A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2), Part 1

Author: William Travis
Publication date: 1909
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 631

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LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

977.244 T69h v.2

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Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

MAR 2 8 1973

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A HISTORY

CLAY COUNTY INDIANA

CLOSING OF THE FIRST CENTURY'S HISTORY OF THE COUNTY, AND SHOWING THE GROWTH OF ITS PEOPLE, INSTI- TUTIONS, INDUSTRIES AND WEALTH

BY WILLIAM TRAVIS OF MIDDLEBURY

VOLUME II

ILLUSTRATED

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK CHICAGO 1909

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Fille. Robertson.

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

CAPTAIN THOMAS M. ROBERTSON, the venerable citizen who is now spending an honorable retirement at Brazil, Clay county, earned his military title by three years of hard and efficient fighting in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil war. For nearly thirty years he was success- fully engaged in mercantile pursuits in that city, has seen long years of fine public service, and both in the fields of battle and the province of civic administration has upheld the family name for generations back. His great-grandfather was a native of the city of Edinburgh, where, as in other portions of Scotland, the Robertsons have always stood shoulder to shoulder with the most ancient and honorable families of the mother- land. The American branch of the family was established in Maryland in 1731 by William Robertson, who came to America at the age of ten years and died March 25, 1773. It is known that the grandfather of Captain Robertson was a valiant upholder of the Patriots' cause. As the father served under General Harrison in the war of 1812, there is conclusive evidence that in the transplanting of the Robertson family to America it lost none of its virile and patriotic virtues.

Thomas M. Robertson is the fourth son of William and Catherine (Shively ) Robertson, and was born in Ross county, Ohio, on the 30th of December. 1833. The father was born in Charles county, Maryland, on the 6th of January, 1783, and died in Clay county, Indiana, June 18, 1853. The mother was a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, born on the 30th of March, 1799, and died January 24, 1874. In his younger days William Robertson was a slave overseer in his native state. Upon his removal to Harrison county, Ohio, he conformed to the new order of agricultural labor northwest of the Ohio river, and by individual work and good management became a prosperous farmer. In 1812 he enlisted under General Harrison and followed him through several campaigns, returning then to his farm and its duties. In 1820 he removed to Ross county, where he was married and engaged in farming for seventeen years, the family removing to Logan county in 1837 and to Clay county in 1851. The homestead on which he passed his last years, in the county named, was located on Birch Creek, Jackson township. He had been twice married, his first wife being Sarah Fernandez, a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, and seven children were born to this union. The deceased died several years before the formation of the Republican party of today, and during his lifetime he was what was known as a Jeffer- sonian and a Jacksonian Democrat.

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

Captain Robertson accompanied the family in its various shiftings through Ross and Logan counties, Ohio, to Clay county, Indiana, being in his eighteenth year when the homestead was finally fixed on Indiana soil. The youth had been raised on a farm and had enjoyed but meager educational advantages, but he was quick to learn and was therefore so far in advance of most young men of his age that soon after locating in Clay county he secured a position as a teacher in the district school. In 1858 he became a clerk in the drygoods store of Oliver H. P. Ash, in Bowling Green, with whom he remained for nearly three years.

