USA > Indiana > Warrick County > Warrick and its prominent people : a history of Warrick County, Indiana from the time of its organization and settlement, with biographical sketches of some of its prominent people of the past and present > Part 8
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December 25th 1877, Mr. Seitz was married to Mary A. Grimm, of Huntingdon, Penn., a lady of rare scholastic attain- ments. Mr. Seitz is a man of fine physique and pleasing man- ners. In 1876, and also in 1880, he was nominated by the Republican party for Sheriff of Warrick county, and although defeated, he largely reduced the Democratic majority each time.
No man is better known in Warrick county than Jacob Seitz, and no man is more generally liked by the people.
WILLIAM SWINT.
William Swint, editor and publisher of the Boonville Enquirer, was born at Jasper, Dubois county, Indiana, April 16th 1844. He is the fourth child and first son of a family of seven, four of whom still survive. His parents were natives of Germany and France, and were adherents of Catholicism. His father, Con- rad Swint, (Schwint) was born at Heidelburg, Germany, May 1, 1808, and was a graduate of the Heidelberg university. In 1830 he was married to Miss Adaline Lechner, and in the same year they emigrated to America. He died in April, 1859, at Troy,
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Perry county, Indiana. William Swint's mother was born in January, 1812, and died at Troy in January, 1869, where she lies buried beside her husband. She was the daughter of Franz Lechner, a soldier under Napoleon for twenty-four years, who died in this State at the age of eighty-nine. William Swint attended the common schools until twelve years of age, when he apprenticed himself in the Rockport Democrat office, where he remained until the breaking out of the civil war. He enlisted in 1861 in the Twenty-Fifth Indiana Regiment, serving as a pri- vate and non-commissioned officer in the capacity of Sergeant- Major, until mustered out of the service in 1864, being engaged in all the campaigns and battles participated in by the regiment. After his return home he was for a time employed in the clerk's office of Spencer county, where he again took up his old position in the printing office until 1868, when he removed to Louisville, Kentucky, where he was employed on the Louisville Journal until 1870. At that time he removed to Boonville, Indiana, purchasing the Boonville Enquirer, which he has continued the management of, making it a vigorous and influential journal in the county and district, and engaging actively in politics. He has never aspired to any office, but has held a number of minor offices through appointment. He was married by Rev. S. Rav-
enscroft, in the spring of 1868, to Katie A. Dreher, youngest of four daughters of Ezra and Catherine Dreher. She was born at Madison, Indiana, November 26th, 1849, and died of pneu- monia February Inth, 1879, after an illness of one week, leav- ing three children, two girls and one boy. Her death was a sad stroke to her husband, and his grief has wrought a grave change in him.
Mr. Swint has been a decided factor in the current political literature, and has been recognized of decided importance to the Democratic party, of which he is one of the most prominent leaders in the First district. - From Eminent Men of Indiana.
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Mrs. Katie A. Swint.
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Katie A. Swint.
KATIE A. SWINT.
Katie A. Swint, nee Dreher, spouse of William Swint, was born in Madison, Ind., Nov. 26, 1849, and was the youngest of four daughters of Ezra and Catherine Dreher. She removed with her parents to Rockport, Ind., at an early age, where she was married to William Swint, in 1868. The result of this union was three children-two girls and one boy. She died at her home in Boonville, on Tuesday, February 11, 1879, of pneumonia, after an illness of only one week, aged 29 years.
The following tribute to her memory by one who knew her from childhood, tells the story of her life in language far more beautiful than any within our command :
"How rare, how beautiful, in all the virtues that adorn the character of wife, mother, daughter, sister-only those may truly know who shared the sacred intimacies of her home life. How ardent and sincere it was in its friendships, how cheerful and sunny in its every-day influences, how informal and illuminated with the spirit of self-sacrifice-many, many sorrowing hearts can attest! Her affectionate loyalty to her friends was one of the most distinguishing traits of her character, and her conceptions of duty in this particular were ample and generous. No demand which the sorrow or sufferings of her friends could make upon her time or patience ever went unan- swered. No night was too dark to keep her from the bedside of sickness or death; and she carried everywhere the sunlight of cheerfulness and hope. Looking always to the better side of human nature, she refused to think evil of her neighbors, and turned a deaf ear to the tongue of the slanderer. These were the qualities of mind and heart that endeared her to all with
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whom she came in contact. It is literally true that none knew her but to love her.
