RESIDENCE OF J. W. BRUMMITT IN CENTER TOWNSHIP.
Date: 1895
Source Type: Photograph
Publisher, Printer, Photographer: Lee and Lee
Postmark: Not Applicable
Collection: Steven R. Shook
Remark: This house still stands [2023] at the SW¼ of SW¼ of SE¼ of Section 10 in Center Township, northeast of the intersection of present day Froberg Road and Vale Park Road. This photograph is facing southeast.
Constructed for the Prentiss family by builder Daniel Dillingham in 1873 based on Valparaiso's Henry Lemster's architectural plans, this house was used as the main house of Prentiss' farming enterprise. In succession, this house was purchased by John W. Brummitt, George Henderlong, Wilford Sievers, Dean Froberg, and Anthony Robertson.
Sievers had converted the house into two apartments in the 1940s, but upon the purchase by Robertson the house was returned to its original single family residence status.
The house consists of eleven rooms and was built to include closets. Ceilings are ten feet in height, floors are 5/8" red oak, and the exterior walls were built three feet thick with air spaces to serve as insulation. Heat was provided by a kitchen stove and a wood burning stove located in the parlor. The second floor was heated heating rising from the first floor to the second floor through a floor grate.
The following biography of John W. Brummitt is contained in Goodspeed Brothers' 1894 Pictorial and Biographical Record of La Porte, Porter, Lake and Starke Counties, Indiana.
JOHN W. BRUMMITT. Porter County, Indiana, has many fine farms and agricultural tracts. There are comparatively few inferior tracts, and each farmer tries to outdo his neighbor in the raising of crops and the improvement of his land. Of the many fine attractive places none are more conspicuous than that belonging to our subject on which he was born, September 12, 1859, his parents being William and Mary (Lucas) Brummitt. The paternal grandfather, Aaron Brummitt, was born near Leeds, or Ossett Common, England, and as a means of livelihood he followed the occupation of a weaver. He died at about the age of eighty years, an earnest and consistent member of the Episcopal Church. His wife was a Miss Wilby and she lived to the age of about eighty-five years. Their children were as follows: Henry, Reuben, Mark, James, William, Mary and Ann. Henry lives at Furnessville, Indiana, Reuben died in Canada; James died in Florida; Ann (Early) lives in Waterloo, Canada, and Mary (Teale) and Mark still reside in England. William Brummitt was born in England, August 23, 1833, and like his father before him was a weaver by trade. He was married in England in 1854, and in the spring of 1856 went to Canada where he remained one season. In the fall of the same year he removed to Chicago, and a few days later came to Furnessville, Indiana, where he purchased and located on three acres of land, which cost him $24, and on which the subject of this sketch is now residing. From time to time he added to this tract until he became the owner 360 acres, which he cleared and improved. He has owned and sold other tracts of land and now has in his name 100 acres, twenty of which are devoted to the cultivation of strawberries. In 1886 he removed to New Carlisle and engaged in the agricultural implement and hardware business, with his two sons, Arthur and Mark, but the duties of this calling were to arduous for him, and in the 1893 he retired and invested in 240 acres of land in St. Joseph County, and in addition to this and the estate above mentioned, owns valuable land in Dakota, Michigan and Chesterton, Indiana, and is a money lender, all of which has been the result of his own energy as he landed in this country with but little means. He has served as Justice of the Peace of Pine Township for the past seventeen years and one term in St. Joseph County, Indiana. Up to 1876 he was a Republican in politics, since which time he has been an earnest supporter of the principles of Democracy. He and his wife have had born to them seven children: Elizabeth, who died on the ocean while enroute for this country; Mark L., John W., Maria, a school teacher; Jennie (Goodykoontz), whose husband is a minister of the Christian Church; Emily (Loring) of Valparaiso, and Arthur R. The parents of these children are members of long standing of the Christian Church, and socially the father is a member of A. F. & A. M. In the fall of 1864 he enlisted in the Ninth Indiana Infantry, and was discharged with his regiment at Nashville, Tennessee. John W. Brummitt was born and reared on the farm on which he is now residing. He first attended the district schools in the vicinity of his home and afterward attended the Valparaiso Normal College, after which he taught penmanship for some time. When he was ten years old his father kindly gave him the opportunity of raising stock of his own, and by the time he had attained to the age of twenty-one, the sum accruing from this business amounted to $1,300, $300 of which he spent in attending college. The remainder -$1,000 - he purchased 246 acres of his father, for a consideration of $8,500, and has since made the most of his money in the raising of stock and fruit. He is a wide-awake and enterprising young man, is intelligent and well posted on all topics of the times and in 1890 was elected assessor of his township, and appointed notary of his county, on the Democratic ticket. September 26, 1880, he was united in marriage with Emma Newman, who was born at Furnessville, March 8, 1861, a daughter of Ernest and Minnie Newman, natives of Germany, their union taking place in the State of Michigan. To them a family of five children have been given: Marion P., Ida P., Jessie M., Emily M., and Neva R. The mother of these children is an earnest member of the Christian Church.
The following news item concerning the Brummitt farm and house in Center Township was published August 8, 1896, in The Westchester Tribune:
Since I saw John Brummitt's farm in Center township, I don't wonder that he is going to leave Pine township. It is a beautiful 200-acre tract in the northwestern part of Center township, surrounded on two sides by highways, fringed with a majestic forest, and with its rolling fields, splendid meadows, and cool shade trees, makes a picture that anyone living comfort, would like to enjoy. But the house -- oh! but it's a house! One of those massive square brick structures, built to stand for generations, with cupulo [sic], where the master can look over his broad his broad fields and watch Nature convert the bare fields of springtime, into groaning, waving seas of ripening grain for autumn. John's head was level when he made the change, and as he moved next week, we must bid him good luck and God speed. The farmers of Center and Union townships will find in John a good neighbor, and a keen business man, and in his better half, they will find a jewel.
Sources:
Goodspeed Brothers. 1894. Pictorial and Biographical Record of La Porte, Porter, Lake and Starke Counties, Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: Goodspeed Brothers. 569 p. [see pp. 330-331]
Lee and Lee. 1895. Lee and Lee's Atlas of Porter County, Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: Lee and Lee. 81 p.
The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; February 1, 1977; Volume 50, Number 177, Page 8. Column titled "19th Century Homes, Porter County," by May Henrichs.
The Westchester Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; August 8, 1896; Volume 13, Number 17, Page 5, Column 3. Column titled "Porter Pointers."
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