Prominent Auburn Lawyer Dies In Auto
John W. Baxter Succumbs to Heart Disease Near Waterloo
(Special to the News)
Waterloo, Ind., July 22 – While being driven from his summer home, at Hamilton lake, to Auburn, John W. Baxter, a prominent attorney of Auburn, was stricken with heart failure shortly before 8 o’clock this morning and died before his frightened driver could reach Waterloo. Mr. Baxter sustained the attack while but three miles from this place and was dead when the car reached Waterloo. The body was taken to Auburn. And the members of the family hastily summoned from Hamilton lake.

The surviving relatives include a son, George, who is employed by the Ford company at Detroit, and two daughters, Mary and Ruth, who were at the lake with their father. A brother, George Baxter, is a traveling salesman and resides in Lakeside, Fort Wayne.

Mr. Baxter was 65 years of age and was one of the best known attorneys in northern Indiana. With his family he had been spending the summer at Hamilton lake, and when he left the resort to go to Auburn to attend to some business. Mr. Baxter was seemingly in perfect health.

Mr. Baxter was well-known in Fort Wayne, having appeared here on several occasions as a practicing attorney and having been a frequent business visitor in this city. His son, Frank Baxter, was one of the victims of the Aveline fire several years ago. (Fort Wayne News, Fort Wayne, IN, July 22, 1915)


Attorney J.W. Baxter, of Auburn, Dies While Riding In Automobile
Auburn, Ind., July 11 – While returning with friends in an automobile from a summer resort, John W. Baxter, aged 65 years, one of the best known lawyers in this county, died suddenly this morning. Death was due to heart failure.

Mr. Baxter was returning with friends from an outing at Oakwood park, Hamilton lake, where he had been visiting with his family. In the machine with him were C.M. Brown, owner and driver. Orville Brown and Miss Nell Harding. The party was carrying on a lively conversation when one of the members suddenly noticed Mr. Baxter close his eyes. Efforts were made to bring him back to consciousness, but these failed. He was returned to Waterloo, but was pronounced dead by Dr. Schultz and was brought on here.

John W. Baxter was born in this county in 1849 in Franklin township, and there was reared to manhood, attending the country schools and also the city schools of Butler and Auburn and later the college at Angola. His ambition was to become a lawyer and after leaving school he read law in the offices of McBride and Morton, in Waterloo, afterward entering the law department of the University of Michigan, where he graduated in 1876, and began his practice in Butler, Ind. In 1880 he was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of G.H. Moss, clerk of the court of this county, who died, and the next election he was a candidate and was elected and served four years in this office, and at the close of his term opened a law office in this city, where he had practiced ever since. In 1877 he was married to Ella Chamberlain, of Waterloo, and to this union were born six children, one dying in infancy, another from diphtheria and a son, Frank, lost his life in the Aveline hotel fire in Fort Wayne several years ago. The three living children are Mary, who is a teacher in the Auburn schools, George Baxter, of Detroit, and who is now home on a vacation, and Ruth, who graduated from the Auburn high school in the class of 1915.

Mr. Baxter was a member of the DeKalb lodge F. and A.M. of this city, and the M.E. church, where he was an ardent worker. His funeral has not yet been arranged. (Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Fort Wayne, IN, July 23, 1915)