Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 53

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

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Mr. Kyler in his political views is in harmony with the Prohibition party, and is an earnest temperance worker. During the time the Grange flourished throughout this part of the country he was one of its active members. For six years he was Assessor in

Kosciusko county, and he has served as deputy Assessor of the township in which he now lives.

EWTON D. DOUGHMAN .- The subject of this review is actively connected with a profession which has important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any section or community and one which has long been considered as conserving the public weal by furthering the ends of justice and maintaining individual rights. As a member of the bar of Allen county Mr. Doughman occupies a distinctively representative position among the legal practitioners of the State, and it is eminently befitting that he be accorded due recognition within the pages of a volume whose province is the consideration of the lives of the representative citizens of the sec- tion with whose interests he is closely iden- tified. Our subject is the junior member of the well known and popular firm of Randall & Doughman, attorneys and counselors at law, of Fort Wayne.

There is an element of particular interest in touching upon the life history of one who has attained to a measure of distinction in a locality which figures as his birthplace, for there is implied a particular ability when a man can prove his right to precedence in a community where the transition stages of his career have been noted in detail and yet the progress scarcely realized by those among whom he has dwelt. Mr. Doughman is a native of Allen county, having been born in Aboite township, on the 17th of December, 1860, the eldest son and child of the four children of Abraham and Sarah (Henderson) Doughman, the former of whom was born in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, on the 18th

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of July, 1829. He was the son of Daniel Doughman, who is supposed to have been a native of Germany. Daniel Doughman es- tablished his home in the old Keystone State in an early day and was there prominently concerned in the agricultural industry until the time of his death, which occurred when he had attained the age of about three- score years. The father of our subject was reared upon the paternal farmstead and was granted the privileges of the common schools, being the youngest of a large family of chil- dren. In 1849 he made his way to the West, locating in Illinois and there remaining until 1851, when he came to Allen county and set- tled upon his present farm, which was at that time but slightly improved. His marriage to Sarah Henderson was solemnized in this county in 1857, she being a native of Allen county, Indiana, and a daughter of William Ilenderson, who was born in the State of New York and who came to Indiana in an early day, becoming one of the pioneer set- tlers in Allen county. After maintaining his residence on a farm for some little time he removed to Fort Wayne, where he passed the major portion of the remainder of his life. He died at the venerable age of sev- enty-one years, his demise occurring at Upper Sandusky, Ohio.

As before stated, our subject was the eldest of the four children, the others being: Louisa; Clara; and Franklin H., who re- tains his residence on the old homestead. The father is still living, but the devoted wife and mother passed into the life eternal on the 10th of February, 1870.

The youthful days of Newton D. Dough- man were uneventful, being passed amid the peaceful and invigorating scenes of the pa- ternal farin and in attending the district schools. This discipline was one of much

value as developing a spirit of self-reliance and that sturdy integrity which nature ever teaches to those who live in touch with her gentle admonitions. When he had attained the age of seventeen years he was permitted to come to Fort Wayne and to here take advantage of the excellent privileges af- forded in the public schools. The young man assumed a personal responsibility in the midst of his scholastic discipline, and put his acquirements to a practical test by teaching school and thus assisting in defraying the ex- penses of his further education. He was concerned with pedagogic labors intermit- tently until he was twenty-two years of age, when he graduated at the Fort Wayne College. After his graduation he con- tinued the work of teaching, accepting the position as principal of the public schools at Ossian, Wells county, which incumbency he retained for one year, after which he taught for a time in the schools of Plymouth. From this place he went to New Haven, where he had been accorded the preferment as principal of the public schools, and where he continued his efforts with a high measure of success for the period of four years.

