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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 00096 9581
Gc 977.2 D921 v.5 DUNN, JACOB PIATT, 1855- 1924. INDIANA AND INDIANANS
INDIANA AND INDIANANS
A HISTORY OF ABORIGINAL AND TERRITORIAL INDIANA AND THE CENTURY OF STATEHOOD
JACOB PIATT DUNN AUTHOR AND EDITOR
VOLUME V
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1919
Allen County Public Library Ft. Wayne, Indiana
Copyright, 1919 by THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1487949
Cal. N. R. Buckle
INDIANA AND INDIANANS
COL. NICHOLAS RANDLE RUCKLE, who died May 4, 1900, was widely known and beloved in his home city of Indianapolis and throughout the state. He had an un- usual career, was a distinguished soldier and officer of the Union Army during the Civil war, filled many positions with credit and efficiency in public affairs, and his name is intimately identified with the newspaper history of Indianapolis.
He was born at Baltimore, Maryland, May 8, 1838. His grandfather came to the United States from Ireland, and spent the rest of his life in Maryland. Nicholas Ruckle, father of Colonel Ruckle, was born in Maryland, was a tailor by trade, and an early settler in Indianapolis, where for many years he conducted a tailoring es- tablishment. He finally retired and sev- eral years before his death removed to Brookfield, Indiana, where he died at the age of sixty-five, his wife surviving him for several years. Both were active mem- bers of the Methodist Church. Their four children were: Col. Nicholas R .; John F., who was killed at the battle of Shiloh, while a member of the Eleventh Indiana Regiment ; Eliza, wife of Josiah Gwin, of New Albany, Indiana; and Kate C.
Nicholas R. Ruckle was nine years old when his parents came to Indianapolis in 1847. In July, 1852, he removed to In- dianapolis, and he finished his education in a private school conducted by Rev. Charles S. Greene. In May, 1853, at the age of fifteen, he entered the composing room of the old Indianapolis Journal as an appreu- tice. He worked diligently at the case, and acquired a good knowledge of the printing trade and also some skill in gen- cral newspaper work. He also became in- terested in local affairs, and was a member of the old volunteer fire department and of an independent militia company at the time of the Civil war.
His militia company was the first per-
manent organization to enter Camp Mor- ton. Colonel Ruckle became a member of the famous Indiana Zouaves, known as the Eleventh Regiment of Infantry, com- manded by Col. Lew Wallace. With his command he saw his first real service in the West Virginia campaign, and he fin- ally re-enlisted for three years. Colonel Ruckle's military record covered the en- tire period of the Civil war, from April, 1861, to October, 1865. His performance of duty and his fidelity brought him one pro- motion after another, and he rose from the ranks to sergeant, orderly sergeant, lieu- tenant and captain, and finally for brav- ery was made colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Indiana Infantry. He was present at the siege of Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth, was with General Curtis and the Trans-Missis- sippi Army in the Arkansas campaign of 1862, was present in the Vicksburg cam- paign, was with General Sherman when the latter made his attack on Gen. Joseph Johnston at Jackson, participated in the ill-fated Banks campaign up the Red river in 1863, and in many other operations through Louisiana. He and his comrades were then transferred to the eastern the- ater of the war, and he was in Sheridan's campaign through the Shenandoah Valley of 1864, fighting at Winchester and Cedar Creek, at Halltown, at Fisher's Hill, and in other battles and engagements. For a time he was in the Department of the Cum- berland as commander of the second sub- district of Middle Tennessee.
The war over, Captain Ruckle returned to Indianapolis and gained many distinc- tions in civil life. He served as sheriff of Marion County for two terms from 1870 to 1874. In 1887-88 he was president of the Metropolitan Police Commissioners Board of Indianapolis, was adjutant gen- eral of Indiana for two terms from Janu- ary, 1889, and in 1894-95 served on the
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Board of Public Safety under Mayor Denny. In 1877 he organized a Light In- fantry Company at Indianapolis, and was elected its captain.
After the war his interests soon led him back into the field of journalism, and in the spring of 1874 he secured a controlling interest in the Indianapolis Journal Com- pany. At that time besides publishing the Journal the plant conducted a general printing and publishing house. Many mis- fortunes befell the business after Colonel Ruckle took control. There were fires and other losses, and then as a result of the hard times of the '70s he lost practically his entire fortune. With a man of his iron nerve and determination that did not deter him from a career of vigorous activity throughout his remaining years.
