Elvira Taylor and Her Fort Wayne Family

 There were three Taylor sisters who settled in Fort Wayne. The oldest, Laura, became known as the “Mother of Fort Wayne.” The second, Eliza, married the man who came to be called the city’s true founder, the wealthiest, most influential man in town, Samuel Hanna. She eventually lived in a grand mansion known as the Hanna Homestead. The third sister, Elvira, was forgotten. This is the story of Elvira and her immediate descendants. 

     It is almost impossible to tell most ordinary women’s stories from the 1800s. Their role was to be hidden behind men, retiring and focused on the home. Elvira’s story, then, is necessarily told largely through the dealings of her husband. She was born in the village of Detroit in 1811, the daughter of Israel Taylor and Mary Blair Taylor. They were New Englanders restlessly moving west, from Massachusetts to New York to Detroit to Ohio to Fort Wayne to South Bend, Indiana. 

     Elvira had a twin, Marshall, and they were the fifth and sixth children. There were a total of nine, with  a 22-year age spread between the oldest, Laura, and the youngest, William. Much later, after their mother’s death, their father would remarry and surprise them with one more sibling, Ellen, known as Nellie, widening the age spread to 42 years. 

     Laura married a soldier, William Suttenfield, in Detroit in 1812 when Elvira was only a year old. After the War of 1812 he was stationed in Fort Wayne, which was then the fort, and not a town. Eliza came for a visit in the winter of 1821-1822 and married Samuel Hanna in February. Elvira spent her childhood in Piqua, Ohio. There must have been something about Fort Wayne that appealed to her father Israel as he moved his family there soon after Eliza’s marriage. 

     In November 1831 Elvira married John B. Dubois. John was a French Catholic whose birth was variously recorded as around 1798 to 1806 in New Orleans. He was described as a large man, in 1860 weighing 250 pounds. Little is known about when he came to northern Indiana. A one-line mention in the newspaper in 1875 said he fought in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815.  

     Perhaps his story was somewhat similar to the son of an unrelated Jean Baptiste Dubois – anglicized to John - who sailed from France before 1740 and settled either in French Canada or New Orleans. His son Toussaint moved to Vincennes, Indiana. Under French rule, settlers received allotments of land and Toussaint located on “Dubois Hill” around 1809. Of course this is only speculation. What is certain is that John B. Dubois of Fort Wayne  quickly became a trusted member of the community. When the village of Fort Wayne was first incorporated in 1829 Dubois was a member of the board of trustees. 

     In a reminiscence written in 1860 John Dawson, a newspaper editor, describes him and another prominent pioneer admiringly. Francis Comparet and Dubois, “though Frenchmen, were as pure patriots as the city ever afforded.” 

     “The latter we knew intimately for many years, a candid friend, a hospitable and enterprising citizen.” In 1830 Dubois started a career in South Bend as a tailor in partnership with John Edsall, but when Dawson first met him in 1838 he and G.F. Wright had a dry goods store together. Elvira and Dubois had their only child, Ophelia, in 1834.

     Laura’s husband, William Suttenfield, built a two-story log tavern on the corner of Berry and Barr Streets. Samuel and Eliza Hanna lived on the corner opposite in the nicest house in town, according to Dawson. John and Elvira lived across the street in a red house on a third corner.  Thus, all three sisters occupied a corner house downtown and presumably had a lot of interaction with each other. 

     In 1834 the town was divided into five wards and an election for five township trustees was held at “Colonel” Suttenfield’s house. John ran for the Fourth Ward and won.

     In 1836 William Suttenfield died. Laura moved out and by February 1838, when an 18-year old Dawson first moved to town, Nathan Farrand lived in the Suttenfield home with his Miami wife. 

     This was a time of cooking over large open fireplaces, when corn and pork were the mainstays of the diet, when women made their own soap and candles, and in fact, made due and did without. A large portion of the downtown was swamp and underbrush, which continued to be a problem until 1840. Dawson remembered it as deep enough that fish filled the waters and ducks congregated regularly. A few years before his arrival it had been deep enough to paddle a canoe. Dubois was part of a “vigilance committee” that included Samuel Hanna and John B. Bourie (later Ophelia’s father-in-law) who were appointed to examine conditions, drain swampy areas and fill them in with dirt. In March 1837, after consulting with an engineer to develop a plan, the committee authorized Dubois to circulate a petition to secure funds to drain streets and prepare plans for a general system of drainage. 