In 1860-1 Captain Robertson was one of the editors of the "Clay County Democrat," but upon the breaking out of the Civil war he promptly dropped his pen for a gun and enlisted in the first company raised in Bowling Green. Before the men could muster, however, the state quota had been filled, and the company was disbanded. In 1861-2 he served as deputy clerk of the Common Pleas and Circuit courts, under Dillon W. Bridges, and in July of the latter year, under the presidential call for 300,000 men, he enlisted in Company D, Seventy-first Indiana Volunteers, afterward known as the Sixth Indiana Cavalry. On the organization of the company he was made first sergeant, and the regi- ment assisted in checking the advance of General Kirby Smith into Ken- tucky. He was captured in the battle of Richmond, that state, on the 30th of August, 1862, but was exchanged and again entered the Ken- tucky campaign. He was also captured with the other five hundred men of the Seventy-first Indiana by a force of three thousand cavalry under the famous John Morgan, the small Union force being at the time as- signed to guard a railroad bridge at Muldraugh's Hill. This second capture occurred on the 28th of December, of the same year. In Jan- uary, 1863, he was promoted to the second lieutenancy, and on February 18 became first lieutenant. Soon afterward the regiment was changed to cavalry, and during the fall of that year scouted through eastern Ken- tucky. On the 16th of October, 1863, he was promoted to be captain of Company D, Sixth Indiana Cavalry, and was constantly in command of his company until the expiration of its term of service in 1865. During the winter of 1863-4 he was at Cumberland Gap, Powell's River, Mul- berry Gap, Tazewell and other points in east Tennessee, and in April, 1864. the regiment was re-mounted at Mount Sterling, Kentucky, and attached to the cavalry corps of the Army of the Ohio, under General George Stoneman. It joined General Sherman's army in front of Dalton, Georgia, May II, and was thereafter on active duty throughout the Atlantic campaign, being engaged in the battles of Resaca, Cassville, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain and Chatta- hoochee River. In August. 1864, the regiment was sent to Nashville. Tennessee, and formed a part of the force which drove Forest out of the state, participating in the battle fought at Pulaski, Tennessee, on the 27th of September, 1864. Captain Robertson participated in the stirring cam- paign against Hood, and was in the battles of Nashville, in which the army of the Confederate leader was routed. He was honorably mus- tered out of the service at Pulaski, Tennessee. on the 27th of June, 1865.

At the conclusion of this brave and soldierly service, Captain Rob- ertson returned for a short time to Bowling Green, but in 1866 located in Brazil and became the junior partner in the mercantile business of Wheeler, Bridges and Company, with which he was identified for fifteen years. As the Republican candidate for auditor of Clay county, in 1867,

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

he considerably reduced the normal Democratic majority ; in 1869 served as deputy internal revenue collector of the seventh district, embracing Clay and Owen counties : held the office of town treasurer for a term ; in 1873, at the first election for city officers, was beaten for mayor by only nineteen votes, running on the Republican-Temperance ticket ; and in 1876 declined the Republican nomination for representative of the state legislature. In 1879 President Hayes appointed him postmaster of Brazil; at the expiration of his term in 1883 he was re-appointed by President Arthur, and served nearly two years under President Cleve- land, altogether holding the postmastership for a period of eight years and two days. In 1897 Captain Robertson retired from active business of every nature, and is now enjoying the comforts and honors to which his many years of faithful and able labors entitle him. In 1900 he was the Republican candidate for state senator from the district composed of Clay and Owen counties, and failed of election by only five hundred votes, although the district generally carries a large Democratic majority.

Captain Robertson is one of the honored veterans in both the benevo- lent fraternity of the Masons and the patriotic order of the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1859 he was initiated in Clay lodge No. 85, A. F. & A. M., at Bowling Green, and in 1904 was honored with the pastmas- ter's jewel of Brazil lodge No. 264; is also a member of Brazil chapter No. 59, R. A. M., and of Brazil council No. 40, R. and S. M. His special affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic is as a member of Gen- eral Canby post No. 2 of Brazil, this being the second post organized in Indiana. It would be difficult to determine whether Captain Robertson is stronger as a Republican or as a temperance leader, but whenever pos- sible he has obviated any necessity for such comparison by combining his advocacy of such principles.

On the 16th of May, 1866, Thomas M. Robertson was united in marriage with Miss Eunice Buell, a native of Venice, Butler county, Ohio, born on the 7th of December, 1836. She is a daughter of Ephraim and Margaret (Shaw) Buell. her father being born at Ledyard, New York, on the 5th of July, 1798, and dying in the year 1847. The mother was born in September, 1800, and died on the 5th of September. 1867. Their marriage occurred at Venice, Butler county, Ohio, July 2, 1818, the ceremony being performed by Robert Anderson, justice of the peace. Three of their ten children are still living, viz .: Mrs. Robertson : Jo- seph, a resident of Brookfield, Missouri ; and Lucinda, widow of S. T. L. Miles, who lives in Bowling Green. Ephraim Buell was one of the pio- neer farmers of Butler county, a Mason in honorable standing, and a Whig of the old Henry Clay stamp. Major General Don Carlos Buell, the Union general who commanded the Department of the Ohio during the first part of the Civil war, was his cousin. The first of the Buell family to come to America was William Buell, who was born at Ches- terton, England, about 1610: came to America in 1630 and settled at Dorchester Heights; removed to Windsor, Connecticut, some six years later, and died November 23, 1681.