"But it was in the atmosphere of her own home that was devel- oped the perfect flower and consumation of her womanhood. Her devotion to her husband, in its tenderness, constancy, purity and trust, will never be excelled while the instinct of love abides in the human heart. He repaid it with all the affection of which a generous nature was capable. The attach- ment between them, indeed, was peculiarly interwoven with the whole history of their lives, for it began when they were boy and girl. Long before marriage was possible, or even contem- plated, they loved one another. They loved as boy and girl, as youth and maiden, as man and woman; and their love grew and strengthened and brightened from first to last. It is the happy satisfaction of the writer that he knew of this attachment between them in their youth, and favored and encouraged it, when it was somewhat in his power to do so, because he had faith in them.
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"That Katie was a most fond and devoted mother need not be said. Her love for her children was all-pervading and intense. It is one of the saddest features of this untimely death that the three orphaned ones are too young even to realize the depth of their mothers love. But they must be taught to remember that only a few moments before she died-in the midst of a death- bed scene of wonderful beauty and serenity-their mother prayed that it might be a part of her occupation in heaven to guard the earthly footsteps of her children.
"Her affection for her aged father and mother was touching in its freshness and constancy. They were ever in her foremost thought, and she always spoke of them with reverential fond- ness. Among her last words were, "A kiss for Pa, Ma."
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Katie A Swint.
"She is gone. Some of us who linger behind, bound to her by a thousand ties of love and gratitude, stand appalled before a calamity like this-home destroyed, children bereft, a life-plan thwarted on the very threshold of success. Pondering-vainly, perhaps-the problems of life and destiny; groping-blindly it may be-for the life of a higher faith, we cannot understand why it is that one so young, so good, so necessary to the happi- ness of others should be thus suddenly taken away. But to her was given that higher faith. In her conception of the moral government of the world, even this stroke of desolation had its appointed place in the scheme of that all-pervading problem,
" That paints the hue upon an insect's wing, And sets his throne uron the rolling worlds."
"In that faith she died -- died breathing a prayer for her dear children, and responding with the last effort of earthly con- sciousness to the kiss of the broken-hearted husband."
BENONI S. FULLER.
Benoni Stinson Fuller was born in Warrick county, Novem- ber 13, 1825. His father, Isham Fuller, was a mechanic and well-to-do farmer, who was born in North Carolina, and came to Indiana as early as 1816. He was a great lover of biblical and historical literature, and was remarkably well informed on these and kindred subjects. In 1842 he was elected Representative from Warrick county in the State Legislature, and held the office six consecutive years. He was born in 1798, and died Febru- ary 14, 1856. Mr. Fuller's mother was also a native of North Carolina, and was a very pious lady.
From a sketch of Mr. Fuller's life in the "Eminent Men of Indiana," we quote the following : "Mr. Fuller, as a son of pioneer parents, had few advantages for securing an education, IO
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but he had energy and industry, and soon mastered the rudi- ments. A few short months in the log cabin college each win- ter were the sum total of his early advantages, but he did much reading outside. Before he was twenty-one we find him in the school-room as a teacher, which, of itself, speaks for the way in which he spent his time. When a boy he did anything for a liv- ing, cut wood, mauled rails, burned brush, cleared land, and did all other work incident to farm life. His father gave him his time before he became of age, and he used it apparently to good advantage. He worked at home or abroad, by day or month, and was careful to husband his means and prepare himself for the future. His public life began when he was about thirty years old. At this time he was elected Sheriff of the county and served two terms, from 1857 to 1861. In 1862, during the beginning of the troubles with the South, he was sent to the State Senate. After this he was twice elected to the Lower House, once in 1866 and again in 1868. The last time he served he was unanimously nominated President by the Democratic caucus of its members. In 1872 he was again elected State Senator. In 1874 he was chosen Congressman over Heilman, and again elected to the same position in 1876. In 1878 he declined renomination."
Mr. Fuller is the only man from Warrick county, besides Ratliff Boon, who has had the honor of representing the first con- gressional district in Congress, and his election over Heilman in 1874 was a glorious victory. Politically, his success has been something remarkable, but he says that he has now retired from public life, never to enter it again.
