Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 15

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 932

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INCOLN GUYNN, Prosecuting At- torney at Wabash, is a native of this county, born near Urbana, May 20, 1864. His father, Henry Guynn, was a native of Ohio, born in 1818, was a farmer all his life, but was in early days also the captain of a steamboat plying between Cincinnati and New Orleans. He came to Indiana in 1856, locating eight miles north of Wabash, on a farm of eighty acres which he purchased, and has since also engaged in trade several times: he still re- sides in that neighborhood, and was Assessor of his township (Pawpaw) two terms, having been a stanch Republican since the organi- zation of that party. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church. He mar- ried Margaret Purdy, a native of Maryland and had nine sons and seven daughters, of whom nine are living, namely: Melissa, wife of Jasper Richardson; Madison; Margaret, who married John Fodge; Charles; Henry; Ella, wife of James Downey; Lincoln; Ida,

J. P.alle Gulleugh.

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who became the wife of Dale Martindale; and George.

Our subject's paternal grandfather, Jo- seph Guynn, a native of Maryland, resided in Ohio many years, was a carpenter by trade, and had eight children: he died at the ad- vanced age of seventy-six years. Mr. Guynn's maternal grandfather, Alfred Purdy, a na- tive of Maryland, came to Indiana in 1856, locating in the same neighborhood with Mr. Guynn, north of town, where he lived until 1890, dying at the age of eighty-four years. He had six children, and was a member of the Christian Church. His widow is still living, at the great age of eighty-six years.

Mr. Guynn, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm until eighteen years old, receiving a good common-school educa- tion. Heattended Valparaiso Normal School and Business Institute, taught school the fol- lowing winter at Servia, Indiana, attended the Normal again, and during the terms of 1885-6-7 took charge of the Urbana graded schools as principal. During the summers of 1885-6 he attended the State Nor- mal School at Terre Haute, between the school terms at Urbana. After quitting the schools at the latter place he went immedi- ately to Valparaiso and entered the law school there, but in consequence of sickness he soon returned home. He traveled through New York, Canada and Kentucky, and then traveled handling a line of hardware for two years. Next, entering the law office of the prosecuting attorney, Alfred H. Plummer, he studied law, was in due time admitted to the bar, January 12, 1890, and began prac- tice as Deputy Prosecutor. Next he was employed as Deputy Sheriff, from Septem- ber, 1891, to November 15, 1892, under the authority of William T. Williams, and then returned to his office as Deputy Prose-

cuting Attorney, under Mr. Plummer. In November, 1894, he was elected Prosecu- ting Attorney, taking the office on the 17th of that month, and is now filling this posi- tion, for which he is so well qualified. In his political principles he is a Republican.

As to fraternal orders he is a member of Hanna Lodge, No. 61, F. & A. M .; Wabash Chapter, No. 26, R. A. M .; Wabash Coun- cil, No. 13, R. & S. M .; Wabash Com- mandery, No. 37, K. T .; Wabash Chapter, No. 90, O. E. S. : was the Worthy Patron of the last mentioned in 1894; at present he is the Generalissimo of the Commandery.

Mr. Guynn is an indefatigable student of Shakespeare. In 1891 he was instrumental in organizing a literary club known as " The Dozen." He became its first presi- dent, and so continued for two years, and is still an active member. The club com- prises among its limited membership a num- ber of the most refined and accomplished young ladies of the city. It is the only lit- erary club in the city that has young men among its membership. The thoroughness of its work and its excellent social features have won for this club the name of doing better work than any other literary club in the city.

HOMAS P. MCCULLOUGH, M. D .- In the life of this honored citizen of Fort Wayne are to be found many points of signal inter- est to one engaged in the compilation of a work of this nature. His ancestral history is one of long and conspicuous identification with the annals of the development and pro- gress of the nation along normal and mate- rial lines, as well as those designating the higher phases of civilization; his own mem-

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ory has within its ken the long years that stretch along from the early pioneer history of the Middle West, and his personal record tells of earnest effort and distinctive accom- plishment. He has attained to marked prestige in a professional way and is now looked upon as being the oldest gradu- ated physician in Fort Wayne-a man most certainly deserving of biographic honors.