Mr. Doughman's life has never been characterized by a vacillation in purpose, and it is to be taken as granted that in early life he formulated plans for the future, and made ready to bend circumstances to the accomplishment of the desired ends. Ambi- tion and natural predilection led him to adopt the legal profession as his vocation in life, and within the time that he was engaged in school-teaching he devoted his attention as closely as possible, without neglecting his prescribed duties, to the study of law, ap- plying himself vigorously to work in this line during the summer vacations. He had

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made such satisfactory progress in his read- ing that he became eligible for active prac- tice in the year 1888, and was then admitted to the bar, at Fort Wayne, by Judge A. A. Chapin. This advancement clearly shows the indomitable perseverance and the close application which had characterized the efforts of our subject, for the average indi- vidual would have flinched from such dual demands upon his time and brain, but vigor and unfaltering determination have been the essential elements which have contributed to the successful and honorable career of Mr. Doughman, who well merits the spoils of the victor.

Very soon after his admission to practice before the courts of Indiana Mr. Doughman entered into a professional partnership with S. F. Swayne, and the firm entered upon a successful practice in this city, continuing to advance in popularity and gaining marked prestige. The association was dissolved in November, 1891, whereupon Mr. Dough- man became the partner of Mr. P. A. Ran- dall, an eminent attorney of the city, and this firm has since continued in professional collaboration, retaining a large and repre- sentative clientage, and being accorded recog- nition as one of the most prominent and able legal associations in the city.

Professional ability and indubitable in- tegrity, as shown in the efforts of our sub- ject, gained to him consideration as an eli- gible candidate for offices of public trust and responsibility, and in 1894 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Allen county, bring- ing to the discharge of the exacting duties of this responsible position a marked adapt- ability and executive capacity, as is shown in the excellent administration of the affairs of the office. His is a natural discrimina- tion as to legal ethics, and he is so thor-

oughly well read in the minutiae of the law that he is able to base his arguments upon thorough knowledge of and familiarity with precedents, and to present a case upon its merits, never failing to recognize the main point at issue, and never neglecting to give a thorough preparation. His pleas have been characterized by a terse and decisive logic and a lucid presentation, rather than by flights of oratory, and his power is the greater before court or jury from the fact that it is recognized that his aim is ever to secure justice and not to enshroud the cause in a sentimental garb or illusion which will thwart the principles of right and equity in- volved. He thus enjoys the respect and the confidence of the bar of the county and of the courts in which he appears, and thus is begotten a similar animation on the part of the general public. His practice has been one marked by a high degree of success and as a lawyer and a citizen he maintains a strong hold upon public popularity. Mr. Doughman is a man of fine physique and commanding presence, dignified in bearing and yet genial and easily approachable. He is known as one of the most able of the younger members of the Allen county bar and he is destined for still greater honors, for under such circumstances success is ever cumulative.

In his political adherency our subject has arrayed himself stanchly in the support of the Democratic party and its principles and policies, and he is an active worker in the canse. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, in which he has advanced to the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Red Men, the Knights of Pythias, and Royal Arcanum.

August 17, 1891, was consummated the

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marriage of Mr. Doughman to Miss Willie his residence in Columbia City. In the A. Shultz, at native of Allen county, and the daughter of Christopher and Maria Hale Shultz, who came from Dayton, Ohio, to this county in 1848, taking up their abode on a farm, located about two miles north of Fort Wayne, where they passed the resi- due of their days. Mr. Shultz became one of the prominent and influential agricultur- ists of the county, and was held in the high- est estimation in the community whose in- terests h . had done much to advance. His death occurred February 5, 1872, at which time he had attained the age of sixty-seven years; and his wife survived him until Au- gust, 1876, when she passed away, at the age of sixty-one years.

PILLIAM HENRY WORDEN, Township Trustee of Union town- ship, Whitley county, Indiana, is one of the self-made men of thuis county, and resides in a pleasant rural

