Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts & Archives
User Information
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Folder List
Cataloguing Information
Processed by
Alexandra S. Gressitt
22 December 1997
VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 1 small manuscript box (5 folders)
COLLECTION DATES: 1839-1841, 1854, n.d.
PROVENANCE: Howard Michlow, Auburn, Indiana
RESTRICTIONS: None
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society.
ALTERNATE FORMATS: None
OTHER FINDING AIDS: None
RELATED HOLDINGS: M002, Daniel R. Bearss Collection and M586, A. A. Cole Papers
ACCESSION NUMBER: 1997.0226
NOTES: None
Daniel R[oberts] Bearss, merchant, farmer, businessman, and politician was born 23 August 1809 in Geneseo, Livingston County, New York, the son of Truman and Sabrina [Roberts] Bearss. With his family he migrated westward to Plainville, Clermont County, Ohio (1811) then to Detroit, Michigan (1815) before settling in Indiana in 1828.
In 1828 he entered the employ of W. G. Ewing, Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, who were engaged in trade with Indians. (W[illiam] G[iffith] Ewing married Esther Bearss, sister of Daniel R. Bearss). Soon after joining the Ewing firm, a branch trading house was opened in Logansport, Cass County, Indiana where Bearss worked until 1832, when he opened his own mercantile business in Goshen, Elkhart County, Indiana (1832-1834). On 14 January 1834 he married, in Goshen, Emma A. Cole, a daughter of Judge Albert Cole.
The following August, moving to Peru, Miami County, Indiana (1834) he performed a partnership with his father-in-law for general merchandising business. This partnership ended after a year and Bearss continued on his own until 1844 when he formed another partnership which Charles Spencer. After five years of operating under the name of Bearss and Spencer, Bearss retired from the mercantile business to devote time to his large real estate holdings which included two farms and the Broadway Hotel in Peru, business interests including directorships of the Indianapolis, Peru and Chicago Railroad and the Wabash Railroad, and political activities. Local political positions held by Bearss included those of school commissioner and Miami County Commissioner (1840). He was a Whig and a Republican member of the Indiana House of Representatives, 1841-1844, and Indiana State Senate, 1855-1857, 1861-1863, 1875-1877. In 1856 he served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention.
Daniel and his wife Emma had eight children: George Russel (1834-?); William E.; Albert Cole (1838-1907); Oliver J.; Homer D. (printed sources)/Omer Daniel (family source); Frank W.; Emma who married Charles J. S. Kumler; and Ella. Daniel Bearss died, 18 April 1884, Hot Springs, Arkansas and is buried in Ridgeview Cemetery, Peru, Indiana.
Sources: A Biographical Director of the Indiana General Assembly, Vol. 1, pp. 19, 122.
Bodurtha, Arthur L., History of Miami County, Indiana, pp. 88, 158-9, 511-13.
History of Miami County, Indiana (1877), pp. 394-6.
Materials in this collection relate primarily to the trade business of Daniel R. Bearss and his Miami Indian claims, 1839 – 1841. Included in the collection are two bills, 1839, one for E. Bearss for goods and skins and one for skins received from Pe-ash-way; an account book of Daniel R. Bearss, Peru, Indiana, 1839-1840; testimony for claim number fifty seven with references to testimony on claim number twenty five and a copy of the decision on claim number fifty seven, 1841, and two undated notes on pre-treaty claims. The collection also includes one personal letter from R. Cole, Oberlin, 18 November 1854, to Daniel R. Bearss, which mentions a social gathering, recent election results in Peru, Indiana, death of Aunt Mary, and family visits.
Folders:
1 Bills, 1839
2 Accounts, 1839-1840
3 Testimony and Decision on Claim #57, 1841
4 Pre-Treaty Claim Notes, n.d.
5 Correspondence, 1854
MAIN ENTRY: Bearss, Daniel, R. 1809-1884
Miami Indian claims, 1839-1854
SUBJECT ENTRIES: Bearss, Daniel, R. 1809-1884
Miami Indians--Indiana--Claims
Miami Indians--Indiana--History--Sources
Merchants--Indiana--Peru
Peru (Ind.)--History--Sources
END