Dr. Mccullough is a native of Adams county, Ohio, where he was born on the 5th of June, 1823. In the agnatic line he is descended from sturdy Scotch ancestors, the family having been identified with Amer- ican history from an early period. John Mccullough, father of our subject, was a native of the Old Dominion State, and when he was a young man he determined to seek his fortunes and make for himself a home in the section which at that time represented the frontier of civilization. He left his home in Virginia and came to the forests of southern Ohio, where he gave his attention to reclaiming a farm and bringing it into effective cultivation. He realized his aims in this direction, being for many years en- gaged in agricultural pursuits, but eventu- ally removing to Sidney, Shelby county, Ohio, where he engaged in merchandising. He there passed the residue of his days, his death occurring in 1841, at which time he had attained the age of seventy-three years. His wife, whose maiden name was Esther McClung, was a native of Maryland. Her death occurred in 1850. They became the parents of four sons and four daughters, of whom two survive, -our subject and John, of Kansas.

Thomas P. Mccullough, the immediate subject of this review, was the youngest child, and as his boyhood days were passed upon the frontier farm, his

early education was obtained in the com- mon schools of Sidney. When he at- tained his majority he followed out the course which his ambition had defined, going East and entering the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, where he secured a thorough technical discipline and gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1847. He had previously been enabled to round out his more purely literary education by care- ful private study and application, so that he was well prepared to follow out the work which fitted him for the practice of his chosen profession. Immediately after his graduation he located at Dayton, Ohio, and there entered upon that professional career which has so redounded to his honor and credit. He remained in Dayton only a short time, as he was soon after tendered the po- sition as assistant physician in the Ohio Insane Asylum, at Columbus. He held this important office and discharged its duties most efficiently for a period of three years, but he was not yet satisfied with his profes- sional attainments, wishing to place himself on a level with those whose knowledge was up to the highest standard of the science of medicine in that period. He accordingly went to New York city, where he took a thorough course of lectures in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, one of the lead- ing institutions of the sort in the entire Union. After this post-graduate course of study and investigation he returned to the West, locating at Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was tendered the position as as- sistant physician in the Indiana Hospital for the Insane. After serving in this capacity for two years he came to Fort Wayne, where he was for a time engaged in the prac- tice of his profession, but finally went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he remained until

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1860, when he once more took up his abode in Fort Wayne, where he re-established himself in practice, and where he has ever since resided, having built up a large and representative business, which he has main- tained through all these long years. Though advanced in years he is still active in his pro- fession and is recognized as one of the most able and distinguished practitioners of the city. In his long residence here he has not only gained the confidence and esteem of the community, but the affection of those to whom he has ministered so faithfully in hours of sickness and distress. His sym- pathy and kindness are proverbial, and his acts of benevolence have been many, but have been wrought so quietly and unosten- tatiously that only the recipients of his kindly attention have been able to bear witness to the same. He has been a close student, and has kept thoroughly in touch with the advancements made in the sciences of medi- cine and surgery, being devoted to the noble profession which he has dignified. For a number of years the Doctor has been a mem- ber of the Allen County Medical Society.

In 1857 Dr. Mccullough was united in marriage to Miss Ella D. Gustine, a native of Pennsylvania, and they became the par- ents of two sons: Howard, who graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1882 and took a post-graduate course at the same institution and located in Fort Wayne, where he died in 1892, at the age of thirty-two years; while Gustine attended a course of lectures at the Missouri Dental College at St. Louis and located in Fort Wayne, where he died in 1891, at the age of thirty years. He married Gorgiana Saunders, who died in 1891, leaving one child, Ella G., who lives with her grandfather. Both were young men of marked promise, and in their

death the father sustained such loss as none but a parent can know. The devoted wife and mother was called to eternal rest in 1863, so that in his advancing years the Doctor is deprived of those grateful home environments which so largely make up the sum total of human happiness and content- ment. He finds in his work his chief solace, and in the service of humanity he secures both satisfaction and that higher compensa- tion which is the surety of duty performed.

