USA > Indiana > Miami County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 1
USA > Indiana > Howard County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 1
USA > Indiana > Cass County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 1
USA > Indiana > Tipton County > Biographical and genealogical history of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton counties, Indiana > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
Gc 977.2 B52 v.1 499915
PUBLIC LIBRARY FORT WAYNE & ALLEN CO., IND.
M! L:
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
L
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
m 3 1833 00827 1857
FE3 ^ ^ 1942
your tity Anace P. Biddle
Biographical and Genealogical
HISTORY
OF
Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton Counties,
Indiana.
VOL. I.
CHICAGO : THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1898.
499915 PREFACE.
O UT OF THE depths of his mature wisdom Carlyle wrote: "History is the essence of innumerable biographies." Farther than this what pro- priety can there be in advancing reasons for the compilation of such a work as the one at hand? The group of counties here considered has sustained within its confines men who have been prominent in the history of the state and nation from the early territorial epoch. The annals teem with the records of strong and noble womanhood, and, as Sumner said, " The true grandeur of nations is in those qualities which constitute the true greatness of the individual." The final causes which shape the fortunes of individual men and the destinies of states are often the same. They are usually remote and obscure ; their influence wholly unexpected until declared by results. When they inspire men to the exercise of courage, self-denial, enterprise, industry, and call into play the higher moral elements ; lead men to risk all upon con- viction, faith, - such causes lead to the planting of great states, great nations, great peoples. That nation is greatest which produces the greatest and most manly men, and the intrinsic safety depends not so much upon methods and measures as upon that true manhood from whose deep sources all that is precious and permanent in life must at last proceed. Such a result may not consciously be contemplated by the individuals instrumental in the production of a great nation. Pursuing each his personal good by exalted means, they work out this as a logical result. They have wrought on the lines of the greatest good.
Ceaselessly to and fro flies the deft. shuttle which weaves the web of human destiny, and into the vast mosaic fabric enter the individuality, the effort, the accomplishment of each man, be his station that most lowly, or one of majesty, pomp and power. Within the textile folds may be traced the line of each individuality, be it the one that lends the beautiful sheen of honest worth and honest endeavor, or one that, dark and zigzag, finds its way
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through warp and woof, marring the composite beauty by its blackened threads, ever in evidence of the shadowed and unprolific life. Into the great aggregate each individuality is merged, and yet the essence of each is never lost, be the angle of its influence wide-spreading and grateful, or narrow and baneful. In his efforts he who essays biography finds much of profit and much of alluring fascination when he would follow out, in even a cursory way, the tracings of a life history, seeking to find the keynote of each re- spective personality. These efforts and their resulting transmission can not fail of value in an objective way, for in each case may the lesson of life be conned, "line upon line ; precept upon precept."
Whether the elements of success in life are innate attributes of the indi- vidual, or whether they are quickened by a process of circumstantial devel- opment, it is impossible to clearly determine. Yet the study of a successful life is none the less interesting and profitable by reason of the existence of this same uncertainty. So much in excess of those of successes are the records of failures or semi-failures that one is constrained to attempt an analysis in either case and to determine the method of causation in an ap- proximate way. The march of improvement and progress is accelerated day by day, and each successive moment seems to demand of men a broader intelligence and a greater discernment than did the preceding. Successful men must be live men in this age, bristling with activity, and the lessons of biography may be far reaching to an extent not superficially evident. A man's reputation is the property of the world. The laws of nature have for- bidden isolation. Every human being either submits to the controlling influence of others, or, as a master, wields a power for good or evil on the masses of mankind. There can be no impropriety in justly scanning the acts of any man as they affect his public, social and business relations. If he be honest and successful in his chosen field of endeavor, investigation will brighten his fame and point the path along which others may follow with like success. Not alone are those worthy of biographic honors who have moved along the loftier planes of action, but to an equal extent are those deserving who are of the rank and file of the world's workers, for they are not less the conservators of public prosperity and material advancement.
