Prominent among the business men of White County whose activities have served to materially advance the interests of the community, and whose superior talents have contributed to the business and financial prestige of their various communities, is found George W. Van Alstine, president of the White County Loan, Savings and Trust Company, of Monticello. A native of Hillsdale County, Michigan, Mr. Van Alstine was born February 12, 1843, the second of the four children born to the marriage of Adam Van Alstine and Catherine Gay, the former for many years employed as a telegraph lineman and later as a retired farmer. Prior to the outbreak of the Civil war the father removed with his family to Illinois, and during that struggle served the Union as a soldier, it being a rather remarkable fact that he was a member of the same company and regiment as two of his sons, the One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment, Company K, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. In his later life Adam Van Alstine moved to Rose Lawn, Indiana, and there his death occurred.
George W. Van Alstine lost his mother when he was four years of age, and his early education was largely secured in the schools of hard work, hard knocks and experience. Such literary training as he obtained was secured in the common schools, and, as stated by Mr. Van Alstine, "there was but little of that," as he was compelled to stir himself continually to make a living. As a lad he worked hard on the farm, receiving as compensation a wage of $13 a month, and he was thus engaged, at the age of nineteen years, when he answered his country's call for troops to serve in the Civil war. On August 6, 1862, with his brother, Charles H., he enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and with that organization served until the close of hostilities. After a short period in the camp of instruction, at Kankakee, Illinois, Company C was sent to Chicago and there incorporated into the Third Board of Trade Regiment, which was mustered for service October lst, and left Camp Hancock, via Chicago, November 6, 1862, for Memphis, Tennessee. The first service of the One Hundred and Thirteenth Infantry was in the Tallahatchie expedition, in November, 1862, and Mr. Van Alstine's baptism of fire occurred at the battle of Arkansas Post, where 5,500 Confederate prisoners were taken, while the regiment lost 5 killed and 22 wounded. After this engagement, Companies C, D, F, I and K were detailed to guard prisoners to Camp Butler, where they remained until March, 1864, when the regiment came together at Memphis, soon after which it was engaged in the fruitless expedition against Forrest. At Guntown, Mississippi, but seventeen out of sixty-three Union soldiers escaped from the forces of the gray, and in this engagement Mr. Van Alstine was wounded in the left side, the bullet breaking two ribs. After almost incredible hardships he managed to get back to Memphis, and did not allow his wound to incapacitate him, for he next participated in the engagement at Muscle Shoals, where the Federal troops once more suffered defeat at the hands of General Forrest's command. Returning to Memphis, Mr. Val [sic] Alstine was engaged in detached duty during the remainder of the war, and was mustered out of the service June 15, 1865. His war record is an excellent one.
Returning to Illinois, Mr. Van Alstine located at Momence and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Not long thereafter, October 21, 1865, he was married to Mary Ellen Kile, and for many years they made their home on the farm, although later he turned his attention to mercantile operations and for four years kept a store at Lowell, Indiana. In the fall of 1892 Mr. Van Alstine came to Monticello, Indiana, and with his son established the electric light plant here, and in 1893 took up his residence here permanently. Mr. Van Alstine has been president of the White County Loan, Savings & Trust Company for four years, and under his direction it has grown, developed and prospered, until it is one of the leading enterprises of the community. A republican in politics, he served Monticello for four years as postmaster, and then resigned because of his increasing business interests. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Alstine have two children: Ernest E.; and Minnie J., the latter
the wife of F. F. Heighway, county superintendent of schools of Lake County, Indiana.
Abram Van Voorst died at the home of his son, Henry Van Voorst, Friday evening, March 24, 1899. He was born in New York State, May 24, 1812, and afterwards removed to Lucas County, Ohio, where he lived until the death of his first wife in 1849, when he located in West Point Township, in White County. Later he moved to Reynolds and in 1897 came to Monticello. He was married three times, and left surviving him his last wife and four sons, Henry, who died in 1910, being by his first marriage, and the other three, George, John and Earl, by his last.
A career of signal usefulness, characterized by earnest and well-directed effort and crowned by success in several lines of endeavor, has been that of Charles Van Voorst, president of the State Bank of Chalmers, and the owner of large and valuable tracts of land in White County, where for many years he was engaged in agricultural pursuits. Always enterprising and progressive, Mr. Van Voorst was probably the first man in his community to commence ditching, and this is but an illustration of the manner in which he has assisted his locality to advance, for each of his ventures has in some way promoted the general welfare.
Charles Van Voorst was born in Knox County, Ohio, February 23, 1864, and is a son of James S. and Mary A. (Debolt) Van Voorst, also natives of Knox County. The father, who was for many years a farmer and also engaged in various business and financial ventures, died January 16, 1914, at Chalmers, while the mother passed away some years before. There were eight children in the family, Charles being the fourth in order of birth. The boyhood and youth of Charles Van Voorst were not characterized by the usual advantages granted to those of his age, and the greater part of his education has been secured from experience and self-teaching. He was but sixteen years of age when he left the parental roof and began farming as a hand on the properties of the neighboring agriculturists, and from that time to the present has always been self-supporting. When he left his home community he went to Streater, Illinois, near which town he secured employment at a salary of $18 a month. At the end of a year Mr. Van Voorst returned to White County, Indiana, and here made his home with an uncle, Abrams Van Voorst, and while living with this relative secured his only school training, attending for about two terms in all, and sawing wood to pay his board. When he again left White County he struck out for the West, arriving in Indian Territory, where he became a herder of cattle on a large ranch. Six months of this kind of work, however, sufficed and he then again came to White County and invested his small capital in a team and meager equipment and started farming operations on a rented property which belonged to his father. After two years Mr. Van Voorst leased considerable land and for a time continued to "keep bach," but finally decided to establish a home of his own and accomplished this by his marriage to Miss Mary J. Roe, the daughter of John Roe, who lived near Pine Grove. The ceremony, which took place in 1886, was performed by J. C. Tedford. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Van Voorst, all in West Point Township: Goldie, who married Charles F. Minch and has two children, Mary Catherine and Charlean; and Mabel and Gilbert, who are single and make their home with their parents. The children were all given high school and collegiate educations.
