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 47

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 47

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he was the first man in Aurora to enlist. His example was quickly followed, companies were organized, and he was elected second lieutenant of Company E, 7th Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for three months. He took part in the campaign of 1861, in West Vir- ginia and Maryland; and was at the conflicts of Rich- Mountain, Philippi, Carrick's Ford, and Greenbrier. At the last named battle, while leading his men, he was wounded in the knee by a shell. At the expiration of his term he re-enlisted with his regiment and returned to Virginia, having been promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and was soon after made captain of Com- pany A. At the engagement at Port Republic he com- manded a battalion, and had two horses shot under him. At Port Royal, Fredericksburg, Second Bull Run, and Chancellorsville his regiment bore a conspicuous part, and Captain Pattison was early and always in the fiercest of the fight. He took part in all of Grant's campaigns, from the crossing of the Rapidan to the en- gagement before Petersburg ; was at the engagements on the Weldon Railroad, Antietam, and Gettysburg; and was detailed by General Wadsworth, commanding the First Army Corps, to superintend the construction of a line of earth-works on the extreme right. When in camp he was acting judge advocate on General Wads- worth's staff, but on the march and in action he could not be prevailed upon to leave his men, between whom and himself there was a devoted attachment. In Decem- ber, 1864, he married Miss Elizabeth C. Cornett, the accomplished daughter of Doctor W. T. S. Cornett, of Ripley County, Indiana, and settled in Aurora. In 1870 he was appointed to the revenue service as government gauger. In 1876 he was a prominent candidate for State Treasurer before the Republican convention, but, although receiving good support, failed of the nomina- tion. In 1878 he was elected to the responsible posi- tion of auditor of the county by a very flattering ma- | of all denominations, and an attendant of the Presby- jority.

OWELL, NATHIAN, pioneer, merchant, and banker, of Madison, was born in Frederick County, Maryland, October 18, 1814. But little is known of his ancestors, except that his grandfather was a patriot of the American Revolution. His parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Powell, early removed to the West, and settled near Rising Sun, in what was then Dearborn County, Indiana, but is now a part of Ohio County. Mr. Powell received his early education in the country school, and at the age of seventeen began to earn his own living. Before he was twenty-one years old he had saved sufficient money to build his father a barn, and otherwise materially aid him in the care of the family. In 1839 he removed to Madison, and soon became largely interested in the lower river boating trade, shipping

large quantities of grain, produce, pork, and flour to New Orleans and the adjacent cities. In this he was very successful, and continued the work until the break- ing out of the war between the Northern and Southern States. He was a warm supporter of the Union, and furnished both quartermaster's and commissary stores, besides lending the government a large amount of gold. Although not a politician, his opinion was sought by public men on all important subjects. He is a member of the Republican party, but he has never been a strict partisan, having always cast his vote for the man he deemed most worthy, and having had little reason to regret his choice. As a citizen, he supports all measures

for forwarding the best interests of the city. In 1848 he assisted in reorganizing the old Madison Life, Fire, and Marine Insurance Company. He became one of its largest stockholders, and has been its president since 1851. The company was also engaged in banking and discount until 1865, when, on the organization of the National Branch Bank, the banking interests were trans- ferred to that institution, of which Mr. Powell has long been president. He is an able banker, and, as a finan- cier, takes rank with the first in the country. His ready and clear comprehension of all business transactions de- pendent upon the aid afforded by banks, his ability to read character, his sound judgment and strict sense of justice, have won for him many warm friends, as well as the confidence of his business associates. No transac- tion is so minute as to escape his observation. He is one of the few men who by their own exertions have risen from obscurity to wealth and position. He is now sixty-five years old, and, his health being impaired by past labors, he has by advice of his physician retired from active business. His home in Madison is among the finest in the city. He has never connected himself with any religious organization, but is a liberal supporter

terian Church. Few men have accomplished as much. He is a good citizen, a kind father, and a devoted hus- band. October 5, 1846, he married Miss Mary Francis Watts, daughter of Doctor Howard Watts, of Madison. They have had eight children, six sons and two daughters.

