USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 13
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for himself. He has profound respect for the church, however, as a civilizing agency and believes its influence to be for the best interests of society and the state, to which ends he contributes to its support and encourages the dissemi- nation of religion among men.
Dr. Arnold is a married man and has a comfortable and attractive home, the presiding genius of which is a lady of culture and refinement whose name prior to taking the name she now so worthily bears was Hattie Pierce. Mrs. Arnold is a native of Tippecanoe county, a representative of one of the old and highly esteemed families of this part of the state and has many personal friends in the social circles to which she belongs.
CHARLES F. WILLIAMS.
Charles F. Williams, the senior partner of the Lafayette Sunday Leader, who is so well and favorably known in journalistic circles in this portion of Indiana, especially in Tippecanoe county, where he has wielded a pen of force and intelligence for the past forty years, was born in 1845 in Addison county, Vermont, the son of Lambson Williams and wife. The father was a native of Vermont. The subject spent his youthful days at Jerseyville, Illinois. As he grew in years, he learned the printer's trade in the office of the Democratic- Union, published at Jerseyville. When but seventeen years old he was in- duced to take an interest in a local newspaper called The Prairie State, at Jerseyville. This was a very unfortunate move, for within a short time the office was burned and young Williams lost all he had invested. For several years he was employed at his trade in Alton, Illinois. Later he returned to Jerseyville and published the Register for one year. He first located at La- fayette in 1869 and for a few years was the city editor of the Daily Dispatch, which paper discontinued in 1876. He then became connected with the Sunday Leader, which paper he is still connected with in company with his son, Charles F. Williams. It was in 1883 that he, in company with Ross Gordon, purchased the Sunday Leader from F. E. D. McGinley, the paper having been established in 1872 by John Carr. For complete history of this journal the reader is referred to the Press chapter in this work.
Mr. Williams was married, in 1866, to Mary C., daughter of Jolin C. Dobelbower, who at one time was the editor of the Dispatch. Mrs. Williams was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The children born of this union were Mary M., Charles F. and Laura A.
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DANIEL W. SIMMS.
It requires a master mind to rise superior to discouraging environment and achieve honorable distinction in a profession which demands of its votaries strong and well balanced mentality and a long and thorough course of intellectual and professional training. The qualities essential to success in such a calling are possessed in an eminent degree by the well-known citizen of Lafayette whose name appears at the head of this article, a gentleman who not only ranks among the ablest lawyers of the Tippecanoe county bar, but has likewise earned an enviable reputation in the courts of northern Indiana, where his services have frequently been utilized in the trial of important cases and the adjustment of large and far-reaching legal interests.
Daniel W. Simms, of the law firm of Stuart, Hammond & Simms, is a native of Crawford county, Illinois, where his birth occurred on the 13th day of February, 1862. The family to which he belonged, consisting of the father, mother, three sons and one daughter, moved, in 1870, to Fountain county, Indiana, where Daniel spent his youthful years on a farm. His parents being in humble circumstances, he was early obliged to assume much of the labor and responsibility of the family's support, thus, by a strenuous though valuable experience, learning the true meaning of honest toil and the important lesson that success is only attainable by earnest and long-continued effort. When but ten years of age, he began making his own way in the world, as a farm laborer, and in addition to clothing himself and meeting other necessary expenses from his hard-earned wages, contributed a generous share to his parents, in this way early becoming a helper and burden-sharer. During the winter months he attended the district schools of the neighbor- hood and made commendable progress in the common branches, but owing to adverse circumstances was obliged to discontinue his studies for the sterner of life's duties, although a natural student with an almost inordinate craving for books and learning.
In 1875 young Simms went to northwestern Iowa, where he spent the two ensuing years working as a farm hand in the summer time and devoting the winter seasons to school work. At the expiration of that period he dis- continued farm labor and went west, where he took up the life of a cowboy. spending the three succeeding years among the large cattle ranches of Kansas, the Indian Territory and Texas, and sharing with comrades the hardships and vicissitudes common to the wild free experiences of the prairies and plains. Mr. Simms went west in 1877, but after spending three years there
DAN. W. SIMMS
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decided to return home and if possible secure a better education, to the end that he might fit himself for some useful occupation or profession. With this laud- able object in view, he returned in 1880 to Fountain county, Indiana, but finding his parents in very poor health and practically unable to earn a liveli- hood he at once abandoned the idea of attending school and with true filial devotion lost no time in looking about for the first work to which he could lay his hands, that he might minister to the necessities of the family. It was not long until he secured employment on the Peoria division of the "Big Four" railroad, then in process of construction, his first duty being the driving of spikes, very hard and exhausting work which only strong and able-bodied men are capable of doing. After spending some months in this capacity, he gave up the job and resumed farm labor, to which he devoted considerable time, saving sufficient means while thus engaged to carry him through a term of school. Again the ambitious young man was doomed to a bitter disappointment, for no sooner had he perfected arrangements to begin his stud- ies than he was stricken wits a severe attack of typhoid fever, which within a comparatively brief period not only reduced his strength to the lowest possi- ble minimum but also exhausted his meagre capital. When sufficiently re- covered, however, he addressed himself with renewed courage and fortitude to the task of obtaining the much-desired discipline and in due time secured a place with a farmer who agreed to board and lodge him while attending school in return for such labor as he could perform of mornings and even- ings, and on the days when school was not in session. In addition to close application to his regular studies during the following winter, the young man spent the long nights poring over his books, in this way adding not only to his scholastic knowledge, but becoming familiar with the writings of a number of authors and well versed on many general subjects.