The Doctor has maintained a lively in- terest in the welfare and development of the city and is numbered among her most hon- ored professional men. In his political af- filiations he is identified with the Republican party, and religiously is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

J OHN F. SHUMAN .- In no profes- sion is there a career more open to talent than in that of the law, and in no field of endeavor is there de- manded a more careful preparation, a more thorough appreciation of the absolute ethics of life or of the underlying principles which form the basis of all human rights and priv- ileges. Unflagging application, an intuitive wisdom and a determination to fully utilize the means at hand are the concomitants which insure personal success and prestige in this great profession which stands as the stern conservator of justice, and it is one into which none should enter without a recognition of the obstacles to be overcome and the battles to be won, for success does not perch on the falchion of every person who enters the competitive fray and comes only as the diametrical result of capacity and unmistakable ability. The subject of this review is one who has attained distinctive

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precedence in the line of his profession and who occupies a position as one of the repre- sentative practitioners at the bar of De Kalb county, and as one of the leading citizens of the thriving little city of Waterloo.

Jacob Shuman, the father of our subject, was a native of Franklin county, Pennsyl- vania, where he was engaged in farming for a number of years, coming from stanch old German stock and being a member of one of those representative families who have entered into the annals of American history as " Pennsylvania Dutch," a name synony- mous of all that is honest, industrious and reliable. In the year 1855 Jacob Shuman came from the old Keystone State to Salem township, Steuben county, Indiana, where he remained until 1866, when he removed to De Kalb county and took up his abode on a farm one mile distant from Waterloo. Here he continued to reside until within four years prior to his death, when he removed to the town of Waterloo, and there lived in peace- ful retirement until he was called upon to obey the inexorable summons of death, on the 19th of July, 1891, at which time he had attained the age of sixty-four years. He was one of the pioneers of Steuben county, and was a man in whose character there was no shadow of guile or reproach. His father was also a native of Franklin county, Penn- sylvania, and there the family had been es- tablished for many years, representative of that sturdy yeomany which constitutes the bulwarks of our national independence and prosperity.

Our subject's mother, whose maiden name was Rachel Ransburg, was a daughter of Christian Ransburg, and she was born in the State of Maryland. Her marriage to Jacob Shuman was solemnized in September, 1853, and to them were born five children,

all of whom still survive. Of them we make brief record, in order of birth, as follows: Laura is the wife of F. S. Roby, one of the leading attorneys of Steuben county; Charles E. is now one of the representative farmers of that county; Lillie M. was the third child; John F. is the immediate subject of this re- view; and Mary C. is the wife of G. W. Crooks, of De Kalb county.

John F. Shuman was born in Steuben county, Indiana, on the 5th of May, 1864, and while he was still an infant his parents removed to De Kalb county. His youthful discipline was similar in most particulars to that of the average boy who is reared to farm life. He lent his aid in carrying on the details of cultivating the homestead place, and with this alternated his attendance at the district schools, where he laid the founda- tion of the broad education which he has gained in later years. He continued to be thus occupied until he had attained the age of seventeen years, when his quickened am- bition prompted him to supplement the edu- cational advantages which had been his, and he accordingly entered the special normal school at Waterloo, and after a year of study in that institution became a student in the high school, where he faithfully prosecuted his studies for the period of two years, pro- fiting thoroughly by the opportunities thus afforded.