     Dubois switched careers to a law practice. He was elected justice of the peace for Wayne Township, a position identified on the census as “magistrate” and served in this capacity for many years. He also tried for higher office. In 1842 ran against Dr. Lewis G. Thompson for the seat held by Marshall Smith Wines in the Indiana State House. (Wines had died.) Thompson won, although a newspaper item described Dubois, a democrat in a time of whigs and democrats, as “a man of deserving popularity.” 

     He also invested in real estate. Over time, he came to be known as Squire Dubois. 

     In 1845, Squire Dubois had his magistrate office in an old frame structure on Columbia Street between Barr and Clinton. Two lawyers shared the other half of the building, one of them Dawson. At 1:00 a.m. the building burned to the ground. Dubois’ papers and books were saved, although Dawson wasn’t as fortunate. Because of the time, the fires and lamps were out. Therefore, it was believed to be a case of arson. 

     Some of the issues he dealt with as magistrate included stray horses. Other cases were inquests into undetermined deaths. One example was in October 1851. A 64-year old man was found dead on Piqua Road with his horse and wagon. From the contents of the wagon, it was clear he was bringing a load of wheat to sell in town. When found there was blood on the rump of one of the horses and a wheel hub; the man had a cut on his left temple and the skin off one side of his head. It was determined that he pitched forward and fell, with no foul play involved. Perhaps he had suffered a heart attack beforehand.

     Dubois was financially successful and had a live-in domestic, German immigrant Mariah Kleppel, noted on the 1850 census. On the 1870 census he listed his real estate value at $12,000, a very substantial sum in a time at which teachers made between about $300-450 a year, and unskilled male laborers typically made $1.50 a day. 

Where Is Elvira?

     Where is Elvira in all this? Unfortunately, we don’t get a single glimpse of her. She is unmentioned in the newspapers and on official records and court proceedings. But we have some sense of her socioeconomic status in town, that her husband was well-regarded and that she had help at home. SHe attended First Presbyterian Church.

     By 1850 Fort Wayne was no longer the remote, isolated and swampy village she arrived in. It had a population of 4,282 and connected to the outside world through traffic on the Wabash & Erie Canal, the telegraph, and soon the railroad. Fort Wayne Female Seminary was founded in 1846, and maybe she and John sent their daughter Ophelia there. Elvira was no longer cooking over an open fireplace and probably bought many goods that were transported from the east coast. 

     In 1855 Ophelia married Louis Thompson Bourie, son of John Bourie. She had known him all her life. 

Louis T. Bourie’s Background

     Ophelia’s husband had an interesting family history. Her father-in-law, Jean Baptiste “John” Bourie Sr. was born at his father’s trading post in Elkhart, Indiana in 1801. His mother was believed to be Miami or Potawatomie, but  married a French woman while John Sr. was still a baby. He was christened in Detroit. 

     Identified by the government as “of Indian descent,” he was granted a parcel of land that included Allen County in an 1826 treaty signed between the Potawatomie and U.S. government agents. In 1825 or 1826, he married a Miami wife and had a son, Songnealangisheah, generally written as Song-nea-lan-gish-eah, or John Bourie, Jr. John Sr. was named as an interpreter in treaty negotiations of October 23, 1826 in which the Miami tribe surrendered a portion of their land. He received a section of land including part of the Miami village known as Chopatees, the transactions witnessed by his brother-in-law George Washington Ewing. (Harriet Bourie was married to Ewing.)       

     In 1827 he married Ann Chen - some sources say Chesne -  in Detroit before a civil magistrate and they had a daughter. 

     He married a third time, to Maria Ann “Nancy” Chapoton, and they had three children, Desdemona, Louis T. and Brutus. Louis was the oldest, born in Detroit in 1829. He was named for his grandfather, a native of Quebec. 

     John Sr. moved to Fort Wayne and in the 1834 election he was elected one of the five township trustees. He served as translator and witness on numerous more land concessions on the part of the Potawatomi and the Chipewa and Ottawa tribes and was very well-compensated for his services. These treaty negotiations continued until December 1834.

     Later when the Miami were forced to move to Kansas, John Sr. was granted reservation land there. He died in 1841 when his son Louis was only twelve.

     Lou’s mother was left well-off, and ensured that her son continued to receive a good education. According to his obituary, Louis attended Vincennes University and a college in Kentucky. He was said to be a fine French and Latin scholar, a noted penman, and fluent in French. 

     Returning home from college, he clerked in a general store until 1852 when he went to California, where he worked as a bookkeeper and started a flour mill rather than panning for gold. He married Ophelia shortly after his return to Fort Wayne and started a grocery and general store on Calhoun Street. In 1860 he was elected city clerk. He was instrumental in forming the first Fort Wayne fire department. Later, he started a wholesale wine and liquor business. After it failed, he worked as a traveling salesman and invented a percolating coffee pot.