By close and critical studying, Simms, the following year, was suffi- ciently advanced to teach in the district school, which line of work he fol- lowed for some time, in this way procuring the necessary funds to enable him to attend several spring and fall terms at the National American Normal University, Lebanon, Ohio, and a similar institution at Ladoga, Indiana. Actuated by a laudable desire to prosecute his studies still further, he subse- quently entered Asbury (now DePauw) University, which he attended until 1885, when he discontinued his scholastic work to devote all of his attention to the study of law which he had taken up in the meantime as the profession best suited to his tastes and inclinations.
With an energy and ambition which would not be satisfied with any but a high standing in his chosen calling. Mr. Simms applied himself dili-
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gently to his studies and researches and possessing a naturally legal mind and a decided preference for the profession, it was not long until he was admitted to the bar and began the practice at Veedersburg, Indiana, in partnership with Freeman E. Miller, a well-known attorney of that place, the firm thus constituted forging to the front in due time and securing its proportionate share of patronage. While a resident of Veedersburg Mr. Simms was induced to take charge of the schools of the town, which he conducted for some time in connection with his professional duties, but realizing that success in either calling could not be attained in this way and with no desire to con- tinue longer as an educator he finally resigned his position as principal of schools, and in 1887 removed to Covington, where he became associated with O. S. Douglass, and within a comparatively brief period rose to a posi- tion of prominence and influence among the leading lawyers of the county seat.
Mr. Simms, although practically a beginner, gained marked success in his profession and in his new field was soon the peer of any member of the Fountain county bar. In 1891 Henry Dochterman, an able and popular attorney, tendered him a partnership, which was accepted and which con- tinued until dissolved by the death of the senior member in March, 1893. The firm, in the meantime, was engaged in many important cases, which by reason of the failing health of Mr. Dochterman fell to Mr. Simms, who, in this way, forged rapidly to the front as an able lawyer and a careful, judi- cious and eminently successful practitioner. In April following the death of his partner, Mr. Simms became associated with Lucal Nebeker, under the name of Nebeker & Simms. The firm thus formed lasted five years, during which time they built up an extensive and lucrative business in the courts of Fountain and other counties, and became widely and favorably known in legal circles throughout the northern part of the state.
With a practice rapidly outgrowing the limits to which it was principally confined and a reputation as an able and successful lawyer second to that of none of his compeers, Mr. Simms at the expiration of the time indicated deemed it advisable to select a larger and more advantageous field for the exercise of his legal talent, accordingly, in the year 1898, he removed to Lafayette, where he was already well and favorably known and where he at once attained prominence at a bar which had long been distinguished for a high standard of professional ability. The same year in which he took up his residence in this city he became a member of the firm of Hanly, Wood & Simms, long regarded throughout the state as an exceptionally strong and successful combination and which continued under that name until March 15,
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1899, when the subject withdrew to enter the firm of Stuart, Hammond & Simms, with which he has since been identified.
Sufficient has been said in the foregoing lines to afford a tolerably cor- rect idea of Mr. Simms' rise and progress in his profession and to justify the assumption that the eminent standing which he has attained has been honorably earned and that in the future his fame as one of Indiana's most bril- liant and successful lawyers and enterprising citizens will be secure.