UICK, JUDGE JOHN, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, in the year 1780, whence he came in childhood to Kentucky, where he grew up and married Miss Mary Eads, a lady whose charitable heart and bountiful hand in after years became a bless- ing to many unfortunate pioneers of Franklin County, Indiana. From Kentucky Judge Quick moved, in 1805, to Butler County, Ohio; thence in 18og to Franklin County, Indiana, where he entered land near Brook- ville, and resided until his death, in 1852. He served

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for a number of years as Associate Judge of the county, and was a member in high standing of one of the first Baptist Churches ever organized in Indiana ; and, dying four years after his estimable wife, was survived by nine of his ten children, five of whom are still living, and two of whom have always made their home in the county ; his third son, Cyrus Quick, now deceased, served for a number of years as county commissioner. Doctor John H. Quick, son of Judge John Quick, was born in Franklin County, Indiana, near Brookville, October 22, 1818, where he was brought up to the medical pro- fession, and, after a course at the Medical College of Ohio, in Cincinnati, married in 1841 Miss Sarah J. Cleaver, daughter of Doctor John Cleaver, who was one of the first and most prominent physicians of this (Franklin) county. Doctor Quick commenced the practice of his profession near Brookville, and was elected in 1854 to the office of county auditor, and re- elected in 1858, serving eight years. He then renewed his medical practice, in which he still continues, resid- ing on his farm, one mile south of Brookville. To Doctor Quick were born five children, the two oldest of whom, Florence and George, died in childhood. The third, a son, Emmett Wilfred, grew to promising manhood, graduating with honors in the same profes- sion, and from the same college, his father had chosen, and took the situation of house physician in the Good Samaritan Hospital of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he bravely gave his life in combating the cholera epidemic in that city in 1873. Of the two remaining, Edgar Rollin, though occupied in farming, devotes a great portion of his time to scientific research, while Ger- trude, the youngest, has chosen to apply herself to the study of drawing and painting. Edgar has made a col- lection of two or three thousand Indian relics, and vari- ous kinds of archæological specimens, while Gertrude has adorned the walls of her father's parlor with fine paintings and some elegant wood carving. The family enjoy every comfort of a pleasant home, and are of high standing in the community.

ABB, DAVID GUILKERSON, an eminent cit- izen of Rising Sun, Indiana, was born in Staun- ton, Virginia, in August, 1812. When he was but four years of age his parents removed to Dear- born County, Indiana, and he ever after remained a resident of that section of country. In 1824 he was attacked with the bronchitis, so affecting his voice that he was subsequently unable to follow any calling which required public speaking, and the results of this disease were always afterward to be noticed in his system. He obtained his early education in the schools of Hardin- town and Lawrenceburg, but in 1828 went to Cincin-

nati, where there was then an excellent classical and mathematical school, under the control of Mr. Win- wright; it subsequently became known as Woodward College. His health again became impaired, and he entered the service of the American Fur Company, cne of those gigantic trading corporations which transacted most of the business with the Indians. Their hunters and trappers covered the whole West, from the British frontier to the confines of New Mexico, and from the Mississippi to the Pacific. Their life was all passed in the open air, and Rabb journeyed with them over the Missouri Plains, through the gaps in the Rocky Mount- ains, and among the headquarters of the Missouri, for six months, gaining health and knowledge at every step. Returning to Cincinnati, he was for a brief time in mer- cantile employments, and was for a while in the shop of his father, who was a wagon-maker by trade. Life in the open air had become a necessity to him, however, and he relinquished in-door occupations and became a farmer. He bought some land below Laughery Creek in what is now Ohio County, and with four hundred dollars obtained from his father began clearing and cultivating an extensive tract of land. It was per- fectly new and had never been touched. In the year 1823 he was married to Miss Abigail Scoggin, of Hamilton County, Ohio, and made his home at the Laughery island farm, now owned by Mr. Thomas Pate. His wife died soon after from consumption, as did also their infant child, George. He afterward married Miss Margaret Jelley, of Rising Sun. In the year 1847 he bought the farm known as Maple Grove, famed far and near for its beautiful location, and shortly after moved upon it. Here his second wife died of consumption, that dread disease, leaving six children, three of whom have since died from the inherited weakness of lungs. In 1856 he was married to Miss Rachel A. Fitch, of Bedford, Massachusetts, and had by her five children, all of them now living with their mother. Mr. Rabb's farming was successfully conducted, as he understood agriculture thoroughly, and he also was fortunate in his boating experience on the Ohio. When he removed to the neighborhood of Rising Sun he immedi- ately took an active interest in the prosperity and wel- fare of the place. No plan was suggested for its im- provement to which he did not lend a helping hand ; and he gave aid to the schools, the Churches, the soci- eties, and to charities, according to his strength and means. He contributed frequently to the public press, especially upon questions which interested farmers, and for many years was a member and officer of the State Board of Agriculture. He became initiated into the Masonic Order early in life, and had passed through all the degrees up to that of Knight Templar, being at the time of his death one of the three oldest Knights Tem- plar in the state, and still being an active worker. For