For several years after his marriage Mr. Van Voorst continued to rent land, and during the first months of his married life made his home in a little log cabin consisting of one room. This was connected to a frame house, but a family was already living therein, and Mr. Van Voorst was compelled to wait until it vacated. It is a curious coincidence that this farm had been formerly owned by Mr. Van Voorst's great-grandfather. Years of hard, persistent work brought to Mr. Van Voorst the necessary capital with which to purchase the Kennedy farm, and from that time to the present his fortunes have been on the increase. This property was a tract of 160 acres, on which there were located a house and barn, and some few other improvements, but the land was far from fully developed and there had been no ditching done. Here it was, in 1890, that Mr. Van Voorst believes he did the first ditching in this section. In the years that followed Mr. Van Voorst made numerous improvements, built new structures, and continued to add to his holdings until he now has 2,000 acres, all earned by himself except forty acres which he received from his father.
Mr. Van Voorst entered the financial field in 1897, when, with Matt Reams, he started a private banking institution at Chalmers. In 1907 Mr. Reams' interests were disposed of to Mr. Van Voorst's father, the bank became a state institution known as the State Bank of Chalmers, and the original capital of $10,000 was enlarged to $50,000. When this concern started to do business it was located in one corner of a hardware store, but the bank now occupies quarters in a modern structure which was erected by Mr. Van Voorst and his father especially for banking purposes and which is known as the Van Voorst Building. Charles Van Voorst started, in 1901 or 1902, the Bank of Kempton, with his father, but the latter subsequently sold his interests in this concern, which was capitalized at $25,000, and was made a State institution in 1907. Charles Van Voorst continued as president of this bank until January 1, 1914, since which time he has had no official position therein.
While Mr. Van Voorst has not taken an active part in political affairs, he has contributed of his abilities, means and influence in the support of men and measures which his judgment tells him will be of benefit to the city of his adoption. He was reared in the faith of the Baptist Church, and has continued as a member of that denomination to the present time. His fraternal connections are with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 775, in all of which he has numerous friends. His career has been one which is to be commended and which entitles him to the regard in which he is held in his community as one of White County's representative men.
In the old cemetery in
Monticello is a little old-fashioned
tombstone on which is carved the following epitaph: "In Memory of Delia
Van Voorst, wife of John Van Voorst, who was born the 15th day of April, 1789,
and died Sept. the 15th, 1824, Aged 35 years & 5 mo." At the time of her
death, which was ten years prior to the organization of White County, no white
man had explored this part of the country. The presence of this grave is
explained by the fact that she died and was buried near Maumee, Ohio, and after
the lapse of nearly fifty years her remains were brought here to be placed by
the side of her husband. Delia Van Voorst was the great grandmother of Bert Van
Voorst, cashier of the State Bank of Monticello.
For sixty years Henry Van Voorst lived in White County and in different stations and under widely different conditions did what history must call an important individual share of the world's work. At successive times he was a farmer boy, a soldier who helped to preserve the integrity of the Union, a laborer at daily wages, in the railroad service, the efficient incumbent of a county office, and afterwards for nearly twenty years identified with banking.
Henry Van Voorst was born February 27, 1844, in what is now a suburb of the City of Toledo in Lucas County, Ohio. His parents were Abram and Mary (Murrey) Van Voorst, the mother having died in 1849. Abram Van Voorst was born in New York State of Holland Dutch descent. In 1850 he brought his family to White County, Indiana, and located on a farm adjoining the Town of Reynolds. Henry Van Voorst was then six years of age, and grew up in the country around Reynolds. Though the country schools were at that time defective in many ways, Henry Van Voorst by his own industry and ambition acquired a substantial education. Soon after his seventeenth birthday the Civil war broke out. He enlisted for service in the Union army August 7, 1861, and in spite of a small stature and his youth was accepted. He went with other recruits to Camp Morton at Indianapolis, where after a short time the company to which he was assigned was disbanded. When he enlisted he was earnest in the matter of becoming a soldier and instead of returning home with honor he re-enlisted, and became a member of Company F of the Twenty-seventh Indiana Infantry. The regiment was soon afterwards sent to Washington, D. C., and for two years was connected with the eastern armies. The regiment subsequently joined the troops under General Hooker in the Army of the Cumberland, and saw another year of active service. The Twenty-seventh Indiana Infantry while in the East was engaged in many battles, including Front Royal, Newtown, Winchester, Cedar Mountain Second Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. In the West it was connected with the Army of the Cumberland during the Atlanta campaign, and marched with Sherman to the sea and from Savannah north through the Carolinas to Washington. Among other battles it fought at Resaca, New Hope Church, Kolbs Farm, Peach Tree Creek, the Siege of Atlanta, Averysborough and Bentonville. Mr. Van Voorst was absent from his regiment and from duty only when kept away by wounds. He was wounded at Antietam, again at Chancellorsville and a third time at Resaca. Recovering from these injuries, he was in the hospital at Philadelphia, later at Washington, and for a time at Nashville. While he did his full share of duty in the ranks, carrying a musket, his proficiency as a penman caused him to be often employed in company and regimental headquarters. He thus became acquainted with all the commanding officers as well as the privates, and as a mark of favor the regimental commander at one time offered him an official position, but which he declined to accept from his keen sense of justice and courtesy to others who were in the regular line of promotion. As his comrades have testified, Mr. Van Voorst was not only brave and faithful as a soldier, but was exceptionally congenial and amiable as a companion and comrade. His training as a clerk in army headquarters proved an experience of great value to him in his subsequent career.