Every honor of Masonry was given him as a recognition of his love to the frater- nity and the affection of the craft for him. He was made a Master Mason in Center Lodge No. 23 in 1866, and in 1871 was worshipful master of that lodge. He was later master of Pentalpha Lodge, No. 564. In 1867 he was exalted in the Keystone Chapter and in 1886 served as High Priest. He was knighted by Raper Commandery No. 1, Knights Templar in 1867, and served as eminent commander from 1872 to 1876 and again in 1880. He was also cap- tain general of Raper Commandery for sev- eral years. In the Scottish Rite he received the thirty-second degree in 1867 and the honorary thirty-third in 1870. He passed the active grade in 1883 and the following year was appointed deputy of the supreme lodge for the District of Indiana, a posi- tion he held until death. He was grand commander of the Indiana Knights Tem- plar in 1875 and grand master of the Ma- sons in 1891. His body was laid to rest in Crown Hill Cemetery after imposing cere- monies by the York and Scottish Rite Masons, and the Episcopal Church.
February 24, 1876, Colonel Ruckle mar- ried Mrs. Jennie C. (Moore) Reid. Mrs. Ruckle is a daughter of Addison and Susan (Dulhagen) Moore, who came of New York State families of Revolutionary stock. Colonel Ruckle had one child, Corliss Ran- dle Ruckle, who died at the age of twelve years. Mrs. Ruckle is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Colonel Ruckle was not identified with any church denomi- nation, but usually attended worship with his wife.
WARD H. DEAN was one of the men who contributed to the position of Indianapolis as an industrial and manufacturing center of Indiana. Though his life was compara- tively brief and he was only fifty years of age at the time of his death, he had become widely known in business circles, and was a citizen who commanded uni- versal esteem, in Indianapolis.
He was born November 22, 1850, at Deansville, New York, a village that was named in honor of his grandfather, the Dean family being very prominent in that section of the Empire state. Mr. Dean's parents were John and Harriet (Peck) Dean, he being one of their eight children, five sons and three daughters.
Ward H. Dean had a good practical edu- cation, and his early bent was toward me- chanical pursuits. Coming to Indianapolis in 1870, he became one of the founders and partners in the Dean Brothers Steam Pump Works, and to this business, its up- building, maintenance and expansion he gave the best years of his life. He died at Indianapolis January 3, 1900.
Outside of business his chief interests were concentrated in his home. He was a man of quiet and reserved character, and of simple but cultivated tastes. He was a member of the Contemporary Club and of the Indianapolis Art Association, and in politics a republican.
April 15, 1885, he married Nellie M. Reid. Mrs. Dean, who survives him, has three children : Randle C., Harriet and Philip, the last being deceased.
P." E. Hoss has lived in Indiana over eighty years, as a business man has been identified with a number of different locali- ties, and his name is especially well known and his services appreciated in Kokomo, where he has lived for many years.
He was born in Brown County, Ohio, January 13, 1836, but the same year his parents, Jacob and Jane (Kenney) Hoss, moved to Marion County, Indiana, and as pioneers settled on a tract of raw land twelve miles northeast of Indianapolis. Jacob Hoss did his part in developing a new section of the state, hewed a home out of the heavy timbers, and year after year added to his clearing and building until he had a very valuable farm. He lived in Marion County until 1864, then ยท moved to Howard County, and thence back to Indianapolis in 1874, where he lived un-
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til his death in September, 1882. He was a democrat in politics until the latter '50s, when he felt that duty obliged him to vote with and support the republican party, and as such he continued to the day of his death. He was also a devout Methodist, a class leader, and faithful in church work from early life. He and his wife had ten chil- dren, P. E. being the sixth.
