USA > Indiana > Tippecanoe County > Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Volume II > Part 68
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
Two years after his arrival in Lafayette, Mr. Fowler was made one of the directors of the old Indiana State Bank, which position he held until the bank closed up its business. Subsequently, and after the organization of the Bank of the State, Hon. Hugh Mccullough, supervisor of all the banks in the series throughout the entire state, selected Mr. Fowler to organ- ize the branch at Lafayette, with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars. The stock was speedily taken and he was made president of this branch. This system of banking in Indiana existed eight years, during which time Mr. Fowler was a delegate to the Bank Board, which held its sessions at Indianapolis and which had charge of all the banks of the branch character
1168
PAST AND PRESENT
within the state. With one exception, the Lafayette branch was the most successful of all these banking houses. It was finally wound up to the profit and entire satisfaction of all concerned.
In 1865 Mr. Fowler secured a charter from the United States govern- ment to organize the National State Bank of Lafayette, with a capital of six hundred thousand dollars, and of which he was made president. This was even a greater bank and succeeded far beyond the operations of the former bank which he had been at the head of. The charter of this bank expired in January, 1885.
Thus Mr. Fowler had been in one way or another connected with the banking business for about thirty years, and desired to retire from the cares and perplexities of the business which had grown to such magnitude, but when this desire was made known to those with whom he had long been associated, they stoutly protested and wanted him to organize a new bank- ing house in Lafayette. Chiefly to gratify his old stockholders, he consented to do so. He was finally led to this step. at the instance of his old-time cashier. Brown Brockenbrough. He organized the National Fowler Bank of Lafayette, a small national bank of only one hundred thousand dollars capital, the stock of which he chiefly held himself. But instead of reducing his business and accompanying cares, he in reality increased it. His honor as a banker was everywhere known; no one cared what the advertised cash cap- ital of the new bank might be so long as he was at its head. Deposits soon reached the million dollar mark, a sum equal to all other national banks in Lafayette. Its growth and financial success and profits was indeed phe- nomenal. Had he left no other monument to his great business ability than this banking concern it were sufficient to preserve his name in the minds of the coming generations.
But not alone in the roll of a banker did this man succeed. In 1861 -the first year of the Civil war period-he organized the firm of Culbertson, Blair & Company, of Chicago, of which he became a member. This was a firm engaged extensively in the slaughter of cattle and hogs. doing a general meat packing business. It was next to the largest plant in that line of busi- ness in the entire West. After eight years, Mr. Fowler withdrew from the firm, selling his share for a quarter of a million dollars. But his business tact and tendency still urged him on in the direction of other large conquests. The next speculation was the purchase of large tracts of unimproved lands, in company with Adam Earl, Esq. Their plan was to put large droves of cattle on these lands, and after partly subduing the land then make farming tracts of it. These lands were located in Benton county. Indiana. After twelve thousand acres had been purchased. under the first arrangement, Mr.
1169
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
Fowler preferring to be sole owner in the business, conducted it on his own account, he having divided the former lands with his partner. He continued to purchase lands in this county, until he owned in his own right, and in the very heart of the rich county, twenty thousand acres. After having thus secured these lands, he set about the building of a railroad through the same, which line of highway should connect his interests with the great cities of Chicago and Cincinnati, his lands being one hundred miles south- east of Chicago. He had already had some railroad experience, having been one of the directors of the Cincinnati & Lafayette Railway Company. This knowledge was now to serve him a good turn. He, with two other men, or- ganized a company and constructed the Cincinnati, Lafayette & Chicago Railroad, since known as the Kankakee Short Line, being the most im- portant link in the "Big Four" system between Chicago and Cincinnati. The next stroke of business diplomacy was to move the county seat from Oxford to the town of Fowler, in the center of the county where his landed estate was situated. This was soon accomplished, Mr. Fowler donating forty thousand dollars to Benton county for court house purposes and additional grounds for buildings. By this improvement, including the construction of the railroad, Benton county was made a county of value and importance, while up to the day of this transformation it had been one of the most valueless, back-woods districts within Indiana. He verily made the waste places blossom like the rose.
