A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I, Part 38

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > Indiana > A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I > Part 38

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tained his early education in the proverbial log school- house. Early evincing a fondness for books, he was liberally supplied with them ; and, by the light of a tal- low candle or a bright wood fire, spent his evenings absorbed in study. He improved every moment, even carrying books to his work, and drinking in knowledge while his tired team was resting in the plow. He was early sent to a select school, patronized chiefly by young men; the teacher being a profound scholar. Here he advanced in the rudiments of an ordinary education until he was competent to pass an examination for a more advanced school. He never entered college, how- ever, but studied higher mathematics, chemistry, botany, and the rudiments of anatomy and physiology, with the teacher above mentioned. He early evinced a taste for the classics, and at the age of fourteen, by hard study at night and the assistance of Professor Williams, he gained as thorough a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages as is possessed by most college gradu- ates of the present day. The study of anatomy and physiology gave him a taste for medical and surgical literature ; and at the age of nineteen he commenced preparation for his chosen profession-the science of medicine. After two years devoted to close study, he entered the Starling Medical College, at Columbus, Ohio. He then entered the old Ohio Medical College, and re- mained there until he received his degree, March 3, 1849, since which time he has been actively engaged in his profession. During his leisure he has studied many of the sciences which are of great aid to the science of medicine ; chemistry and agricultural chemistry, miner- alogy, geology, and astronomy have been a part of his reading. As a practitioner of medicine and surgery, he has been eminently successful. In the capacity of sur- geon he has performed most of the usual operations, as well as some very difficult and heroic ones. As an in- stance of the latter he was called into the country in a case of obstetrics, and found the patient in such a con- dition that only the most energetic means promised any chance for life. Assisted by two farmers, who held tal- low candles, the only available light, he performed gas- trotomy, or the cesarean section, and saved the life of both mother and child. This is the only case of the kind in the state of Indiana in which the patient has survived the operation. A full account of it will be found in the Cincinnati Lancet of either April, May, or June, 1863. Doctor Conway's literary productions are of no mean order. He has contributed to most of the literary journals of the day, and to scientific and literary papers. He is also a poet of no mean order, having written and published many stray pieces, some of which have received very flattering notices from jour- nalists, as well as from higher literary sources. Before he was twenty years old his effusions filled the poet's corner of many a newspaper.

RAVENS, MAJOR JOHN O., attorney, Osgood, Indiana, was born May 25, 1834, at Versailles, Ripley County, Indiana, and was the third son of Hon. James H. and Sophia (Copits) Cravens. After attending the Ripley County Seminary he entered, in 1852, Asbury University, and graduated from the scientific department in 1853. He then entered the law office of his father; and, having graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in the winter of 1837 and 1838, was admitted to the bar in the latter year, and immedi- ately commenced practice at Martinsville, Indiana. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company G, 9th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, being one of one hundred and twenty-three men who went to Indianapolis and tendered their services to Governor Henry S. Lane two days before President Lincoln issued his call for volun- teers. This was the first body of men in the state, out- side of the city of Indianapolis, who offered themselves to their country. In the winter of 1861, having been previously promoted to the rank of lieutenant, he was detailed as an aide-de-camp to Major-general R. H. Milroy, and was subsequently commissioned major and assistant adjutant-general on his staff by President Lin- coln, and retained the position until the close of the war. Although detailed from the company to which he belonged, and not serving with it after 1861, his men elected him their captain in 1863, and he was commis- sioned accordingly by Governor Morton; but, having in the mean time received higher rank from the President, he could not accept the captaincy. This fact illustrates the esteem in which he was held by his comrades in arms. He served in twenty-seven engagements, among the most important of which were Winchester, Second Bull Run, Cross Keys, Strasburg, Slaughter Mountain, and Murfreesborough. On retiring from the army, he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1872 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the Sixth Judicial Circuit ; he was re-elected in 1874, and again in 1876. In politics, Major Cravens is a Republican. October 22, 1862, he married Maggie Hite, an adopted daughter of Colonel Thomas Smith, of Versailles, Indiana. They have had five children, of whom two sons are living.

