USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 10
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In politics, Mr. Burt is a Republican and has been active in the affairs of his party for thirty years, in fact, a leader in local matters, his counsel
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often being sought by his co-workers and local candidates. He very credit- ably served one term as city clerk from 1894 to 1898 and on February 19, 1906, he was further honored by being appointed postmaster of Lafayette, and he assumed charge of the office on March Ist of the same year, and he is now filling this important position with honor to himself and credit to the community.
Fraternally Mr. Burt is a member of the Masonic order, including the Scottish Rite at Indianapolis and the Commandery at Lafayette. He also belongs to the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and the Knights of Pythias and the Druids. He takes an abiding interest in all of these orders and one would judge from his daily life among his fellow men that he attempts to carry out their high precepts.
The Lafayette Journal, with which Mr. Burt is connected, is too well known to the people of this locality to need commenting on. It wields a powerful influence wherever it reaches in moulding public opinion and it holds high rank with the clean, trenchant, wide-awake, modern journals of the present day, ably managed in every department and a success from a financial standpoint.
Thomas W. Burt was married on April 25, 1886, to Elizabeth F. Kich- ler, a native of Lafayette, the daughter of Adam and Sarah Elizabeth Kich- ler, a well known family of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Burt are the parents of two children, Mary E., who was educated in Lafayette and Washington, District of Columbia. Edgar H., now sixteen years of age (1909). is a high school pupil.
CAPT. JOHN W. MITCHELL.
It is with no little gratification that the biographer in this connection addresses himself to the task of placing on record the principal facts in the career of the honored soldier and esteemed civilian whose name appears above, a man who distinguished himself on many bloody battlefields during the dark days of our national history and who, since the close of that conflict, has labored for the good of his fellows and filled worthily important public trusts. John W. Mitchell, postmaster of the State Soldiers' Home, at Lafayette, is a native of Burlington county, New Jersey, and was born in historic old Bordentown, on the 19th day of February, 1844. His father was William Mitchell, whose birth occurred at the same place, and his mother, Imogine Farnum, also a native of New Jersey, was born and reared
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in the town of Mt. Holly. These parents were married in the state of their birth and there continued to reside until 1865, when they moved to Lafayette, Indiana, where William Mitchell became a successful contractor and builder, which vocation he followed until retiring from active life. He was a man of good, practical intelligence and well balanced judgment and during his residence in Lafayette he earned the reputation of a capable and thoroughly reliable business man, and enjoyed to a marked degree the esteem and con- fidence of the people of the city. He lived a long and useful life, which terminated May 17, 1905, at the age of eighty-four years. His wife preceded him to the grave on May 18, 1886. Their family consisted of seven children, whose names are as follows: James H., ex-treasurer of Lafayette and by occupation a contractor and builder; John W., of this sketch; Lucy, who married Mahlon S. Conley, of Los Angeles, California; George E., a mer- chant of that city; Mary, wife of Norris S. Shaffer, a railway conductor living at Chicago; William, of Butte, Montana, a printer and newspaper man, and Edward G., who follows mechanical pursuits in the city of Lafayette.
John W. Mitchell spent his early life in his native town and received a good education in the schools of the same. He remained with his parents until eighteen years of age, when he responded to the President's call for volunteers, enlisting in June, 1862, in Company B, Twelfth Regiment New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, with which he shared the vicissitudes and fortunes of war for a period of three years. His regiment formed a part of the Second Army Corps almost from the time of reaching the front, taking part in the various Virginia campaigns and participating in the numerous battles and skirmishes in which the Army of the Potomac was engaged. Captain Mitchell received his first baptism of fire at Chancellorsville, where he was wounded in the arm, though not so severely as to incapacitate him permanent- ly for duty. During his first two years in the service he held the rank of sergeant and at the expiration of that time was promoted to first lieutenant of Company D, of which he afterwards became captain, continuing in the latter capacity until his discharge. Captain Mitchell's term of service in- cluded some of the most severe fighting of the war, as may be inferred from the following engagements, in which he participated : Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Falling Waters, Auburn Mills, Bristow Station, Blackburn's Ford, Kelly's Ford, Robinson's Tavern, Mine Run, Alsop's House, Po River, Laurel Hill, Spottsylvania, Landrum House, Milford, North Anna (three engagements), three battles of Petersburg, Sailor's Creek. High Bridge, Farmville, Appomattox, besides a number of minor engagements and
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skirmishes, in all of which he bore his part as a brave and gallant soldier and in not a few attracted the favorable attention of his superior officers. It is doubtful if any survivor of the Civil war can produce a record of such continuous service and, as far as known, there is today no living soldier who took part in as great a number of battles and skirmishes as the foregoing list. The Twelfth New Jersey Regiment entered the service one thousand strong, but at the close of the struggle one hundred and seventy-seven had been killed in battle, one hundred and one died of disease, four hundred and ten were wounded, making a total loss of six hundred and eighty-eight, a record of casualties such as few regiments can produce.