Longfellow wrote, "We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done." If this golden sentence of the New England bard were uniformly applied, many a man who
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is now looking down with hanghty stare upon the noble toilers on land and sea, sneering at the omission of the aspirate, the cut of his neighbor's coat or the humbleness of his dwelling, would be voluntarily doing penance in sackeloth and ashes, at the end of which he would handle a spade or, with pen in hand, burn the midnight oil in his study, in the endeavor to widen the bounds of liberty or to accelerate the material and spiritual progress of his race. The humble and lowly often stand representative of the truest nobility of character, the deepest patriotism and the most exalted purpose, and through all the gradations of life recognition should be had of the true values and then should full appreciation be manifested.
In the Biographical and Genealogical History of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton Counties the editorial staff, as well as the publishers, have fully realized the magnitude of the task set them. The work is purely biograph- ical in its province, and in the collation of material for the same there has been a constant aim to use a wise discrimination in regard to the selection of subjects, and yet to exclude none worthy of representation within its pages. Those who have been prominent factors in the public, social and industrial makeup of the counties in the past have been given due recogni- tion as far as it has been possible to secure the requisite data. Names worthy of perpetuation here have in several instances been omitted, either on account of the apathetic interest of those concerned, or the inability to secure the information demanded. Yet, in both the contemporary narrative and the memoirs of those who have passed on to " that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns," it is believed that there has been such utilization of material as to more than fulfill all stipulations and prom- ises made at the inception of the undertaking.
In the compilation recourse has been had to divers authorities, includ- ing various histories and historical collections, and implying an almost end- less array of papers and documents, public, private, social and ecclesiastical. That so much matter could be gathered from so many original sources and then sifted and assimilated for the production of a single work without incurring a modicum of errors and inaccuracies, would be too much to expect of any corps of writers, no matter how able they might be as statisticians or skilled as compilers of such works. It is, nevertheless, believed that no inaccuracies of a serious nature can be found to impair the historical value of the volumes, and it is further believed that the results
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will supply the demand which called forth the efforts of the publishers and the editorial corps.
To other and specific histories has been left the task of touching the general history of these counties, for the function of this work is aside from this, and is definite in its scope, so that a recapitulation would be out of harmony with the compilation. However, the incidental references made to those who have been the important actors in the public and civic history of the counties will serve to indicate the generic phases and will shadow forth much to those who can "read between the lines." In conclusion we can not do better than to quote another of Carlyle's terse aphorisms: " There is no heroic poem in the world but is at bottom a biography,-the life of a man."
BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ORACE P. BIDDLE .- One of the most conspicuous figures in the his- H
tory of Indiana is the distinguished jurist whose name introduces this review. At the venerable age of eighty-seven years, he is now living retired in his beautiful "Island Home" situated on an isle in the Wabash, at Logansport, -honored as a citizen whose career has conferred credit and dignity upon the state, and whose marked abilities have heightened the fame of her judiciary. An enumeration of those men of the present generation who have won honor and public recognition for themselves, and at the same time have honored the state to which they belong, would be incomplete were there failure to make prominent reference to Judge Biddle. He holds distinctive precedence as an eminent lawyer, statesman and judge, and a man of high literary attainments, his reading and investigation having been carried into almost every line of thought and research which have occupied the atten- tion of the brightest minds through the ages. A strong mentality, an invin- cible courage, a most determined individuality have so entered into his make-up as to render him a natural leader of men and a director of opinion.
