and understands the right.
WILLIAM H. O'BRIEN.
The two most strongly marked characteristics of both the East and the West are combined in the residents of Indiana. The enthusiastic enterprise which overleaps all obstacles and makes possible almost any undertaking in the comparatively new and vigorous Western states is here tempered by the stable and more careful policy that we have borrowed from our Eastern neighbors, and the combination is one of peculiar force and power. It has been the means of placing this section of the country on a par with the older East, at the same time producing a reliability and certainty in business affairs which is frequently lacking in the West. This happy combination of characteristics is possessed to a notable degree by the subject of this review, William H. O'Brien, auditor of state of Indiana. He is too well known to the readers of this work to need any formal introduction here. Equally noted as a citizen whose useful career has conferred credit on the state and whose marked abilities and sterling quali- ties have won for him more than local repute, he holds today dis- tinctive precedence as one of the most enterprising and progress- ive men of the state. Strong mental powers, invincible courage and a determined purpose that hesitates at no opposition have so entered into his composition as to render him a dominant fac- tor in the business world and a leader of men. He is essentially a man of affairs, of sound judgment, keen discernment, rare acu- men, far-seeing in what he undertakes, and every enterprise to which he has addressed himself has resulted in liberal financial returns. His success in life has been the legitimate fruitage of consecutive effort, directed and controlled by good judgment and correct principles.
William H. O'Brien is a native of the state which is honored by his citizenship, having been born at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on the 22d of August, 1855, and is the son of Cornelius and Har- riet Jane O'Brien. Cornelius O'Brien was born in Ireland in 1817, and was there reared to manhood and secured his education. In 1837, at the age of twenty years, he came to the United States and located at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where the remaining years
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of his life were spent, his death occurring in 1869. Harriet Jane O'Brien was born in Lawrenceburg in 1823 and her death occurred there in 1885.
William H. O'Brien secured his elementary education in the common schools, supplementing this by two years attendance at old Asbury (now DePauw) University, at Greencastle, Indiana. Returning home, he became connected with the office of the Law- renceburg Register, with which he was identified from 1877 to 1894. He was a hard-working man and a good manager, and exercised a wise economy of his resources, so that in the last- named year he was enabled to take an active part in the organiza- tion of the Citizens National Bank, of which he was elected vice- president. The institution was remarkably successful from the start, and Mr. O'Brien continued his official relations with it until 1903, when it was consolidated with the People's Bank, under the name of People's National Bank. Of the new institution he was elected president and retained that position until 1911, when he entered the office of auditor of state of Indiana, to which position he had been elected the previous year. As a banker Mr. O'Brien demonstrated the possession of unusual business qualifications and much of the success which attended the financial institutions with which he was officially connected was due directly to his able direction and personal influence. No officer concerned with the administration of the public affairs of the commonwealth shoulders as much absolute responsibility and on no officer is there as great demand for business sagacity, sound judgment and wise discrimination as that of auditor of state. To an eminent degree Mr. O'Brien has measured up to the full requirements of the position he occupies and he has honorably earned the praise and commendation of his fellow-citizens, regardless of party lines.
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