The young man inherited a decisive and reliant nature, and it was but to be taken for granted that he should early formulate plans for his future. He determined to pre- pare himself for the practice of law, and with this end in view entered the office of F. S. Roby. Under such effective precep- torage, our subject devoted his attention assiduously to his technical studies in the law, and in the fall of 1886 realized his am-

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bition in the securing of admission to the bar of the State. After thus proving his eligibility, he at once entered upon the prac- tice of his profession, associating himself with F. S. Roby, one of his former precep- tors, under the firm name of Roby & Shu- man, and opening an office in Angola. This partnership continued until 1888, when Mr. Shuman removed to Waterloo, where he has since remained in active practice, retaining a distinctively representative clientage, and being recognized as a man thoroughly in- formed in the minutiæ of legal jurisprudence, as a strong and forceful advocate, and as a wise and conservative counsel. When W. L. Penfield was elected Judge of the Thirty- fifth Circuit, our subject, in partnership with F. S. Roby and D. M. Link, took the Judge's office and practice in Auburn, under the firm name of Roby, Shuman & Link, the association being formed for the purpose of holding the large practice which had been established by him who had thus been ele- vated to the bench. Mr. Shuman has served for some time as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney of the county, and his efforts in this connection have shown him to be one of the most alert and capable young attor- neys at the county bar. In February, 1894, he was appointed, by Judge S. A. Power, to assist in the prosecution of Sam. Deetars, who was arraigned on the charge of murder. Mr. Shuman opened the case for the State, making a masterful presentation of the facts, and showing a wonderful capacity for the utilization of only the relevant points and the discarding of all superficial elements which would only tend to obscure and in- volve the cause. The trial was continued · over a period of seven weeks, and during this time Mr. Shuman was accorded by the press of Chicago, Cleveland and other cities

the strongest endorsements and commenda- tions for the professional skill he displayed in the handling of the important case.

In his political adherency Mr. Shuman is an ardent and uncompromising Democrat, and he is an active and efficient worker in ad- vancing the party cause. That his ability and services are appreciated is shown in the fact that he holds the distinctive preferment as chairman of the De Kalb County Demo- cratic Central Committee, being therefore, ex-officio, a member of the State Central Committee. At present he is the County Attorney of De Kalb county. He maintains a lively interest in all that pertains to the welfare and advancement of the place of his residence, particularly in educational affairs, in which connection he is the in- cumbent as president of the Waterloo Board of Education. In his fraternal relations he is prominently identified with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows.

Reverting, in conclusion, to the domestic chapter in the history of Mr. Shuman, we find that on the 10th of July, 1895, was consummated his marriage to Miss Blanche M. Jackson, a daughter of John S. Jackson, an honored pioneer of Waterloo.

ILLIAM H. BROOKS, M. D., deceased. - To indulge in prolix encomium of a life which was eminently one of subjective mod- esty would be palpably incongruons, even though the record of good accomplished, of kindly deeds performed, and of high relative precedence attained, might seem to justify the utterance of glowing eulogy. He to whom this memoir is dedicated was a inan who "stood four square to every wind that blows," who was possessed of marked pro-

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fessional ability and was vitally instinct with the deeper human sympathies, and yet who, during his long and useful life, signally avoided everything that smacked of display or notoriety, -and in this spirit would the biographist wish to have his utterance con- strued. When the life labors of Dr. Brooks were ended and he passed forward to that " undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns," the community in which he had lived lost one of its best, most valued and most honored citizens. For more than half a century he was engaged in the prac- tice of medicine in Fort Wayne, his profes- sional career here being without doubt of longer consecutive duration than that of any other physician in the city, but it was not alone in the line of his profession that he won the confidence and esteem of those with whom he came in contact; for in all the relations of life he was the same honorable, high- minded gentleman, whose integrity was be- yond question, whose reputation was unim- peachable.

