USA > Indiana > Memorial record of northeastern Indiana > Part 11
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Throughout his whole residence here Dr. Null has taken a deep interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the town. He has been a member of the Village Board and served for many years as its President. He has also officiated on the School Board. On various occasions he has served as dele- gate to political conventions of the Demo- cratic party, and has always taken an active part in political matters. In 1879 and 1880 he was honored by a seat in the lower house of the State Legislature, and subse- quently he served two terms of two years each as State Senator. While in the Sen- ate he was chairman of the Committee on Congressional Apportionment.
Dr. Null was special administrator of the estate of the Fort Wayne Journal. For four months he operated this paper, con- ducting it successfully and adjusting its affairs in a manner satisfactory to all con- cerned, and at the end of the four months sold it to Colonel Zollinger.
Of Dr. Null as a secret-society man we would now speak. He has long been iden- tified with the Masonic order .. In the New Haven Blue Lodge, No. 376, his name is found on the list with the charter members, and he has served as its Master, and at this writing is its Treasurer. And he has repre- sented his lodge in the Grand Lodge of In- diana. He has a membership in the Fort Wayne Chapter and Council, and in the Consistory at Indianapolis, having taken the thirty-second degree. The Doctor is also identified with the I. O. O. F., New Haven Lodge, No. 253, in which he has been an active worker for many years, having passed its chairs no less than half a dozen times, and both he and his wife have received the degrees in the auxiliary order known as Daughters of Rebekah. And in the Knights
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of Pythias he has likewise attained promi- nence, his membership in this order being with Maumee Lodge, No. 354, in which he has been Chancellor Commander and in which he is at present Master of the Work and Master of Exchequer. Being a veteran of the Civil war, he, of course, has a con- nection with the G. A. R., in which popular organization he has always taken especial interest. He is Post Commander of Jesse Adams Post, No. 493, of New Haven.
ILLIAM D. BAKER, Postmaster of Monroeville, Indiana, is a rep- resentative of one of the oldest families of Monroe township, Allen county, and has for years been a prom- inent factor in the business circles of his town. To his ancestral and life history the biographer now directs attention.
The Baker family is of German origin. Of Grandfather Baker little is known except that his residence was in Maryland for a number of years, and that he was killed by a horse kick. John Baker, the father of our subject, was born in Maryland in the year 1800, and when a young man was mar- ried in Columbiana county, Ohio, to Miss Catharine Miller, a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of John and Susan (Barlett) Miller, the Millers likewise being of German descent. John Miller's father was a Revolutionary soldier. In the year 1850 John Miller moved out to Indiana, and settled in Monroe township, Allen county, where he bought a farm, and where he resided for some years. Late in life he sold his farm and came to live with his daughter, Mrs. Baker, at whose home he died when past eighty years of age.
After their marriage John Baker and his
wife settled on eighty acres of land in Port- age county, Ohio, which he partially cleared, and on which they resided until 1836. That year he sold out and bought a lot in the vil- lage of Baltimore, in Stark county, Ohio, built a house and lived there until the fall of 1839, when he moved to Van Wert county, that State, and settled on the farm on which he died, on the State line between Ohio and Indiana, owning land in both States. For about five years prior to his death he lived with his son, Francis M., in Monroe town- ship, Allen county, Indiana. At the time he thus located in this section there were only five other families in the township. The country was nearly all covered with heavy timber, and there were plenty of wild animals and Indians here. And here in the midst of the forest he built a cabin and im- proved a farm, and here he and his good wife passed the residue of their lives and died, the date of his death being in Novem- ber, 1885. Both were members of the Lutheran Church, and in politics he was a Democrat. For twenty years he filled the office of Justice of the Peace, and he also served as County Commissioner. In their family were nine children that grew to ma- turity, nainely: Susannah, Sylvanus F., Michael L., William D., Simon S., Samantha, Catharine, Francis M., and Emanuel. Of this number all have passed away except three, and these three are all living in Monroe township, -Sylvanus F., William D. and Simon S.
Having thus briefly referred to his par- entage, we now turn for a review of the life of our immediate subject, William D. Baker.