Besides the lands already specified in the narrative, Mr. Fowler owned immense tracts in Warren county, adjoining; also in White county. In the two counties he owned fully twenty-five thousand acres of land. In 1886 these lands were valued at an average of fifty dollars per acre. For more than a decade he, with William S. VanNatta, business manager, was en- gaged in the cattle business on these lands. The droves contained two thousand head of fine cattle, which eventually found their way to the markets of Chicago and the far East. Among these cattle were to be found about five hundred head of the finest Herefords in the United States. On these broad acres Mr. Fowler had about ten thousand acres planted annually to corn, oats and other crops. His pastures were carpeted with as fine a growth of blue grass as ever graced the soil of the famous Kentucky blue grass district. It will go almost without saying that Mr. Fowler became one of, if not altogether, the wealthiest citizen of Indiana.
With all of his immense business operations, Mr. Fowler never shirked his obligations as a loyal citizen of the county, state and nation. In his pol- itics, he was originally a Whig, tried and true in principle. When the Re-
(74)
1170
PAST AND PRESENT
publican party was formed he became one of its pioneer members and, while never allowing his name to be up for public office, he ever aided the cause of the political party of his choice. In the dark days of the great Rebellion he aided his country mightily by both means and personal influ- ence. Too old to enter the ranks of the Union army himself, he sent a substitute who carried the musket three and more long years. Gov. Levi P. Morton found in him a wise counsellor and confiding friend. While a man of affairs and largely absorbed, it might seem, with secular matters, yet he ever did his duty as a Christian gentleman, he having been connected with the Presbyterian church from his early manhood. In Lafayette he was a worthy member of the Second Presbyterian church and for almost thirty years was a trustee in that church. He was also a trustee of the Wabash College for a quarter of a century. He, with a few men, donated bank stock to the sum of thirty thousand dollars to be used for the support of this in- stitution.
Mr. Fowler was married in 1843 to Eliza Hawkins, daughter of James and Susannah (Jones) Hawkins. Mrs. Fowler's paternal grandfather was Benjamin Hawkins, of English ancestry. James Hawkins moved to Ohio from South Carolina, with his parents, who located in Butler county when he was a mere lad. The date of his birth was January 8, 1788. The date of his death was December, 1850, his widow surviving him five years. Politically he was a Whig, and in religious faith both he and his good wife were members of the society of Friends. He became a pioneer in Tippe- canoe county in 1829. He was the father of eleven children, Mrs. Fowler being one of the daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Moses Fowler were the parents of five children-three daughters and two sons. Two died in infancy. They were as follows: Annis, who married Fred S. Chase (eldest son of H. W. Chase, of Lafayette), a graduate of Yale College and an attorney of La- fayette. This daughter, Mrs. Chase, died about 1885, leaving a son whom, in honor of her father, she named Fowler. The other daughter, Ophelia, married Charles H. Duleme, of Cincinnati, now dead. The son, James Fowler, after he obtained his education, was associated with his father in business. More concerning the son will appear elsewhere in this work.
Pre-eminently a self-made man, Moses Fowler forged his way steadily to the front rank of industrial men of his times. He had but a limited education, no money with which to commence his operations, but did pos- sess that peculiar genius for accumulating wealth that is seldom surpassed in this country. His judgment was of the best; his acts were always on a "square deal" basis, and among his traits of noble manhood may be enumer- ated these-honesty, industry, courage, energy, and by the preservation of
II7I
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
his self-control and the observance of a courteous manner under all circum- stances he was enabled to attain the height of business standards, finally being crowned with ultimate success, and enjoyed an exalted power of in- fluence.
Strange as it may seem, in all of his eventful career he never gave a mortgage on any of his property, save in a case or two where it was given as a matter of form in purchasing some tracts of land. Again, he never had but two suits at law, and then he was made the defendant and won his judgment against the parties for the plaintiffs in such action. This is all in contrast to such other men who do a large business on borrowed cap- ital, and are made parties to numerous suits at law, by reason of their over- reaching and questionable methods of transacting business with their fel- low men.
