Tipton B. Louderback, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Tipton B. Louderback
TIPTON B. LOUDERBACK. This sterling and venerable citizen of Valparaiso has here maintained his home since 1870 and there are manifold data that render a consideration of his career of special interest. He is a native son of Indiana and a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of the state; he has to his credit and honor a record of valiant service as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war; he has shown himself a man of might, as did Tubal Cain of old, as he followed the trade of wagon making and blacksmithing in a practical way for many years and has for a long period been a manufacturer of wagons; and he has served for thirty consecutive years as justice of the peace, a longer period than can be claimed for any other of the incumbents of the same office in Porter county. All that is implied in unqualified popular approbation and confidence belongs to Mr. Louderback, and as one of the honored citizens and representative business men of Valparaiso he is well entitled to recognition in this history of the county that has long been his home and the stage of his productive activities.
Tipton B. Louderback was born on a farm near Logansport, Cass county, Indiana, on the 16th of April, 1839, and is a son of Andrew and Nancy (Washburn) Louderback, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. Andrew Louderback was a representative of one of the sterling German families that settled in Pennsylvania in an early day, and in that state he was reared to maturity. As a young man he came westward and located in Ohio, whence he soon removed to Cass county, Indiana, where he was a pioneer, as was he later in Fulton county, this state, in which latter he continued to reside until his death, at the age of sixty years. His active career was one of close identification with agricultural pursuits and he accounted well to the world as one of its productive workers, a man of sterling integrity and indefatigable industry. His loved and devoted wife was a native of Ohio and there their marriage was solemnized. Mrs. Louderback was summoned to eternal rest in 1856, and of the eight sons and one daughter, all of whom attained to maturity, the subject of this review was the fifth son. His only sister is deceased and of his brothers four are living.
Tipton B. Louderback was a child at the time of the family removal from Cass to Fulton county, this state, and in the latter he was reared to the discipline of the pioneer farm, while he availed himself of the advantages of the common schools of the locality. He attended school during the winter terms, when his services were not in requisition in connection with the work of the home farm, and he recalls with graphic reminiscence that to gain this privilege he was compelled to walk back and forth a distance of three miles each day, the distance between his home and the primitive school house in which he conned his lessons and laid the foundation for the broad and practical knowledge which he has since gained by self discipline and by association with men of affairs. He remained at the parental home until he reached his legal majority and thereafter served an apprenticeship to the wagon maker's trade, in which he became a specially skilled artisan.
In 1860 Mr. Louderback engaged in the general wagon and carriage business in the village of Fulton, in his old home county, and he also built up a successful business as a manufacturer of wagons. There he continued operations in these lines until 1870, when he came with his family to Valparaiso, where he has since followed this enterprise without interruption, a period of more than forty years. Thirty-two years ago in the same shop Mr. Louderback added general blacksmithing in connection with the manufacture of wagons. The exact date was March, 1880. In 1900, in connection with his business, he has added a mill for the grinding of feed for stock. He is staunch of brain and brawn, and his earnest, fruitful career, though not abounding in dramatic phases, offers both lesson and incentive. During the past thirty years Mr. Louderback has served continuously in the office of justice of the peace, and he has made the position justify its title. He has given an administration of this minor but important judicial office that has been marked by discrimination and by careful conservation of justice and equity, so that he has naturally been an ex officio "guide, counselor and friend," to many persons in the community which has long been his home, the while he has retained his present office for a much longer period than has any other justice of the peace in the county. Mr. Louderback has ever maintained a broad and liberal purview in his consideration of matters of public polity and has been a stalwart advocate of the principles of the Republican party from the time of attaining to his legal majority. He has at all times been ready to do his part in furthering enterprises and projects advanced for the general good of the community, and is aggressive and public-spirited as a citizen and business man.
On August 10, 1863, when twenty-four years of age, Mr. Louderback tendered his services in defense of the Union, and he continued with his command until the close of the great conflict through which the integrity of the nation was preserved. He enlisted as a private in Company A, One Hundred and Eighteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and the major part of his service was with the Army of the Cumberland. He participated in many engagements, including a number of the important battles marking the progress of the war, and he was mustered out at Indianapolis, March 10, 1865. That he has continued to manifest a deep interest in his old comrades in arms is shown by his membership in Captain Brown Post, No. 56, Grand Army of the Republic, in Valparaiso. He has filled the various official chairs in this organization, including that of commander, and is one of its most valued and popular members. He was formerly in active affiliation with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he has long been a zealous member of the Baptist church, in which his deceased wife was also an active and devoted worker. In Fulton county, Indiana, on the 14th of March, 1860, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Louderback to Miss Caroline T. Clevenger, who was born and reared in that county and who was a representative of one of its well known pioneer families. She proved a devoted wife and mother and by her gentle and kindly nature gained the affectionate regard of all who came within the compass of her influence. The maximum loss and bereavement in the life of Mr. Louderback came when his loved companion and helpmeet was called from his side, after an association that had continued for half a century. She was summoned to the life eternal on the 5th of April, 1909, at the age of sixty-four years, and of their two sons and seven daughters all are living except the sons, Charles and Roy, each of whom died when about two years of age. The names of the daughters are here entered in respective order of birth: Emma, Rosa Ann, Charlotte, Lulu, Mary, Florence and Mabel. Emma and Mary are at home; Rosa Ann is the wife of John James, a resident of Valparaiso; Charlotte is the wife of Henry W. Miller, also of Valparaiso. Lulu is the wife of Charles J. Moore, of Plymouth, Indiana, manager of the gas plant; Florence is the wife of Harry Meeks, a resident of Valparaiso, a salesman; Mabel is the wife of Burrell Short, of South Bend, and he is engaged with the Oliver Chilled Plow Works.
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: 672-677
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