He was born in Stark county, Ohio, April 10, 1836, the fourth in his father's family, and was three years old at the time
Hugh Dougherty
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of their removal to Indiana, as above re- corded. His education was received in one of the primitive log school-houses of Allen county, and for many years a log cabin served for his home. Many are the mem- ories of his boyhood that are clustered 'round that "cabin in the clearing." He remained on the home farm until he was thirty-two years old, ably assisting in the clearing and cultivation of the same, and also working with his father at the trade of carpenter. In 1868 he came to Monroeville and entered into partnership with his brother Michael L. in the general merchandise busi- ness, their location being on Main street. In 1871 they were burned out, and that same year the subject of our sketch erected the building he now occupies. In 1873 they started a store at Belmore, Ohio, operating it and also one here at Mon- roeville until the following year, when Will- iam D. traded his interest in the former for his brother's interest in the latter, and from that time until 1886 conducted it success- fully under his own name. In 1886 he sold out and accepted an appointment as Clerk of the District Court at Caledonia, North Dakota, to which place he went and there served in that capacity four years. On his return to Indiana, in the fall of 1889, he again took up his abode at Monroeville, and early in the following year engaged in business at his old stand, where he has since conducted a general merchandise store. Also at times he has been interested in other industries. For twenty years he has bought and shipped stock, the only person in this business here, and he has also been interested in a stave factory and a sawmill, and to some extent in farming, owning a farm in Ohio, which he rents. His brick residence, one of the attractive homes on
Mulberry street of this little city, he erected in the year 1875.
Mr. Baker was married April 10, 1870, to Catharine M. Engle, a native of Fair- field county, Ohio, and daughter of Dr. Samuel Engle, who settled in Allen county, Indiana, in 1853. Dr. Engle was at one tine Postmaster. He had a son Jephtha who was in the army. The Doctor is still living and is now a resident of Madison township, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Baker have three children, George A., Harley W., and Ethel W. George A. is a graduate of the Fort Wayne Business College and is a promising young man. Mrs. Baker is a member of the Lutheran Church.
There is perhaps not another man in Monroeville who has taken a more prom- inent part in its affairs or done more to promote its welfare than has Mr. Baker. He has been President of the village Board of Trustees, has for twelve years been a member of the Town Board, has been a member of the School Board nine years, a part of that time serving as its treasurer, and since 1893 has been Postmaster of the town. His political affiliations have always been with the Democratic party, of which he is a stanch and ardent supporter. Fre- quently he has served as delegate to county and State conventions of his party and also has attended national conventions. Frater- nally he is identified with Masonic Lodge, No. 293, of Monroeville, in which he has served as Junior and Senior Warden.
ON. HUGH DOUGHERTY .- It is now the privilege of the biographer to offer a brief review of the life of one whose ancestral history has been one of long and prominent identifica-
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tion with the history of the republic, of one who stands distinctively forward as among the truly representative men of the State of Indiana, who has attained to marked success in temporal affairs, whose patriotic services to his country have been unstinted, who has gained distinguished pre- ferments, and whose position in the respect and esteem of his fellow men is assured. It is certainly germane that the life of such a man should come up for consideration in the premises, -- not for undue panegyric; not, perhaps, for the voicing of his own modest estimate of himself, but as giving incidental utterance to the opinions of those who have known him long and well. Such a task can never prove an ungrateful one, and there is pleasure in tracing such a genealogy.
Hugh Dougherty, who has for many years been one of the most prominent and most honored citizens of Bluffton, Wells county, Indiana, was born on the parental homestead, in Darke county, Ohio, on the 28th of July, 1844, his lineage showing the sturdy dual strains of the Irish and German extraction. His paternal grandfather, whose full patronymic our subject bears, emigrated from Ireland and took up his abode in Penn- sylvania in the year 1818, and in the old Keystone State was born William Dougherty, the father of our subject, the date of his nativity having been 1820. The family re- moved to Ohio in the year 1831 and settled on a farm in Darke county, where the grand- father died in 1833. The mother of the subject of this review was of German de- scent, her maiden name having been Mar- garet Studabaker. Her ancestors were among the early German settlers in Pennsylvania. She was born in Darke county, Ohio, in Au- gust, 1821, on the farm which had been re- claimed by her father, who settled in the !