Circumstances, as well as a natural inclination, led Mr. Simms, while still a young man, to take an interest in public and political affairs and for a number of years he has been quite an active politician and a leader of the Democratic party in his various places of residence. In 1896, he was a delegate to the national convention at Chicago and two years later was the choice of his party for congress, but his removal from the district, a short time before the convention met, prevented his nomination. Though emi- nently qualified to fill with distinguished success any position within the gift of the people, he has never aspired to public place or official honors, having always been devoted to his profession and satisfied with the simple title of citizen. Mr. Simms is pre-eminently a self-made man and as such deserves great credit for his remarkable rise from poverty and obscurity to a place of distinction and affluence. Personally, he impresses all with whom he comes into contact, as a man of strong convictions and great force of character, nevertheless, in the midst of the multitudinous cares and demands of a busy life, he is always approachable and affable, being gracious in his associ- ations with his fellow men, and a true type of the intelligent, broad-minded, polished gentleman. Possessing strong and discriminating intellectual quali- ties, which have been developed by thorough training, he not only keeps abreast of the times on all matters of moment but has likewise been a critical reader and a student of events, whose opinions always carry weight and influ- ence. He has gained a reputation as a well-rounded man, admirably equipped with the solid and brilliant qualities essential to success and distinction, but above these, his life has been ordered on a high plane which bespeaks a deep sense of his stewardship as a representative American of his day and generation. Mr. Simms is a gentleman of domestic tastes and finds his greatest pleasure in his home, where, surrounded by his loved ones, hie casts care aside and opens his heart to all the noble and gentle influences which such relations bring. His wife, formerly Ezadora J. Wright, has borne him three children, a son, who died at the age of three and a half years, and two daughters, the elder of which died at the age of nine.
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J. LYNN VAN NATTA.
The gentleman whose name introduces this sketch occupies a prominent place in the business circles of Lafayette and has also been honored by his fellow citizens with an important public trust, being at this time the efficient and popular treasurer of Tippecanoe county, besides holding other interests which have kept his name before the people. J. Lynn Van Natta is a native of Tippecanoe county and dates his birth from the 15th day of October, 1870, having first seen the light of day in Shelby township, where his parents formerly resided. Job Van Natta, the subject's father, whose birth occurred on January 27, 1833, is also a native of the county and a scion of one of the old and highly esteemed families. He has spent the greater part of his life as a farmer and stockdealer, but since discontinuing these lines of effort some years ago he has devoted his attention to various business enterprises, includ- ing, among others, the Otterbein State Bank, of which he is president; the First National Bank of Boswell, towards which he sustains the same official relation; the Merchants National Bank of Lafayette, of which he is director and a large stockholder ; the Lafayette Loan and Trust Company and the La- fayette Savings Bank, in both of which he has large interests. Mr. Van Natta possesses business ability of a high order, and as a financier ranks among the most capable and far-seeing of his contemporaries. His success has been commensurate with the energy displayed in his various undertakings, and he is now one of the wealthy and influential men of the city in which he lives, owning, in addition to the interests noted above, a large amount of valuable real estate in both city and country, including nine hundred acres of fine land in Tippecanoe township, six hundred acres in Shelby township and seven hundred acres in the county of LaGrange, the greater part under cultivation, well improved and representing a fortune of considerable magni- tude. Mr. Van Natta served with a distinguished record in the Civil war, joining at the beginning of the struggle the Tenth Regiment. Indiana Vol- unteer Infantry, in which for three years he held the rank of major and later was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the regiment, a position he held when discharged. He was with his command in some of the most notable campaigns in which the Army of the Tennessee took part and participated in a number of hard-fought battles, and it fell to him to lead in the first attack on the strong Confederate position in the bloody battle of Chickamauga.
Harriett Barnes, wife of Job Van Natta, is a native of Chillicothe. Ohio, where her birth occurred on June 19, 1842. She and her husband live in a
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beautiful and comfortable modern home at No. 213 Perrin avenue and are among the best known and most popular people of the city, as the social circles in which they move attest. They have reared a family of six children, namely : Mrs. Augustus Ruffner, of Chicago; J. Lynn, of this review ; Sam- uel G., a stock dealer of Bovina, Texas; Mrs. George Baldwin, of Seattle, Washington ; John W., who also lives at Bovina, Texas, and Nancy, a young unmarried lady who is still with her parents.
J. Lynn Van Natta, who has been a lifelong resident of his native county, received his preliminary education in the public schools and later entered Purdue University, where he pursued his studies until completing the class- ical course, receiving his degree in 1894, two of his brothers being grad- uates of the same institution. Soon after finishing his education Mr. Van Natta became interested in the livestock business with his brothers, John W. and Samuel G., and later he engaged in another line of enterprise. the Lafay- ette Fuel and Builders' Supply Company, which he owned and operated until elected to the office he now holds and in which he still retains an interest.
Mr. Van Natta and his two brothers alluded to above own and operate one of the largest cattle ranches in the state of Texas and have achieved marked success in the livestock business. Their ranch, which lies in Bailey county and embraces an area of one hundred and forty thousand acres, is stocked with nine thousand cows, from which the bovine population is being rapidly increased, this extensive business having been conducted for about five years by the Van Natta family, but since 1907 it has been carried on by the present proprietors, the subject owning a third interest in the enterprise. In this and his various other business relations Mr. Van Natta has met with encouraging success and he now stands well to the front among the men who have contributed to the material progress of the city and given character and stability to its institutions.