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several years he was engaged in the dry-goods business in Rising Sun, in conjunction with Mr. J. H. Jones, and in 1868 he opened an office for the purpose of attending to the produce commission business. He dealt largely with the farmers in his neighborhood in these commodities, continuing the business until his final weakness com- pelled him to relinquish it. He was a patriotic man. He could not bear to see the slightest injury offered to his country. During the Black Hawk War he acted as a scout. For the Mexican War he raised a company of artillery, receiving his commission as captain; but the government did not require its services, and it was ac- cordingly disbanded at Indianapolis. August 5, 1861, he received a commission as captain of the 2d Indiana Battery, and went into camp at the state capital. They were removed to St. Louis, where Captain Rabb was at- tached to the staff of General Fremont, and with the brave pioneer made the celebrated hundred days' march through Missouri. He never entirely recovered from the exposure and fatigue of this campaign. On the 24th of November, with two other officers, he was taken prisoner by Si, Gordon's guerrilla band. He was re- turning from St. Louis to his command, then stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, when the cars were stopped, and the capture made. He received many indignities from the rebels, but was finally paroled by General Price, to remain within the limits of Fort Leavenworth. His actual captors were dissatisfied with this, and intimated their intention of not abiding by the conditions; and he accordingly determined to effect his escape, which he did, although with great difficulty. His former residence in the country did him great service in this undertaking. He was sent to the camp of paroled prisoners, Camp Chase, at Columbus, Ohio, where he was in command for four months. Arrangements were made for an ex- change with a rebel officer, but the latter escaped, and the arrangement came to nothing. He was discharged on a surgeon's certificate. Mr. Rabb was eminently a benevolent man. He gave freely to the poor and weak. He was an ardent friend of the colored race. He hated slavery; and this was an inherited antipathy, for it was the cause why his father left Virginia and be- gan life again in a free state. There was no probability that their condition would be changed. He aided the blacks in their troubles. Many gathered in front of his door on the day of the funeral, and accompanied the body to its last resting-place. He was a firm Christian. In the family the regularity of devotion was kept up. He was a diligent student of the Bible, and a regular attendant upon public worship, but, from some singularity, did not unite with any organization until he was sixty years old. Then he became a member of the New-school Presbyterian Church, and was at once made a ruling elder. In his earlier life he attended the Methodist Church. He was one of the members of the first Sun-