A native of the Buckeye state, Judge Horace P. Biddle was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, on the 24th of March, 1811. His parents were pio- neers of the Marietta colony of Ohio, to which state they emigrated in 1777. In 1802 they located in Fairfield county on the Hocking river, about a mile below the town of Logan, where the father opened up a farm, giving his entire time to agricultural pursuits. On that place Horace Biddle was born and reared. He is indebted to the schools of the neighborhood for the early educational privileges which he received, his studies being pursued through the winter months, while in the summer he received an excellent physical training in farm work, which provided him with the strength and vigor that have enabled him to accomplish his prodigious life work. In 1836, at the age of twenty-two, and in pursuance of the advice of Hon. Thomas Ewing, then 1
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF
United States senator, Judge Biddle entered upon the study of law in the office and under the direction of the late Hocking H. Hunter, of Lancaster, Ohio. In April, 1839, after three years of close application and diligent preparation, he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Ohio, at Cincinnati, and in October, of that year, located in Logansport.
For almost sixty years Judge Biddle has been a member of the bar of Indiana, although for some time past he has not engaged in active practice. His marked intellectuality and evident fitness for leadership almost immedi- ately called him to prominence in public affairs, and in 1844, when Henry Clay was nominated for the presidency, he was placed on the electoral ticket by the Whig party. The following year he was a candidate for the state In Decem- legislature, but his party being in the minority he was defeated.
ber, 1846, he was elected president judge of the eighth judicial district, in which office he continued until 1852, adding judicial fame to his already bril- liant record as a lawyer. In 1850 he was elected a member of the constitu- tional convention, receiving a majority of over two hundred votes, although the opposition usually carried the district by a large vote. In that assembly he was a prominent figure, for his comprehensive knowledge of constitu- tional law made his service very valuable in framing that important state doc- ument. In 1852 he was nominated for congress, but was defeated; in 1857, however, he was elected supreme judge, by a large majority, but Governor Willard refused his commission on the ground that there was no vacancy in the office.
On the completion of his judicial service in 1852, Judge Biddle resumed . the practice of law, and his successful handling of the important litigation with which he was connected won him a reputation that extended throughout the country. Again in 1860 he was elected president judge of the eleventh judicial circuit, and so ably did he discharge the duties of his high office that he was re-elected in 1866, without opposition, completing his second term in November, 1872. His decisions were everywhere quoted as authority, being regarded as models of judicial wisdom. His popularity was unbounded, and. it is a noteworthy fact that on no occasion when nominated for judicial service has he ever met defeat. In October, 1874, he was chosen one of the judges of the supreme court of Indiana by the largest majority ever received by any candidate in the history of the state. Horace P. Biddle is one of the class of American jurists which the people regard as a Gibraltar of justice. In the.
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CASS, MIAMI, HOWARD AND TIPTON COUNTIES.
hands of such judges the individual and the state realize that every interest is safe and that the law will be administered with the broadest intelligence and with a keen regard for equity. A man of unimpeachable character, of unusual intellectual endowments, with a thorough understanding of the law, with distinctive patience, urbanity and industry, he took to the supreme bench the very highest qualifications for this most responsible office in the sys- tem of government, and his record as a judge was in harmony with his record as a man and a lawyer, distinguished by unswerving integrity and a masterful grasp of every problem that presented itself for solution. The judge on the bench fails more frequently, perhaps, from a deficiency in that broad-mind- edness which not only comprehends the details of a situation quickly and that insures a complete self-control under the most exasperating conditions, than from any other cause; and the judge who makes a success in the discharge of his multitudinous delicate duties, whose rulings are seldom reversed, and before whom counsel and litigant come with an unshakable confidence, is a man of well rounded character, finely balanced mind and of splendid intellectual attainments. Such a man is Judge Biddle, and his course on both the cir- cuit and supreme bench is such as has just been indicated. In January, 1881, a few weeks before completing the Psalmist's span of three-score years and ten, he retired from all active participation in the current affairs of life, and has since given his attention to the pleasures that his literary pursuits bring.