primitive wilderness at a time when practi- cally only the Indians were present to dis- pute dominion with the beasts of the forest. The father was compelled in those early days of toil and endeavor to keep his wife near him in the clearing in order to afford her protec- tion from the prowling bands of unfriendly or marauding savages. In Darke coun- ty, on the 7th of June, 1841, was consum- mated the marriage of William Dougherty and Margaret Studabaker, and there they remained until the death of the latter, on August 15, 1860. Mr. Dougherty afterward removed to Indiana, settling on a farm near Bluffton, convenient to his son's home, and there he passed the residue of his days, his demise occurring on the 2d of June, 1879.
Hugh Dougherty grew up under the sturdy and invigorating discipline and en- vironment of the paternal farmstead in Ohio, and there remained until his seven- teenth year, alternating between the work of assisting in the cultivation of the farm and attending the district schools. His educa- tional privileges were of necessity somewhat meagre, since he was only enabled to prose- cute his studies during the winter months. However, his nature was one of reliant and introspective order, and his ambition had been quickened to effort and appreciation of the value of an education, and at the age of seventeen years he had progressed suffi- ciently far to enable him to put his acquire- ments to practical test by engaging to teach school, having been indefatigable and per- severing in his study. Thus he devoted himself to that vocation which has served as a stepping stone to so many of our most able and successful men.
But to our subject soon came a recogni- tion of a higher duty than that implied in effort for personal ends, for there came the
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clarion call to arms which roused every loyal citizen to respond to the nation's demand for men to assist in defending her honor and preserving an integral union. Essentially ardent and patriotic, Mr. Dougherty prepared to go forth for service in the ranks of the Union army, and in August, 1862, at the age of eighteen years, he enlisted as a member of Company F, Ninety-fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which his brother, Abraham, was already enrolled. Within ten days after his enlistment, his regiment proceeded, under orders, by rail to Lexington, Kentucky, and thence by march toward Richmond, Virginia, passing the old Henry Clay homestead, on the Richmond and Lexington turnpike, and on the second day encountering the Confederates, who were moving toward Lexington. In the en- gagement which ensued Mr. Dougherty's in- timate friend and messmate, Perry Weikle, was killed, and William. H. Birely, of the same company, was very severely wounded. The Union forces retreated to Lexington, and the remnant of the Ninety-fourth num- bered only about three hundred men, all the others having been either killed, wounded or taken prisoners. The survivors fought their way back to Louisville, where they re- mained until the regiment was repleted and reorganized, when it was assigned to Buell's army and participated in the battle of Perry- ville, being in the thickest of the fray in this hard-contested engagement. The ranks of the regiment were again decimated by the large number killed, wounded or captured, and after this battle such of the members of the regiment as were eligible for service marched to Nashville, where they remained twenty days and then proceeded to Stone River and took part in the battle at that point. During the engagement young
Dougherty was stationed near Nolensville, guarding ammunition and stores, and the Confederate cavalry made a detour in the rear of the point where he was thus stationed and captured him and others of the guard. They were immediately paroled, after subscribing to an oath, of which the following is a copy:
NOLENSVILLE, TENNESSEE, December 30, 1862.
I, Hugh Dougherty, private of Company F, Ninety-fourth Ohio Infantry, U. S. A., do take a solemn oath not to take up arms against the Confederate States' troops, nor reveal anything I may have learned deroga- tory to the interests of the Confederate States of America, nor do any police or con- stabulary duties until I shall have been properly exchanged, under penalty of death.
(Signed) HUGH DOUGHERTY. Witness:
Lieutenant-Colonel M. H. Hawkins, of General Wheeler's staff.
Mr. Dougherty was then sent back to Nashville, and thence to Camp Chase, Ohio, to remain until his exchange could be ar- ranged. Learning of the critical illness of his soldier brother, Abraham, who had been sent home on sick leave, he made a visit to his home, and there remained until the time when his loved brother was compelled to answer death's inexorable summons, after which he reported for duty, but was almost immediately taken ill, and was soon after- ward discharged, by reason of disability.