ROZIER, AMOS W., sheriff of Ripley County, was born in Dearborn County, Indiana, October 5, 1838, and is the eldest son of John and Angeline (Wilson) Crozier. His grandfather Crozier was a colonel in the Black Hawk War, and was one of the pioneers of Indiana, having removed to that state from Pennsylvania in 1804. His father was a leading Demo- crat in the district in his day, and in 1855 and 1856 represented his county in the state Legislature. Amos Crozier had good opportunities for securing an educa-

Mil Quiback

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tion, which he improved. After attending the common schools, in 1856 he entered the State University at Bloomington, where he spent two years. His early life, when he was not attending school, was spent in assisting his father on the farm. In 1863 he went to California, where he spent several years, engaging in farming, min- ing, trading, and various other occupations. In 1865 he returned, and purchased a farm in Dearborn County, Indiana, which he carried on until 1868. He then sold out, and bought the Lancaster flour-mills, of Orange County. After running them one year he sold them, and soon after purchased the Milan mills, which he conducted until he was elected sheriff, in the fall of 1876. In the fall of 1878 he was re-elected to the same office. In June, 1867, he married Amanda A. Durham, daughter of Hon. N. C. Durham, of Sparta, Dearborn County, Indiana. They have had four children, two sons and two daughters. In politics Mr. Crozier has always been a Democrat, and has taken a very active interest in the affairs of his party. He is an active sup- porter of the free school system. Having been largely engaged in the manufacture of flour, and also exten- sively interested in the stock trade, he has done much towards the development and improvement of the county. He is a close observer of human nature, and a valuable and enterprising citizen.

UMBACK, WILLIAM, lawyer and statesman, Greensburg, Indiana, was born in Franklin County, Indiana, March 24, 1829. His parents, John and Elsie Cumback, were natives of New Jersey, of German and Scotch descent. William Cumback ob- tained his early education by attending school in the winter and working upon his father's farm in the sum- mer. He made such progress in school as to distance his teachers, and thus found himself without instructors. By cultivating a piece of land which he rented, he was enabled, through hard work and self-denial, to supply himself with an outfit for college. With this, and four- teen dollars and seventy-five cents in his pocket, he set out for Miami University. He paid his tuition and room rent in the college building by ringing the college bells, and by using the most rigid economy remained six months. He then resorted to teaching school as the means best adapted to advance his own education and afford a support. This he continued for several years, at the same time pursuing the study of law, completing his course by attending lectures at the law school at Cincinnati. In 1852 he married Miss Martha Hulburt, a lady of education and culture, and in 1853 settled in Greensburg, Indiana, where he began the practice of his profession. He early distinguished himself by his bold and manly attitude on the liquor question, which at that

time was appealing to the courts, and, by a conscientious regard for truth and justice, won the esteem and con- fidence of the community with which he had identified himself. In 1854, Mr. Cumback, then but twenty-five years of age, showed himself such a thoroughly repre- sentative man that he was unanimously nominated by his party for Congressman. In politics he found his voca- tion, for, though not a professional politician, Mr. Cum- back is a politician by nature. No man was ever more happy and effective on the stump. With a fine physique, a resonant and commanding voice, a ready wit, a genial humor, and a sympathetic eloquence, he holds a crowd enthralled, and sways them at his will. The youngest member of the Thirty-fourth Congress, he made a con- spicuous figure in the debates of that body; and, partic- ularly in the Kansas investigation frauds, the young de- bater won from the editor of the New York Tribune the highest encomiums, when praise from Horace Greeley was fame. The speech was reported by the Tribune, and had also a wide circulation through other promi- nent journals. So highly was Mr. Cumback's course approved by his constituents that in 1856 he was re- nominated by acclamation, but, with his party through- out the country, suffered defeat. In 1860 he was nomi- nated as elector for the state at large by the Republican State Convention, and ably canvassed Indiana for the election of Abraham Lincoln. Being the first on the electoral ticket, he cast the first electoral vote of his native state against the slave power, to overthrow which he had so long and steadfastly battled. When the great Civil War broke out, Mr. Cumback enlisted as a private soldier at the first call for Union troops, and was soon after appointed paymaster. In this capacity his tact and efficiency were so conspicuous that he was promoted to a district department, with a large corps of subordinates under his control. His high character for honesty and punctuality commanded large sums, with no other secu- rity than his word, and he was thus able to forestall government supplies by his hold on public confidence. When he requested to be mustered out, so exactly and faithfully had he rendered his accounts that, although he had received and disbursed over sixty millions of dollars, he was enabled to balance his books in three days- an example of business rectitude unprecedented in govern- ment affairs. Mr. Stanton, recognizing his efficiency, offered him the position for life in the regular army ; but, the war being over, he declined, and returned to the practice of his profession, poorer in purse than when he left it. In 1865, during his absence, his party re- nominated him to the state Senate, to which he was duly elected. Soon after taking his seat, the Governor of the state was chosen to the United States Senate, and the Lieutenant-governor became Governor. This made a vacancy in the presidency of the Senate, and Mr. Cum- back was chosen to that position. How well he filled