Mr. Worden was born in Greene county, New York, his parents being George and Sophia Dorland. He was but two years old when his father died, and his name was afterward changed to Worden, being adopt- . ud at the age of four, by James Worden, of that county. His mother died April 23. 1294. In 1852 Mr. Worden and his family Wit the Empire State and came out West To Indiana, locating on the farm now owned by John F. Mossman, in Union township, Whitley county. This section of the coun- try was then all covered by heavy timber And the work of developing a farm was no Appght undertaking, but in due time it was accomplishel by Mr. Worden. Subse- no ntly he retired from the farm and took up

work of clearing up this frontier farm young Worden rendered his assistance, and as his boyhood days were thus occupied he had slim chances for obtaining an education. He remained on the farm until he was six- teen. May 25, 1864, he enlisted as a pri- vate in Company K, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for one hundred days' service, and was on duty in Kentucky, remaining there until October of the same year. He then reenlisted in Company G, One Hundred Forty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which he joined at Fort Wayne and with which he was sent to Nashville, Tennessee, to take part in the operations against General Hood. He was on guard duty at Nashville until July 14, 1865, when he received an honorable discharge. In all his service, which covered more than a year, he was never captured nor wounded. After the war Mr. Worden was employed in various capacities, working on the rail- road, in sawmills and on farms until 1878. In 1873, while employed as brakeman on the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago line, he mct with an unfortunate accident, get- ting his foot caught under the wheels of a car and receiving injury which crippled him for life. In 1878 he engaged in the sawmill business with Smith & Mossman at Coesse, Whitley county, where he continued up to 1885. That year he went to Bippus, Hunt- ington county, this State, where he was in partnership with Messrs. Mossman and Douglas in the sawmill business for one year, at the end of that time returning to Coesse and purchasing an interest in the mill at this place, having as his partner William Smith, with whom he was associated until 1891, when he sold out and turned his attention to farming. He has since been engaged in

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general farming on his present place, 120 acres on section 28, of Union township. The year following his location here he built the comfortable residence he and his family now occupy.

Mr. Worden was married in 1877 to Miss Ida Karns, a native of Whitley county, In- diana, born in 1859, daughter of Andrew and Lucinda (Fritz) Karns, who came to this State from Ohio. Her father died in 1865, and her mother is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Worden are the parents of six children whose names in order of birth are as follows : Amy, Melvin, Jesse, Mattie L., Pearl and Valours.

Mr. Worden takes a laudable interest in public affairs, especially those pertaining to his own locality, and has served in a num- ber of local offices, such as Road Supervisor, delegate to conventions, etc., and was elected to his present position, that of Township Trustee, in 1890. He is a Re- . publican. He has been initiated into the mysteries of Masonry and maintains a mem- bership in good standing in that order. As an honorable and upright citizen and as a faithful official he is entitled to the high esteem in which he is held by all who know him.

2 ON. JAMES M. BARRETT .-- It has assuredly been not uninterest- ing to observe in the series of bio- graphical sketches appearing in this volume the varying nationality, origin and early environment of the men who have made their way to positions of prominence and success. In no better way can we gain a conception of the diverse elements which have entered into our social, professional and commercial life, and which will impart 25

to the future American type features which cannot be conjectured at the present time. We have had an American type in the past; we shall have a distinctively national char- acter in the future, but for the present, amalgamation of the varied elements is pro- ceeding, and the final result is yet remote.

The extraction of James M. Barrett may be sought for among the vigorous and intel- lectual natures of the Emerald Isle, his par- ents having been born in that country, and being representatives of old and prominent Irish families. His father, Benjamin Bar- rett, was born in the year 1809, being the son of William Barrett. He was married in his native land to Miss Elizabeth Barrett, the date of whose birth was 1814. In the year 1834 Benjamin Barrett emigrated with his family to America, believing that this country afforded better opportunities for ad- vancement through personal endeavor. He located in Belmont county, Ohio, where he became concerned in agricultural pursuits and where he remained until about the year 1848, when the family removed to LaSalle county, Illinois. There the father contin- ued his connection with the art of hus- bandry, being a progressive and successful farmer and one of the prominent and hon- ored citizens of that section. He died in 1876, and his venerable widow survived un- til January, 1894, when she also passed to her reward, at the age of eighty years. They became the parents of eleven children, eight of whom survive, the subject of this review being the eighth in order of birth.