After his military career had been thus summarily terminated, Mr. Dougherty re- turned to his native State, and at Greenville found employment as deputy in the office of the County Recorder, retaining this incum- bency for a period of three years. His re- moval to Bluffton, Indiana, occurred imme- diately after his withdrawal from this official position, and after his arrival here he was for six months employed as a salesman in a
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dry-goods establishment. When this engage- ment was ended he associated himself in partnership with his uncle, John Studabaker, in the grain and produce business, in which line he continued operations for the period of seven years, doing a large and successful commission business. In the meantime he became assistant cashier in the First Na- tional Bank of Bluffton, of which institution the uncle before mentioned was president. This institution was subsequently merged into one of private character, and became known as the Exchange Bank of John Studa- baker & Company. The associated mem- bers of the corporation conducting the busi- ness comprised Hon. John Studabaker, Major Peter Studabaker and Mr. Dougherty. The Studabakers were among the early set- tlers and most prominent and influential business men of Bluffton, being second cousins of the well known manufacturers of that name in South Bend. This banking firm transacted an extensive and representa- tive business under the able and discriminat- ing management of Mr. Dougherty, to whom all the executive details were entrusted. Major Peter Studabaker died on the 19th of May, 1888, and the surviving partners de- cided that the demands placed upon their banking institution by the enlarged and in- creasing business rendered a change of sys- tem and methods expedient, and according- ly, on January 1, 1895, the proposed changes were made, and the institution was given title as the Studabaker Bank. Mr. Dough- erty was chosen president, and other officers were appointed to assume charge of the minor details of the business.
Our subject has not only gained recogni- tion and prestige as one of the most able and discerning of financiers and capable of busi- ness men, but has always had an abiding inter-
est in furthering the normal advancement and material prosperity of the city of his resi- dence, and is known as one of Bluffton's most progressive and public-spirited citizens, contributing by both influence and tangible aid to all projects which have tended to con- serve the best interests of the community. He was largely instrumental in pushing to final completion the Fort Wayne, Cincin- nati & St. Louis Railroad, and was superin- tendent of the construction of the section of the road between Fort Wayne and Bluff- ton. He was also signally interested in the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Railroad, and was associated with James Crosbie in the building of the section between Bluffton and Warren. He threw the weight of his influence and energy actively into the move- ment for the construction of turnpikes and gravel roads throughout Wells county, -an improvement whose value to the county can not be overestimated. He has been active and liberal in the promotion of all material interests in his city and county, and has been equally conspicuous in advancing the cause of education and morality. Mainly through his determined personal efforts, while a member of the Board of School Trustees, the handsome and commodious school building of Bluffton was secured, - in fact it was through his individual credit that the money was procured for its construc- tion, as no public funds were available at the time. Mr. Dougherty identified himself as a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1871, when was essayed the task of providing for the erection of a new church edifice in Bluffton. He was selected as the financial manager during the period of building the spacious and beautiful structure which met the wants of a progressive church society for twenty years. The edifice proved
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finally inadequate for the demands placed upon it, and in 1892 it was rebuilt and greatly improved, -very largely through the financial aid and active management of the honored subject of this review. His name appears on a tablet, set into the interior walls of the church, and the inscription in the connection gives a perpetual evidence of his earnest and successful efforts in effecting the erection of the original building and also the new and imposing edifice evolved from the former.