When he returned from the war he was a man in years but had not yet found a man's place in the world. He made his services count in whatever position he could secure, taught school several winters in the country, and there is an old picture extant showing him and a fellow comrade of the army while employed in a brick yard. Somewhat later he learned telegraphy, and was appointed station agent at Reynolds, on what is now the Panhandle Railroad. That was his means of serving his community for four years and he gained a large acquaintance with railroad men.
In 1876 Henry Van Voorst was elected auditor of White County, and by re-election in 1880 held that responsible position eight years. His carefully kept records of the auditor's office are of themselves a high testimonial to his official administration, and in that position he showed the honesty and fidelity which have been characteristic of his entire career.
It was in 1891 that Mr. Van Voorst embarked in the organization of a private banking company known as the Bank of Monticello, which began business on North Main Street with himself as cashier. In 1895 this institution was incorporated as the State Bank of Monticello, which for twenty years has been the leading bank of White County. In 1897 the State Bank acquired the building and good will of the old Citizens Bank, and moved to the new location. Behind every institution of this kind stands the character and integrity of the individuals who constitute the managing personnel and the good name and upright record of Henry Van Voorst are indelibly impressed upon the material resources of the State Bank of Monticello. He remained active in its management until about 1905, when ill health intervened to impair his efficiency. On the last day of his life, April 16, 1910, Mr. Van Voorst slowly made his way to the bank, lingering quietly about the premises, inside and out, as had been his habit, and soon after returning home fell into the sleep of death.
The late Henry Van Voorst was a charter member of Tippecanoe Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Monticello, and for two years was its commander. He was deeply interested in the affairs of the Grand Army organization, and his public spirit and kindly sympathy were long an influence for good in this community. On December 24, 1868, a short time before he became railroad agent at Reynolds, Mr. Van Voorst married Mrs. Ellen Bunnell. There are two sons: Bert, at present cashier of the State Bank at Monticello; and Fred.
Among the old and honored families of White County none is held in higher esteem than that bearing the name Van Voorst, which was first established here nearly seventy years ago. There is still an extensive relationship of the name in different parts of the county, several of the family being closely identified with the State Bank of Chalmers, the president of which is Charles Van Voorst. Particular attention is given in this sketch to the career of the late James S. Van Voorst, who was for a period of half a century one of the county's leading citizens.
James S. Van Voorst was born in Marion County, Ohio, September 7, 1836, and died at the home of his daughter Mrs. James Morton McClure at Chalmers, January 16, 1914, aged seventy-seven years four months nine days. His parents were Sylvanus and Elizabeth (Kerr) Van Voorst. The paternal grandfather was John Van Voorst, a native of Pennsylvania but of Irish stock. The maternal grandfather was James Kerr, who was of Scotch ancestry and was born on the ocean while his parents were coming to America. Sylvanus Van Voorst was a native of Ohio and lived there until 1846, when he came to White County and settled seven miles southeast of Wolcott. In his time he was an extensive stock raiser, and a very capable business man. He served one year in the Civil war as wagon master, and died in 1875 at the age of sixty-five. He was married three times. By his marriage to Elizabeth Kerr his children were: James S., John, Abraham, and Elizabeth, all now deceased. The two children of the second marriage were Robert, now living in Kansas City, and Mrs. Catherine Bennett, a resident of Indianapolis. The only child of the third wife is Albert, now living in Columbia City, Indiana.
During the childhood of James S. Van Voorst his parents moved to Knox County, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. In the year 1864 he came to White County, settling on a farm near West Point, and continued to live there forty-six years. Three years before his death he retired from active life and moved to Chalmers to live with his daughter, Mrs. McClure.
On February 4, 1858, he stood at the marriage altar and plighted his love to Miss Mary Aditha DeBolt, who was a wife and mother with all these sacred words imply. Together they toiled, enduring with great courage and perseverance the trials and sacrifices incident to the development of their new home. Their union was blessed with the birth of thirteen children, five of whom died in infancy. The eight now living are: Catherine Ella, wife of Joseph Craft, living in West Point Township; Clara, wife of D. C. Jackson, living near Lafayette; William, whose home is east of Chalmers; Charles mentioned elsewhere in this publication; John L., who lives near Larwell, Indiana; Frank, a resident of Dickinson County, Kansas; Mary, wife of Noah Davis of Carroll County; and Laura, wife of James M. McClure, their home being on the old Van Voorat farm in West Point Township. Mr. Van Voorst was survived not only by their eight children but also by twenty-two grandchildren, four great-grandchildren. He was also survived by four brothers and two sisters: C. B. Ewart, Oliver C. Ewart, John R. Van Voorst, Albert Van Voorst, Mary E. Ewart and Mrs. Alphonso Bennett.