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Dr. W. L. Barker.
DR. W. L. BARKER
For its growth and prosperity Boonville owes as much to Dr. William L. Barker as to any one man. For the last thirty-five years he has been prominently identified in every movement or enterprise tending to the advancement of the interests of the town, and his life is interlinked with the later unwritten history of its progress.
He was born in Charleston, S. C., October 7, 1818. His father moved to Vanderburgh county, Indiana, in 1832, and en- gaged in farming, but he was more generally known on account of his public services. He was Commissioner of Vanderburgh county for several years. His death occurred in 1837, when he was about sixty-one years old. The family has a war record as far back as it is possible to trace. Both grandparents of the Doctor were soldiers in the Revolutionary war and his father was in the war of 1812. Dr. Barker himself was surgeon of the 120th Indiana Volunteers in the late civil war, being mustered into the service in Indianapolis. At Atlanta, Ga., his horse fell, caus- ing a rupture, on account of which he was compelled to resign. He returned home and was confined to his bed about four months. The patriotic and benevolent spirit which he mani- fested during the late war is praiseworthy, and is gratefully remembered by many yet living. No soldier's family or poor person suffered for food, clothing or medical aid, when in his power to alleviate their wants. He has a charitable, sympathetic heart, and in an unobtrusive way gives with liberality to the poor.
Doctor Barker came to Boonville in April, 1846, and com- menced the practice of medicine. He is the oldest physician living in the county.
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If the many enterprises depending upon the support of the citizens, which have aided materially in the upbuilding and im- provement of Boonville, were traced to the source of their suc- cess, Doctor Barker would be found foremost among the more liberal supporters. He was the largest stockholder in the first newspaper ever published in Boonville. He was one of the first contributors and supporters of the Lake Erie, Evansville and Southwestern Railway, built in 1873. He was also instru- mental in the organization of the Boonville National Bank, and was one of the largest stockholders. He is a leading mem- ber of the secret fraternities and was a charter member in the organization of the lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, Free and Accepted Masons and Knights of Pythias at Boonville.
In 1847 Dr. Barker was married to Mary Williams, of Penn- sylvania, and from this union had four children. Two are now dead. The only son, Wm. L. Barker, jr , is connected with the Boonville National Bank, and the only daughter, Katie, is the wife of John L. Taylor, Esq.
The career of Dr. Barker has been one of prominence in local politics. He was first one of the very few Whigs in this section and afterwards a Republican. He is strong in his likes and dis- likes, and a prominent characteristic is the tenacious, uncompro- mising spirit with which he adheres to his principles. This sec- tion of country has always been largely Democratic, and until quite recently it was impossible for a Republican to overcome the majority. Doctor Barker always conducted a vigorous cam- paign and he possesses ability as an impromptu speaker. He " stumped" Southern Indiana several times and used every hon- orable means in propagating Republican principles. Although formidable as a politician, he was highly esteemed as a citizen and gentleman of extraordinary intelligence by his political adver-
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Dr. W. L. Barker.
saries, and they speak of him in language highly complimentary. The growth of the Republican party in Warrick county is doubtless as much due to the indefatigable efforts of this pioneer champion of the cause as to any other one man. He was sev- eral times pressed into candidacy for office by his party. In 1864 he was a candidate for State Senator from the district com- prising the counties of Spencer, Perry and Warrick. Benoni S. Fuller was his opponent and were citizens of the same county. They canvassed the district in joint discussion. Dr. Barker was, of course, defeated, but he ran ahead of his ticket between two and three hundred votes, besides receiving a majority in War- rick county.
In 1868 he was again the opponent of Benoni S. Fuller for Representative of Warrick county. He was also nominated by his party as a candidate for Representative against Nathan Pyeatte, the Democratic nominee. Although defeated . Doctor Barker's majority in Boon township alone was near two hundred, while he beat Pyeatte twelve votes in his own township.
Although something of a politician Doctor Barker has not been an ambitious office-seeker, but has devoted his energies chiefly to his profession, in which he has enjoyed a large, lucrative practice ever since he located here thirty-five years ago. He is a physician of extraordinary skill and ability, and stands high among the medical practitioners of the State.
