SIMMS-Daniel - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

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 Stuart, Hammond & Simms is a native of Crawford County, Illinois where his birth occurred 13 Feb 1862. The family to which he belonged, consising of the father, mother, 3 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 10, 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 neighborhood and made commendable progress in thecommon 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 discontinued farm labor and went west, where he took up the life of a cowboy, spending the 3 succeeding years among the 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. Simmons went west in 1877 but after spending 3 years there (picture) 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 laudable object in view, he returned to Fountain County, Indiana but finding his parents in very poor health and pratically unable to earn a livelihood 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 hand, that he might minister to the necessities of the family. It was not long until the secured employment on the Peoria division of the Big Four railroad then in process of constrution, his first duty being the driving of spikes, very hard and exhausting work which only strong nad 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 hiim through a term of school. Again the ambitious young man was doomed to a bitter disappointment for no sooner had he perfected arrangments to begin his studies than he was stricken with a severe attack of typhoid fever which within a comparatively brief period not only reduced his strength to the lowest possible minimum but also exhausted his meagre capital. When sufficiently recovered, however, he addressed himself with renewed courage and fortitutde 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 evenings 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 sufficiently advanced to teach in the district school, which line of work he followed for some time, in this way procurding the necessary funds to enable him to attend several spring nad 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 subsequently 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 to his studies and researchers 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 continue longer in as an educator he finally resigned his position as principal of schools and in 1887 removed to Covington where he became associated with OS Douglass, and within a comparatively brief period rose to a position 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, tnedered him a partnership which was accepted and which continued 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, judicious 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 5 years, during which time they built up an extensive and lucrative business in the courts of Fountain and other counties, and became widely and favorable 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 favorable known and where he at once atained 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, 1899 when the subject withdrew to enter Stuart, Hammond & Simms. Sufficient has been said in the foregoing lines to afford a tolerably dorrect idea of Mr. Simms' rise and progres sin 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 brilliant 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 politica affairs and for a number of years he has been quite an active politician and 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 eminently 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 preeminently 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 themidst of the multitudinous cares and demands of a busy life, he is always approachable and affable, being gracious in his associations with his fellow men, and a true t ype of the intelligent, broad minded polished gentleman. Possessing strong and discriminating intellectual qualities, 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 influence. 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 at his home, to all the noble and gentle influences which such relations bring. His wife formerly Ezadora J. Wright has born him 3 children, a son who died at age 3 1/2 and two daughters, the elder of which died at age 9.