DR. JOSEPH C. GIFFORD, an active and able practitioner of Brazil, is a son of Dr. William H. Gifford, for more than half a century a phy- sician and a public man of high standing in Clay county. Joseph C. is a native of Williamstown. that county, where he was born on the 27th of September, 1842. a child by his father's first marriage to Almira Curtis.

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

The Doctor was reared in Williamstown, where his father practiced for twenty-six years, and had received a thorough education in the funda- mental branches prior to the outbreak of the Civil war. He then enlisted for the three months' service in Company F, Tenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and had his first military experience under General Mcclellan in West Virginia, participating in the battle of Rich Mountain. At the expiration of his term he returned to Terre Haute and re-enlisted ( 1862) in Company B, Seventy-first Indiana Infantry, which company he had raised and of which he was chosen first lieutenant. The regiment was first ordered to Kentucky and was captured at the battle of Richmond, Dr. Gifford, with others, being paroled and returned to Terre Haute. He resigned in January, 1863, and in 1864 re-enlisted in Company D, 133rd Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Again going to the front, he took part in various campaigns in Tennessee and Alabama, and, with his honorable discharge from the service, returned to his home in Brazil and commenced the study of medicine with his father. He was finally matriculated at Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which he graduated in 1870.

After receiving his degree Dr. Gifford located at Brazil and formed an association with Dr. Black, which continued until July. 1884, since which year he has practiced alone. His professional labors have brought liim a fine reputation and a substantial income, and his ability as a private practitioner has induced various corporations and boards to request his services in their interests. He has served as secretary of the City Board of Health for two years and has been president of the United States Pension Board of Examiners for the past fifteen years, receiving his first appointment to the latter office from President Harrison. Dr. Gifford is also examining surgeon for the "Penn" Mutual Life, Equitable Life, Northwestern Life and other like organizations, and is a leading member of various societies designed to further the interests of his profession. In the municipal affairs of Brazil he has actively and prominently parti- cipated, having altogether served five terms of two years and one term of four years as a member of the City Council. His membership in the fraternities embraces the following: Centennial Lodge, No. 541, A. F. & A. M .: Brazil Council, No. 40, R. & S. M .; Brazil Commandery, No. 47, K. T. ; and Brazil Lodge, No. 762, B. P. O. E. A cursory examina- tion of the above record will convince anyone that Dr. Gifford has not restricted his activities, but has established himself as a broad and strong force in the community which has so long been his home.

Dr. William Howell Gifford, the father, was a native of Washing- ton, Mason county, Kentucky, born April 23, 1814, and he died at his home in Brazil on Sunday, March 29, 189i, at the age of seventy-six years, eleven months and six days. In 1831 he came with his parents to Putnam county, Indiana, and four years later entered upon a course of medical reading and studies. Soon after his graduation from Transyl- vania Medical College, Lexington, Kentucky (in 1838), he located at Williamstown, Posey township. Clay county, for the practice of his profes- sion. In May, 1840, he married Miss Almira Curtis, a native of New York, who was born July 20, 1820, and died in Williamstown on the 4th of October, 1860. Four children were born to this union, of whom the following are alive: Dr. Joseph C., of this sketch, and Ann S., wife of Randal G. Yocom. After the death of her husband Mrs. Yocom married again and is now living in Indiana. Dr. William H. Gifford married as

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

his second wife Elizabeth J. Mathews, their union occurring June 17, 1869, and resulting in the birth of two sons and one daughter, of whom Martha E. became the wife of Samuel Grimes of Brazil. In November, 1872, the Doctor wedded Emeline B. Cooper, of Wilmington, Delaware, the ceremony occurring in Philadelphia. Dr. Gifford, the elder, became influential while a resident of Williamstown, both as a physician and a man of public affairs, and in 1864 was elected by the Whigs to represent them in the state legislature. About 1864 he located in Brazil and there actively continued his practice until 1881. In 1872 he was nominated by the Republican party and again elected to the general assembly of Indi- ana. Until his death in 1891 he was considered a representative physician and citizen of Clay county, and when he died a strong and elevating force was withdrawn from its affairs.

