LaTourette, Cpt Schuyler - L-Obituaries

A Hoosier Listening Post by Kate Milner Rabb

Among the many coverlet weavers who have been found to have lived and carried on their work in this state the best known were the member of the LaTourette family of Fountain County.  A few years ago on the occasion of a visit to Covington, Ind I went out to the old LaTourette home to see Schuyler LaTourette the son of John, the first member of the family to come to this state.  At that time, Capt. LaTourette was almost 90 but was very bright and active and he told me the story of this coverlet weaving family as we sat in the old house built of brick made from clay from the banks of Graham creek, flowing nearby.  He showed me the ruins of the old loom house house which served as the first cabin of the family on coming to the county and the frame work of the old loom on which the famous coverlets were woven.  

This morning from J. Wesley Whicker of Attica comes the word that Capt. LaTourette died on March 26.;  A sketch of his life by Mr. Whicker in the Veedersburg News is so interesting as a picture of the type of men who came to this state in its early days that it is given below:

Schuyler LaTourette was born at the LaTourette homestead in Wabash Township Fountain County Aug 24, 1834 the son of John and Sarah Schenck LaTourette the 10th child in a family of 14.  He was the last of the family and lived to be older than any of the rest of the family.

The American family of LaTourettes track their family record to one Jean LaTourette who came from Ossun in the province of Bears, France before 1693. The marriage records of New York City show this ancestor to have married Marie Mercerau from Royal, province of Saintonge, France July 16, 1693.  His mother's family was from Holland and the marriage records of the Dutch Reformed Church of Freehold and Middletown NJ contain the record of the marriage of Garret Schenck and Nellie Covenhoven or Conover, Aug 24, 1797.  Sarah Schenck who became Sarah Schenck LaTourette was born July 19, 1799.

John LaTourette and Sarah Schenck were married in Somerset County NJ March 29, 1817 and immediately moved to the state of Ohio.  John LaTourette had served in the War of 1812 for which service he received a lang grant of 160 acres of land. Garrett, his eldest son died in Tippecanoe County leaving a widow and two children.  He gave this grant of land to his son's widow and she laid it in the state of Iowa and lived on it and reared her children there.

Both of Schuyler LaTourette's parents' families fought with Washington in the Revolutionary War and some of them have followed the American flag in every war since that time. Capt. LaTourette and two of his brothers served in the Civil War in the Union Army in different regiments.

Capt. Schuyler LaTourette was born and lived all his life on the farm in Fountain County that his parents bought and moved on when they came from Ohio in 1827.  This farm had been the camping ground of the Pottawottomi Indians and the home of the Prince Kaukeema Burnett, the sister of Topenabee the principal chief of the Pottawottomies and the daughter of the great Chief Aniquibe. About 1820, Kaukeema Burnett and her family moved from this farm to Burnettsville in White County.  John LaTourette bought this farm from the pioneer who entered it from the government and the family of 14 was reared on this farm.  The maple grove that is yet furnishing sap was operated by the Pottawottomi Indians until it was taken as a homestead.  After John and Sarah LaTourette purchased this farm they too operated the sugar grove orchard. It probably has been in continous operation for 150 years."

After the services in the Civil War in which he became captain of Company H, 63d Indiana Volunteers, Schuyler LaTourette returned to take up his residence on the home farm which is now the residence of his son, Fred.  Mr. Whickar tells of the affection in which he was held in the community and of his gay spirit, inheritance of his French ancestors which persisted to the last.  He describes too the happy life of this pioneer who saw the tractor plow the ground where he had seen the oxen break the new ground sod and he gathered fruit from the trees he had planted and pruned."  This article suggests that Mr. Whicker or some other member of the Fountain County Historical Society should write the history of the coverlet industry carried on so successfully by this pioneer family!