At the expiration of his term of enlistment, in 1865, Captain Mitchell was honorably discharged, after which he came to Lafayette, Indiana, where he rejoined his parents, who had moved to the city in the spring of that year. Within a short time, he engaged in the grocery business, but a few months later disposed of his stock and began contracting and building, being a prac- tical mechanic and well fitted for the line of work to which he devoted his attention for a number of years following. In September, 1907, he was appointed postmaster of the Soldiers' Home branch of the Lafayette post- office and has since given his time wholly to the duties of the position, prov- ing a capable and obliging official and adding honor to an institution of which the people of Indiana feel deservedly proud.
Captain Mitchell was married March 23, 1876, to Hallie J. Zimmerman, of Richmond, Indiana, daughter of William Zimmerman, of that city, three children resulting from the union, viz .: Singleton R., a college professor in New Mexico; Nellie B., her father's efficient deputy in the postoffice, and Norris S., who lives in El Paso, Texas. Mrs. Mitchell, a most excellent and highly esteemed lady, of beautiful education and high ideals, departed this life on the 18th day of October, 1905, at the age of fifty-six years.
The Captain is a Republican in politics and previous to his appointment to the position he now holds, served as deputy city treasurer of Lafayette. He is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, the Order of Ben Hur, and is a leading worker in the Grand Army of the Republic; also of the Union Veteran Legion, in the first named of which he has taken the Pocahon- tas and Haymaker's degrees.
WILLIAM VAUGHN STUART.
It is one of the beauties of our government that it acknowledges no hereditary rank of title-no patent of nobility save that of nature's, leaving
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every man to establish his own rank by becoming the artificer of his own fortune. Places of honor or trust, rank and preferment thus happily placed before every individual, to be striven for by all, but earned alone by perse- verance and sterling worth, are almost always sure to be filled with deserving men, or at least by those possessing the energy and talent essential to success in contests where public position is the prize. William V. Stuart affords a conspicuous example of the successful self-made American, who has shown that he possesses the qualifications that fit him to discharge worthily the duties that have been entrusted in him. A man of vigorous mentality and strong moral fiber, he has achieved signal success in a calling in which but few rise above mediocrity.
Mr. Stuart, one of Lafayette's best known attorneys, was born at Logans- port, Indiana, November 1, 1857, the son of William Z. and Sarah (Bene- dict) Stuart, the former having been born in Dedham, Massachusetts, while his father sojourned here, having been on a mission for the British govern- ment, but he returned to Aberdeen, Scotland, with his parents. He ran away from home when a mere youth, and after satisfying his desire of adventure by circumnavigating the globe two or three times, finally came to America about 1828. He attended Amherst College, from which he was graduated in 1833. About 1836 he moved to Logansport, Indiana, and began there the practice of law in a short time. He became eminent in his chosen profession, and was at one time prosecuting attorney of Cass county. Taking an active interest in political affairs, he was elected representative of his county and very ably served his constituents in the state legislature. He was sent to the constitutional convention in 1851. He was elected judge of the supreme court in October, 1852, the duties of which he faithfully discharged until January, 1858, when he resigned to become the general attorney of what was then the Toledo, Wabash & Western railroad, now known as the Wabash. He twice received the nomination of his party for congress to run against Schuyler Colfax, but went down in the general defeat of the Democratic ticket, but he made a very spirited contest for the office. He continued the successful practice of law until his death, May 7, 1876. He was one of the best known and most influential men of his day and generation in northern Indiana. A lawyer of more than ordinary ability, a judge of rare judicial analysis and a public servant that had no equal, his integrity and affability commended him most favorably to all classes.