An appreciation of Mr. Van Voorst in his religious and social relations was written by Rev. J. G. Tedford of Logansport, from which the following quotations are taken: "He was a man of great energy and was a most highly respected citizen, ever standing for the principles of truth and right. He took great delight in seeing his children live true and clean lives. Thus they lived happily until October 4, 1904, when an irreparable loss swept across the threshold of their happy home, and his beloved companion and the devoted mother was called to her reward. The great loss to him and loved ones was never overcome. Mr. Van Voorst was a constituent member of the Pine Grove Baptist Church, ever ready to help bear its burdens and sacrifice for its interests. Following this he united with the West Point church nearer his home, where he manifested the same interest. When the two churches were merged together and formed the Springdale Baptist Church he identified himself with the same and took an active and leading part in building the new church and greatly rejoiced in its final completion and dedication free from debt. He continued his membership with the same until his death."
In his political associations the late Mr. Van Voorst was one of the most ardent democrats in White County though he was not a seeker for the honors of office, and consented only to serve as a member of the eounty council one term. He had no secret order affiliations, and his long and useful life was devoted to his business as a farmer, to his church, to his home and children and grandchildren, and as one of the burden bearers of the community in which he lived.
Fully three-fourths of a century ago Northwestern Indiana gained its first representative of the Vanatta family, which was founded in America in the colonial era of our national history and which is of the fine old Holland Dutch stock that was so conspicuous and influential in the early development and upbuilding of the states of New York and New Jersey. He whose name initiates this paragraph is a scion of a family whose name has been most prominently and worthily linked with the history of White County, Indiana, and with all of consistency may it be said that he has fully upheld the high standards and honors of the name which he bears, White County having owed an appreciable part of its civic and material development and progress to representatives of this well-known family. Mr. Vanatta is recognized as one of the leading exponents of the land reclamation activities in this section of his native state, and his service in the developing of swamp and other waste lands has been extensive in scope and benignant in character, his operations having been not only in Indiana but also in Illinois, the while he has gained high reputation in this important domain of practical engineering.
John Crothers Vanatta was born in the Town of London, Hancock County, Indiana, and the date of his nativity was February 19, 1857. He was the second in order of birth in a family of two sons and two daughters, and the other two surviving children are Joseph and Martha. Joseph Vanatta, who was educated in what is now known as Valparaiso University, is engaged in they fire insurance business at Earl Park, Benton County, Indiana, the maiden name of his wife having been Mellie Taylor. Martha, the surviving daughter, is the wife of William O. Wilson, of Green City, Missouri, where her husband is a representative merchant and an official of the Presbyterian Church, and they have two children.
John C. Vanatta is a son of Peter R. and Margaret Agnes (Crothers) Vanatta, the former of whom was born at Hagerstown, Salem County, New Jersey, in the year 1811, and the latter of whom was born in Clark County, Ohio, in 1820. Peter R. Vanatta was reared to adult age in his native state, and that he was afforded the best of educational advantages is indicated by the fact that he was graduated in College of New Jersey, now commonly known as Princeton University, when that great institution was under the executive direction of the distinguished President McCosh. Peter R. Vanatta likewise completed a course in the theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church, at Princeton, and was ordained as a clergyman of that church. He served for forty years, and with signal zeal and ability, as a colporteur of the American Bible Society. In 1841 he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Newark, Licking County, Ohio, where he was thus in service two years. In 1843 he came to Indiana and assumed the pastorate of the old-school Presbyterian Church at Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, which now thriving city was then a mere village. The church of which he there became pastor has maintained continuous organization to the present day and is now known as the First Presbyterian Church. In connection with his earnest labors as pastor of this pioneer church Mr. Vanatta amplified the scope of his benignant influence by conducting a select school on Ninth Street Hill of Lafayette, where he gave freely of his fine scholastic ability in preparing young men for college. In the climacteric period leading up to the Civil war he was one of the most implacable adversaries of the institution of human slavery and gave effective service in support of the cause of abolition. He was one of those who became affiliated with the republican party at the time of its organization and was a great admirer of the martyred President Lincoln. He ever stood an exponent of righteousness and deep Christian faith, and his influence was a veritable benediction resting upon all who came within its compass. Mr. Vanatta held pastoral charges at various points in Northern and Central Indiana, became associated also with agricultural activities, and was a resident of Lafayette at the time of his death, which occurred on the 20th of August, 1886. His paternal grandfather was a native of Holland and became the founder of the family in America, where each succeeding generation has given distinct evidence of the sturdy Dutch traits of character.
In Ohio was solemnized the marriage of Rev. Peter R. Vannatta to Miss Margaret Agnes Crothers, who was born in Clark County, that state, in 1820, as has been previously stated, in this context. She survived her honored husband by more than a decade and was summoned to the life eternal on the 19th of April, 1898, secure in the affectionate regard of all who had come within the sphere of her gentle and gracious influence. Her remains rest beside those of her husband in beautiful Greenbush Cemetery, at Lafayette. Her parents came to Ohio from Kentucky and her ancestors were numbered among the sterling pioneers of the fine bluegrass section of Kentucky.
John C. Vanatta, the immediate subject of this review, was but an infant at the time of his parents' removal from Hancock County, Indiana, to Fountain County, and one of his vivid memories of his childhood is that pertaining to his dignified ownership of a prize calf which he led a distance of twenty-four miles to exhibit the animal at the Tippecanoe County Fair, held at Lafayette. This was a momentous occasion for the lad, who was not five years old at the time. He was amply compensated for his childish ambition when his calf captured a prize of three dollars, the calf having been a Devon heifer that represented much in the childish life of the boy.