Judge Biddle also became distinguished as a poet as early as 1842, when he became a contributor to the Southern Literary Messenger. His first col- lection of poems was published in 1850 and other editions were issued in 1852 and 1858, and 1868 and 1872. He is the author of the following volumes: The Musical Scale, Elements of Knowledge, A Few Poems, Bid- dle's Poems, American Boyhood, Glances at the World, Last Poemns, Prose Miscellany. It was during the first year of his retirement that he published all the works named, with the exception of the Musical Scale. His beautiful Island Home is one of the most attractive and interesting residences in Indi- ana, and contains the largest private library in the state, numbering over eight thousand five hundred volumes. There, with the master minds of all ages, he is passing the evening of life, rich in the honors and respect which follow an upright life that has ever been true to its ideals and its highest possibilities-a life that has been of pre-eminent benefit to his fellow men by conserving the public good. Strong in his individuality, he never lacks the
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF
courage of his convictions, but there are as dominating elements in his indi- viduality a lively human sympathy and an abiding charity, which, as taken in connection with the sterling integrity and honor of his character, have naturally gained to Judge Biddle the regard and confidence of all.
E LLSWORTH HUNT, county surveyor of Howard county, Indiana, resides at No. 77 East Monroe street, Kokomo. He is a young man who has made his own way in the world, and who stands high in this local- ity where he has spent the most of his life and where he is so well known. Following is a brief review of his life:
Ellsworth Hunt was born in Wayne county, near the city of Richmond, Indiana, November 23, 1865, son of Aquilla and Lydia (Thornburg) Hunt, both natives of Indiana. He is one of a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters, four of whom are now living, viz .: Ellsworth, Walter, Kelsey and Omar. The father was by occupation a stationary engineer. He lived in Wayne county until 1866, when he moved with his family to Howard county. Here he spent the residue of his life, his death occurring in 1897, at the age of sixty-two years. His widow survives him and resides at Dunkirk, Indiana, with her two sons. She is a devoted Christian and faithful member of the United Brethren church, as also was her husband.
Referring to the grandparents of Mr. Hunt, we find that his Grandfa- ther Hunt was one of the earliest settlers of Wayne and Henry counties, and lived to a ripe old age. The maternal grandfather, Walter Thornburg, was likewise one of the pioneers of Wayne county. He reached the advanced age of eighty years. Both were men of sterling integrity and were highly respected by all who knew them.
At the time the Hunt family removed to Howard county and settled at Kokomo, Ellsworth was a year old. Here he grew to manhood, receiving his education in the Kokomo schools, and at an early age learning the trade of harness-maker, which he followed about three years. At the end of this time he went to work on the Clover Leaf railroad with a bridge gang, and six months later got a job as axman with the engineer, and became assistant engineer. His next venture was in business for himself, he and W. B. Ray, of Logansport, opening an engineer's office in Kokomo, which they con-
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. CASS, MIAMI, HOWARD AND TIPTON COUNTIES.
ducted together for about one year. Then Mr. Hunt went to work for County Surveyor John E. Holman, later opened an office of his own again, where he did business for two years, and in 1892 he was elected county sur- veyor. Since then he has twice been elected to succeed himself, has served three terms, and now has the nomination for a fourth term, these favors being tendered him at the hands of the Republican party.
Mr. Hunt was married July 25, 1895, to Miss Ella Gray, daughter of Charles Gray. Fraternally, he is a Knight of Pythias.
JOHN W. BALLARD, M. D., a leading physician and surgeon of Cass J county, who is now enjoying an extensive and lucrative practice in Lo- gansport, was born in Carroll county, Indiana, on the 28th day of Feb- ruary, 1858, and is the fourth in a family of six children whose parents were Anson and Mary J. (Hornbeck) Ballard. His father was born in Hamil- ton county, Ohio, and is of French descent. In the state of his nativity he married Miss Hornbeck, who was born in Fountain county, Ohio, and was of Scotch-Irish lineage. On removing to Indiana they took up their residence in Carroll county, where the father engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was a leading citzen of the community and held several positions of public trust, such as county commissioner and township trustee.