Some of his sterling traits seem to have been inherited by his son, Wil- liam V. Stuart, who was greatly assisted in his youth by his father whose
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guidance along the early legal road was of inestimable value. He was grad- uated from the Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Massachusetts, in 1876, and in 1880 he was graduated from Amherst College, having made a very commendable record in each.
After leaving the last-named institution, Mr. Stuart returned to Lafay- ette and entered the law office of his brothers, Charles B. and Thomas Arthur Stuart. In 1881 and 1882 he was a student at the Columbia Law School. Returning to Lafayette, he went into partnership with his brother, Charles B., the firm being known as C. B. & W. V. Stuart, continuing successfully until in 1889 they formed a partnership known as the Stuart Brothers, con- sisting of the three brothers mentioned in this paragraph. They continued thus until in August, 1892, when the death of Thomas A. Stuart occurred and Judge E. P. Hammond was taken into the firm, and it became known as Stuart Brothers & Hammond. The firm was again changed in 1899, in which year the death of Charles B. Stuart occurred, and D. W. Simms was admitted to the firm, known as Stuart, Hammond & Simms, which has re- mained the style of the firm to the present day, and it is safe to say that no stronger firm is to be found in this or adjoining counties. They have a large and up-to-date law library and few cases of great importance are tried in local courts without this firm being represented.
In May, 1887, William V. Stuart was elected mayor of Lafayette, the duties of which important office he very faithfully discharged for a period of two years, during the course of which many substantial improvements were inaugurated and the interests of the public carefully conserved. In 1899, Mr. Stuart was appointed a member of the board of trustees of Purdue University, later elected president of the board, serving in that capacity until June, 1907. Having the interests of this great institution at heart, he gave it his best services.
June 17, 1896, William V. Stuart was married to Miss Geneve Reynolds, the talented and cultured daughter of James M. Reynolds, formerly general manager of the Monon railroad and a man prominent in railroad circles for many years. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart has been blessed by the birth of one daughter, who answers to the name of Sophie Wolcott. The date of her birth was October 1, 1899.
Besides his individual law practice, which keeps him very busy, Mr. Stuart is the manager of business interests of no small magnitude, and he ranks deservedly high in business. legal and social circles of this county, a worthy son of a worthy sire. Companionable and unassuming, public-spirited
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and progressive in all that the term implies, he occupies a position of influ- ence and honor in a community noted for the high order of its citizenship.
GEORGE WINTER.
George Winter was born at Port Sea, England, in 1810, of a talented and cultured family and the youngest of fourteen children. The foundations for his subsequent career as a noted artist were laid under favorable circum- stances, for he was brought up amid the most propitious environment-an art atmosphere-and his genius was fostered and encouraged. After a pre- liminary course of private instruction, he went to London, entered the Royal Academy, and there lived and worked with artists for four years, making rapid headway in his chosen calling. About 1830, when twenty years of age, he came to New York city, and after a residence of seven years in the metropolis started for the middle West, landing at Logansport, Indiana. As he once expressed it, he was lured to Indiana in order to be present at the councils of Col. A. C. Pepper, of the village of Kuwau-Nay, in regard to the Pottawatomie emigration west of the Mississippi. He had an artist's inter- est in the red men of the West, and many of his famous paintings are of Pottawatomie and Miami chiefs. In 1837, at the request of her family, Mr. Winter visited Frances Slocum at her home in Deaf Man's Village, near Peru, Indiana, and made a portrait of her. She was famous for having been stolen by Indians from her white parents in Pennsylvania when only three years of age, and she lived all her subsequent life with the Indians as one of them. She revealed her identity to Col. G. W. Ewing, of Fort Wayne, when she was past middle life and thought to be on her death bed. While she recovered and lived many years afterward, she refused to leave her Indian friends and take up her residence with her own relatives.
In 1840 Mr. Winter married Mary Squier, of New Carlisle, Ohio. She was born at Dayton, that state, and was the daughter of Timothy and Rebecca (Tucker) Squier, the former the son of the famous Revolutionary soldier, Ellis Squier, who was born in Essex county, New Jersey, September 17, 1746, and was in the New Jersey militia, subject to call for special duty in the Revolutionary war when needed for emergencies or to fill out a company short of men. He died in Montgomery county, Ohio, in August, 1824. To George Winter and wife three children were born, namely: Annette, now
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the wife of Gordon Ball, a prominent resident of Lafayette; George Winter, Jr., the eldest of the family; and Agnes, who died in childhood.
