The Uhl family have been identified with this section of Northwestern Indiana for more than half a century. An earlier generation furnished loyal soldiers to the Union army during the Civil war, and patriotism, stanch [sic] civic loyalty, and business integrity have been characteristics of all members of the family. The best known representative of the name at present in White County is Stewart C. Uhl, who for the past fifteen years has been engaged in business at Wolcott where he is proprietor of a cigar factory and also operates the chief automobile garage and supply station.
His father was the late George Uhl, whose name will always be associated with White County affairs during the years following the Civil war. He held the office of county auditor a number of years, and after seven years of almost constant suffering from wounds which he had received as a Union soldier died on June 9, 1893. He is buried at the Monticello Cemetery, but after more than twenty years his memory is still enshrined in the grateful hearts of his fellow citizens.
One of five children born to John and Eva K. Uhl, George Uhl was born at Asch, Austria, July 21, 1842. A few years later his father and two other children died, and the widowed mother then brought her three sons, of whom George was the oldest, to America in 1854. She lived on a farm in Huron County, Ohio, until 1857, and then moved to Tippecanoe Township in Pulaski County, Indiana, where she bought a tract of swamp land and began its improvement into a farm. Mrs. Eva K. Uhl was a splendid type of the pioneer woman. Her death occurred in Pulaski County in 1901. For her second marriage she became the wife of Henry Crites. She had brought her three sons to America in order that they might avoid the compulsory military service of the old country, but her sons had hardly reached maturity bdore two of them volunteered for service in the Union armies. Of these three sons only one is now living, Herman, whose home is seven miles northwest of Winamac. Another son, John, died while a soldier in the Civil war.
Twelve years of age when brought to America, George Uhl had received some training in the common schools of his native country, also attended school in Ohio and Indiana, and after the war was for two years a student in the old Male and Female College at Valparaiso. He was about nineteen years of age when the war broke out, and from Pulaski County he went to Reynolds in White County and joined Company K of the Twentieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His military record is one that should be preserved in any history of White County. He first went to Maryland and was on guard duty near Baltimore, and during the fall of 1861 spent several weeks at Cape Hatteras. Early in 1862 his regiment was around Fortress Monroe and his company had some part in the memorable engagement between the rebel ram Merrimac and the Union vessels the Cumberland and Congress. On the following day he witnessed that epoch making naval battle between the Monitor and Merrimac. His regiment assisted in the capture of Norfolk and Portsmouth and was then transferred to the Army of the Potomac, arriving in front of Richmond before the beginning of the seven days' fight. At Glendale on June 30, 1862, he was wounded and captured and taken to Richmond, and for several months was in the Confederate prisons Libby and Belle Isle. He was later paroled and sent to the hospital at Annapolis, and on being exchanged rejoined his regiment near Fredericksburg. He took part in the great campaign including the battles at Chancellorsville, and at the beginning of the Gettysburg campaign was assigned to duty in the quartermaster's department. He was with his regiment in New York City during the draft riots in the summer of 1863. Thereafter his regiment was in active service with the Army of the Potomac in its various movements until February, 1864. The term of enlistment for three years having expired, most of his old regiment veteranized, and after a furlough which he spent at home he rejoined his command in time to participate in the Battle of the Wilderness, in the engagements on the Po River, at Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Weldon Railroad, Hatcher's Run, and in the many engagements leading up to the fall of Petersburg. During part of this time as first sergeant he had command of the remnant of Company K. On March 25, 1865, while in front of Petersburg the Twentieth Regiment had its last battle. There Mr. Uhl was struck by a cannon ball which almost severed his left leg, and at the close of the day only two of the original company which started from Reynolds in 1861 were able to answer at roll call. Mr. Uhl spent several months in a hospital at Washington, and was finally discharged with all the honors and credit that go to a gallant soldier in July, 1865.
George Uhl was a resident of Monticello from 1867 until his death. On removing to that city he intended to take up a career as a physician and spent one year in reading medicine under Dr. William S. Raymond. In 1868 he was the choice of his party, the republican, for the office of county auditor, and was elected and reelected for two terms, serving from 1868 until 1876. He made a most creditable record in the office, and afterwards employed his time in looking after his varied business interests. Though starting life a poor man, he made himself successful, and it was a success of the most honorable nature. He was never accused of anything underhanded, and stood foremost in the esteem of his fellow citizens. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church. He was also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he held the office of Noble Grand, and was at one time commander of Tippecanoe Post No. 51, of the Grand Army of the Republic at Monticello.