     As the daughter of a lawyer of some means, and as an only child, Ophelia probably also received a good education. Like her mother, she disappeared behind convention.Yet there are hints in the newspaper that she was very involved in business affairs in town, including those of her husband, and certainly litigation.

Ophelia

     Ophelia and Lewis had eight children, Louis Jean Baptiste, Anna Ophelia, Edith, George, Clinton, Carrie, Oscar and Adele. Motherhood did not occupy all her time, though. The following are notices in the newspapers:

• “Affidavits were filed by C.W. Lintlag, contractor, against Mrs. R. Merzel and Mrs. Ophelia Bourie, for nonpayment of assessment for constructing sewers.” - October 1868.  This is unusual because Louis would be the expected party to pay for construction. Also, married women were rarely mentioned by their first names as long as their husbands were alive. 

• “This afternoon in the Circuit Court, Louis T. Bourie, the well-known wholesale dealer in wines and liquors, at the corner of Main and Clinton streets, confessed judgment in favor of Ophelia Bourie for $4,447.50. The judgment creditor is his wife. An execution was immediately issued and placed in the hands of the Sheriff, who at once took possession of the stock, locked the doors, and began taking inventory.” - May 1884

     This was the equivalent of about $142,280 dollars in 2024 value. This implies that Ophelia put up money from her inheritance to support, even establish, her husband’s business. 

• “Mrs. Hannah Nirdlinger got judgment for $3,190.36 against Ophelia Bourie et al.” - February 1886.

• “The following business was disposed of in circuit court yesterday. Alexander H. Staub et al vs. Ophelia Bourie, appeal case, judgment for the defendant.” - November 1889.

• “Superior Court - Before Judge Dawson: Joseph Niviland vs. Ophelia Bourie et al on trial.” - October 1891.

     

     Unfortunately, details about these cases were not included. It seems that Ophelia was very involved in business and probably used her inheritance in investments. 

The Next Generation

     Elvira Taylor Dubois’ grandchildren lived a more recognizably modern life. Newspapers discovered that people liked seeing their names in print, and the “seen about town” columns and social and “society” ones were the Facebook of their day. The younger Bouries, but especially Anna, were mentioned at such occasions as guests at weddings, attending a reception of the Morton Club (a Republican organization named after Indiana governor Oliver P. Morton), hosting a card party, visiting friends and later, each other. It can be a little addictive looking up the social column items about an individual over time. It’s also surprising how much can be learned about a person through these one-liners.

     Take Anna, known as Annie, the oldest daughter, for example. She never married and worked as a typist at Olds Wagon Factory, which was owned by her uncle, Henry G. Olds. Olds was married to her father’s half-sister Caroline. Later she received a political patronage job working for the post office in Washington D.C., where her sister Edith lived with her husband, Willis J. Fowler. Willis gave the family bragging rights as he rose through the bureaucracy to become deputy controller of currency in Teddy Roosevelt’s administration. Annie’s salary was $1,200 in 1899, an astonishing amount for a woman. 

     In 1878 she and Edith worked the ice cream and cake table at a charity fair to raise money for sufferers of a yellow fever epidemic in the “languid and suffering” South. Another year, Annie, Edith and their cousin Jessie Hanna worked at a flower booth at a fundraiser for the hospital. 

     One year Annie came the closest to correctly guessing the weight of a big stick of candy made at Aurentz’s confectionary - 115 pounds. She received a five-pound box of candy as a prize. (The stick was divided evenly between the Catholic and Lutheran orphanages and given to the children.) 

     In 1881 she and her cousin Lida Bird Bulger went to Mount Joy, Pennsylvania for the summer. Over the years she visited friends in Decatur, Indiana; Chicago, Coldwater, Michigan; camped at Bear Lake with cousins in Petoskey, Michigan, and visited her sister Edith’s home in Washington D.C. She and cousin Lida spent a day in Cincinnati. She and her niece Nellie Bourie went for a visit to Sidney, Ohio, where sister Adele lived. 

     In 1882 she attended a fancy dress carnival at the roller rink with cousin Jessie. All were on roller skates. The Fort Wayne Sentinel said Annie Bourie distinguished herself as a skater. In 1885 the newspaper said she was the most graceful of skaters at the rink.

     In 1883 the popular actress known as Lotta, sent Annie a letter that she was going to Europe seeking a health cure. “Miss Bourie has been urged to join the comedienne’s company on its reorganization.” Lotta was Miss Charlotte Mignon “Lotta” Crabtree, actress, entertainer and comedian. She was called “The Nation’s Darling” and was one of the most beloved and wealthy American performers of her day. In the 1880s she was the highest-paid star in the country. How Annie would have met her - or even if she had - is unknown. Another time she received a photo of Lotta.

     The actress Josie Wilmere was her guest before she left for an engagement in the play “Sam’l of Posen” in 1885. Josie was not as big a star as Lotta, but she toured nationally. 

     That year, instead of pursuing the stage, Annie sensibly took the stenography classes that helped her at work. The next year she qualified as a notary public. At a county fair contest in 1888, Annie won a card receiver and bouquet holder as most popular lady stenographer, receiving 1,386 votes to 820 for the next closest contestant. The next day the men at the Olds Wagon Factory, which employed 200, were said to be very happy about her win. 

     In 1889 in a one-sentence item the newspaper said Annie attended the presidential inaugural ball in Washington along with two Fort Wayne congressmen and a judge. Another item said she went to Washington D.C. with Mr. and Mrs. Henry G. Olds, her aunt and uncle, and the Fowlers - Willis and her sister Edith. They were part of the party attending the inauguration. She attended the inaugural ball in 1914 as well. 

     She moved to Washington D.C. “permanently” in 1898. There were parties given in her honor when she returned to Fort Wayne for visits. Eventually, she moved to Sidney, Ohio where Edith lived. 

Three Generations

     We began with Elvira, who remained forever hidden, and whose story can only be guessed at by the life her father and husband led. Ophelia was only included in the newspaper in court records, but obviously she was very involved in business. Her inheritance gave her options and power. Then there was Annie, able to support herself in the highest-paying of fields the average woman could get: office work. Annie, gliding gracefully on roller skates in her youth, flirting with celebrity and taking classes to improve her job prospects. 

Notes:

Mother of Fort Wayne  - This nickname seems to have been given to her by newspaper reporters in the 1880s by virtue of Laura being one of the oldest survivors in the city who was there when the military fort was still open. 

French Catholic - Dawson.

Battle of New Orleans - “Reminiscence,” Fort Wayne Sentinel. 

Jean Baptiste Dubois immigrant - Allen.

Tailor career in South Bend - Obituary.

Sisters’ homes on the corners - Dawson.

Township trustee election: 1874 Sentinel.  

Nathan Farrand in Suttenfield house  - Dawson.

Vigilance Committee - Griswold. 

Wayne Township election - Find a Grave.

Arson - State Indiana Sentinel.

1870 Wages: See “Salaries and Wages in Our Ancestors’ Times (1860-1900),” published 16 Feb 2024 on “Between the Lines: Family History and Quirky Stories From Our Forgotten Past,” inkspotsfrompast.blogspot.com/2024/02/salaries-and-wages-in-our-ancestors.html

Jean Baptiste “John” Bourie, Sr. - All information was taken from a compilation on WeRelate.org. 

Sources:

     “Nominations,” Lawrenceburgh Gazette (Lawrenceburgh, Indiana), 21 Oct 1842, p. 2.

      “Fire,” State Indiana Sentinel (Indianapolis), 4 Sept 1845, p. 3.

     “Official List of Estrays. Allen County” State Indiana Sentinel (Indianapolis), 26 Feb 1846, p. 5. 

     “Foot Race,” Journal and Courier, (Lafayette, Indiana), 10 May 1860, p. 3. 

     “Oysters! Oysters! Oysters!” Dawson’s Fort Wayne Daily Times, 17 Sept 1860, p. 3. 

     “Great Union Meeting! The People Are For the Union!” Dawson’s Fort Wayne Daily Times, 16 Dec 1860, p. 1. 

     “Proceedings of County Convention,” Fort Wayne Daily Gazette, 8 Aug 1864, p. 2.

     Committee to Reduce Taxes: Fort Wayne Daily Gazette, 25 Oct 1870, p. 4.  

     “Facts Gathered From The Sentinel of August 30, 1834,” The Fort Wayne Sentinel, 7 May 1874, p. 4. 

     “Reminiscences. The Days of Yore,” Fort Wayne Sentinel, 9 Jan 1875, p. 4. 

     “Death of a Former Citizen of South Bend,” South Bend Tribune, 31 Oct 1876, p. 4. 

Other:

     Allen, Helen L. “A Sketch of the Dubois Family, Pioneers of Indiana and Illinois,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 5, No. 1 (April 1912), pp. 50-65.

     “John Bourie, Sr. WeRelate.org, https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:John_Bourie_(1)

     Dawson, John. Fort Wayne in 1838, April 1860, https://ia601607.us.archive.org/16/items/fortwaynein183800daws/fortwaynein183800daws.pdf

     Griswold, Bert. A Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, 

Copyright by Andrea Auclair  © 2024