In his political proclivities Mr. Dough- erty has ever been an uncompromising and stalwart Democrat, and for the past twenty years has been an active worker, and prom- inent in the councils of the leaders of his party. His advice and assistance in parti- san affairs of the county and district have been freely sought, and in his mature and conservative wisdom and judgment great confidence has been placed. He has also had prominence in State campaigns, and is now a member of the Democratic State exe- cutive committee. In 1870 Mr. Dougherty was elected to the State Senate, from the district embracing Wells and Huntington counties, and he served with signal accept- ability for four years, doing much to further wise legislation and to advance the interests of the State at large. In the Senate he voted in favor of the enactment of the fa- mous Baxter bill, providing for the controll- ing of the liquor traffic in the various coun- ties of the State by local option, and by this action he showed clearly that he had the courage of his convictions and that he was guided by his conscience rather than by any rule of political or personal expediency, as the members of his party were intensely opposed to the bill. He has since had no occasion to regret his action in the premises,
but, on the contrary, adheres firmly to the principles involved in that law. In 1878 he was a candidate for nomination as a member of Congress, and in the convention was defeated on the one hundred and fourteenth ballot by only five votes. In the opinion of his friends he could have received the nomina- tion for Congress in the convention of 1886, had he not peremptorily declined when his name was presented. Mr. Dougherty was a delegate to the Democratic national con- vention held in Chicago in 1884, and also to the national convention held in the same city in 1892, at which time he was delegate at large from the State. This was the con- vention in which Mr. Cleveland was nomin- ated for a third term, and our subject's in- fluence in that convention was so clearly recognized by Mr. Cleveland's friends that after the election, when he visited the Presi- dent in company with Mr. James Murdock, the result of the conference was that Gov- ernor Gray, of Indiana, received the ap- pointment as Minister to Mexico.
In 1887 Mr. Dougherty was appointed by a commission, composed of the gov- ernor and other State officers, as one of the commissioners of the soldiers' monument, provided for by act of the Legislature, the other members of the commission being General Lew Wallace, Hon. Samuel B. Voiles, Captain George J. Langsdale, and Major Daniel M. Ransdell. On account of impaired health and the exigencies of his business affairs Mr. Dougherty felt obliged to decline the appointment, though by no means unmindful of the distinguished honor conferred upon him in the tendering.
When the State Tax Board, under the law of 1891, undertook to require all banks to furnish to assessors a written statement giving the names of all depositors, with the
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amounts of the respective deposits, the as- sociated bankers of the State decided to re- sist the demand by legal process, deeming the action inquisitorial and unconstitutional. Mr. Dougherty was selected to represent the private banks, with Volney T. Malott, of Indianapolis, representing the national banks, and Philip C. Decker, of Evansville, representing the State banks, to test the con- stitutionality of the law. The result of the litigation was finally summed up in an order from the court vacating and setting aside the order of the State Tax Board - this show- ing the ability with which the three repre- sentatives were cnabled to present the case.
The organization of a company in Bluff- ton for the development of natural gas, and its subsequent action, which resulted in sup- plying the city with such gas, were largely accomplished through the leadership and persistent energy of Mr. Dougherty. Con- fidence in his judgment and extraordinary executive ability enabled the company to raise in the town the capital of $100,000, required to consummate the project. He was selected by the associated gas com- panies of the State as one of a committee to direct the resistance to the proposition of the Chicago Natural Gas Company to pipe gas out of the State, the result being that the movement was delayed for two years, though the Chicago company was eventually successful. In the fall of 1894 the Bluffton Gas Company was consolidated with that of Fort Wayne, and the stock passed into the hands of an Eastern syndicate, which se- lected Mr. Dougherty as its Indiana repre- sentative on the board of directors, in which position he is still the incumbent. He was at one time a part owner of the Indianapolis Sentinel, being one of the directors of the company.
In June, 1895, Governor Matthews ap- pointed Mr. Dougherty a member, from the State at large, on the commission to arrange for the proper celebration of the centennial anniversary of the organization of the Terri- tory of Indiana, and his efforts in this con- nection cannot fail to be efficacious. At the ineeting of the Indiana Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, held at Evansville, on December 19, 1895, Colonel Eli Lilly, of Indianapolis, offered a vigorous and interesting address in response to the toast, "One Hundred Years of Indiana, ". and incidentally incorporated the views-as ex- pressed in an interview-of our subject as touching the centennial celebration of Indi- ana Territory, and it is eminently appro- priate that space be given to perpetuating these sentiments in this connection. Refer- ring to the spirit which has inspired the Indiana Centennial Commission in its work, Colonel Lilly said : "I cannot do my sub- ject, or the State, a better service than by quoting the words of our comrade, the Hon. Hugh Dougherty, commissioner for the State at large:"
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