USA > Indiana > Decatur County > A Genealogical and biographical record of Decatur County, Indiana : compendium of national biography > Part 27
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COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY.
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He was re-elected to the senate in 1883, and again in 1889, and 1895. His speeches and the measures he introduced, marked as they were by an intense Americanism, brought him into national prominence.
W TILLIAM MCKINLEY, the twenty-fifth president of the United States, was born at Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, Jan- uary 29, 1844. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and received his early education in a Methodist academy in the small village of Poland, Ohio. At the outbreak of the war Mr. Mckinley was teaching school, earning twenty-five dollars per month. As soon as Fort Sumter was fired upon he en- listed in a company that was formed in Poland, which was inspected and mustered , in by General John C. Fremont, who at first objected to Mr. McKinley, as being too young, but upon examination he was finally accepted. Mr. Mckinley was seventeen when the war broke out but did not look his age. He served in the Twenty-third Ohio Infantry throughout the war, was promoted from sergeant to captain, for good conduct on the field, and at the close of the war, for meritorious services, he was brevetted major. After leaving the army Major Mc- Kinley took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar, and in 1869 he took his initiation into politics, being elected pros- ecuting attorney of his county as a Republi- can, although the district was usually Demo- cratic. In 1876 he was elected to congress, and in a call upon the President-elect, Mr. Hayes, to whom he went for advice upon the way he should shape his career, he was told that to achieve fame and success he must take one special line and stick to it. Mr. Mckinley chose tariff legislation and he became an authority in regard to import duties. He was a member of congress for
many years, became chairman of the ways and means committee, and later he advo- cated the famous tariff bill that bore his name, which was passed in 1890. In the next election the Republican party was overwhelmingly defeated through the coun- try, and the Democrats secured more than a two thirds majority in the lower house, and also had control of the senate, Mr. Mckinley being defeated in his own district by a small majority. He was elected gov- ernor of Ohio in 1891 by a plurality of twenty-one thousand, five hundred and eleven, and two years later he was re-elected by the still greater plurality of eighty thou- sand, nine hundred and ninety-five. He was a delegate-at-large to the Minneapolis Re- publican convention in 1892, and was in- structed to support the nomination of Mr. Harrison. He was chairman of the con- vention, and was the only man from Ohio to vote for Mr. Harrison upon the roll call. In November, 1892, a number of prominent politicians gathered in New York to discuss the political situation, and decided that the result of the election had put an end to Mc- Kinley and Mckinleyisın. But in less than four years from that date Mr. Mckinley was nominated for the presidency against the combined opposition of half a dozen rival candidates. Much of the credit for his suc- cess was due to Mark A. Hanna, of Cleve- land, afterward chairman of the Republican national committee. At the election which occurred in November, 1896, Mr. Mckinley was elected president of the United States by an enormous majority, on a gold stand- ard and protective tariff platform. He was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1897, and called a special session of congress, to which was submitted a bill for tariff reform, which was passed in the latter part of July of that year.
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COMPENDIUM OF BIOGRAPHY.
C' INCINNATUS HEINE MILLER, known in the literary world as Joaquin Miller, "the poet of the Sierras," was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1841. When only about thirteen years of age he ran away from home and went to the mining regions in California and along the Pacific coast.
'Some time afterward he was taken prisoner by the Modoc Indians and lived with them for five years. He learned their language
and gained great influence with them, fight- ing in their wars, and in all modes of living became as one of them. In 1858 he left the Indians and went to San Francisco,
where he studied law, and in 1860 was ad- mitted to the bar in Oregon. In 1866 he was elected a county judge in Oregon and served four years. Early in the seventies he began devoting a good deal of time to literary pursuits, and about 1874 he settled in Washington, D. C. He wrote many poems and dramas that attracted consider- able attention and won him an extended reputation. Among his productions may be mentioned " Pacific Poems," " Songs of the Sierras," "Songs of the Sun Lands," " Ships in the Desert," " Adrianne, a Dream of Italy," " Danites," "Unwritten History,"
" First Families of the Sierras " (a novel), " One Fair Woman " (a novel), "Songs of Italy," "Shadows of Shasta," "The Gold- Seekers of the Sierras," and a number of others.