Not only did he make money fast during the latter years of his busi- ness career, but he used wealth for the good of his family and the great busy world of men and women less fortunate than himself. Finally the end came and this good man and public benefactor passed to his rest on August 19, 1889. He left a widow and two children, and not only they but the whole state of Indiana mourned his loss. He had reached the advanced age of seventy-five years. His was truly an eventful life and a praiseworthy career, of which the world has none too many.
JAMES M. FOWLER.
In a work of the province assigned to the one at hand, having to do with the representative citizens of Tippecanoe county, James M. Fowler, a well known banker of Lafayette, is most consistently accorded recogni- tion, for as the worthy son of a worthy sire he has played well his part in the development of the interests of this locality. He was born in this city October 7, 1844, the only son of Moses and Eliza (Hawkins) Fowler, who for many decades were among the best known people of this locality and whose praiseworthy lives are given proper notice on other pages of this work.
James M. Fowler had the advantages of a common-school education and one year at Wabash College, receiving a very serviceable text-book training which has subsequently been augmented by extensive miscellaneous reading and travel and by contact with the business world. When the Civil
1172
PAST AND PRESENT
war began he proved his loyalty to the Union cause by offering his services to the government, going to the front in an Indiana regiment.
When eighteen years of age Mr. Fowler began his eminently successful business career by working for the wholesale grocery house of Earl & Hatcher, but not finding this line of merchandising exactly to his tastes, he became a partner in the wholesale dry goods business of Dodge, Curtis & Company in 1867, from which he retired in 1884 to enter the National State Bank of Lafayette, of which his father was president. He at once showed his adaptability for the banking business. In 1885, the charter having ex- pired, the bank was reorganized under the name of the National Fowler Bank. In 1889, when his father died, Mr. Fowler was made president of the institution, which position he has continued to occupy, fulfilling the duties of the same with a fidelity of purpose that has stamped him as a financier of more than ordinary executive capacity and business acumen, Mr. Fowler having followed in the footsteps of his father as a safe, conserv- ative and successful banker. He has many other business interests which claim his attention, but he manages large affairs with perfect ease and suc- cess, owing to the splendid system of his methods. He has large land in- terests in Benton county, Indiana, near Fowler. He is also largely inter- ested in business matters in Chicago, and he easily takes front rank among those men of large affairs in northern Indiana.
Never active in politics, Mr. Fowler is, nevertheless, a stanch Repub- lican and he takes an abiding interest in political and other questions of national and local import which are occupying the attention of the thought- ful and public-spirited citizens throughout the land; in fact, any movement or enterprise which has for its object the betterment of the community at large. He takes just pride in the fact that he never "speculates," never borrows, or gives mortgages on his property. He has served as a trustee of the Lafayette Savings Bank for several years. He has served for many years as a trustee of the Second Presbyterian church, of which his family are members. He has always been a good friend to Purdue University in West Lafayette, and has been treasurer of that institution for the past twenty years. When his mother gave seventy thousand dollars to erect Eliza Fowler Hall he completed the building by adding a fine pipe organ and later had the hall handsomely decorated.
Mr. Fowler was married at Tiffin, Ohio, June 3, 1875, to Eva Hedges Gross, daughter of John and Elizabeth ( Hedges) Gross. She is a talented and cultured lady, the representative of a prominent family. Mr. and Mrs. Fowler's pleasant home has been blessed by the birth of four children, three sons and a daughter, the oldest son dying in infancy. The oldest living son,
1173
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
Cecil G. Fowler, was married in 1902 at Watseka, Illinois, to Louise Camp- bell, and they are the parents of one child, James M. Fowler, the third, who was born April 14, 1909. Mr. Fowler's second son is James M. Fowler, Jr., and his daughter is Elizabeth Fowler, both unmarried. These children have received every advantage from an educational standpoint and they all give promise of successful and happy futures.