It was about 1840 when Mr. Winter produced many of his best known pictures, especially those depicting Indian life and the battlefield of Tippe- canoe. He remained at Logansport until 1850, in which year he moved to Lafayette, residing in the latter city until his death with the exception of three years, from 1873 to 1876, which were spent in California. He died suddenly in 1876 while seated in a public audience at an opera house, having been seized with apoplexy. His widow survived him until August 11, 1899.
Besides a great number of oil paintings and works in water color and ivory miniature, which are of both artistic and historical value, Mr. Winter left some writings in connection with them that are very interesting from an historical view. A more extended description of his work will be found in this volume in the article dealing with local art. One of his paintings is of himself when a young man. It shows the deep blue eyes, calm, clear, ex- pressive, and the fine, clear-cut features of a face of a man evidently of poetic temperament, surmounted by chestnut hair in curls and ringlets. In later life he became stouter and more portly. As might be surmised, he was a man who loved nature, and the Indians had a fascination for one of his poetic temperament, and his interest in them was potent in shaping his career. He has by his brush and pen rendered high service to historic Tippecanoe. He was truly a great man, a man whom to know was to respect not only for his marked talent, but also for his pleasing address and his exemplary life.
HENRY TAYLOR.
This formerly well-known citizen, long since deceased, is kindly remem- bered by many of the older generation as one of Lafayette's progressive men. He was born at Hamilton, Ohio, January 18, 1826, and resided in the place of his nativity until he had completed his twenty-sixth year. He went through the public schools in the usual way and attended Miami University at the same time that Governor Morton was a member of the student body in that insti- tution. Ever afterwards he and the famous War Governor were warm friends and often met during "the days that tried men's souls." After leaving the university Mr. Taylor studied law in the office of Thomas Milligan at Hamil- ton, but the confinement and close application to books threatened his health to such an extent that he abandoned his ambition to become a lawyer. Re-
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moving to Lafayette he engaged in the lumber business, met with increasing success from year to year until eventually the Henry Taylor Lumber Com- pany was recognized as one of the important industries of Lafayette. The business was greatly extended after his death by the energetic management of his son-in-law, Mr. Stillwell. Mr. Taylor, aside from his private concerns, always found time to take an active interest in public affairs or whatever was calculated to benefit the city. In 1860 he was appointed by Governor Morton one of the trustees having in charge the establishment of Purdue University, and was largely instrumental in having it located at its present site. Lafayette owes him an unpayable debt of gratitude for his invaluable services in this important matter. In 1870 Mr. Taylor was nominated on the Republican ticket as a candidate for state senator, was elected and served until 1874.
In 1852, Mr. Taylor married Isabelle D. Sample, and their wedding trip emphasizes the contrast between the transportation systems of that day and this. The first stage of their journey from Lafayette to Indianapolis was made in a coach and four, from there to the Ohio river at Madison by the only railroad in the state at that time, and up the river to Cincinnati, their objective point being Hamilton, Ohio. Mrs. Taylor was the daughter of Henry T. and Sarah (Sumwalt) Sample, the latter a native of Baltimore, Maryland. The father was born near Middletown, Ohio, in 1805, and came to Lafayette from Winchester, Indiana, on a trading trip, just one week after the city was first laid out. In the following year, 1826, he married Sarah Sumwalt and came to Lafayette to live. He owned a tannery, a pork and beef packing establishment and a large stock farm in Benton county. He became prosperous and was noted as a man of influence and public spirit. His only living children are Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. David McBride and Robert W. Sample. Henry Taylor and his wife were warm personal friends of Governor Morton and whenever he visited Lafayette he was a welcome guest at their hospitable abode.
In the early part of 1884 Mr. Taylor completed the construction of a beautiful residence standing on high ground surrounded by well-kept lawns and commanding a wide view over a wide area. Under the guidance of Mrs. Taylor, and directed by her good taste, this home was handsomely furnished and possessed all the conveniences of a fashionable dwelling. It was such a place as one would pick out as a retreat for his latter days, but alas for the vanity of human wishes, scarcely six months had elapsed when the designer and builder was in his grave. For more than thirty-two years Henry Taylor
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had been at the head of a household in which he found his chief delight. Of his two children, one died in infancy and the other, Sallie B. Taylor, married William F. Stillwell. In 1898, she too was called to follow her father, leav- ing an only daughter, Isabel F. Stillwell, who resides with her father and grandmother at the Taylor homestead.