Mr. Vanatta continued to attend the public schools of the day until he had attained to the age of fifteen years, when he obtained a position as messenger boy in the service of the Western Union Telegraph Company, at Lafayette, where he served under the administration of the company's agent, H. E. Doolittle, a man who was well known through Northern and Central Indiana. After serving two years in the capacity mentioned Mr. Vanatta, at the age of seventeen years, entered the scientific department of Purdue University, where he became the only member of his class, of four persons, to complete the full scientific course. He was graduated in the year 1878 and duly received the degree of Bachelor of Science. His course included thorough training in civil engineering, and it is a distinct satisfaction to him at the present time to know that his alma mater, Purdue University, has gained recognition for having today the best course of electrical engineering to be offered by any college or university in the West.
Mr. Vanatta's mature life has been given largely to the developing of waste lands from the swamps and quagmires, and it is doubtful if any other one man in Northern Indiana has achieved so large and important a work in the reclamation of land as has he. He has carried to successful completion many large and important reclamation projects of this order in Indiana and Illinois, and in Iroquois County of the latter State he has completed three extensive contracts. The autumn of 1915 finds him vigorously engaged in the carrying forward of a $70,000 reclamation contract near Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, and in all of his operations as a contractor he has brought to bear his thorough scientific knowledge and his practical skill in directing work of inestimable value as touching industrial development and progress.
Mr. Vanatta is one of the most extensive landholders in White County, Indiana, where he has a valuable estate of 1,800 acres, in Prairie, Round Grove and Big Creek townships. In connection with the improving and general activities of his extensive farm properties Mr. Vanatta has proved himself one of the most alert, vigorous and progressive representatives of the agricultural and stock-growing industries in this section of the Hoosier State, and his large and worthy success has been achieved entirely through his own ability and well directed endeavors.
In politics Mr. Vanatta is a veritable stalwart in the camp of the republican party, and he cast his first presidential vote in support of James A. Garfield. Since that time he has given similar support to each sucessive presidential candidate presented by his party, and he has taken a specially lively interest in political affairs, in connection with which he is well fortified in his opinions. In 1914 he was chairman of the republican county convention of White County, and his service at the time will not soon be forgotten by the other delegates to the convention, for his impress was distinct and independent and he exemplified effectively the courage of his convictions.
Mr. Vanatta was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian Church, and has never wavered in his fealty to the same, the while he has continued deeply appreciative of the long and zealous service rendered by his honored father as a member of the Presbyterian clergy. He himself has been active and influential in church affairs and his wife also is a devoted adherent of the church. In 1903 Mr. Vanatta had the distinction of being elected a delegate or commissioner to the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States and attended its meeting, held in the City of Los Angeles, California. He maintains his home in the Village of Brookston, where he owns a most attractive residence property, and where he and his family are prominent figures in the representative social life of the community. In this village he is affiliated with Castle Hall Lodge, No. 288, Knights of Pythias.
On the 5th of August, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Vanatta to Miss Mary M. Kassabaum, and they became the parents of two sons and two daughters, and the younger of the two sons was Paul, who died at the age of one year. John C. Vanatta, Jr., was graduated in the Brookston High School and thereafter completed a thorough course in civil engineering at Purdue University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1912 and with the degree of Civil Engineer. He is affiliated with the Sigma Chi college fraternity and also with the Triangle, whose membership is composed of students of and graduates in civil engineering. He remains at the parental home, is village treasurer of Brookston, and has charge of the funds which are to be utilized in the erection and equipment of a Carnegie Public Library in this village. He is a loyal young advocate of the principles of the republican party and is affiliated with the local lodge of the Masonic fraternity. Miss Gertrude V. Vanatta was graduated in the Brookston High School and also in the celebrated conservatory of music at Oberlin College. She is a successful and popular teacher of music in Brookston, is an active member of the Presbyterian Church and is a popular factor in the leading social activities of her native county. Miss Agnes C. Vanatta has completed the curriculum of the Brookston High School and has proved a successful teacher in the public schools of White County, she having spent the summer of 1915 in travel through various Eastern states.
Mrs. Vanatta was born in Will County, Illinois, on the 1st of April, 1868, and is a daughter of Henry and Mary (Getting) Kassabaum. She was reared in Benton County, Indiana, and acquired her education in the public schools at Kentland and Goodland, this state, after which she was a popular and successful teacher in the schools of Newton County. Mrs. Vanatta is treasurer of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Presbyterian Church of Brookston, and is a woman whose gracious personality has endeared her to all with whom she has come in contact. Mr. and Mrs. Vanatta have a beautiful homestead, lying continguous to the corporate limits of Brookston on the south, and this attractive home is known for its generous hospitality and as a center of much of the social activity of the community. Mr. Vanatta and his family are specially zealous in connection with the work of the Presbyterian Church, and he is one of its influential lay members, as has already been intimated. He is treasurer of the home~missionary committee of the Logansport Presbytery, and also treasurer of the Presbyterian Synod of the State of Indiana.
Mr. Vanatta is known as one of the substantial capitalists and influential citizens of White County, and he became, in 1894, the organizer of what is now known as the Brookston Bank. He became cashier of the institution and has continued his service in this capacity since it was reorganized, as a state bank, in 1896.
As indicative of the marked appreciation in the valuation of land in the southwestern part of White County, it may be stated that in 1889-90 Mr. Vanatta purchased 1,760 acres of such land for $16,000, and that at the close of the year 1915 thIs same property would readily sell at approximately $200 an acre. Mr. Vanatta takes deep and abiding interest in all that tends to foster the social, moral, educational and material well-being of his home county and state and is essentially one of the honored and representative citizens of White County.