JUDGE J. W. B. MOORE
Judge Moore was born near Waterloo, Seneca county, N. Y., on the 5th day of November, 1801. He was an only child, and early left an orphan, his father having been lost at sea, leaving him and his mother in limited circumstances, but pos- sessed of a small farm near Waterloo. The son worked on the farm in the spring and summer, and attended such schools as
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Warrick and its Prominent People.
the county afforded in the autumn and winter. He early obtained a thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of book-keeping, which was of great advantage to him later in life. When he was about eighteen years old he became very anxious to read law with his uncle, Joel W. Bacon, then a distinguished lawyer of Western New York, but his mother had, from some cause or other, imbibed an unreasonable prejudice against the profession, and she determined that he should not in any event become a lawyer; and, being a woman of more than ordinary firmness, she had her way. She afterwards induced him to apprentice himself, as was then the custom, to Dr. Wells, the leading physician and surgeon of that locality, with whom he remained some two years. His mother meantime marrying a second husband, and the profession of medicine being distaste- ful to him, he finally concluded to abandon it and come West. He had some difficulty in obtaining his mother's consent, who always had great influence over him, and for whom he always retained the greatest affection and reverence. This was, how - ever, at last obtained, and he started on horseback, with but a scant supply of money, and without any well defined notions where he should stop. His journey must have been inexpressi- bly tedious and lonesome.
Shortly after he started he took the ague, with which he was afflicted at frequent intervals for some two years and more. The chill would come on frequently when he was in a wilder- ness, far from any habitation or human beings. At such times he would get down from his horse, unsaddle it and tie it to a limb, using the saddle for a pillow and the blanket for a cover- ing. When sufficiently recovered he would mount and pursue his journey. He traveled until he arrived at Indianaplis, which had been recently laid out, and designed for the capital of the State. Here he found an uncle, Seth. Bacon, who owned a
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Judge J. W. B. Moore.
saw-mill, and who gave him employment in it until something better should offer. His uncle was very kind to him, which the Judge afterwards had ample opportunity of repaying with inter- est. The uncle, in his old days, lost his property, and became broken in health and energy, with a large family on his hands to support. The Judge, hearing of his condition, visited him, and brought him from the central part of this State, and, after providing him with the necessary supplies, placed him on a good farm, where he remained until his death. Folsomville now stands on a part of the farm.
After working awhile in the mill, as we have stated, he ob- tained a school, which he taught until he made the acquaintance of James Linton, of Charlestown, Clarke county, Indiana, where he afterwards moved. This gentleman was a merchant, and employed the Judge to sell goods and keep books. He went with Mr. Linton to Charlestown, where he remained several years. After remaining a while with Mr. Linton, he obtained employment of Mr. Austin, in the capacity of salesman and book-keeper. Soon after going to Charlestown he united him- self with the old school Presbyterian church, in which faith he had been reared. Finally, he went into business with Mr. Shockly, as a partner, receiving a part of the profits for his ser- vices as manager, salesman and book-keeper.
On the third day of December, 1827, he and Orra M. Shelby were married. She was the eldest daughter of Isaac Shelby, who was then, and who had been for some years, clerk of the Clark Circuit Court. Soon after his marriage he moved his fam- ily to Rockport, Spencer county, bringing with him a small stock of goods, but no capital except unlimited credit at Louis- ville, which was then the emporium of this section. Having remained in business at Rockport about a year, he sold his stock of goods, and bought of John Williams the farm upon
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which Henry Beeler, Esq., now resides. He immediately moved to his farm, and was, in the course of years, elected Probate Judge of the county, which he held until elected clerk of the Warrick Circuit Court, receiving his certificate of qualifications, which was then required by law before he could be commis- sioned, from Judge Goodlet, father of N. M. Goodlet, Esq., of Evansville. In 1844 he was re-elected clerk and recorder for seven years, and it was universally conceded that he was the best clerk in Southern Indiana. In 1856 he was elected Judge of the Common Pleas District, composed of this and Vander- burgh counties, and served a term of four years.