The subject early became interested in public and political matters and for a number of years has been one of the county's active young Republicans and a judicious adviser in the councils of his party. In 1904 he was nomi- nated for the office of county treasurer and at the ensuing election defeated his opponent by a very decisive majority and, in due time, took charge of the office, the duties of which he has since discharged to the satisfaction of the public irrespective of political ties. His official career, which has been above the suspicion of reproach, reflects credit upon himself and his party, and fully demonstrates the wisdom of his election, the opinion prevailing that the county has never been served by a more capable, courteous or oblig- ing officer.
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Mr. Van Natta is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in matters religious his views are in har- mony with the Methodist creed, himself and other members of his family having long been regular attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church at Lafayette. He is a gentleman of pleasing presence, easily approachable and has many warm personal friends in the city and country in whose loyalty he reposes the most implicit confidence. Mr. Van Natta enjoyed superior educational advantages, and the result of his intellectual discipline is perceiv- able not only in his culture, courtesy and general intelligence, but also in the broad views he takes of men and things and the efforts which he ever puts forth to realize within himself his high ideals of manhood and citizenship.
Few men have exercised a stronger influence than he in the public affairs of Lafayette and Tippecanoe county and none are held in higher esteem by all classes and conditions of the populace.
JOSEPH DELMAR BARTLETT.
The subject of this sketch, who is a well-known pharmacist and pro- prietor of the drug house at No. 406 Main street, Lafayette, is a native of New England and combines in himself many of the sterling qualities and char- acteristics for which the people of that section of the Union have long been distinguished. He traces his ancestry to an early period in the history of his native state of New Hampshire, where his forbears appear to have settled in colonial times, and it is a matter of record that the branch of the family to which he belongs is directly descended from Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and a man of prominence and in- fluence during the Revolutionary period and for some years following the struggle for liberty. Others members of the family were also identified with that period as civilians and soldiers, several having served in the army with distinction and added luster to a name which for many years previous had been honored for achievements in various lines of activity and thought.
John Z. Bartlett, the subject's father, was born in Sunapee, New Hamp- shire, and spent his life near that place as a prosperous tiller of the soil. He was a man of intelligence and high character, reared a family of children and lived to the age of seventy-six years, dying in 1905. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Saphronia Sargent, was also a native of New Hampshire and is still living near Sunapee. The brothers of the subject are Fred L., who
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follows the pursuit of agriculture in New Hampshire; John H., an attorney- at-law of Portsmouth, that state, and Mott L., who is connected with the Boston & Maine railroad. The only sister is Mrs. Sadie Aiken, whose husband is engaged in the mercantile business at St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
Joseph Delmar Bartlett was born August 5, 1872, at Sunapee, New Hampshire, and spent his early life in his native town, where he also received his educational training. In the fall of 1890 he came to Lafayette, Indiana, and enrolled in the pharmaceutical course at Purdue University and two years later was graduated from that institution, after which he entered the employ of a local druggist, with whom he remained six years. Purchasing his em- ployer's stock at the expiration of that time, he established in 1898 the business at No. 406 Main street, Lafayette, which he still carries on and which. under liis excellent management, has increased to such an extent that his store is now one of the largest of the kind and best patronized in the city. Mr. Bartlett carries full lines of drugs and chemicals, together with a complete stock of other articles, novelties, sundries, etc., such as are found in a first-class drug house and his patronage is such that he now requires the services of four experienced assistants to supply the demands of customers. He is an accom- plished druggist, familiar with every phase of his profession, and all prescrip- tions and matters requiring a technical knowledge of pharmacy receive his personal attention with promptness and despatch. His patronage is of the best class and by straightforward business methods he has achieved an en- viable reputation, his efforts to please each customer before he leaves the store being among the factors that have paved the way to success.
Mr. Bartlett was united in marriage July 12, 1897, with Miss Ella Kellog Brady, daughter of Jefferson Brady, late of Tippecanoe county, and Martha Pierce Brady, who was also born and reared in this part of the state. Mrs. Bartlett was educated in Purdue University and for some time previous to her marriage taught in the public schools, first in the country and later in the West Lafayette high school, where she had a position for several years. She has two brothers, Samuel and George Pierce, the former a business man of Indianapolis, the latter a resident of Lafayette; Susan, her only sister, is married and living in West Lafayette. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett have a son and daughter, the former, Irvin G., eight years of age, and Máry Agnes, six.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Bartlett holds membership with the Knights of Pythias and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in politics he votes the Republican ticket, as did his father from the organization of the party until his death. As far back as he has any knowledge, his ances- tors were Methodists and he, too, subscribes to the same religious faith, being
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with his wife an esteemed member of the Trinity church, Lafayette, and deeply interested in its various lines of good work. Though never an office seeker, Mr. Bartlett served three and one-half years as police commissioner, to which position he was appointed by Governor Durbin, in which he labored for the best interests of the municipality, proving an able and popular official, as was attested by the peace and quietude of the city during his incumbency.
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