JASPER
M. DRESSER, State Senator, and a prominent and influential citizen of
LaFayette,
was born in Litchfield, Hillsdale County, Michigan, the date of his
birth
being May 17, 1838. He is the son of PARKER and LYDIA (CRONKHITE)
DRESSER, his father being born and reared in Connecticut, and his
mother
a native of the State of New York. They were married near
Watertown,
New York, and in 1836 settled in Michigan, where they lived until their
death.
JASPER M. DRESSER was reared in
his native State, receiving his education
in Hillsdale College. He came to LaFayette, Indiana, in March,
1858,
and until the following November he clerked in a dry goods
establishment.
He then began the study of law with Chase & Wilstach, and in 1859
was
admitted to the bar to practice in the Circuit and Common Pleas courts.
He remained with this firm two years, and in 1860 went to Illinois, and
began dealing in grain at Buckley, Iroquois County, where he remained
until
February, 1861. He then went to Washington D.C., and March 7 was
appointed
to a clerkship in the general land office. April 15 he was mustered
into
the United States service with a militia company of which he was a
member,
this company being the first company mustered in after the President's
call for 75,000 men. Mr. DRESSER was in the three month's service and
took
part in the battle of Bull Run, where he was wounded. He remained in
Washington
until August 14, 1861, when he was appointed Chief of Artillery on the
staff of GENERAL JOHN A. McCLERNAND. He organized the artillery of
McCLERNAND's
brigade, and was made Captain of DRESSER's battery, serving with the
battery
until April, 1862, participating in the engagements at Belmont and
Forts
Henry and Donelson, and through the Shiloh campaigns. He was promoted
in
infantry service April 1, 1862, and resigned to accept the position of
Lieutenant Colonel in a Michigan regiment.
After the battle of Shiloh he
came back to Indiana, and was in the
thirty day's service witht he Seventy-sixth Indiana under CAPTAIN ORTH.
He was appointed Major of the Eighty-sixth Indiana Infantry, in
September,
1862, and went with his regiment to Covington, Kentucky, thence to
Louisville,
and was in the campaign through Kentucky in pursuit of GENERAL BRAGG,
and
participated in the battles of Perryville, LaVergne and Stone River,
being
wounded at the latter battle. He was
then under the care of a surgeon until June, 1863, when he resigned,
and returned to LaFayette, Indiana, and commenced the practice of law
with
JOHN D. GOUGAR, practicing under the firm name of DRESSER & GOUGAR
almost three years. After the dissolution of the partnership with
Mr. GOUGAR, he was appointed general agent of the Merchant's Insurance
Company of Hartford, for the Western States. This company was one of
the
unfortunates in the great Chicago fire of October,
1871, and after closing up its losses he was appointed to the general
agency for the Western States of the National Fire Insurance Company of
Hartford, and managed its business for about eleven years. In 1880 he
was
elected and served for one year as President of the Underwriters
Association
of the Northwest, and though not now in the insurance business, is
continued
on its rolls as an honorary member of the association. He then
practiced
alone until February, 1887, when WILLIAM C.
MITCHELL became associated with him. In March, 1881, he bought the
abstract business of CHARLES FORD. Mr. DRESSER was elected Indiana
State
Senator from Tippecanoe County in Novmeber, 1886, and served on the
committees
on Elections, Education, Benevolent Institutions, Congressional
Apportionment
and Executive Appointments.
He was married at LaFayette,
Indiana, January 28, 1863, to MARY BECKNER,
who still abides with him. They have three children living--EMMA C.,
JASPER
M., and DEAN H., and two have gone before. ALTA M., their eldest child,
died June 29, 1882, at the age of eighteen, and MARY died at birth.
Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Tippecanoe
County, Indiana,
pp. 366-369
The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1888