Mr. Hoss lived at home with his parents to the age of twenty-two, growing up in a rural community northeast of Indianapolis. He was a young man when the North and South engaged in Civil war and he tried to enlist in 1861 but was rejected on ac- count of physical disability. He was en- gaged from March 4, 1861, at Fairfield, Howard County, Indiana, as a shingle manufacturer, continuing that industry ten years, and also selling goods as a mer- chant and dealing in real estate. Mr. Hoss has been peculiarly successful in handling real estate, and has bought and sold many properties on his own account. From Fairfield he removed to Indianapolis, con- tinuing in the real estate business in that city three years, also building many houses there, and was there engaged in farming in Howard County for two years, later con- ducted a large stock and sheep ranch in Hendricks County, and finally settled per- manently in Kokomo. Here for many years he directed large and important deals in real estate, and has owned some very valuable farms around Kokomo. His property includes his beautiful residence in that city. His capital and enterprise have also helped out a number of business in- dustries at Kokomo. Mr. Hoss is presi- dent of the Opalescent Glass Company, a stockholder and for over twenty-five years one of the directors in the Citizens National Bank, and has done much to boost Kokomo as a manufacturing center. He served as trustee of the Soldiers Orphans Home at Knightstown for a time in the early '80s. Only recently on account of ill health he gave up most of his active business inter- ests. He is a member of the Congrega- tional Church and in politics a republican.
April 4, 1858, Mr. Hoss married Miss Sarah J. Ringer. They had one son, Lora C., who is now secretary and treasurer of the Opalescent Glass Company. In 1896, . on April 28th, Mr. Hoss married Flora A. Smith, of Piqua, Ohio. Lora C. Hoss married Estella E. Bernard on October 3, 1883, and they have one daughter, Pauline,
who married Don T. Elliott. Mr. and Mrs. Elliott have one child, Sally, born in Feb- ruary, 1918.
B. A. WORTHINGTON is one of the names most significant of personal achievement among American railway men. He was thirteen years old when he began working in the telegraph department of a California road, and by ability and service has pro- moted himself successively during an ac- tive career of over forty years until he has held some of the highest executive posts in the country. Mr. Worthington is claimed to Indiana citizenship by reason of the fact that he is president of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Western Rail- road Company with general offices at In- dianapolis.
The career of Mr. Worthington, briefly recited, is as follows : He was born Novem- ber 20, 1861, at Sacramento, California, and his education was acquired in the pub- lie schools of that city. July 1, 1874, he became telegraph messenger for the Central Pacific at Sacramento and was soon made telegraph operator. From 1877 to 1882 he was a commercial operator for the Western Union Telegraph Company ; from 1882 to 1888 was chief clerk and secre- tary to the general master mechanic of the Southern Pacific Company at Sacra- mento; from 1888 to July, 1895, was chief clerk and secretary to vice president and general manager of the Southern Pacific at San Francisco; and from July, 1895, to 1898 was chief elerk and secretary to the assistant to the president. Mr. Worth- ington spent altogether over thirty years with the Southern Pacific Railway Com- pany. From 1898 to July, 1901, he was in charge of tonnage rating of locomotives of that road; from July to October, 1901, was superintendent of the Tucson divi- sion at Tucson, Arizona, from October, 1901, to August 20, 1903, was superin- tendent of the Coast Division at San Fran- cisco, and from August 20, 1903, to April 1, 1904, was assistant to the general man- ager of the company at San Francisco. From April 1, 1904, to February 9, 1905, Mr. Worthington was assistant director of maintenance and operation for the Harri- man lines, comprising the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific systems. Then for the first time his office headquarters were transferred east of the Rocky Mountains
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to Chicago. From February 9 to June 1, 1905, he was vice president and general manager of the Oregon Railroad & Navi- gation Company.
Since that date his chief connections have been with railroad systems in the Middle West. From June 1, 1905, to June 8, 1908, he was first vice president of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway, of the Wa- bash, Pittsburg Terminal Railway, and the West Side Belt Railroad, comprising the Wabash lines east of Toledo. From Sep- tember 25, 1905, to June 8, 1908, he was general manager of the same properties, and from June 8, 1908, to June 20, 1912, was receiver for the Wheeling & Lake Erie. On July 1, 1912, Mr. Worthington became president and general manager of the Chicago & Alton road, but resigned that office early in 1914.
Following his resignation he and his family went abroad and toured Europe for four months. They were in Germany when the great war broke out. On reach- ing London Mr. Worthington was ap- pointed as a member of the American Ex- ecutive Committee, with Oscar Strauss as chairman, formed for the purpose of help- ing stranded Americans to get out of Eu- rope and back to their homes. The splen- did work accomplished by that organiza- tion is still fresh in the minds of all Amer- icans. On his return to New York Mr. Worthington lived on Riverside Drive for a year, and then came to Indianapolis as president of the reorganized Cincinnati, Indianapolis & Western Railroad. He took active charge of this road December 1, 1915.