Nearly all the work of importance accomplished by civilized white men in White County is comprised within the record of the last eighty years. There are a few families still represented whose residence and activities are coincident with this period, and among them is that of VanBuskirk. There is thus a basis of special fitness, apart from his individual qualifications for the position, in the relationship of Jay Bruce VanBuskirk to the White County Historical Society as its secretary. Mr. VanBuskirk is himself a native of White County and was born at Monticello, November 5, 1850.
While it is not possible to trace his lineage in direct line to the original American ancestors, there is considerable evidence favoring his descent from a Danish pioneer who settled on the coast of New Jersey about the middle of the seventeenth century. In the third series of the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society, Volumes 3 and 4, Laurens Andriessen, a native of Denmark, is named as the founder of the VanBuskirk family in America. He was a manufacturer of wooden shoes, bowls and other utensils. He came to America in 1655, after having lived in Amsterdam, Holland. After the taking of New Amsterdam by the English he added to his name the suffix "VanBoskerch," meaning "from the church of the woods." About four years after his arrival in this country he married Jannetje Jans, widow of Christian Barentson. By this marriage he had four sons—Andries, Laureus, Pieter and Thomas. All of these sons had a number of children, and within a century the family had greatly multiplied and was scattered all over the United States. Andriessen held a number of important positions under appointment from the proprietors of New Jersey. He and his wife died in 1694 but a few months apart.
A widespread tradition among the VanBuskirk family takes no account of the Andriessen story, but assigns their origin to three brothers who came over from Holland together at a later date. Whatever their source of origin, they are found in almost every state of the Union, some of them still carrying the full name of VanBuskirk, while others, having dropped the Van, are known only by the name Buskirk.
The founder of the family in White County, Indiana, was Zachariah VanBuskirk, father of Jay Bruce VanBuskirk. Zachariah was one of a family of ten children born to John and Elizabeth VanBuskirk in Hampshire County, Virginia. Of John VanBuskirk little is known except that he had a brother Isaac. He lived near Patterson Creek in the western part of Hampshire County, which, upon the division of the state, became Mineral County, West Virginia. His wife was Elizabeth Welch, whose father, Isaac Welch, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Isaac Welch was born in 1739, mid at the beginning of the war, in 1776, had a family and was living in Northumberland County, Virginia. He enlisted January 27, 1777, as a private in Capt. Thomas Blackwell's company of foot in the Tenth Virginia Regiment, and after serving successively in the Tenth and Sixth regiments and a detachment of the Second Virginia Brigade his name was still on a muster roll of January 28. 1780, which shows his term of service expiring February 24th of that year. While living in Hampshire County, Virginia, in 1819, at the age of eighty years, he was granted a pension of $96 per annum. His son William, who lived to a great age, was a well known local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He also had two other sons—Benjamin and Dempsey; and three daughters—Elizabeth, wife of John VanBuskirk; Rayner, wife of Thomas Hogan; and Sarah, wife of Sylvester Mott.
Zachariah VanBuskirk was born in Hampshire County, Virginia, August 18, 1808. His education was meager, being obtained mostly without a teacher, by the light of a pine knot in the fireplace, as he lay, book in hand, on the floor of his rustic Virginia home. He came to White County, Indiana, in 1833 with practically no possessions but the clothes he wore. He began working at his trade as a carpenter, which he followed for twenty-two years sometimes in the employ of Jonathan Harbolt or other pioneer builders, and sometimes as a contractor. Soon after his marriage he built a residence for himself on lots 61 and 62, a few doors south of the public square on Main Street, in Monticello, Indiana, which still remains in good preservation, though removed long since to a site on West Jefferson Street. Being a sufferer from asthma, he was compelled to abandon his carpenter trade, and in later years took up other occupations. For several years he followed house painting, and later engaged in the grocery business, which was his vocation at the time of his death, on June 24, 1866. He was at that time in partnership with Matthew Henderson.
Zachariah VanBuskirk was married December 25, 1848, to Miss Sarah McMinn, a school teacher who had come to Indiana a few years before with her mother and brothers from Greene County, Pennsylvania, the place of her birth. Before coming to White County she had taught school in the Wea neighborhood in Tippecanoe County. Her mother, Mrs. Leacy McMinn, was a native of Ireland and was a widow at the time of her arrival in White County. She died at the home of her daughter in Monticello, November 24, 1857, in her seventy-second year. The daughter herself, the devoted wife and mother of the home, died June 25, 1864, leaving a sainted memory to this day to those still living who recall her devout spirit, her life of sacrifice for her household, and her unselfish devotion to the good of others.
Mr. VanBuskirk being a Virginian, was naturally a democrat in politics. His integrity was unquestioned, and on several occasions his name appeared on his party ticket for minor offices. During his earlier residence in the county he was county assessor, which at that time meant a canvass of the whole county by the assessor in person. He performed this duty on foot, gaining, in addition to his saving of livery hire, a reputation as a pedestrian. In 1859 he was elected trustee of Union Township, and in 1864 coroner of the county, which office he held at the time of his death. Both he and his wife were Presbyterians. Three children were born to Zachariah and Sarah VanBuskirk: Jay Bruce, William Hays, and Leacy Caroline. The last named died in her seventh year. Her twin brother, William H., removed in 1874 to Elwood, Indiana, where he was married and still resides.