Dr. Brooks was a native of the old Bay State, having been born in Worcester coun- ty, Massachusetts, on the 18th of February, 1813, the son of Reuben and Anna Brooks. When he was about eight years of age the family removed to Windsor county, Ver- mont, locating on a farm, where the days of his boyhood and youth were passed. The environments of one's early life leave a marked impress upon character, -an influ- ence that is perpetual, -and the New Eng- land hills with their rugged grandeur seem to have become personalized in the nature of our subject. His elementary education was acquired in the common schools, and later he attended an academy at Randolph, Orange county, Vermont. Like many of the eminent professional men who have hon-

ored our nation, he became identified for a time with pedagogic labors, being employed for two terms as a teacher in the Green Mountain State and for a similiar period in Ohio. He possessed that thoroughness, diligence and superior mental ability which would undoubtedly have brought him high success had he continued his labors along educational lines, but his tastes and inclina- tions led him into other fields of endeavor, and the medical profession of Indiana there- by gained one of its eminent members. When he had attained the age of twenty years William H. Brooks made ready to enter upon that career which he had formu- lated as his life work,-the profession of medicine. He began the study of medicine under private tutorage, and in 1834 entered the medical college at Worthington, Ohio, where he attended four courses of lectures. He was an earnest and thorough student and put forth every effort to perfect himself for the practice of the profession to which he wished to devote his entire life.

When his collegiate course was com- pleted Dr. Brooks located at Norwalk, Ohio, and was there engaged in practice until 1841, in the spring of which year he sought a broader sphere of endeavor, and at that time he established himself in Fort Wayne- the point which marked the scene of his professional labors throughout the course of a long, active and useful life. Here he opened an office and entered upon the gen- eral practice of medicine and surgery, being distinctively one of the pioneer physicians of Allen county, and soon holding as his own a large practice, ramifying in all sec- tions contiguous to the city and standing representative in the character of clientage. The success which attended his efforts was but in natural sequence, for his position be-

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came assured as an able physician, a man of sterling integrity and one devoted to his profession and to the interests and welfare of those to whom he ministered. Dr. Brooks was a man of strong constitution and marked intellectuality, standing in ex- emplyfying possession of that great human desideratum, mens sana in corpore sano,- a sound mind in a sound body. He was thoroughly en rapport with his profession; his heart was ever in his work, and he gained not only the respect and confidence but the appreciative affection of his patients,-his humanity being ever paramount to his pro- fessional or scientific instincts. He pos- sessed marked judgment and discernment in the diagnosing of disease and was peculiarly successful in anticipating the issue of com- plications, seldom making mistakes and never exaggerating or minifying the disease in rendering his decisions in regard thereto. He was a physician of great fraternal deli- cacy, and no man ever observed more closely the ethics of the unwritten professional code or showed more careful courtesy to his fel- low practitioners than did he. Almost as a sacred trust he seemed to hold his profes- sional offices, and long after he had attained to financial independence he continued his ministrations without reservation, and when the shadow of death approached hard by, not even then would he refuse to go forth to the relief of those afflicted, showing clearly that his was an abiding sympathy, and that he withheld not his hand from the poor and needy, even though his fees were of ques- tionable securing. Doctor Brooks was un- assuming and somewhat reserved in the ordinary walks of life, and yet to those to whom came the grateful appreciation of his true, deep nature, this circumstance but endeared him the more. How clearly the

record bespeaks the noble, honest and faith- ful character of the man. The veil was lifted to gain the new glory of a true and beautiful life when death placed the seal upon his mortal lips. For a full half cen- tury he maintained an active practice in Fort Wayne, relaxing his efforts only a few years before his death, when he retired to private life, though he still answered the calls of his old friends until within a short time before his demise.

Dr. Brooks was four times married, and became the father of six children, four of whom are still living. His daughters, Mrs. Henry G. Olds and Mrs. James M. Kane, are still residents of Fort Wayne. His eldest son, William H. Brooks, is now a resident of California, and Oscar H. is in the employ of his brother-in-law, Henry G. Olds. One son, George W., died of typhoid fever while in the service of his country during the late war of the Rebellion.

The Doctor was a member of the Allen County Medical Society and the Indiana State Medical Society, and maintained a deep interest in everything pertaining to his profession, keeping fully in touch with the advances made in the science of medicine and with the most approved methods of practice. In his fraternal relations he was prominently identified with the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his political support was ac- corded to the Republican party, of whose principles he was a stanch and earnest ad- vocate.

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Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 15

Author: Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 932

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 932