On August 3, 1869, three years before his father's last marriage, Dr. Joseph C. Gifford wedded Miss Mary E. Page, and they have become the parents of three children, of whom only a married daughter survives. The elder son, the late Dr. William Howard Gifford, was born in Brazil, Indiana, June 3, 1870, and after passing through the public and high schools of that city pursued his medical education in Chicago. He was first matriculated at Rush Medical College, completing three terms in that institution and finishing his professional course at the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, Indianapolis. Graduating from the latter in 1896, he located for practice at Brazil and continued it with his father until the outbreak of the Spanish-American war. He then enlisted in the 169th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, serving as hospital steward until the close of the war. At his muster-out he re-enlisted in the Eleventh United States Infantry and for three years served in the ranks, his duties taking him to both Porto Rico and the Philippines. He was mustered out as first sergeant, returning then to Brazil to resume practice, which he con- tinued until his untimely death March 3, 1903. The second son, Joseph C. Gifford, died in 1884, at the age of ten years, and the daughter, Frances G .. is the wife of John Liddell of Brazil. Mrs. J. C. Gifford, the mother of the family, was born in Clermont county, Ohio, December 29, 1848, and is a daughter of Asbury McHenry and Harriet B. (Carr) Page. Mrs. Gifford's father was a native of Adams county, Ohio, born on the 14th of March, 1818, and is still living in Clermont county. His wife was born in that county in July, 1827, and died therein during May, 1903. They were also married in Clermont county, and lived to celebrate their golden wedding, having become the parents of eleven children, of whom these are alive at this writing: May E., the second child and wife of Dr. Joseph C. Gifford; Charles W., residing on the old Ohio homestead ; Belle : Georgia A., wife of Gustave A. Wolf, residents of Cincinnati, Ohio; William R., living in California, and Margaret, wife of Harry B. Phipps. Asbury M. Page was a farmer and stock raiser of Clermont county until his retirement from active pursuits in 1902. He was especially well known as a breeder of Jersey cattle. He was for many years a school director and very active in educational work, and is one of the most honored pioneers of Clermont county. His father, William Page, was one of the pioneer ministers of the Buckeye state, his home being in West Union, Adams county, Ohio.

EMANUEL L. WINKLEPLECK, of the extensive house-furnishing firm of Winklepleck and Sons, located at Brazil, Indiana, is a native of Ohio,

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

born March 20, 1840, son of Philip and Rosana (Keyser) Winklepleck. The father was born in Virginia and died in Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1853, at the age of sixty-eight years, while the mother, a native of Penn- sylvania, passed away at Rowville, Ohio, a decade later, but at the same age of life. They were married in the Buckeye state, and became the parents of twelve children.

Emanuel L. Winklepleck remained on the home farm until his father's death, which occurred when the boy was about thirteen years of age. Ife worked on the farm in summer and attended the district school in winter, the common lot of those in his station, but when nineteen years of age he had made such progress in his studies that he removed to Owen county, Indiana, for the purpose of teaching others. He con- tinued his work there as a teacher from the fall of 1859 until the com- mencement of the Civil war. Soon after its outbreak he enlisted in Com- pany G, Fifty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in that connection served from July, 1861, to September, 1864. After his honorable dis- charge from the military service Mr. Winklepleck returned to his home in Coshocton county. Shortly afterward he located near Warsaw, Indi- ana, where he taught school during the fall of 1864, continuing to be thus employed in that locality in the spring and fall of the succeeding year. In the spring of 1866 he taught school in Kosciusko county, Indiana, continuing his educational career in Clay county, near Middlebury, from 1866 to 1869.

From the latter year until the present time, or for a period of nearly forty years, Mr. Winklepleck has been engaged in various fields of busi- ness and finance. In 1869 he located in the mercantile business at Knights- ville, Indiana, later adding coal mining, having two mines, and operated these in connection with his store interests. In 1890 he removed to Brazil. which has since been his residence city and the center of his mercantile operations, which have expanded into his present large business as a fur- nisher of everything required by the most fastidious householder. His two sons constitute the other members of the firm. Mr. Winklepleck was one of the organizers of both the Brazil Trust Company and . the Citizens' National Bank, having served as president of the former since its found- ing, and as a member of the board of directors of the latter since its estab- lishment. In 1895 he erected a fine modern residence in Brazil on the corner of Walnut and Logan streets. In all, he has erected three valuable buildings in the place, one known as the Winklepleck Block, completed in 1905, being the headquarters of the house-furnishing business of Wink- lepleck and Sons.