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the place may be inferred from the following resolution, offered by the leader of the opposition, and passed by a unanimous vote, at the close of the session :

" Resolved, That the most cordial thanks of the Senate are hereby tendered to Hon. William Cumback for the ability, integrity, and impartiality with which he has uniformly discharged his arduous labors as president of this body ; that, for the urbanity, harmony, and pros- perity of our deliberations, we are greatly indebted to his deep sense of justice and his elevating reverence for principle."

While he was president of the Senate the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States came before the Legislature of Indiana for ratification. Mr. Cumback was an ardent advocate of the measure. The Democratic members of that body bitterly opposed it, and to prevent its passage resigned, leaving less than two-thirds of the Senators in their seats. The Constitu- tion of the state provides that two-thirds of each House shall constitute a quorum. In this unusual dilemma many of Mr. Cumback's political friends asserted that the true meaning of the Constitution is, that two-thirds of those who remain, and not two-thirds of the whole number, constitute a quorum. Mr. Cumback maintained that it required two-thirds of the whole number elected, and that the recent resignations destroyed the Legisla- ture; that the fifteenth amendment could not pass, nor could any legislative work be done, in accordance with the Constitution. This decision required courage ; but he made it, and stood by it, notwithstanding the great pressure brought to bear against it. During the next session, the fifteenth amendment passed the Senate with a quorum present. Two years later the opposition had the majority, and at a time not war- ranted by the Constitution undertook to pass an appor- tionment bill which, if passed, would have destroyed the political power of the Republicans for years. To pre- vent this, more than two-thirds of the Republicans re- signed. Governor Cumback, being president of the Senate, announced his former ruling, and saved his party. Had his sense of right yielded two years before, all would have been lost. In 1868 Mr. Cumback was nominated for Lieutenant-governor, and canvassed the entire state ; and, although the ticket, embraced many strong and popular men, the force of Mr. Cumback's popularity carried him far beyond his ticket, and secured, after his inauguration, his nomination by more than two-thirds of his party for United States Senator. A combination of friends of other candidates, however, defeated his election, disappointed the popular will, and occasioned the deepest regret to his many political and personal friends throughout the state; but, unlike most defeats, enthroned him more securely than ever in the hearts of the people. He continued to hold the office of Lieutenant-governor until the spring of 1870, when he was appointed Minister to Portugal by the President,