James M. Barrett was born in La Salle county, Illinois, on the 7th of Febru- ary, 1852, and he passed his boyhood days upon the parental farmstead, where he waxed strong in mind and body under the sturdy discipline of pastoral life. His pre-

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liminary education was in the common schools of his native county, and was effectively supplemented by the continuing of his studies in Mendota College, Illinois, and later in the famous University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he grad- nated as a member of the class of 1875. Possessed of the alert mentality so charac- teristic of the race from which he sprang, he early gave certain definition to his plans for the future, determining to prepare him- self for the practice of law. Looking to the accomplishment of his aim in this direc- tion, he began the study of law immediately after his graduation at the university, entering in the fall of 1875 the office of McCagg, Culver & Butler, a prominent legal firm of Chicago, and there continuing his reading for a brief interval, after which he went to Princeton, Illinois, and there prosecuted his technical studies under effective preceptorage until March of the Centennial year, when he came to Fort Wayne. Within the same year he was admitted to the bar, and he forthwith en- tered upon the practice of his profession in this city, which has ever since continued to be his headquarters. His exact and comprehensive knowledge of the law, his judicial acumen and his facility in debate soon gained to him a representative clien- tage as his power became known, and he has risen to eminent distinction as one of the most able and successful members of the bar of the county and State. The in- tegrity of his character has been such as to beget objective confidence and high regard. He is a man of strong individuality, definite in his views and opinions, which are ever thoroughly fortified, and his strength in a professional way has shown accumulative energy which has consecutively widened

the angle of his influence and success. He is now a member of the firm of Morris, Barrett, Bell & Morris, recognized as one of the strongest legal associations in the State, and as one whose clientage is of representa- tive order, its members having been retained in much of the important litigation which has been brought into the Indiana courts.

In July, 1895, he was appointed one of the Trustees of Purdue University, by Gov- ernor Matthews, and at the same time ex- President Harrison was elected a Trustee. In politics Mr. Barrett has always been an ardent supporter of the Democratic party, and has been actively arrayed in support of its principles and policies. In 1886 he be- came the Democratic candidate as State Senator from his district, and in the ensuing election gained a distinctive victory at the polls. Within the first session of the Sen- ate of which he was a member he was prom- inently identified in carrying through the noble legislation which resulted in the es- tablishment of the asylum for feeble-minded children, at Fort Wayne, and during the more important session of 1889 he was the able and acknowledged leader of his party in the senate, serving as chairman of that important committee, the judiciary, and as a member of many other committees whose functions were of signal responsibility and import. He was the author of a number of most important bills, and proved an able and discriminating legislator-one to whose keeping popular interests could be consigned without reference to party or political ten- ets. Mr. Barrett has achieved distinction not only as a ready, forceful and eloquent speaker, but has also shown himself to be possessed of great reserved strength of char- acter, so that his integrity of purpose stands

Briant .

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out in as clear relief as does his admirable capacity for successful effort.

The marriage of our subject was solem- nized in 1877, when he was united to Miss Marian A. Bond, a native of Fort Wayne and a woman of distinctive culture and gentle refinement. They are the parents of four children: Florence E., Charles D., Walter A. and James N.

OLONEL CYRUS E. BRIANT, one of the most prominent manu- facturers of northern Indiana, was born at Birmingham, Erie county, Ohio, March 2, 1829. When a youth of sixteen years he went up into the lumber district of Michigan, and while he found the rough life there uncongenial, the foundation of his present prosperous business was laid in the knowledge acquired in the pine re- gions. At the end of two years, in 1847, he came to Allen county, Indiana, and en- gaged in the manufacture of lumber at New Haven. This village was then a hamlet of a few straggling houses, and the unusual progress it made was in a great measure due to his energy and enterprise.

The Inmber industry was interrupted by the great Civil war, in which he took the part of the zealous patriot. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, Eighty- eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and soon thereafter was appointed Captain; he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel in October, 1862, and in the fall of 1864 was commissioned Colonel, at Chat- tanooga. He served until hostilities ceased, and was mustered out with his regiment at Indianapolis, in 1865. He was in the engagements at Perryville and Stone river, and was in every action in which the Four-

teenth Army Corps took part, escaping the fire and shell with one slight wound.