G EORGE FREDERICK ROOT, a noted music publisher and composer, was born in Sheffield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on August 30, 1820. While working on his father's farm he found time to learn, unaided, several musical instru- ments, and in his eighteenth year he went to Boston, where he soon found employ- ment as a teacher of music. From 1839
until 1844 he gave instructions in music in the public schools of that city, and was also director of music in two churches. Mr. Root then went to New York and taught music in the various educational institutions of the city. He went to Paris in 1850 and spent one year there in study, and on his re- turn he published his first song, "Hazel Dell." It appeared as the work of " Wur- zel," which was the German equivalent of his name. He was the originator of the normal musical institutions, and when the first one was started in New York he was one of the faculty. He removed to Chicago, Illinois, in 1860, and established the firm of Root & Cady, and engaged in the publication of music. He received, in 1872, the degree of " Doctor of Music" from the University of Chicago. After the war the firm became George F. Root & Co., of Cincinnati and Chicago. Mr. Root did much to elevate the standard of music in this country by his compositions and work as a teacher. Besides his numerous songs he wrote a great deal of sacred music and pub- lished many collections of vocal and instru- mental music. For many years he was the most popular song writer in America, and was one of the greatest song writers of the war. He is also well-known as an author, and his work in that line comprises: "Meth- ods for the Piano and Organ," " Hand- book on Harmony Teaching," and innumer- able articles for the musical press. Among his many and most popular songs of the war time are: "Rosalie, the Prairie-flower." " Battle Cry of Freedom," "Just Before the Battle," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching," "The Old Folks are Gone," "A Hundred Years Ago," "Old Potomac Shore, " and " There's Music in the Air." Mr. Root's cantatas include " The Flower Queen" and " The Haymakers." He died in 1896.
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PART II.
A GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
DECATUR COUNTY, OF
INDIANA.
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Som Stimson
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INDIANA.
SAMUEL M. STIMSON, D. D.
This eminent divine, one of the most act- ive workers in the Baptist denomination, and well known throughout New York,. Massachusetts, Indiana and many other states, passed to his rest, November 23. 1894, his death coming as a personal loss to his associates in the ministry, as well as to hundreds who knew him through his pri- vate work.
Rev. Samuel McElwain Stimson was born February 6, 1815, in Winchendon, Massachusetts, but during his boyhood ac- companied his parents on their removal to Lockport, New York. He pursued his studies in an academy and afterward en- gaged in teaching for a number of years. He united with the Baptist church in 1835. was licensed to preach in 1840, and was ordained to the full work of the ministry by the Shelby church, in New York, in 1843. For half a century he was a preacher of the gospel and in 1890 celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth. the fiftieth of his entrance into the ministry and the twenty-fifth of his residence in Indiana. During the twenty-five years of his ministry in the state of New York, he filled only
three pastorates, those being at Bingham ton, Batavia and Brighton. He was twice appointed pastor to the church at Batavia. being there eleven years in all, and severing his connection therewith in 1865 in order to accept the pastorate of the First Baptist church in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he remained for eight years.
In 1873 Dr. Stimson became district sec- retary of the Baptist Missionary Union. which position he continued to fill until 1893,-twenty years of active and earnest labor, in which his efforts resulted in great benefit to the society. In addition to his duties as secretary, Dr. Stimson made strenuous efforts to secure the million dol- lars needed for foreign missionary work. and this he considered the crowning effort of his life. He was remarkably successful in collecting money for this purpose, and it remains for the written history of the church to tell how his labors and the influ- ences he set in motion have benefited and advanced the cause to which he so cheer- fully gave his time and talents. He was an ardent advocate of evangelistic work and took especial pains to seek out and assist needy and discouraged churches. He was a man of strong faith, of a hopeful disposi-
УТИПОД ЛОГАЗЭС
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tion and an untiring devotion to the cause of his Master, to whose service he conse- crated the best of his life. At the time of his death he was pastor of the church at Downeyville and was busily at work until a few days before the final summons came; then he peacefully fell asleep, happy in the consciousness of an earthly life well spent, and in the hope of life eternal.