and confirmed by the Senate, but, preferring to serve his country at home, he declined the honor. In 1871 he was appointed collector of internal revenue in the dis- trict in which he resides, which position he holds at the present time (1878). In 1871 he was chosen to deliver the address of welcome on the part of the state to the delegates from all the other states at the national con- vention held at Indianapolis. His address was one of the happiest efforts of his life. Mr. Cumback has not only done much service to the state, but is a pillar in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he has long been a member. At the General Conference, held in New York, in 1872, he was appointed one of the twelve general trustees of the Church. In 1867 he was elected president of the State Sunday-school Union, and dis- charged the duties of his office so acceptably that he was re-elected in 1868. In 1867 he was chosen to de- liver the address on the occasion of the meeting of the four Methodist Conferences, at Indianapolis, and acquitted himself in his usual felicitous manner. In personal appearance Mr. Cumback is tall, of somewhat aldermanic proportions, with a handsome, genial, intel- lectual face, and most cordial and engaging manners. Socially, he is distinguished for his liberality and hospi- tality. He is a man without an enemy ; for his large humanity embraces all his race, and neither party feuds nor religious differences separate him from his kind. In the district where he is collector, although the taxes amount to over three millions of dollars each year, there has been no fraud or loss to the government. In May, 1876, he was a member of the General Conference of the Methodist Church, which met at Baltimore, and took an active part in its proceedings. In June of the same year he was chairman of the Republican delegation from Indiana to the National Republican Convention, at Cin- cinnati. It is thought that by his management Governor Hayes received the nomination, on the seventh ballot. He was chosen to represent the state on the national Republican committee, and attended and took an active part in its meetings in the memorable campaign of 1876. In November of that year he was one of the men sent from Indiana to New Orleans to witness the count of the returning board. In 1878 the board of bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church chose him . as the lay delegate to go to Atlanta, with Rev. Doctor C. D. Foss, to take to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the South the fraternal greetings of the Church in the North. It was a del- icate duty, yet it was performed so well as to command hearty approbation. Mr. Cumback has been in the lec- ture field for the last four years, and each season has more invitations than he can accept. These requests are from all parts of the Union, and the press has been unanimous on the favorable criticisms of his lectures.

J.W. GAFF

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RIGGS, ABRAHAM, commissioner of Dearborn County, is a native of that county, and was born November 5, 1835. His parents, Charles and Annie Briggs, emigrated from England to In- diana, where they engaged in farming. Abraham at- tended the common schools of his native state, and, when he arrived at the age of manhood chose farming as his occupation. Although not a politician he has long been a leader of his party in his immediate section. He served as township trustee for five years. (His father had previously held that responsible position, and had also been commissioner.) In 1876 he was elected to the important position of commissioner of Dearborn County, and was one of the three commissioners who directed the building of the very ornamental and substantial monu- ment to the county in the shape of the great iron bridge over Laughery Creek. Upon it his name is inscribed as a testimony to his services. The length of this bridge is three hundred and one feet, the depth of cord from top to base forty-one feet, and the weight over two hundred and forty tons. Mr. Briggs married, in 1862, Miss Runnel, of Dearborn County, Indiana.

HAFF, JAMES W., manufacturer, formerly of Aurora, was born in Springfield, New Jersey, in the year 1816. His parents were James and Margaret Gaff, both natives of Scotland, from which country they emigrated to the United States in 1811. His father fol- lowed the business of a paper-maker, and his son fol- lowed that business for a time, but afterwards became a distiller. Mrs. Gaff, the mother, was highly esteemed by those who knew her, and lived to old age, surrounded by all the comforts which her children could give her. James W. Gaff received an elementary education at the district school, and, after acquiring a knowledge of the distilling business, removed to Philadelphia, where he entered into partnership with his brother, Thomas Gaff. Their enterprise was successful for a while, but the continual policy of the government in changing duties finally acted disastrously to them, and they were com- pelled to close up their establishment at a loss, then re- moving to Indiana. The money received from the sale of their place in Philadelphia enabled them to go into business at Aurora. Grain was much cheaper in the West, and the increased facilities they gained for the transaction of affairs soon made them acquire much wealth. Before the outbreak of the Civil War James W. Gaff removed to Cincinnati, where he ever after made his residence, and entered in partnership with C. L. Howe, as C. L. Howe & Co. He was a man eminently fitted for business. Nature had gifted him with a clear head and a comprehensive understanding, and after he once understood a thing he was not de-