Jay B. VanBuskirk, the older son, was educated in the Monticello schools and at Asbury University. Being at first inclined to the study of medicine, he read one year with Dr. W. S. Haymond and took a course of lectures in the Ohio Medical College. At this time an opportunity offered to enter the newspaper field by buying a half interest in the Monticello Herald, and in November, 1874, he began his connection with that paper, which terminated after forty years, in January, 1915, by his sale of the Herald office to the Monticello Herald Company. Until January, 1888, he was associated with W. J. Huff in the business, at which time he bought Mr. Huff's interest and continued sole owner until 1915, a period of twenty-seven years. During the first eleven years of his connection with the Herald he was assistant postmaster for W. J. Huff, postmaster, and again from January, 1898, to March, 1903, for Postmaster W. W. McColloch. At the latter's death he served as acting postmaster until George W. Van Alstine was commissioned in April, 1903, remaining by agreement in the office six months during the latter's administration. During four years of this time, from 1900 to 1904, the Herald was conducted by Ed F. Newton under lease.
In politics Mr. VanBuskirk is a republican. His church is the Methodist, and he is an official member of the Monticello Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and is secretary of the White County Historical Society. During most of the time of his newspaper connection he was secretary of the White County Republican Central Committee.
At Monticello, November 25, 1875, he was married to Miss Emma Coen, daughter of James S. and Eliza Coen, the latter of whom is still living in Monticello. Her father was Benjamin F. Hosler, of Fountain County. Two sons and one daughter were born to this union, the sons dying in infancy. The daughter, Sadie, who was born July 9, 1883, graduating from the Monticello High School in 1901, and afterward attended De Pauw University and the Illinois Woman's College. She was married June 11, 1907, to John T. VanSant, and is now living in New York City, where her husband is a teacher in the Horace Mann School.
Isaac S. Vinson was born in Scioto County, Ohio, March 21, 1812. On August 12, 1832, he was married to Miss Rebecca Johnson and in the fail of 1835 he settled on a farm between Monticello and Reynolds and died on August 27, 1883, in his seventy-second year. As a factor in the early settlement of White County, Mr. Vinson deserves a place in the memory of this and coming generations. He was the father of James V. Vinson, now living near Monticello.
The responsibilities of ownership and operation of a large landed acreage in White County did not come to Charles W. Vinyard by gift or inheritance, nor by chance and luck. It is all the product of his vigorous mind and body, his thorough going honesty, and few men in the county have evolved a more substantial success from humble beginnings in little less than poverty.
In years Mr. Vinyard is still in his prime, and yet already has a competency which would enable him to comfortably retire from the chief burdens of his business. His home is 3 1/2 miles southeast of Seafield, and his daily mail deliveries are made on Rural Route No. 11 out of Reynolds. In sections 2 and 3 of West Point Township Mr. Vinyard has his homestead of 220 acres, and he also owns 140 acres in sections 34 and 35 in Princeton Township. These constitute him a land owner to the extent of 360 acres, and it is practically all under cultivation, well tiled, improved with buildings and other facilities, and would represent in cash value a comfortable little fortune.
The Vinyard family has long been well known in White County. Charles William Vinyard was born in Prairie Township, October 15, 1863, a son of William and Elizabeth Robison Vinyard. His father came to White County about 1853 and first settled east of what is now Brookston. He was a farmer and stock raiser, but died quite early in life, in 1866. At that time he possessed about 120 acres of land. His widow survived him a great many years, and passed away in 1907. Both are now at rest in the cemetery at Brookston. William Vinyard was a democrat in politics, but belonged to no church and no fraternal orders. The nine children of himself and wife were: Adelia, deceased; Jane, who was burned to death at the age of twelve years; George, now living in Brookston; Eliza, deceased; Thomas; Joseph, who was murdered in Oklahoma; Charles W.; John, who is marshal at Brookston; and Adolphus.
For several years of his boyhood Charles W. Vinyard lived in Madison County, Indiana, and began attending school there. He returned to White County at the age of eight, and seven years later, when only fifteen, took up the burdens of practical life alone. Then followed a number of years of experience and small wages as a worker for others. With increasing years he gained increasing confidence in himself and finally invested his modest capital in sixty acres of land south of Seafield. From that nucleus his prosperity has had a steady growth and new investments from time to time have brought his land holdings up to the condition above described. In 1895 he located on his present farm, and now superintends many acres of crops and a large number of graded live stock.
Mr. Vinyard has served as overseer of road construction in his part of the county, and in politics is a democrat. On October 23, 1889, he married Miss Mary Jane Crockett, a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Kinmore) Crockett. The Kinmore family came to White County in 1850 and Mrs. Vinyard's mother died here and is now at rest in the West Point Cemetery. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Vinyard were born six children: Adam, Alma, Araminta, Adelia Beryl, and two that died in infancy unnamed. The children are being well educated, and Mr. and Mrs. Vinyard are both people of the highest worth and have a most hospitable home.
Louisa Virden, a daughter of Joseph H. and Mary (Ferguson) Thompson, composing the first family to settle in White County, was born August 6, 1825. Her father was a native of Harrison County, in what is now West Virginia, and her mother a native of Kentucky, of English, Irish and German blood. Her father was the first white man to settle in what later became White County, having in September, 1829, located in Big Creek Township in a log cabin, where he came with his wife and three children, one of whom is the subject of this sketch. The land on which he located was not for sale and he was what was known at that time as a "squatter," but when this tract of land was placed on the market he purchased it at the land office in Crawfordsville. On this land he lived until 1835, when he sold it and moved to a farm of 300 acres in the same township and at the same time he bought another large farm near Reynolds. Theirs were the lives of pioneers, surrounded by Indians, having none of the comforts of life and but few of the necessaries, they built their homes, lived honest, frugal lives and became in fact our early and honored settlers. About 1860 he moved to Reynolds, where he lived until his death on January 18, 1875, his wife following him in death December 9, 1877. Both these good people were active members of the Methodist Church, in which Mr. Thompson served as class leader.