HON. ROBERT P. DAVIDSON.
Standing out distinctly as one of the central figures of the judiciary of Indiana in his day and generation is the name of Hon. Robert P. Davidson. Prominent in legal circles and equally so in public matters beyond the con- fines of his own jurisdiction, with a brilliant reputation in one of the most exacting of professions that won him a name for distinguished service second to that of none of his contemporaries, there was long no more prominent or honored man in the locality which he dignified with his citizenship. Wear- ing the judicial ermine with becoming dignity and bringing to every case submitted to him a clearness of perception and power of analysis character- istic of the learned jurist, his name and work for years was allied with the legal institutions, public enterprises and political interests of the state in such a way as to earn him recognition as one of the distinguished citizens of a community noted for the high order of its talent. A high purpose and an unconquerable will, vigorous mental powers, diligent study and devotion to duty are some of the means by which he made himself eminently useful, and every ambitious youth who fights the battle of life with the prospect of ultimate success may peruse with profit the biography herewith presented. Although the earthly career of this distinguished gentleman closed on Wednesday evening, April 14, 1909, after an illness lasting from December 31, 1908, his influence still pervades the lives of those with whom he asso- ciated. He was the oldest member of the Tippecanoe county bar, a lone tree in what was once a mighty forest of stalwarts; eminent in the legal profes- sion, a high type of American citizenship and a devoted Christian, whose intelligence, friendship, integrity and general character won for him a circle of friends described in number by the one word legion. In reviewing the life-work and character of so important a citizen as he who but yesterday walked and mingled with his fellowmen, performing every known duty, guided only by the manly traits that men and women everywhere call noble, the biographer can not hope to give the reader more than a glimpse of this busy man's well-spent career.
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Judge Robert Parks Davidson was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky, October 26, 1826, of Scotch ancestry on both the paternal and maternal sides, his family being one of the highly respected of the pioneer settlers. Thomas Davidson, the pioneer grandfather, was born in Pennsylvania, set- tled in Kentucky in an early day and died there many years ago. He was noted for his personal courage and high sense of honor. The maternal grandfather, James Parks, Sr., emigrated from Pennsylvania about 1790 and located in Nicholas county, Kentucky, where he died May 6, 1836. His family was of English origin, and numerous members of the same became distinguished in various walks of life. James Parks, Sr., who was a promi- nent merchant and trader in his community, represented his county in the Kentucky legislature and he also served very creditably in the state senate, having been contemporary with the Wicliffes and Marshalls. A loyal Presby- terian, he served faithfully for a period of forty years as elder in the Asso- ciate Reformed Presbyterian church.
Judah Davidson, father of Judge Davidson of this memoir, was the fourth son of Thomas Davidson. He received such educational training as the early schools afforded, and when he reached maturity he married Mary (Steele) Davidson on December 11, 1825. She was the tenth child in the family of James Parks, Sr., and wife, and to this union two sons were born, of whom Robert P. was the oldest. When deceased was but two years of age, the father died, leaving the two fatherless boys and the widowed mother to battle on without the aid and counsel of a father and husband. The mother was a woman of intelligence and genuine piety. The mother and her sons went to the home of the former's parents, and the sons were given the op- portunities offered by the common schools of those days. When fourteen years of age Robert P. Davidson was placed in an academy, and at intervals worked at farm labor, in the meantime preparing himself for college. He accordingly entered the freshman class of Miami University, in May, 1845, with the intention of preparing himself for the ministry, but changing to Center College, Kentucky, in the winter of 1847-1848, he pursued his studies there and was graduated from that institution in June, 1848, ranking among the best of the large graduating class of that year, and in recognition of his merits, this institution, three years later, conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. After graduating he turned his attention to teaching for a short time, then began the study of law, having abandoned the idea of becoming a minister. He was licensed to practice in the courts in February, 1851, and soon afterwards entered the law office of the late Judge Joseph C. Suit, at Frankfort, Clinton county, this state, later forming a partnership
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