terred from embarking in it by the fear of failure. At the time of his death he was engaged in thirty-two dis- tinct firms and lines of business, nearly all of them successful, and some on the very largest scale. He was a member of J. & J. W. Gaff & Co., brewers, Aurora ; Gaff, Fleischman & Co., compressed yeast, Riverside ; J. W. Gaff & Co., distillers, Cincinnati; T. & J. W. Gaff & Co., distillers, Aurora ; Parker, Wise & Co., ship chandlers, Cincinnati; Perin & Gaff Hardware Com- pany, Cincinnati ; as well as many others; and became a man of great wealth. He was extremely industrious, and very careful about details, paying attention to the minutest particulars. He was generous and benevolent, and was very kind to young men, many of whom he no- ticed and advanced to positions of honor and trust. He had faith in them. He never held any office except that of state Senator. He had an instinctive repug- nance to the ways of politicians, and never desired pub- lic station. His death occurred in Cincinnati on the 23d of January, 1879. His health had been failing for two years previously, occasioned by overwork, and he had been to the Adirondacks and to the Eastern coast, but without much help. He also made a long visit to the Kankakee region in Indiana, where he had consid- erable land, but without avail. It was too late.

CCLURE, WILLIAM, of Brookville, was born on the Ist of May, 1802, at Rocky Springs, Harrison County, Kentucky, but only remained there a short time, when the family removed to Hunt's Grove, Ohio. In 1807, after a few changes, they settled in Brookville, where Mr. McClure still resides. His father was of Scotch-Irish descent, and moved from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1783, to Lex- ington, Kentucky. In this early day his work was that

of a pioneer. In the year 1798 he was married to Miss Phœbe Eads, with whom he lived until 1840, when he died of a malignant fever. His death occurred on the last day of that year. He was a soldier in the war of 1812; and being a very early settler in this state had many a skirmish with the Indians. William McClure, the subject of this sketch, was the second child-his brother, next older, was drowned when a boy but ten years of age. Mrs. McClure was an exemplary wife and mother. She possessed energy and Christian fortitude, and braved through many a struggle for the love she bore to her children. She died in 1839. Mr. McClure was inured to the hardships of early pioneer life from the first. He was an early settler in Franklin County, and, in consequence, received but a meager education. His father was poor, and moved about much, making it necessary for him to walk three and four miles, often- times, to school. This, for a few weeks or months each

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year, constituted his educational opportunities; but he has always been a close student and a great reader. He pursued a course of study, being his own preceptor, until he became tolerably conversant with questions of history, law, and mathematics, and having a good knowledge of astronomy and geography. Offices of trust were generally ignored, although he held that of Justice of the Peace for four years. He was always a warm supporter of Lincoln's administration, and gave of his means freely for the suppression of the late Rebellion.

OFF, MICHAEL, commissioner of Dearborn County, is a native of Bavaria, Germany, and was educated in that country. He was then apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's trade, and remained in that capacity two years. In 1835 he emigrated to America, and worked at his trade in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana until 1837, when he settled on a farm in Dearborn County, Indiana. There he worked at his trade and at farming. In the mean time, in 1836, he had married Miss Mary Catherine Loge, daughter of a well-to-do farmer of Dearborn County. Mr. Hoff has, from time to time, added to his possessions, until at the present time he owns four hundred acres of as good land as the county affords. He served as trustee of his township for ten years. He is now county commissioner from the second district-having been elected in 1876. His term expires in 1880. As such his name adorns the Dearborn entrance to the great iron bridge over Laughery Creek, a structure which reflects great credit upon the gentlemen to whom the county is indebted for its construction. Mr. Hoff is in every respect a self-made man. Landing in this country with little money, he owes his success to a stout heart and willing hands. He has brought up a large family of children, who are now engaged in the active pursuits of life.

LATER, FREDERICK, JUNIOR, merchant of Sparta, Dearborn County, was born October 6, 1828, in Hanover, Germany. He came to America with his parents, Frederick and Matilda Slater, in 1835, settling on a farm in Alexandria, Campbell County, Kentucky. He attended the public schools, where he made good use of his time. In 1856, at the age of twenty-eight, he went to Aurora, Indiana, and engaged in mercantile business, which he carried on with success until the breaking out of the late Civil War. He then raised a company of volunteers, and, on the 22d of Sep- tember, 1862, was commissioned captain of the 11th Kentucky Cavalry, for three years. He was with Gen- erals Sherman and Thomas through the campaigns in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia, until the fall of At- i

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A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I, Part 38

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1038

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1038