On his father's farm the Doctor spent the days of his boyhood and youth, assisting in the labors of field and meadow through the summer months, while in the winter season he pursued his education in the district schools of the neighborhood. At the age of seventeen he entered Purdue University and was graduated in that institition in 1876. He taught school, and with the money thus earned completed both his literary and professional education. Determining to make the practice of medicine his life work, he pursued a course of study in the Ohio Medical College and was graduated in the class of 1879. He put his theoretical knowledge to the practical test in Lock- port, Indiana, and soon displayed marked ability in applying the principles he had learned to the needs of suffering humanity.
Dr. Ballard continued in practice in Lockport until 1881, when he removed to Legansport, and for seventeen years has been a valued represent- ative of the medical profession of this city. He has a broad and compre-
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF
hensive knowledge of the science of medicine, and his skill and ability are attested in his liberal patronage. He is very energetic and in the faithful performance of each day's duty finds inspiration and encouragement for the labors of the next. He is a valued member of the Logansport Medical & Surgical Association, and by his professional brethren is accorded an enviable position in their ranks.
The Doctor was married in 1876, to Miss Mary Ellen Milroy, of Carroll county, Indiana, and theirs is one of the hospitable homes of Logansport. Socially, Dr. Ballard is connected with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and is also a Master Mason. In politics he is a Democrat, and has served two terms of two years each as county coroner. In whatever relation of life we find him, whether in professional or social circles, or in official service, he is always the same honorable and honored gentleman, whose worth well merits the high regard which is universally given him.
AJATHAN PICKETT is president of the Howard National Bank, Kokomo.
There are many poor men who have good business talent. Some of them have made themselves wealthy in former years by their commercial ability, but have lost their fortune by some accident, as the incompetency or treachery of a partner in business or of a trusted employee, or a fire or flood, or sickness or financial panic overspreading the country; and some there are, even, who have never made a fortune and yet have the capacity for such an accomplishment, especially among the poorer classes in the Old World, with whom it is impossible to obtain the means to start with. Some, again, have inherited talent of a certain kind but are too far removed from the scene where they can have any opportunity of exerting it. But in this country, while we must acknowledge in the abstract that there are many poor men of good business capacity, yet the only thing "standing in evidence " to the average American, of such capacity, is the actual possession of wealth or at least of a competency.
The possession of wealth alone, however, is not considered evidence of morality. For the ethical and the esthetic we must look back of all the out- ward show; and it is by this scrutiny that we ascertain the character of the
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CASS, MIAMI, HOWARD AND TIPTON COUNTIES.
subject of this sketch, Mr. Nathan Pickett, to be worthy of honorable consid- eration in this volume. He was born October 26, 1818, in Chatham county, North Carolina, and was ten years old when his parents left that section in search of better facilities for a comfortable home.
His father, William Pickett, a farmer, in the fall of 1828, moved from his Carolina home to this state, locating in Parke county, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, to which he added by entering and purchase until he had in the home farm two hundred and forty acres, and he had given several of his sons one hundred and sixty acres apiece. He con- tinued his residence there until his death, which occurred in August, 1837, when he was in his sixty-second year. He was a native of North Carolina, as was his wife, whose name before marriage was Catharine Maris. She died in October, 1843, aged about sixty-two years. Both were members of the Friends' church. They had four sons and four daughters, but of these the only one now living is Mr. Nathan Pickett, whose name heads these para- graphs.
John Pickett, grandfather, passed the most of his life in North Carolina. He was probably of English ancestry, was a member of the Society of Friends, and died in the Old North state. In his family were seven or eight chil- dren. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Pickett, Mr. Maris, was a native of that state, was a Friend and a consistent Christian.
Mr. Pickett grew to manhood in Parke county, this state, employed on the farm and attending the old-time subscription school, which was two miles distant from his home; but the most of his education he received through business habits. At the age of seventeen, on account of failing health, he quit the farm and obtained employment in a store, but he soon returned to the farm: this was in 1841. Being full of energy, however, he over-worked and was compelled to quit the heavy, tedious and protracted duties of agri- cultural life in the " pioneer west," and he engaged in merchandising in the village of Annapolis for the period of fifteen years.
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