In Indianapolis as elsewhere Mr. Worth- ington has established vital relationships with the community. Much of his work has been done through the Chamber of Commerce. During 1917 he was chairman of the industries committee of that cham- ber and early in 1918 was elected a mem- ber of the board of directors and is still retained as chairman of the industries committee.
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Mr. Worthington has a younger brother, William Alfred Worthington, whose ca- reer may properly be reviewed briefly as that of one of the prominent railway men of the country. He was born June 18, 1872, at Vallejo, California, was educated in the common schools and entered rail- way service March 1, 1887, at the age of
fifteen. He was stenographer and clerk in the superintendent's office of the South- ern Pacific Company at Sacramento to June 16, 1888, from that date to October 1, 1893, was chief clerk to the engineer of maintenance of way at San Francisco; from October 1, 1893, to October 1, 1895, was statistician in the general manager's office ; from October 1, 1895, to October 1, 1901, was chief clerk in the general man- ager's office; from October 1, 1901, to April 1, 1904, was executive secretary to the assistant of the president of the same road; from April 1, 1904, to November 1, 1907, was chief clerk in the office of di- rector of maintenance and operation of the Union Pacific System and Southern Pa- cific Company at Chicago; from November 1, 1907, to January 1, 1912, was assistant to director of maintenance and operation of the same roads at Chicago; from Jan- uary 1, 1912, to February 1, 1913, was as- sistant director of maintenance and oper- ation for the Union Pacific System and Southern Pacific Company at New York; and since February 1, 1913, has been as- sistant director of maintenance and opera- tion for the Southern Pacific Company with offices in New York.
The Americanism of the Worthington family is the product of many generations of residence in this country, from colonial times. In public affairs the most distin- guished member of the family was the great-grandfather of B. A. Worthington. This ancestor was Thomas Worthington, who twice represented the young State of Ohio in the United States Senate and was also governor of that commonwealth, and is one of the men most frequently and hon- orably mentioned in connection with the founding of that state.
Thomas Worthington was born in Jef- ferson County, Virginia, July 16, 1773. He was reared in the midst of the aristo- cratic and slave holding environment of that old colony, and it was his exceeding distaste for the institution of slavery that led him to seek a home in a district from which slavery was permanently barred, and thus about 1797 he moved to the Northwest Territory and located in Ross County, Ohio, near Chillicothe. He was a brother-in-law of Edward Tiffin, who was the first governor of the State of Ohio. The Tiffins and Worthington families were among the most prominent in the early
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colony of the old territorial and state cap- ital at Chillicothe. Governor Worthing- ton built one of the rare old homes near Chillicothe, a place beautified much after the manner of Virginia estates, and in which were entertained some of the great- est men of the times. Thomas Worthing- ton brought with him from Virginia a large number of slaves whom he emancipated, and some of their descendants are still found in Chillicothe. Thomas Worthing- ton has been described as a man of ardent temperament, of energy of mind, and cor- rect habits of life, and for this reason be- came distinguished both in business and political stations. In a recently published history of Ross County his name is men- tioned repeatedly in connection with the founding of several government institu- tions in that part of the Northwest Terri- tory. He was one of the first justices of the peace of the Chillicothe settlement. In November, 1802, he took his seat as an elected delegate to the convention which formed the first constitution, and after that constitution was approved and Ohio entered the Union he was one of the first two men sent by the state to the United States Senate. He was a member of the Senate from April 1, 1803, to March 3, 1807, and was again elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Re- turn J. Meigs, Jr., and served from Decem- ber 15, 1810, to December 1, 1814, when he resigned. While in the Senate he was a participant in the most important meas- ures of the administrations of Jefferson and Madison. At the close of his career in Congress he was elected governor of Ohio, serving from 1814 to 1818. That was an important epoch in the history of the state, following close upon the War of 1812, and his wisdom and ability as an administrator were productive of many liberal and wise measures of policy which were at the foundation of the subsequent prosperity of the state. In 1818 Governor Worthing- ton was appointed a member of the first Board of Canal Commissioners, a body that undertook the development of a sys- tem of internal transportation for the state. He was a member of that commis- sion until his death, which occurred in New York City June 20, 1827. Governor Worth- ington was a large land holder, had many extended business concerns, but is best re- membered for the six years he spent in
public life, during which time no other Ohioan did more to form the character of the state and promote its prosperity.