In 1861 when President Lincoln issued his first proclamation for 75,000 men, it created intense excitement in this locality. The President was pronounced as a tyrant and usurper, and the call was characterized as unconstitutional, and an outrage upon the South. Judge Moore took the side of his country, procured posters to be struck and put up, calling meetings all over the county, at which he appeared, justified the action of the Presi- dent, and urged the young men to enlist, to maintain the integ- rity of the Union. In 1862 he, notwithstanding hisage, enlisted as a private in Capt. Pace's Company, Ist Ind. Cav., Governor Baker commanding, and went with his regiment to the South- west, and participated in the battle of Frederickstown. He remained with his regiment nearly two years, but a soldier's life proved too much for his constitution, and he was compelled to accept a discharge, much against his wishes.
He was a man of great firmness of will and energy of purpose in what he conceived to be right. When he moved to the farm we have mentioned, it, like almost all others, was incumbered with deadened timber, which had to be removed before it could be cultivated with any success or profit. It was then the uni- versal custom to have whiskey at all log-rollings, barn-raisings,
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Judge J. W. B. Moore.
etc. He determined not to have whiskey on his farm, and so expressed himself. His neighbors remonstrated, and assured him that he would not be able to get his logs rolled, barns raised, or harvesting done without it. He persisted in his deter- mination, and to the credit of the neighbors, be it said, not one refused to assist him. The good example he set was soon fol- lowed by all, and thus a pernicious, degrading custom was entirely abrogated.
When he moved to this county he found no Presbyterian church, nor any Presbyterians ; but believing it to be his duty to unite himself with some one of the numerous families of the church of God, he chose the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he remained a consistent and acceptable member from about 1830 until the time of his death. In those early days preachers were few, and church houses still fewer. His house was often used as a preaching place and has ever been a wel- come house to the itinerant: those moral heroes who worked out the way for the car of progress, and to whom we are so greatly indebted for our advanced positions, in respect to religion and intelligence.
Thus lived and died an honest man, a sincere christian, a kind husband and an indulgent father, of whom it may be said that " his last days were his best days."
He left as his widow the wife of his early years, two daugh- ters, Mrs. T. W. Hammond and Mrs. J. B. Ashley ; and two sons, Isaac S., and Robert D. O. Moore ; several grandchild- ren, and a large circle of friends to mourn his loss. - From Boon- ville Enquirer.
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Warrick and its Prominent People.
ROBERT PERIGO.
There are very few persons in Warrick county who don't know Robert Perigo. He has been a resident of the county over fifty years, and is one of its most prominent citizens. He was born in Ohio county, Kentucky, September 6th, 1818, and his parents were Jonathan and Isabella Perigo. His father was a farmer in good circumstances. He removed to War- rick county when Robert was six months old settling near Boonville. The first school he ever attended was held in the old court-house at Boonville, three miles distant from where his father lived, which he was compelled to walk daily. The teacher of this school was Thomas Fitzgerald, a man of rare scholastic attainments for the time and place, who was after- wards Lieutenant-Governor of Michigan, and a prominent poli- tician. Mr. Perigo was an apt student, and received what was regarded as a very good common school education at that day. When twenty years old he was granted permission to leave home and work at whatever he wanted to. He obtained employment with General Joe Lane, who at that time was proprietor of a wood-yard, situated just below Three Mile Island, in Vander- burgh county. Mr. Perigo's duties consisted of attending to the books and general business of his employer, who was fre- quently absent from home. He was, of course, very intimately acquainted with the affairs of Lane, who at that time was a very popular and influential man, and he can relate many interesting reminiscences of the illustrious veteran. He remained in Lane's employ about three years, and he remembers him as the most genial and sociable person he ever met.
George L. Masters.
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Robert Perigo.
September 12th, 1838, Mr. Perigo was married to Elizabeth Youngblood, a daughter of the Rev. John W. Youngblood. The results of this marriage were eleven children-nine girls and two boys-all of whom are still living, except two. After his mar- riage Mr. Perigo engaged in farming, where he now lives. He held the office of trustee of Boon township during the entire time the old congressional township division was in force. In 1864 he was nominated by the Democratic party for representa- tive of Warrick county, and was elected by a majority of 156 over James F. St. Clair, Esq., which was a notable victory at that time. He was an active member of the sessions of the Indiana Legislature in 1865-66. He was re-elected representa- tive in 1876, and was a member of the session of the Legislature of 1877. He has held various minor offices. As a parliamenta- rian he has few equals in Warrick county. He is a Democrat, and has never sustained a defeat but once for any office for which he was a candidate. His career has been a notable one in local politics.
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