Personally Mr. Fowler is plain and unassuming, a man of genial ad- dress and courteous demeanor, making and holding friends readily. He wields a wide influence among those with whom his lot has been cast, ever having the affairs of his county at heart and doing what he could to aid in its development, whether in material, educational, civic or religious mat- ters. A high purpose, vigorous prosecution of business, fidelity to duty and a just regard for the rights of others are some of the means by which he has made himself useful, and he has kept untarnished the bright escutch- eon of an honored family name.
HENRY HEATH VINTON.
No member of the Tippecanoe county bar is more highly esteemed among his professional associates and no citizen of the county enjoys a greater meas- ure of respect among the people generally than the gentleman whose name appears above, who is rendering efficient service as judge of the superior court of Tippecanoe county.
Henry H. Vinton is a native son of Tippecanoe county, having been born at Lafayette on November 30, 1864, and is a son of David Perrine and Eliza- beth Catherine Vinton. He was reared under the parental roof and received his elementary education in the public schools of Lafayette, later becoming a student in Purdue University, where he was graduated in 1885. Having decided upon the legal profession as his life work, the subject read law in the office of Coffroth & Stuart at Lafayette in 1885-86, and during 1886-87 he attended the Columbia Law School. In the latter year he was admitted to the Tippecanoe county bar, and he practiced law in this city in partnership with his father, David P. Vinton, from 1889 until the latter's death, and from that time until February, 1901, he was associated in the practice with Edgar D. Randolph. In 1898 Mr. Vinton was appointed referee in bankruptcy by Hon. John H. Baker, United States district judge for the district of Indiana. He was appointed judge of the superior court of Tippecanoe county by Gov- ernor Winfield T. Durbin on February 8, 1901. At the regular election in
II74
PAST AND PRESENT
November, 1902, he was elected to this position, and so eminently satisfactory were the services rendered by him on the bench that he was re-elected in November, 1908.
On June 13, 1888, Judge Vinton was united in marriage to Mabel Lev- ering, and they have one child, a daughter, Katherine Levering Vinton.
COL. RICHARD M. SMOCK.
An honored veteran of the late Civil war and, since the close of that struggle, called to fill various positions of trust, Col. Richard M. Smock, late commandant of the Indiana State Soldiers' Home at Lafayette, has been much before the public and today few men in Indiana are so widely known or as highly esteemed. His life, a very strenuous one, has been largely devoted to the public good and among the state's distinguished men his name will always be accorded a conspicuous place. The Smock family is of Dutch origin and was first represented in America as long ago as 1654 by certain im- migrants, who settled in Long Island, who figured prominently in the develop- ment and subsequent history of that part of York state. Subsequently, the descendants of those early comers migrated to other parts, some moving to New Jersey and others to Pennsylvania, and later the family name became familiar on the frontier of Kentucky, especially in the county of Mercer, where the subject's grandfather, Jolin Smock, settled while the country was still in the throes of warfare with the Indians. John Smock was married in his native state of Pennsylvania, October 21. 1786, to Ann Vanarsdalen, whose father, Simon Vanarsdalen, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. It was shortly after this marriage that the young couple joined the tide of emi- gration to the rich alluvial valleys of Kentucky, but which proved to them, as it had proved to many others, to be "the dark and bloody ground," as they shared all the vicissitudes and hardships of pioneer life and were not exempt from the dangers to which not a few of their friends and companions suc- cumbed. Among the children of John and Ann Smock was a son by the name of Isaac, whose birth occurred in Mercer county, but who removed in 1827 to Marion county, Indiana, locating about six miles south of Indianapolis on a farm which he made his home during the remainder of his life. When a young man, he married Ann T. Smock of Shelby county, Kentucky, but then a resi- dent of Marion county, Indiana, who bore him eleven children, of whom five sons and one daughter are living. viz. : William C., a lawyer of Indianapolis ; Colonel R. M., the second in order of birth; Charles E., a bookkeeper for a
1175
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, IND.
business firm in Indianapolis ; Fred L., a retired farmer, and John M., a farmer living on the family homestead, one hundred and seventeen acres, which he owns. The daughter is the widow of the late Dr: Charles M. Gravis, who died recently in Martinsville, Indiana. Isaac Smock was a farmer by occu- pation and a man of sturdy character and excellent repute. He lived to be seventy-eight years old, his wife surviving him some years and dying at the age of eighty-five.