JOHN HARRISON SKINNER. Only a few of the most remote and unprogressive farming sections of Indiana are unac- quainted with the name John Harrison Skinner and what it stands for in the mat- ter of scientific agriculture and improved live stock in the state. Every year an in- creasing number of men have gone back to the farms of Indiana after long and short courses at Purdue University, taking with them some of the vital ideas, knowl- edge, experience, and inspiration gained by contact with Professor Skinner, who for years has ranked as one of the foremost educators and animal husbandrymen in the middle west.
He was born on a farm at Romney in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, March 10, 1874. He is a product of Indiana farm life and has the sympathy and understand- ing of the man who was reared under the agricultural conditions prevailing thirty or forty years ago. He is a son of Wil- liam Harrison and Mary ( Alexander) Skinner. His father, a native of Franklin County, Indiana, located in Tippecanoe County during the '60s. In 1861 he en- listed in a company of the Thirty-Seventh Indiana Infantry, and served three years as a Union soldier. For more than forty years he has owned and operated one of the good farms and country homes near Romney. His wife was born in Greene County, Tennessee. They had five chil- dren : Mary A. Simison, of Romney; Ger- trude B. Ray, of New Richmond, Indiana ; Jessie, who died when young; George A., an architect of ability, who met an acci- dental death in August, 1909, by coming in contact with an electric wire; and John Harrison Skinner.
John Harrison Skinner was educated in the local district schools and in 1893 en- tered Purdue University, where he first took the Winter Short Course. He com- pleted the four year course in agriculture, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1897. It may be said that he had served his full apprenticeship in the fields and among the live stock on his father's farm while growing to manhood, and the two and a half years after graduating from college which he spent managing his
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father's grain and stock farm were really in the nature of a journeyman's work at his trade or profession. With this prac- tical knowledge and experience he returned to Purdue University and in 1899 was as- signed to duties as assistant agriculturist in the experiment station. He remained there until the fall of 1901, when he was called to the University of Illinois as in- structor in animal husbandry for the year 1901-02. From 1902 to 1906 he was chief of the department and associate professor of animal husbandry and director of the farm at Purdue University, and in 1906 he was made professor of animal hus- bandry. In 1907 he was appointed Dean of the School of Agriculture, serving in that capacity until the present date. Pro- fessor Skinner is a member of the Ameri- can Breeders Association, the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, and has served as secretary of the Indiana Live Stock Breeders' Association, which he organized in 1905. He was also instru- mental in organizing the Indiana Cattle Feeders' Association, the Indiana Draft Horse Breeders' Association, which organ- izations he has served as secretary. He was judge of sheep at the Louisiana Pur- chase Exposition in 1904, was judge of Rambouillet sheep at the International Live Stock Show in 1906 and 1907, and was judge of Aberdeen-Angus cattle at the In- ternational in 1907, and is rated as one of the foremost all round livestock judges in America.
He is a member of the Methodist Church, is a Master Mason, being affiliated with Romney Lodge No. 441, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Urbana Chapter No. 80, Royal Arch Masons, and held the rank of captain in the Purdue Cadet Corps in 1896-97. September 3, 1903, he married Mary E. Throckmorton, daughter of Ed- win W. and Anna (Webster) Throckmor- ton of Romney. Four children have been born to their marriage: John Harrison, Jr., born January 20. 1906; Mary Eliza- beth, horn July 17, 1908; William Edwin, born October 24. 1912; and Robert Ewing, born June 26, 1917.
It is impossible to give an adequate idea of the tremendous amount of energy and concentrated study and effort which Pro- fessor Skinner has devoted to the various branches of his profession, and as to re- sults they can best be measured by refer- ence to the growth and development of the
School of Agriculture, the Department of Animal Husbandry, the University Farm, and the Purdue Experiment Station dur- ing the last fifteen or twenty years, and to the hundreds of practical and able men all over the middle west who are accom- plishing more as farmers and stock raisers because of assistance given them directly by Professor Skinner at the University or through the bulletins and other publica- tions which contain the results of his in- vestigations and his advice.
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