On December 12, 1872, George Uhl married Miss Emily C. Hamlin. The Hamlins were of English descent, and her father was Dr. Philo Hamlin, who came from Juniata County, Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. George Uhl were born three children, and each of these has made an honorable record in life.
Byron H., the oldest, who was born in East Monticello, October 25, 1873, was graduated from the Monticello High School in 1890 as valedictorian of his class, then spent one year in the Valparaiso Business College, and began his career as a stenographer in the offices of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway at South Chicago, Illinois. In August, 1892, he was appointed stenographer at the Federal Emigration Station at Ellis Island. For more than twenty years he has been identified with that department of the Federal Government, rising to the position of chief clerk, then deputy commissioner, and recently, after the resignation of Commissioner Williams and before Commissioner Howe took office on September 1, 1914, he served as acting commissioner, having performed those duties for more than a year. At present he is deputy commissioner of emigration, and has been identified with that department since the second Cleveland administration. His home is at Rutherford, New Jersey. He is a member of the Masonic Order and of the Mystic Shrine. In 1899 Byron H. Uhl married Miss Euphemia Elsmann of New Haven, Connecticut. Their five children are: Agnes E., deceased; Helen M.; Ruth A.; Hildegard E.; and Emily C.
Agnes E., the only daughter of the late George Uhl, likewise had a career of more than ordinary attainment. She attended the Monticello High School, graduated from the Pharmacy Department at Purdue University with the class of 1895, and then entered the Woman's Medical College in Chicago, where she finished the course in three years, graduating M. D. in the class of 1898. She was then appointed an interne [sic] in the Woman's Hospital of Chicago and died there January 12, 1900. She had been married just a week before her death to Dr. Cubbins.
Stewart C. Uhl, who has spent most of his business life in Wolcott, was born at Monticello, June 1, 1878. He attended the Monticello High School, took a business course in the West Side Business College of Chicago, and on August 16, 1900, arrived at Wolcott, where he established a cigar manufactory, and has built that wholesale business up to flourishing proportions. In 1911 he established what is known as the Wolcott Auto and Supply Company, and now gives his time to the management of both these well known concerns.
In politics Mr. Uhl is a conservative republican, and has long been one of the influential figures in the party in this section of White County. He served as town clerk at Wolcott for two years, during 1909-11, has been secretary of the Wolcott School Board, has served as precinct committeeman from the second precinct of Princeton township, and is one of the live wires in keeping up the republican organization to a point of utmost efficiency. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church at Wolcott.
On April 9, 1902, Mr. Uhl married Miss Leta A. Spencer, daughter of Samuel T. and Nancy J. Spencer. To their marriage was born one daughter, Margaret Alice, on August 25, 1907.
On March 4, 1915, death removed one of the veteran members of the White County bar. William E. Uhl, in the estimation of his fellow lawyers, represented much of the best ability of his profession.
He was born in Carroll County, Indiana, October 25, 1848, his parents being Peter and Emma (Saunders) Uhl, his father a farmer by occupation.
After the death of his mother, which occurred when he was five years of age, he came to the home of his grandparents, William and Matilda Saunders, at Monticello, and lived with them until 1857. Soon afterwards he returned to live with his father and stepmother at Delphi, and shortly afterwards the family removed to Fulton County, where he spent the rest of his boyhood on a farm. In the meantime he had attended the neighboring schools, and at the age of twenty secured a certificate and did his first work as a teacher. Altogether he taught through three winters. In the spring of 1870 Mr. Uhl took up the study of law in the office of Hon. A. W. Reynolds at Monticello. He was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1872, and at once took up active practice at Monticello, which city remained his home the rest of his life.
Mr. Uhl was a democrat in politics, and in October, 1872, was elected district attorney for the Common Pleas Court of White, Pulaski and Benton counties. Only the older lawyers of White County ever practiced before the Common Pleas Court, an institution which was abolished by the Legislature in the January following Mr. Uhl's election as attorney for that court. In place of this old court was established the Circuit Court in the present form, and White County became a part of the circuit including Tippecanoe County. Mr. Uhl became prosecuting attorney by appointment of the new circuit, and at a special election held in October, 1873, was regularly chosen for that office. He discharged his duties with ability for two years. The Thirty-ninth Judicial Circuit, comprising White, Carroll and Pulaski counties, was formed in 1875, and Mr. Uhl was appointed as the first prosecuting attorney of the new circuit.
On October 15, 1874, Mr. Uhl married Miss Franc A. Brown, of Rochester, New York. The only child of this union living is Fara, wife of B. A. Timmons, of Monticello.