Lake-La Porte County IN Archives Biographies.....Banks, N. P. 1845 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 21, 2006, 11:22 pm

Author: T. H. Ball (1904)

N. P. BANKS.

    N. P. Banks, one of the practical and progressive farmers of Hobart
township, resides on Section 6, and for many years has been a resident of the
county. He was born in Lake county, Ohio, September 25, 1845, and in the
paternal line is of Holland-Dutch lineage. His great-great-grandfather was born
in Holland and, coming to America, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
Orin Banks, the father of N. P. Banks, was born in New York, and was reared and
married there, the lady of his choice being Miss Olive Brown, whose birth
occurred in the Empire state and who was of English descent. He emigrated to
Ohio in an early day, settling in Lake county, whence in 1845 he removed to
LaPorte county, Indiana, establishing his home just within the boundary limits
of LaPorte city. He afterward lived in Scipio township, that county, and in 1852
he came to Lake county, settling in Ross township, where he carried on farming.
His last days, however, were passed in Hobart township, where he died at the age
of fifty-seven years. He was a very public-spirited man, and was justice of the
peace for a number of years. He also belonged to the Baptist church, was very
active and zealous in its work, filled the office of deacon and did everything
in his power to advance the cause of Christianity in his community. His life was
honorable, his actions manly and sincere and he left to his family the priceless
heritage of an untarnished name. His wife, a most estimable lady, lived to be
about seventy-two years of age. In their family were twelve children, of whom
two died in infancy, while ten reached manhood or womanhood and eight are now
living.

    N. P. Banks is the youngest son and eleventh child of the family, and was
but six weeks old when he landed in LaPorte county, Indiana, with his parents.
Seven years later he came with them to Lake county, and was largely reared in
Hobart township, acquiring his education in the public schools. He was but
sixteen years of age when in 1862 he enlisted in Miller's Chicago Battery for
three years' service. He was No. 4 on the gun, and was afterward corporal chief
of the caisson and gunner. During the last year of his service he held the rank
of sergeant and received an honorable discharge in 1865, after having been a
member of the army for almost three years. He was the youngest man in his
company, and he took part in seventeen important battles and thirty-four
skirmishes, including many of the most hotly contested engagements of the war.
Among the number were the battles of the Atlanta campaign, and though he was
often in the thickest of the fight he did not receive even a scratch in all of
his service. When the country no longer needed his aid he was honorably
discharged at Chicago in 1865, and returned to his home in Lake county with a
most creditable military record.

    Desirous of enjoying better school advantages Mr. Banks then attended high
school for one term, and later he engaged in teaching school through four winter
seasons, while in the summer months he worked for wages on the farm.

    On the 14th of February, 1869, occurred the marriage of Mr. Banks and Miss
Clara E. Chandler, a daughter of T. P. and Betsey (Woodmansee) Chandler. The
parents were natives of Vermont and in their family were four children, of whom
Mrs. Banks is the youngest. Her birth occurred in the Green Mountain state
January 1, 1850, and by her marriage she has become the mother of six children:
Mary, the wife of J. M. Sholl; Carrie E., who is attending college at Oberlin,
Ohio; Myrtle L., who is engaged in teaching in the schools of Hobart; Bessie,
the wife of Rev. Dunning Idle, a celebrated minister of the Methodist Episcopal
church; Flora, who is attending school in Hobart; and Marian, deceased.

    After his marriage Mr. Banks located upon a farm in Hobart township and has
since been engaged in general agricultural pursuits. He now has two hundred and
forty acres of land, which is a well developed property, the fields being highly
cultivated, while upon the farm are good buildings and all modern equipments.
This constitutes one of the attractive features in the landscape, and a glance
indicates to the passer-by the care and supervision of an enterprising,
progressive owner. Mr. Banks is a stockholder and also a director in the First
State Bank of Hobart. Mr. Banks is a director of the Lake County Farmers' Mutual
Insurance Company, organized some years ago on a small scale, and now embracing
the whole county. There are 1,310 policies and the insurance in force is about
$2,150,000.00, which exists amongst the best farmers of the county. There are
five directors, four of them being N. P. Banks, Albert Foster, Star A. Brownell
and John Borger. In public affairs he has also been prominent and influential,
and his influence is always given on the side of right, reform and improvement.
He was township trustee of Hobart for five years, and he has always been a
stanch Republican, putting forth strenuous effort in behalf of the party. He
maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his membership
in Hobart Post No. 411, G. A. R., and he also belongs to the Odd Fellows
society, No. 333, at that place. In matters of citizenship he is as true and
loyal as when he followed the nation's starry banner upon the battlefields of
the south.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF
Genealogy and Biography
OF
LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA,
WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 
1834—1904

A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and
the Founding of a Nation.

REV. T. H. BALL
OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO   NEW YORK
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1904


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