For many years Dr. Stimson was a prominent Mason, having attained the Royal Arch and Knight Templar degrees. In his early life he belonged to the state militia and was commissioned captain by Governor Clinton. His company was called out during the border wars with Canada and he rendered effective service to the country he loved.
Dr. Stimson was three times married, his first wife being Miss Louise Richardson, of New York. By this union three children were born, only one of whom is living. His second wife was Mrs. Jane Davis, of Terre Haute. In 1890 he was again married, Miss Eusebia Craven becoming his wife. She was born near Greensburg, Indiana, and was educated in the Baptist Institute of Indianapolis, being graduated in that institution in the class of 1866, at the com- pletion of a four-years literary course. Subsequently she engaged in teaching for a short time. She has always been a prom- inent and active worker in the church, and has been secretary of the Woman's Baptist Missionary Society for the past twenty- three years. She is a lady of culture and refinement, has traveled extensively and devotes much of her time to doing good. Her husband found in her an able and will- ing helpmeet, and no one in the community is more esteemed or respected. She occu-
pies a pleasant, old-fashioned home near Greensburg, surrounded by tall and stately trees, which Dr. Stimson named Cravinia Lodge, and in which his last years were passed in happy domestic relations.
The parents of Mrs. Stimson were promi- nent citizens of Greensburg, and a brief sketch of their lives will be of interest to the readers of this volume. Herman James Craven was born in Oxford, Ohio, Decem- ber 10, 1815, his family being of English and Irish descent. Thomas Craven, the paternal grandfather, lived near Philadel- phia in colonial days, and with his two sons took an active part in the Revolutionary war. Thomas Craven, one of his sons, was born near Philadelphia, found his way west and from Pittsburg floated down the Ohio river on a flatboat, landing at Cincinnati, then a small village. From there he went to Franklin county, Indiana, where he re- mained a short time, after which he entered and settled upon a farm near Oxford, Ohio. He had been for many years a teacher and preacher, and when forty-five years of age entered Miami University, completing the course of study five years later. Dr. Scott, the father-in-law of ex-President Benjamin Harrison, was at that time a professor in the university. In his early life Mr. Craven adhered to the faith of the Presbyterian church, but afterward united with the Bap- tist denomination, and to that church he devoted his earnest efforts for many years. He led a busy, useful life, being constantly engaged in doing good. He was an old- line Whig, with strong anti-slavery convic- tions, and the crowning act of his life was the founding of the Eleutherian College. in Jefferson county, Indiana, where students. without regard to race or color, could be
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educated together. He died at that place in 1860, when sixty-eight years of age. His wife was Rebecca Selfridge, and they had ten children.
Herman J. Craven, father of Mrs. Stim- son, was reared upon his father's farm, near Oxford, Ohio, and when thirty years of age removed to Decatur county, Indiana, and purchased a farm of more than two hundred acres, one mile southeast of Greensburg, on the old historic pike. This land had few or no improvements, but with the thrift and industry which characterized his entire life Mr. Craven began the task of clearing and cultivating the place and continued his efforts until it became a productive and valuable farm. He began life without capital, but acquired a handsome fortune and became an influential and honored citi- zen. In those days the labor that devolved upon the farmer was much greater than it is at present, from the fact that there were no railroads and all products of the soil had to be hauled by teams to market; and the nearest market to Mr. Craven wa's Cin- cinnati.
Mr. Craven was very active in church work, both at Sand Creek and in Greens- burg, where he served for many years as deacon and in other official positions. He was a leader in and liberal supporter of all religious and philanthropic movements in the neighborhood. £ Like his father, and indeed all the members of his family, he was a pronounced anti-slavery man and was one of the most willing workers on the "underground railroad," a term scarcely understood by the present generation. By this arrangement slaves who escaped from their masters and were successful in reach- ing a free state were passed along at night
from the home of one anti-slavery man to another until they could enter Canada, after which they were safe. It required a bold and courageous spirit to thus defy the law of the land and render oneself liable to its penalties by aiding the poor blacks; but Mr. Craven was fearless where right and duty to his fellow men were concerned, and many a poor, trembling fugitive had cause to bless him for his chance to become a free man. He did not live to see the downfall of slavery, his death occurring in 1856; but it was the never ceasing protest of such men as he that bore fruit in the Emancipa- tion Proclamation.