In his political views Mr. Winklepleck is a firm believer in Repub- licanism, and has always cast his vote in support of its principles. Like many other modern business men and progressive citizens, he is an enthusiast in the furtherance of fraternal relations through the well estab- lished orders, and his membership in them includes affiliation with Lodge No. 264, A. F. & A. M., at Brazil ; Ben Hur Court, No. 8, and I. O. O. F., Lodge 215. In the month of October, 1869, he was married to Miss Mary A. Sayer, like her husband born in Coshocton county, Ohio. She is the daughter of Stephen D. and Sarah A. (Morgan) Sayer, her parents being natives of New York who migrated to Ohio at an early day. In that state the father was a prosperous farmer, served as county commit- teeman and director of the county infirmary, and otherwise was a man of practical influence and progressive tendencies. He became the father

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

of three sons and three daughters, Mrs. Winklepleck being the third child in order of birth. Mr. and Mrs. Winklepleck have two sons, Edgar Saver and Asa Elmer Winklepleck, both of whom are associated with their father in business.

Edgar S. Winklepleck was born in Knightsville, Indiana, in the month of January, 1881, and received his education in the common schools of that place and Brazil, as well as at the Commercial College, Valparaiso, Indiana. After completing a full course at the latter institu- tion he joined his father in the house-furnishing business, and is consid- ered one of the bright, substantial young men of the city. His wife was formerly Miss Hila A. Pell, daughter of Dr. George M. Pell, of Carbon, Indiana, and they have one child, George E. Winklepleck. Mr. Winkle- pleck is an active member of the order of Elks. Asa E. Winklepleck, his younger brother and junior member of the firm of Winklepleck and Sons, was born in Knightsville, Indiana, in 1883. He is also an earnest fra- ternalist. having membership in both the Elks and the order of Masonry ( Brazil Lodge, No. 264). He is popular in business as in social circles.

DR. JACOB FRANKLIN SMITH, whose medical and surgical knowledge and .skill is known throughout a wide radius about Brazil, Indiana, where he has long been known as an eminent physician, and in whom the people have the utmost confidence, is a native of Terre Haute, Indiana, born March 12, 1858, a son of George Washington and Mariah (Shelley) Smith, both. natives of Ohio. The father died at the advanced age of ninety-three years, seven months and ten days, in 1906. His wife died aged thirty-three years, when Jacob F. was but one and a half years old. Of the four children born to George Washington Smith and wife, two are now living: Lucy A., wife of Joseph Stough of Brazil and Dr. Jacob F. The father was a tobacconist and farmer. He was a pro- gressive man, liberal in his views and highly intelligent, hence had a large circle of friends and admirers. Politically, he was a Whig until the formation of the Republican party when he supported that to the end of his life. He had the distinction of casting a vote for the first standard- bearer of that party-Gen. John C. Fremont.

Dr. Smith was educated in the schools of Terre Haute, Indiana, and at Brazil. When seven years of age he accompanied his father to a farm where he remained three years, then removed to Brazil, Indiana, in 1875. At the age of seventeen years, having chosen medicine as his profession, he began the study of that science with Doctor T. A. Glasgo, a physician and surgeon of Brazil, with whom he remained until about 1879, having attended the Medical Department of the University of Michigan two years at Ann Arbor. After his course at the University, he began the active practice of his profession at Clay City. Indiana, where he soon achieved success and enjoyed a lucrative practice in medicine and surgery. He remained there two years and in 1882, sought out a wider field in which to practice and selected Brazil, where he located. Here he has won a wide and excellent reputation, especially in surgery and complicated cases, in his general medical practice. He is a close student, and great reader on modern discoveries in the science of medicine. He graduated with the class of 1886 from the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Indianapolis. His skill and up-to-date knowledge enables him to suc- cessfully treat many difficult cases. He performed the first successful operation for gun-shot perforation of the intestines in Indiana; also the

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A History of Clay County Indiana (Volume 2), Part 1

Author: William Travis Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Number of Pages: 631

Author: William Travis
Publication date: 1909
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 631