US Senator. He was born to Joshua and Jenette Shields Tipton in Sevier County, Tennesee on 14 August 1786. He received limited schooling while living in Tennessee and in around 1807 moved to Harrison County, Indiana with his family. There he gained first military prominence when serving with the “Yellow Jackets” under General Harrison in the Tippecanoe campaign of 1811. During the war of 1812, he served as a Major commanding two companies of the Indiana Rangers at Fort Vallonia and by the end of the war had been promoted to Brigadier General. Tipton continued in public service throughout his life serving in the following capacities: Sheriff of Harrison County, Indiana: 1816 to 1819; State House of Representatives: 1819 to 1823. During this time, he was a member of two important Indiana State Commissions: in 1820, the Commission that selected a new capitol for Indiana and in 1821, the Commission to define the border between Indiana and Illinois; United States Indian agent for the Pottawatamie and Miami tribes: 1823; United State Senator from Indiana: 9 Dec 1831 – 3 Mar 1839. His first election to the Senate was to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator James Noble. He was subsequently re-elected in 1832 and while serving in the Twenty-fifth Congress, chaired the Committee on Roads and Canals and was a member of the Committee on Indian Affairs. In 1838, he declined his party’s nomination for a third term due to his declining health. He died in Logansport, Cass County, Indiana on April 5, 1839 and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery. Mr. Tipton was married twice and fathered four children. He first married his cousin Martha Janette “Jennie” Shields, daughter of John Shields a gunsmith and blacksmith that served with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The only child of this union was a son, Spier (variant “Spear”) Tipton, who was born in 1814 and died in 1847. He married, second, Matilda Spencer on August 11, 1825, in Harrison County, Indiana. Three children were born of this union, George T. Tipton born in 1828, died in 1873; Harriet B Tipton Dunn who was born in 1829 and died in 1887: and John Tipton who was born in 1831 and died in 1861.