Mr. Craven was married to Nancy Mar- tin, who was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, near Cincinnati, and they became the parents of five children, but all died before reaching maturity with the exception of Mrs. Stimson.
HON. SAMUEL A. BONNER.
Greensburg has no more prominent nor more highly esteemed citizen than Judge Bonner, who is now living retired from the busy scenes and activities which marked his former years. Nobly and conscientiously has he performed his part and filled liis place in the wonderful century now draw- ing to a close, and in the evening-time of life the contentment and peace which come only to the victor in the battle rest upon him.
Judge Bonner comes of the hardy, God- fearing Scotch-Irish stock, his ancestors having been earnest Presbyterians. To- ward the end of the eighteenth century his paternal grandfather came to America, from
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his former home in the northern part of Ireland, and, settling upon a South Caro- lina plantation, spent the remainder of his days there. He had four sons and three daughters, of whom, James, father of Sam- uel A., was born near Anderson, South Carolina, and not far from the home of John C. Calhoun. He was reared in the vicinity of Abbeville, where he married Mary P. Foster, whose father, James Foster, born in the northern part of Ireland, became a farmer of South Carolina, whence he re- moved to Spring Hill, Indiana, about 1837, and died in this locality. About two years subsequent to his marriage James Bon- ner removed to Wilcox county, Alabama, where he dwelt for some sixteen years, own- ing and managing a large plantation, which, of course, was cultivated by slaves. He was a kind master, and hated the slavery system,-indeed, he eventually came to the north to escape from it. Having due re- gard for their feelings, he sold his slaves in a body to his brother, refusing to separate them, and his brother, according to their agreement, kept them together. He was a successful business man, being considered quite rich in his day, and at one time owned several farms in this county. In the spring of 1836 he came to Decatur county and located in Fugit township, where he en- gaged in farming until his death, in 1844. when he was upward of fifty-five years of age. His beloved wife, Mary, died during the first year of the family's residence in this state, and he later wedded a Miss Weed. Like his father and relatives, he was a de- vout Presbyterian, and was an elder in the church. Politically he was a Whig, and in all public matters was actively interested. as becomes a patriot.
Of the seven children born to James and Mary P. (Foster) Bonner, all but the eldest, James F., were natives of Alabama. He was born in South Carolina, and for years was numbered among the prosperous farm- ers of this county. He now resides in Greensburg, being engaged in the insur- ance business. John I. Bonner, D. D., pursued a literary course at Miami Univer- sity, and, after being graduated in the theo- logical seminary at Due West, South Caro- lina, turned his attention to teaching, and was president of Due West Female College for many years, and until his death, some fifteen years ago. He also edited a relig- ious paper, the organ of his denomination, and left the impress of his able mind upon his generation. William H., the next son, was a farmer in the neighborhood of Spring Hill, Indiana, until his death. Prominent in all public matters in that locality, he was chosen to represent the people in the legis- lature, serving with zeal and credit. In the United Presbyterian church he took a lead- ing part, and all worthy causes received his earnest support. Two sisters of our subject died in early womanhood, and Robert died in childhood. Walter, son of William H. Bonner, is the cashier of the Third National Bank, of this place.
The birth of the Hon. Samuel A. Bonner occurred in Wilcox county, Alabama, De- cember 5. 1826, and he was a lad of nine years when the family came to this county. He attended the Spring Hill school and a private academy, and for two years pursued his studies at Richland, Indiana. Later, he matriculated in Miami University, at Ox- ford. Ohio, but left there in his junior year and went to Center College, Kentucky, where lie was graduated in 1849. That winter he
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entered upon his legal career by entering the office of Judge Andrew Davison, after- ward supreme judge of the state of Indiana. and, having gained an idea of the founda- tion principles of the law, spent the winters of 1850-51 and 1851-2 in the law depart- ment of the University of Indiana. Being granted a diploma in that institution, in 1852, and admitted to practice before all the courts of the state, Mr. Bonner opened an office in Greensburg, in partnership with the late Barton W. Wilson.