day-schools in Indiana; and, when practicable, al- ways was an active teacher in one. His death, which was on October 7, was occasioned by consumption. It had lasted a long time. He had been hoping to go to California, and preparations had two or three times been made for this end, but he grew too weak. Two of Captain Rabb's sons served with distinc- tion in the war of the Rebellion. John W. Rabb was born in Ohio County, in 1838, on the 6th of August. He graduated at Wabash College, Indiana, afterwards studying law. He began its practice in Rising Sun, and at the same time became editor of a newspaper there. When the call for soldiers in 1861 was made, he at once responded, enlisting in April. He was mustered in as captain of Company I, 7th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. This was under the three months call, and his command participated in most of the battles of that spring and summer-those of Philippi, Cheat Mountain, Carrick's Ford, etc. Their colonel was John Dumont. When their term expired he entered his father's battery, the 2d Indiana, as first lieutenant, and, when his father was captured, was promoted to his place. He was in the army under the command, successively, of Fremont, Hunter, Halleck, and Lane, and was in the battles of Round Grove, Hartsville, Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, and Van Buren. At the lat- ter place boats and quartermaster's stores were de- stroyed. He served as inspector-general on General McNeil's staff at Springfield, Missouri, and was on the road with him through Missouri and Arkansas, after the rebel generals Joe Shelby, Coffee, and Campbell. He recruited and organized the 2d Regiment of Missouri Light Artillery in December, 1863, and was commis- sioned its senior major. Stationed at New Madrid, he commanded the south-eastern sub-district of Missouri until after the Fort Pillow massacre, when he was ordered to St. Louis. He was at Pilot Knob when it was attacked by General Price in 1864, and was forced to blow up the caissons of Battery H of his command. He took part in the raid after General Price through Missouri, Kansas, and the Indian Territory, in 1864, as part of the Sixteenth Army Corps, under command of General A. J. Smith. After the battle of Nashville he was ordered to Johnsonville, Tennessee, where he was in charge of the port artillery, afterwards becoming commander of the port. He was mustered out of serv- ice with four batteries of his regiment at St. Louis, on the 27th of September, 1865. After the close of the war he went to Lafayette, Indiana, beginning the prac- tice of law there. In a short time he was compelled by failing health to return to his father's home, where he died of consumption, in the thirty-first year of his age, leaving a wife and two sons. His brother, George J. Rabb, was also born in Ohio County, in January, 1845. He was a student at the Miami University, Ox-

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ford, Ohio, when the war began, and immediately enlisted in the ninety days' service in the company commanded by Professor R. W. McFarland. In this company, A, of the 60th Indiana Volunteers, he became captain. They saw active service in West Virginia. On the expiration of its term he enlisted. as a private in the 2d Indiana Battery in August, 1861. He was made a second lieutenant of Battery I, 2d Missouri Light Artillery, February 18, 1865, and was mustered out of service September 27, 1865. On the return of peace he studied medicine, graduating at the Medical College of St. Louis, Missouri, and is now practicing medicine at Marshall, Illinois.

OBERTS, REV. DANIEL, was born in the town of Durham, Cumberland (now Androscoggin) County, in the state of Maine, July 16, 1790, one mile and a half from the village of South-west Bend, situated on the Androscoggin River. His father was Vinson Roberts, who owned and cultivated a farm one mile west of Durham's Corners, where the subject of this sketch was born. Vinson Roberts, who was highly respected for his stern integrity, was one of the pioneer settlers of the town of Durham, having located there when it was almost an unbroken forest. Daniel's educational advantages were very limited. He attended school at Durham's Corners, in a log school-house, where greased paper was used for window lights. The parish parson, Herrick by name, was his schoolmaster, who ruled his pupils with a rod of iron. Two years constituted the entire period of his attendance at the public school. Having, however, acquired a thirst for knowledge, and possessing studious habits, he continued his studies by fire-light at home, until he obtained a proficiency in gram- mar, arithmetic, geography, ancient and modern history. The study of the Bible and ecclesiastical history, for which he showed a fondness while yet a boy, ultimately led him to a life of piety, which he has maintained for seventy-five years. In his old age-having far outlived the time allotted to him by the psalmist-he looks back with pride upon the fact that while yet a boy he obeyed the sacred injunction, "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth." Daniel Roberts married Miss Abi- gail Goodwin, also a native of Durham, Maine, July 19, 1812. She was a lady of marked good sense, and throughout a long and eventful life, wholly devoted her- self to the interests of her family. She died near Man- chester, Indiana, March 27, 1867, in the seventy-sixth year of her age. To this marriage twelve children were born, six boys and six girls. Of this number were Pro- fessor William O. J. Roberts, a man of learning and ex- cellent moral worth, who died while yet young, near Wheeling, Delaware County, Indiana, in the winter of 1855; and Judge O. F. Roberts, of whom a sketch ap-

