For sixteen years Major Thoams J. Platt has been numbered among the prominent and progressive citizens of West Lafayette as president of the West Lafayette Bank. He has also taken an active interest in other public enterprises and may therefore be termed one of the builders of this village for his connection with an undertaking insures a prosperous outcome of the same.

Mr. Platt is a native of the Buckeye state, born in Linton township, Coshocton county, December 16, 1840, a son of Thomas and Eliza (Harbison) Platt. Both the Platt and the Harbison families were early settlers of this section of the state, the paternal grandfather having setled here in 1816, at which time he entered land from the government. He served in the war of 1812. The maternal grandfather came from Baltimore, Maryland, to Linton township, Coshocton county, in 1830, and was therefore classed among its pioneer settlers.

The father, Thomas Platt, was born in New Jersey, while the birth of the mother occurred in Baltimore, Maryland. The father was a carpenter by trade but abandoned that pursuit at the time of the Civil War to become a member of Company I, Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for two years. He participated in the battle of Stone River and in many other hotly contested engagements during the struggle between the north and the south. He was a democrat in the political views and allegiance and took a prominent and active part in the political life and this section of the state. He served as coroner and as sheriff of Coshocton county. His death occurred May 12, 1897, while his wife was called to her final rest many years before, her death occurring May 12, 1861, just thirty-six years previous. Their union was blessed with the following children: Thomas J. of this review; Allen H., a resident of Coshocton; Mary J., the widow of William Smith; John P., who makes his home in Cameron, Misouri; Robert V., who has departed this life; Agnes, the widow of Victor Vickers; Emmett, deceased; Bell, the wife of Henry Norris and a resident of Coshocton county; Joseph H., of Plainfield, Ohio; and one who died in infancy. Not only the father but four of his sons, Allen H., Thomas J., John Parker and Robert V., manifested their loyalty and patriotism by serving in the Civil War and fortunately all returned home uninjured, none being wounded in battle.

Thomas J. Platt was reared to agricultural pursuits and acquired his education in the common schools. At the age of seventeen years he began business life as a clerk in the employ of a cousin in Perry county, Ohio, with whom he remained for four years. He then put aside all business and personal considerations and offered his services to the government at the time of the Civil war, becoming a member of Company F, Seventeenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which he joined April 21, 1861, for three months' services, the company being organized in Lancaster, this state. At the end of that period he reenlisted for three years, October 11, 1861, as a member of Company D, Sixty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On the 16th of November of that year he was promoted to the rank of sergeant and was with his regiment at the batle of Winchester, Virginia, March 23, 1862; and at Harrison's Landing, July 10, 1862. On account of a vacancy caused by death of the first lieutenant he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, July 13, 1863, while still later he was commissioned first lieutenant at Morris Island, South Carolina. His regiment took an active part in the assault on Fort Wagner, where they lost in killed and wounded seventy-five men. On the 24th of October 1863, he was promoted to the captaincy of his company, which took Fort Gregg, and he was also in the siege at charleston. At Richmind, Virginia, on the 26th of December 1864, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel but as there was not a vacancy it was a complimentary commission and he was never mustered into he office. On the 1st of August, 1865, the Sixty-second and Sixty-seventh Ohio Regiments were consolidated and the surplus officers were mustered out of service, Major Platt being retained in that posiition with the Sixty-seventh Ohio Regiment and was mustered out with that rank on the 7th of December, 1865. He displayed marked bravery during his entire service as is indicated by the fact of his promotion ot the rank of major. Whiel located at Port Royal or Hilton Head, his regiment reenlisted for three years or until the close of the war and were granted a thirty days' furlough. After boarding a ship to return home, Major Platt was ordered back to land to take charge of a part of the Thirty-ninth Illinois Infantry who were without an officer and he remained with them from the first of January, 1864, until the latter part of the following April, when he returned north with the regiment and met his old Ohio comrades. The transfer was made at Gloucester Point, Virginia, but before leaving for home the Illinois boys presented the Major with a beautiful sword, scabbard and sash, as a token of their love and respect for him and what he had done for them.

Returning to his home at the close of the war, Major Platt formed a partnership with David Brelsford in the conduct of a mercantile establishment at Plainfield, Ohio, but in 1868 he retired from the firm and for one year was employed as traveling salesman by Jewell & Company, of Newark, Ohio. He then purchased a stock of merchandise of Jonathan Wiggins and carried on business successfully until 1892, when he retired and removed to West Lafayette, since which time he has made his home in this village. He was one of the organizers of the West Lafayette Bank, of which he is now acting as president. He is a careful man of business and it is largely through his individual efforts that the bank has been classed among the solid and safe banking institutions of this section of the state.

Major Platt was married June 20, 1897, to Miss Ella C. Sangster, who was bor in Virginia, July 16, 1848, a daughter of Chalres F. and Sarah (Gore) Sangster, both of whom were natives of Loudoun county, that state, coming to Ohio in 1850, at which time they made their abode in Coshocton county, where they purchased a tract of land. Their family numbered nine children, of whom Mrs. Platt was the second in order of birth. By her marriage she has become the mother of four children, a son and three daughters, as follows: Harry, who is a traveling salesman and makes his home in Coshocton; Anna S., the wife of F. E. Kerr, who is engaged in the insurance business in Coshocton; Nellie Lee, who was graduated from the West Lafayette high school and is at home; and Carrie M., the wife of Charles Walters, who is engaged in the hardware business in connection with hsi father and brothers under the firm name of John A. Walters & Sons, in West Lafayette.

Major Platt maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his membership with the Grand Army of the Republic at Plainfield, while both he and his wife are devoted and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has been watchful of all the details of his business and of all indications pointing to prosperity and from the beginning has had an abiding faith in the ultimate success of the bank. He has gained wealth, yet it has not been alone the goal for which he has striven, for he belongs to that class of representative American citizens who promote the general prosperity while advancing individual interests.

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