Richard M. Smock was born April 2, 1841, and spent his childhood and youth on the family homestead in Marion county, attending such schools in the meantime as the county afforded and obtaining his first knowledge of practical affairs by laboring in the fields. His early life was without incident worthy of note and until attaining his majority he assisted his father in cul- tivating the crops, ministering to his parents' comfort with filial devotion and under all circumstances proving a true and loyal son.
Meanwhile the struggle over the extension of slavery was approaching and, being a reader and close observer, the subject perceived the ominous in- dications of the troublous times, which in the no distant future would deluge the country with fraternal blood. Sometime after the war cloud gath- ered and burst, young Smock put aside all personal considerations and, with an earnest desire to be of service to his country, enlisted on July 19, 1862, at Indianapolis, in Company G, Seventieth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Col. Benjamin Harrison, and in due time was at the front, where he shared with his comrades the fortunes and vicissitudes of war in a number of campaigns and battles. On June 16, 1864, he was wounded on the skir- mish line at Lost Mountains, Georgia, and, being disabled for further field duty, he was furloughed home and placed on detached service. He continued in the latter capacity until his discharge June 30, 1865, after which he returned home and in the following November entered the county clerk's office at Indi- anapolis, where he held a deputyship for a period of nineteen years, during which time he discharged his duties with a credit to himself and to the satis- faction of his several superiors. Retiring from the clerk's office at the expiration of the period indicated, Mr. Smock. in 1884, was elected justice of the peace of Center township, which included the city of Indianap- olis, and served as such until 1892, having been re-elected in the meantime.
In April, 1893. Colonel Smock was appointed assistant adjutant general of the Department of Indiana, Grand Army of the Republic, filling the posi- tion for ten years.
In the month of April, 1903, Colonel Smock was appointed commandant of the Indiana State Soldiers' Home at Lafayette, an important and respon- sible position, which he filled with ability, for a period of six years, discharg-
1176
PAST AND PRESENT
ing the duties incumbent upon him acceptably to the members of the institu- tion and to the state and proving a capable, impartial and painstaking official. The Home is one of the largest State institutions for dependent soldiers and their wives in the United States and the first in which provisions were made for the support of wives and destitute soldiers' widows. Under the wise and judicious administration of Colonel Smock, the Home was made to answer the purposes for which intended and the spirit of harmony and ac- cord which obtained between officials and members and among the latter, was largely due to the measures which he inaugurated and the firm but kindly manner in which all the regulations were enforced. At the expiration of his period of service, the Colonel retired from the institution, with the confidence and good will of the many old veterans who received such consideration at his hands and he will ever live in their affections and memories as a friend who was always true and loyal to their interests and who hesitated not to make any reasonable sacrifice to promote their comfort and welfare.
As commandant, Colonel Smock was commissioned with the rank of colonel by Governor Durbin, the second time by Governor Hanly, both bearing testimony to his standing as a capable, faithful and judicious officer and to his fitness for a branch of service which has always demanded a superior order of talent. He has discharged worthily every trust that was reposed in him, honored every station to which called, and as a soldier or civilian, in public or in private life, his record is without a stain and his character above reproach.
The Colonel has been twice married, the first time on December 21. 1865. to Jane E. Johnson. of Battle Ground, Tippecanoe county, who died after eight years of mutually happy wedded experience, the union resulting in two children : Ferdinand C., an architect and builder of Indianapolis, and Hanford E., principal bookkeeper for the E. C. Atkins Co., saw manufacturers of that city. On November 5. 1874. Colonel Smock was united in the bonds of wed- lock with Frances E. Fisher, of Carroll county, near Delphi, Indiana, who has been his faithful companion and helpmate from that time to the present, one child having been born of the marriage, a daughter by the name of Helen G .. whose untimely death on May 15, 1905, at the age of twenty-eight years, was profoundly mourned, not only by her parents and immediate relatives, but by the large circle of friends in the city, by whom she was so greatly beloved and esteemed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.