Louisa Virden received her education in the country school of those times, and on April 2, 1846, was married to Stratton Virden, of Pickaway County, Ohio. He was born May 10, 1817, was a son of William and Lydia (Hopkins) Virden, both of whom were natives of Ohio, and had come to what was later White County in 1833. Mr. Virden owned a farm in Tippecanoe County; there they took up their abode until 1866, when they sold this farm and came to Big Creek Township and located on a farm of 200 acres, and here on August 22, 1874, he was killed by a stroke of lightning while feeding his stock.
Mrs. Virden was always an enthusiastic attendant at the annual meetings of the Old Settlers and delighted, on such occasions, to recite the incidents connected with pioneer life and hardships. She was one of those sturdy characters whom we all delight to honor and her death, on June 9, 1898, left a place in the Old Settlers' Association which can not be fllled.
Samuel Virden, one of the most respected men who ever lived in White County, was born near Circleville in Pickaway County, Ohio, January 23, 1815, being the second son in a family of nine children, of which he outlived all except a sister, Mrs. Jane Burns, and a brother, David Virden. When nineteen years old he came West with his widowed mother in 1833 and settled on a farm in Big Creek Township, but after living here five years the family moved to Tippecanoe County and here on January 25, 1853, he was married to Mary Welch, by whom he had but one child, Turner, who died about 1898. From 1857 to 1862 he conducted a flouring mill at Loda, Illinois, but coming back to Indiana he finally settled, in 1873, on the farm in Honey Creek Township, where he died July 11, 1894, universally respected by a wide circle of friends.
Silas M. Virden was one of the first settlers to locate in White County. Born in Pickaway County, Ohio, on February 19, 1819, he came with his parents in 1833 and settled in Big Creek Township. Five years later they removed to Tippecanoe County and in 1856, during the mining excitement, he went to Pike's Peak, Colorado, where he lived two years, and for many years prior to his death, which occurred February 12, 1894, he made his home with different members of the family, having never married. He was a member of the Virden family and a respected citizen of this county.
Representing the substantial Gemnan-American citizenship which has done so much to improve and develop the agricultural resources of this country, Joseph M. Vogel has spent more than fifteen years in White County and as a farmer is regarded as one of the most efficient and prosperous in Princeton Township. Few men who came to manhood some thirty years ago with as limited prospects and material possessions as Mr. Vogel have since gone forward so rapidly and gained such a substantial interest in the community.
Mr. Vogel is a Bavarian, having been born in that portion of the German Empire September 22, 1864, a son of Joseph J. and Anna (Rodenhoever) Vogel. His father followed the son to America, and lived in his home until his death. Joseph M. Vogel acquired a substantial education after the German custom and had some training which proved advantageous when he landed in the New World, though otherwise he was at a disadvantage in competing with young men of his age, since he knew little of the language and had nothing to commend himself beyond the labor of his hands and a willingness to make himself useful. At the age of eighteen in 1883 he landed in New York and came on west to Livingston County, Illinois, where he gained his start.
In 1888 Mr. Vogel married Miss Rosa Milefchik, who was also a native of Germany. She has proved a loyal assistant to him in the management of his affairs, and has been a devoted wife and mother, and they have a fine family of seven children. Henry M., the oldest, is now a farmer in Pocahontas, Iowa, and by his marriage to Estella Graham has one child named Irene. John T., James P., Joseph F., Louis V., Lillian A. and Francis are the names of the other children, all of whom are living at home.
Two miles northwest of Wolcott in Princeton Township is situated the Maple Grove Farm. That is where the Vogel family reside, and its improvements and productiveness are a fine tribute to Mr. Vogel's energies and business like methods as an agriculturist. There are 320 acres in the farm, and in the course of many years Mr. Vogel has wrought some remarkable changes in the place. He has stood for progress; and was one of the first to invest capital in such improvements as covered tile drainage. When he found his farm it was drained only by open ditches, and he has since spent some $6,000 or $7,000 in effectively tiling his land. His example in this respect has proved of benefit to the entire community. In addition to his fine farm Mr. Vogel also owns stock in the Farmers Co-operative Elevator Company at Wolcott. In politics he is independent, voting for the man rather than for the party label, and he and his family are members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Remington. He favors education and all causes which will secure greater benefit to the community.
Michael Vogel, a veteran of the Civil war and a resident of Reynolds for over fifty years, was born in Kapsweyer, Germany, August 10, 1830, and landed in New York August 24, 1852. He at once set to work to earn sufficient money to send back to his old home for his old sweetheart and schoolmate, Elizabeth Hinnewinkel, and they were married in New York October 14, 1855, and the next year came to Reynolds, where he lived until his death on May 7, 1910. He was a shoemaker by trade and was engaged in that work until 1890, after which he gave his entire time to his farm in Big Creek Township. He served during the Civil war in Company H, Thirty-fifth Indiana Volunteers, and was honorably discharged at its close. He helped to establish St. Joseph's Catholic Church at Reynolds and was one of its main supporters. His widow is still living in Reynolds and his son, Bernard A. Vogel, is deputy state treasurer at Indianapolis. At his death he left four sons, one daughter, fifteen grand children and two great-grandchildren. Always jovial and kind-hearted, frugal and industrious he made a success of life in his adopted country and left to his family the memory of a well spent life.