When the war was ended and men returned to their peaceful vocations, he came to New Haven, Indiana, where he resided until the fall of 1869. Upon coming to Huntington, in January, 1870, he purchased fifteen acres of the "forest primeval," which is now in the heart of the city. From a small be- ginning his business has grown to important proportions, the output comprising hard- wood lumber, barrels, spokes, hubs and rims. The raw material is procured in the counties of Wabash, Allen, Huntington and Whitley, and the manufactured product is disposed of direct to the carriage factories, cooper-shops and lumber dealers.

Colonel Briant has not allowed his per- sonal interests to absorb his entire time and attention, but has given freely of his means and influence to the advancement of those enterprises which have had for their object the welfare of his fellow-citizens. For many years he was a member of the Huntington City Council, of which he was the leading spirit. The fine streets, electric lights, and other modern improvements made of recent years were accomplished through his untir- ing energy. In the fall of 1886 he was elected a member of the General Assembly of Indiana from Huntington county, and rep- resented his constituency most creditably, and in 1888 was re-elected, serving four years altogether. Another business enter- prise in which he has an interest is the Herald & News-Express Company, of which he is president.

Colonel Briant was married October 3, 1852, at New Haven, Indiana, to Julia Bell, daughter of Colonel Martin and Polly (Miller) Bell. They are the parents of five children: William, who married Miss Flora Rosebaugh;

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Mary. the wife of George Shearer; John married Cordelia Dinkley; Nina is the wife of P. A. Edwards; and Clarence died at the age of nineteen years.

Jonathan Briant, father of Colonel Briant, was a native of Connecticut. He emigrated to the West in an early day, and died at Bir- mingham, Ohio, in October, 1862. His wife, whose maiden name was Orilla Ward, daugh- ter of Samuel Ward, was the mother of ten children, all of whom grew to maturity, and three of whom are still living: Almond Rug- gles: William, who died in November, 1894; Maria Orilla; David W., who died in Sep- tember, 1893; Henry, who died in 1891; Cyrus E. ; George, who died in April, 1893; Ann, Ira, and Fanny; there were two chil- dren that died in infancy. Mr. Briant was married a second time, to Mrs. Mary Gifford: there are no children by this marriage.

In politics our subject is a Republican. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., of the Loyal Legion and the G. A. R., and in his religious faith subscribes to the doctrines of the Christian Church.

J ONATHAN HURD, who is serving as Trustee of Columbia township, Whitley county, now resides on sec- tion 13, where he owns a good farm of 135 acres, of which fifty-five acres is under a high state of cultivation. The fields are well tilled and the many improve- ments upon the place stand as monuments to the care and enterprise of the owner, who is justly numbered among the represent- ative agriculturists of the community.

Mr. Hurd has spent his entire life in Whitley county, his birth having occurred in Union township, April 14, 1850. His father, Samuel Hurd, was born in Cayuga

county, New York, in September, 1823, and was a son of Jonathan Hurd, also a native of the Empire State, who came to Whitley county, Indiana, in 1837, settling in Union township, upon a wild farm, where he made a permanent location. He cleared the land and devoted his energies to its cultivation until his death. Upon the old homestead, Samuel Hurd was reared, and after ar- riving at years of maturity he married Berenice B. Wilcox, who was born in Che- nango county, New York, in 1823, a daugh- ter of Jedediah Wilcox, who emigrated from the Empire State to Fort Wayne, then La Grange county, Indiana,. About 1870 he came to Whitley county, locating in Union township, where he improved a farm, mak- ing it his home until his death.

The parents of our subject were married in Whitley county, and always lived in this locality, where the father carried on the busi- ness of blacksmithing and farming. He settled upon a farm which is now owned by our subject, and continued its improvement until called to his final home, on the 19th of September, 1863. His wife still sur- vives him, and is yet living on the old place. In their family were eight children. four of whom still survive, -George K., Jonathan, James K. and Samuel. The parents were both members of the Presbyterian Church, in which the father was an official. In poli- tics he was a Democrat, and took quite an active interest in public affairs, always faith- fully performing his duties of citizenship and advancing the general welfare in all possible ways.

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Memorial record of northeastern Indiana, Part 53

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