Alvin D. Bartholomew, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Alvin D. Bartholomew
ALVIN D. BARTHOLOMEW. Long numbered among the representative members of the bar of his native county and holding at the present time the distinction of being the oldest practicing lawyer of the city of Valparaiso, Mr. Bartholomew is a scion of a family whose name has been conspicuously linked with the history of Porter county for more than seventy-five years, the while those who have borne the name have contributed worthily to the civic and material progress and upbuilding of this favored section of the state.
Alvin D. Bartholomew was born on the old family homestead farm in Morgan township, Porter county, Indiana, on the 20th of May, 1843, and he has been continuously engaged in the practice of law in Valparaiso since 1869, with a personal and professional record which honor him and the county which has ever been his home. He is a son of Joseph and Mary Ann (Spencer) Bartholomew, the former of whom was born in the state of Pennsylvania, and the latter in Summit county, Ohio, where their marriage was solemnized. Joseph Bartholomew was a child at the time of the family removal from the old Keystone state to Summit county, Ohio, where he was reared to maturity and married. In 1834 he came to Porter county, Indiana, as did also his father, and both secured tracts of wild land near the present village of Kouts, where they reclaimed farms from the wilderness and did well their part in furthering industrial and civic development. Joseph Bartholomew was long one of the representative agriculturists of the county and was a man who ever held commanding place in popular confidence and esteem, the while he was influential in public affairs and ever ready to do his part in supporting measures and enterprises projected for the general good of the community. He remained on his fine old farmstead in Morgan township until his death, at the age of eighty-one years, and it is worthy of note that his father, another of the sterling pioneers of the county, was about eighty-five years of age when called from the scene of life's mortal endeavors. Mrs. Mary Ann (Spencer) Bartholomew likewise attained to the venerable age of eighty-five years, and the names of both her husband and herself merit enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of this county. Both were zealous members of the Presbyterian church and their lives were marked by kindly thoughts and kindly deeds. They became the parents of ten children, two of whom died in infancy. The others attained to years of maturity and five are living at the time of this writing, in 1912. Eli, John, William and Alvin D. still reside in Porter county, and Maria Ann, of Newark, New Jersey, is the widow of Gilbert Pierce. Alvin D. was a twin of Calvin and they were the youngest of the children, Calvin having been about thirty-six years of age at the time of his death.
Reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm and afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period, Alvin D. Bartholomew waxed strong of brawn and brain, and he continued to be associated in the work and management of his father's farm until he was about twenty-two years of age. In the meanwhile he had attended school in Valparaiso and had made the best possible use of the advantages afforded him, so that he laid a substantial foundation for the broad and liberal education that has long denoted the scope of his academic and professional attainments. In Valparaiso he began the study of law under effective preceptorship and he made rapid and substantial advancement in his assimilation of the science of jurisprudence, with the result that he was admitted to the bar of his native county in 1869. During the long intervening years he has been continuously engaged in the general practice of his profession in Valparaiso, and he has been prominently concerned with much of the important litigation in the courts of his section of the state, with an enduring reputation for marked skill and versatility as a trial lawyer and for comprehensive and accurate knowledge of law and precedent to enforce his powers as a counselor.
Mr. Bartholomew has ever stood exponent of the most loyal and progressive citizenship and has been aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party from the time of attaining to his legal majority and consequent right of franchise. He has given yeoman service in various campaigns, has served as city attorney of Valparaiso, and the high regard in which he is held in the community was further shown in his election in 1866, to the office of mayor of his home city. As chief municipal executive for a period of two years he gave a characteristically progressive administration and accomplished much in the furtherance of needed public improvements. He was also a member of the city board of education for a period of four years, and everything touching the general welfare of the community has been a matter of definite and lively interest on the part of this veteran and honored member of the Indiana bar. Mr. Bartholomew is a member of the directorate of the Valparaiso National Bank and is a stockholder .of as well as attorney for the Valparaiso Building & Loan Association. Both he and his wife are most zealous and devout members of the First Presbyterian church of Valparaiso, and he served as an elder of the same for ten years.
On the 18th of November, 1869, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bartholomew to Miss Mary E. Eason, who was born at La Porte and who is a daughter of John and Mary (Bryson) Eason, early settlers of both La Porte and Porter counties, in the latter of which they passed the closing years of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Bartholomew have three children: Margaret remains at the parental home; Joseph Spencer is one of the prominent members of the bar of Porter county and is now serving as deputy prosecuting attorney of the county; and John is executive head of the Chicago sales department of the Bethlehem Steel Company.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 770-772
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook