Howard-Miami County IN Archives Biographies.....Drinkwater, William W. 1855 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 16, 2006, 2:31 am

Author: Jackson Morrow

WILLIAM W. DRINKWATER.

   Fealty to facts in the analyzation of the character of a citizen of the type
of William W. Drinkwater is all that is required to make a biographical sketch
interesting to those who have at heart the good name of the community, because
it is the honorable reputation of the man of standing and affairs, more than any
other considertion that gives character and stability to the body politic and
makes the true glory of a city or state revered at home and respected abroad. In
the broad light which things of good report ever invite, the name and character
of Mr. Drinkwater stand revealed and secure and though of modest demeanor with
no ambition to distinguish himself in public position or as a leader of men his
career has been signally honorable and it may be studied with profit by the
youth entering upon his life work.

   William W. Drinkwater hails from the state so prolific in great men, having
been born at Ithaca, Ohio, on April 30, 1855. His parents, Thompson and Rebecca
(Murphy) Drinkwater, natives of Ohio, migrated in December, 1865, to Howard
county, Indiana, and settled on a farm about five miles east of Kokomo in Howard
township where the father devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits until
his death in 1875, his widow surviving him until 1896 when she too was called to
her eternal reward. In connection with his labors as a tiller of the soil
Thompson Drinkwater did considerable work in the line of carpentry, which trade
he learned in his native state where he became a successful contractor and also
put up quite a number of buildings after his removal to Indiana.

   The Drinkwater family had its origin in England and was first represented in
the United States by the subject's grandparents, who came to this country a
short time previous to the birth of their son Thompson and located in
Cincinnati, Ohio, where the latter first saw the light of day. They belonged to
the sturdy middle class of Britain which give to that land much of its strength
and respectability and are remembered as a most excellent and praiseworthy
couple whose lives were singularly free from fault and whose influence was
always salutary.

   William W. Drinkwater was about ten years of age when his parents moved to
Indiana, since which time his life has been very closely identified with the
counties of Howard and Miami, especially the former, throughout which he has
become widely and favorably known and to the growth and development of which he
has freely contributed of his time and influence. A farmer boy he was up with
the lark when the vernal season demanded his labors in the field, and after the
death of his father he became the bread winner of the family although but twenty
years of age when this heavy responsibility fell upon his shoulders. Taking
charge of the farm he addressed himself manfully to his duties and with little
assistance worth mentioning so conducted the work as to provide comfortably for
his mother and four sisters, during the four years they relied upon him for
support. His first educational experience in the rude log cabin with puncheon
floor and slab benches aroused in him an intense interest in book and study and
an earnest desire for a more thorough training than could be obtained in the
back-woods university, which laudable ambition he was subsequently enabled to
gratify by taking a high school course and still later becoming a student of the
Northern Indiana Normal school at Valparaiso where he pursued for some time the
more advanced branches of learning. While still a mere youth he became a
skillful worker with tools and under the direction of his father learned to turn
his mechanical ingenuity to good account in the direction of carpentry, at which
trade he soon acquired more than ordinary proficiency.

    His mother, re-marrying after a widowhood of four years and moving to
Kokomo, Mr. Drinkwater was relieved of much of the burden and responsibility
which erstwhile fell to him and subsequently he went to the city where he
secured remunerative employment at his trade, meanwhile in March, 1881, he
married the young lady of his choice, Emma Mills, of Preble county, Ohio,
daughter of William and Margerie Mills, who moved to Howard county a number of
years ago and are now living retired lives in the city of Kokomo. Immediately
after his marriage Mr. Drinkwater set up his domestic establishment on a rented
farm in Miami county, but at the expiration of six years purchased a place and
continued to reside on the same until 1889, when he sold out and moved to Kokomo
where he began dealing in real estate and in insurance and in due time became a
member of the old and reliable firm of Duke Brothers & Company, taking charge of
the loan department of which he still controls and in the management of which he
has achieved signal success, proving an able and judicious business man and a
valuable accession to the firm.

   Mr. Drinkwater is a most courteous and companionable gentleman, influential
in business circles and honorable and reliable in all of his dealings. He ranks
among the enterprising and public-spirited citizens of the city in which he
resides, manifests an active interest in whatever pertains to the progress of
Howard county and co-operates with others in  forwarding all measures whereby
his fellow men may be benefited. A Republican in the full measure of the term
and deeply interested in the success of his party and its candidates, he has
never entered the political arena as an aspirant for public honors, nor sought
official position at the ballot box. Like the majority of wide-awake,,
enterprising men, he is a member of the ancient and honorable Brotherhood of
Masonry and in his daily life endeavors to exemplify the sublime principles and
precepts of the order in all of his relations with his kind. He is also
identified with the Independent Order of Red Men, the Ben-Hur and the Order of
Maccabees, and in religion subscribes to the Methodist Episcopal faith,
belonging with his wife to the Grace church in Kokomo, which organization he has
served for a period of fifteen years as treasurer.

   The home life of Mr. Drinkwater has been a continued series of mutually
pleasing and agreeable experiences, each member looking to the interests of the
others, the father, mother and four children constituting a harmonious and
altogether happy family circle. The names of the children are Mazy B., John O.,
Charles M. and Paul E.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA
BY
JACKSON MORROW, B. A.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(circa 1909)

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