Rapidly coming to the front, known and admired by the people among whom he had dwelt from boyhood, Judge Bonner was elected by them to represent them in the legislature, in 1854, and two years after- ward was further honored by being chosen to preside at the bench of the common- pleas courts of the eighth judicial district, comprising Decatur and Rush counties. He continued in that office for the full term . of four years, at the end of which time nie resumed his regular legal practice, this time alone, and it was not until the close of the civil war that his business connection with the Hon. William Cumback was entered upon. This prosperous partnership con- tinued in force until the appointment of Mr. Cumback to the position of collector of the internal revenues of the United States, Judge Bonner continuing the practice until 1877, when he was elected to the judgeship of the eighth circuit, including Rush, Deca- tur and Fayette counties. As such he acted for two terms of six years each, and at his re-election had no opposition practically, all being agreed that he was undoubtedly the best man for the place. In 1889 he formed a partnership with Messrs. Tackett and Bennett, and it was not until November I, .
1895, that he finally retired from active practice.
For'many years the Judge was city and county attorney, and also legal adviser of the Big Four Railroad and other important corporations. He has been well known for his spirit of progress and enterprise, his name, as associated with any new venture, proving to it a passport into the favor of the people. Since the organization of the Greensburg Gas & Electric Light Company he has been one of its directors, and is now its president; when the Third National Bank was founded he was a leader in the enterprise, and later was a director, and at present, and for the past three years, vice- president of the institution. In 1895 he was appointed a member of the board of trustees of the Deaf and Dumb Institute of the state, in 1897 was re-appointed by Gov- ernor Mount, and since 1896 has been the president of the board. About thirty years ago he was a member of the city council of Greensburg, and was influential in getting the first sidewalks laid here, as well as in securing other needed improvements. From his early manhood he has been a devoted adherent of the Republican party, and glor- ies in the wonderful era of prosperity which has come to this country since the war, through its beneficent policy. For more than three decades he has been an elder in the Presbyterian church, and upon four oc- casions was the delegate of this presbytery to the general assembly. He was honored especially by being appointed to act on a committee having in charge the theological . seminaries, and held that appointment from 1892 until 1896, dealing with all questions submitted to him with a tact and wisdom equaled by few men in the history of the
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church. Thus, along almost every avenue of modern human endeavor, the Judge has played an important part, and played it hon- estly, in the love of God and of mankind. Needless to say that he has friends unnum- bered, and that his enemies, if perchance he has any, must concede that his life has been upright, just and beneficial,-a power for good in his community.
The first marriage of Judge Bonner was to Ella M. Carter, of Salem county, Indiana, and was solemnized September 1, 1852. She departed this life in 1861, leaving two daughters: Lizzie C. is the wife of Dr. J. M. Wampler, of Richmond, Indiana, and Min- nie E. is the wife of William L. Dechant, a prominent citizen and able lawyer of Mid- dletown, Ohio. On the 2d of August, 1867, Mr. Bonner married Miss Abbie A. Snell, of Holbrook, Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Maplewood Institute, of Pitts- field, that state, and for years was a suc- cessful teacher in local schools and in Mis- sissippi and Greensburg. Of late years she has been a great and valued worker in the cause of home and foreign missions, and has been president of the Presbyterian or- ganization of that name for a long period. Like her husband, she is a sincere, practical philanthropist, devoted to noble Christian work.
ISAIAH McCOY.
The traveler or historian passing through Decatur county should not fail to call upon Isaiah McCoy, of Adams township, as un- questionably he is one of the oldest inhabit- ants, in years of continuous residence; and perhaps to him should be awarded the honor of having dwelt in this county longer
than any other person. At any rate he has dwelt here for four-score years, and well remembers the long years of hardship and toil which he, in common with other mem- bers of his family, endured prior to the arrival of settlers in this locality. He is an exceedingly interesting converser, and one is held spellbound by the narration of the experiences of the venerable man, whose life began during the first war of the United States in this century and whose life is draw- ing to a close in these last days of the cen- tury, when another war for humanity has just rounded out this memorable cycle.
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