pears in another part of this work. In 1813 Daniel Roberts enlisted in the Maine militia at Freeport as a private soldier, in the regiment commanded by Colonel Smith. The troops were attached to a brigade under the command of General Richardson, quartered at Port- land, to protect the city from a threatened attack of a British fleet then lying in sight off the harbor. His company was stationed near the old light-house, still covering the approach to the harbor at the lower part of the city. He remained there about forty days, when, peace being declared, he was honorably discharged from the service. He was placed upon the pension roll in 1878. In 1817 he determined to seek a home in the West, Indiana being his objective point. Using an ox team for his mode of conveyance, he started on this long and tedious journey. On reaching a point near the falls of the Genesee River, in the state of New York, his money being exhausted, he was compelled to stop and engage himself as a common laborer in order to replen- ish his scanty purse. Having obtained a small sum of money, he continued his journey until he reached Pitts- burgh, arriving there at the beginning of the summer of 1818. He hastily constructed a rude craft, upon which he and his family embarked, and proceeded down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, where he concluded to stop for a time before continuing on to Indiana, his origi- nal destination. He remained in Cincinnati nearly two years. During the year 1819, under the ministry of Rev. I. Smead, a powerful and able preacher, he joined the Christian Church, and was immersed in the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Licking. At the age of thirteen he had joined the Methodist Epis- copal Church, at Durham, Maine, under the preaching of Joshua Soule, afterward a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church South ; but, the forcible sermons of Smead having satisfied him that the doctrine and polity of the Christian Church were more in ac- cord with the teachings of the Bible, he concluded to join that organization. While still in Cincinnati, he was ordained an elder by the minister who received him into membership, and soon after entered upon the itinerant ministry. In 1820 Daniel Roberts, with his family, removed to Indiana, and located near Manches- ter, Dearborn County. He resided for two years on Pipe Creek, in Franklin County, but with that excep- tion he has made Dearborn County his home. Here he entered fully upon the itinerant ministry. He engaged in farm labor during summer seasons for the support of his large family, but on the Sabbath day and through the fall and winter he would be many miles from home, preaching the Word in its simplicity to the pioneers of the wilds of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. He frequently, through a period of thirty years, ex- tended his travels to Central Kentucky, the Wabash Valley, in Indiana, and the valley of the Scioto, in

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Ohio. For this labor he received no compensation, with the exception of small contributions which indi- viduals saw proper, unsolicited, to make to him. The people in general were poor, and unable to aid in the support of the ministry, but he felt that his duty to his high calling was as imperative as if he received a liberal salary. He was the contemporary of Barton W. Stone, Peter Cartwright, Allen Wiley, James Jones, James Havens, and other pioneer ministers of the West, who, in those early days, preached the Word to the people "without money and without price," while thousands received it with gladness. During the active ministry of Daniel Roberts he organized over two hun- dred Churches, and baptized by immersion upward of two thousand converts. In the prime and vigor of manhood he was one of the finest pulpit orators in the West. He possessed a voice of wonderful force, clear- ness, and solemnity, which was peculiarly adapted to out-door preaching. But few men excelled him in this regard. During the summer of 1830 he delivered a ser- mon of great force and power to a large audience, from the front door-step of the residence of General William Henry Harrison, at North Bend, Ohio, on the general's special invitation. General Harrison after- wards pronounced the discourse one of the ablest he had ever heard, and faultless in point of oratory. As a preacher, Daniel Roberts was beloved by all who knew him. He labored for the good of mankind, and justly won their esteem in return. His name was so familiar throughout his extensive field of labor that he was every-where greeted and recognized by old and young as " Father Roberts." Of him it may be said, that his life has been a continuous example of piety, and earnest devotion to correct principles. No man in South- eastern Indiana stands higher in this respect, or has ex- erted a more salutary influence on those around him. His life of piety and good works will stand as a monu- ment to his memory many years after he is called hence to his reward.

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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 47

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